Macondo: Bonnie and Clyde Captured

[purejuice]

Everything from the extraordinary form-conferring violence under a big empty sky, to the lack of security at the prison which permitted Bonnie to throw a pair of wirecutters over the fence, to the ARIZONA tatt bannered across Clyde's chest in the creepy photograph of his capture taken by the US Marshalls -- a war trophy photograph moving into the Abu Ghraib/Khmer Rouge trophy shot aesthetic of terror/cut ears on a string place -- to the fugitives allegedly thinking of themselves as movie stars, to their movement throughout this big empty space to Colorado and Wyoming -- to the name of the trailer park town, Jake's Corner, AZ, where Clyde's mother allegedly conspired to help the gang, to the chest-beating of the AZ troopies, it's all Macondo, baby.

I feel so at home.

I hasten to add that as a professional critic of war and genocide art who has read an execrable 500 page PhD. thesis on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Kim Phuc/Nick Ut/napalm girl photograph, were I a newspaper editor? Not only would I not hesitate, I would, uh, kill, to print this photograph in my newspaper. The Macondo Manana [TILDE!!!!] has it on the inside, page 7, abutted with a pic of Clyde's victims. Interesting choice.



I think I'ma get me a Jake's Corner tramp stamp.




Printed from ABQjournal.com, a service of the Albuquerque Journal
URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/2002245283newsstate08-20-10.htm
Friday, August 20, 2010
Fugitives Captured
By Abigail R. Ortiz
Journal Staff Writer

The search for two fugitives who considered themselves a modern-day "Bonnie and Clyde" and who are linked to a double homicide in New Mexico came to an end Thursday night in Arizona.
Fugitives John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch, McCluskey's fiancee and cousin, were caught in Springerville, Ariz., and are in the custody of U.S. Marshals. They had a vehicle bearing stolen New Mexico plates.
Authorities say Welch drew a firearm when approached by police but then dropped it. McCluskey, who was laying on the ground, told authorities who captured him that he had a gun in his tent, and that if he had gotten to it, he would have killed the officers who arrested him.
"Not only Arizona but the rest of the country can sleep easy tonight," said Steven Campbell, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. He and David Gonzales, U.S. Marshal for the District of Arizona, held a news conference to announce the capture.
The arrests occurred about 7:15 p.m. Arizona time — 8:15 p.m. New Mexico time.
Gonzales said a U.S. Forest Service ranger working in a campground in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest spotted an unattended fire. He noticed a silver car backed up into trees.
The officer jotted down the license plate number, which was reported stolen about the time a couple was killed in New Mexico.
The officer contacted the Apache County Sheriff's Department, and a SWAT team was assembled. After being captured, McCluskey reportedly also told police that he should have killed the forest ranger when he had the chance.
McCluskey and Welch, along with escapee Tracy Province, have been tied to the slaying of an Oklahoma couple in Santa Rosa. The badly burned bodies of Gary and Linda Haas were discovered inside their burned camper trailer at a ranch west of Santa Rosa on Aug. 4.
McCluskey, Province and a third man, Daniel Renwick, escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near Kingman on July 30. Renwick and Province had already been captured.
New Mexico State Police have said they have forensic evidence linking McCluskey, Province and Welch to the Haases' homicides.
The Haases, both 61, were on their way from Oklahoma City to Colorado for an annual camping trip. A rancher found their 32-foot travel trailer about three miles north of Interstate 40.
The couple's white Chevrolet pickup truck was found a few hours later that day on Aug. 4 in a parking lot near Osuna and Edith in Albuquerque.
During Thursday night's televised news conference, Gonzales said, "We want to ensure that the New Mexico murders are looked at carefully" and that the fugitives are held accountable for any other crimes they may have committed while on the run.
Gonzales said the trail for McCluskey and Welch had gone cold in the past several days. He said they did, however, suspect that they might head back to Arizona because they had family there and likely needed cash.
Gonzales said there were more than 700 leads in the case from almost every state in the nation.
Authorities believe Welch helped McCluskey, Province and Renwick escape by throwing wire cutters over the prison fence.
The escapees then kidnapped two semi-truck drivers at gunpoint outside of Kingman after their escape and used the 18-wheelers to get away. The drivers were left in their trucks unharmed at a stop in Flagstaff off I-40.
Renwick, who was serving time for murder, was captured in Rifle, Colo., on Aug. 1 after leading police on a brief car chase and shooting at them.
Province, who was serving a life sentence for homicide and robbery, was taken into custody Aug. 9 near Meeteetse in northwest Wyoming, after police received a tip that somebody recognized him when he attended a church service.
McCluskey was serving a 15-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault, along with other charges, which resulted from a March 2009 altercation in Mesa, Ariz.
McCluskey's mother, Claudia Washburn, was arrested in Jake's Corner, Ariz., on Aug. 7 on charges of conspiracy to commit escape, hindering prosecution and facilitation to commit escape.

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Comments

[the-sikh-geek.livejournal.com]

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/breakout/all/Overview

"The Running Man" has to be my favorite, but it's all pretty gripping.

P.S. There is something specific and fucked-up about the city name in large Gothic letters tattooed across the belly/chest. I once rode a bus with a dude who had "West Sacto" across his paunch.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

isn't it kind of a gangster trope, like having ASIAN GIRLZ GANGSTA CRIPS tattooed on your neck?

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

When I saw that pic I immediately thought Di Niro from "Cape Fear."

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

do you think either the photog or the subject were actually mimicking a fictional photographic image?

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Well, no, but the guy at first glance looks a lot like Robert De Niro, and he's all tatted up the way De Niro was in Cape Fear. There wasn't a scene where the cops got De Niro in that movie, so there wasn't an image that this photo would have been mimicking. Still, it's pretty creepy to me!