Customer Reviews

Last Rampage: The Escape of Gary Tison

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As of this writing, it is just over 25 years to the day that convicted murderer Gary Tison escaped from an Arizona State prison with the help of his three teenaged sons and a fellow convict and repeat murderer named Randy Greenawalt. The brazen escape was well-planned and bloodless, but unfortunately the careful planning ended there. Increasingly desperate and disorganized, the five armed and dangerous men soon turned to robbery and murder as they searched for a way to sneak across the Mexican border. Six innocent people died before Tison and his gang were apprehended less than two weeks later. James W. Clarke's story is surprisingly gripping as he recounts a tale that centers around the frightening incompetence in the Arizona State Prison system which allowed Tison and Greenawalt to escape, and the terrible consequences that followed.

Clarke should be praised for his research and his attention to detail. He has woven together so many sources that the book actually reads as if he was allowed to shadow the escapees as they roamed around several western states during their time on the run. I was doubtful about this book at first because I didn't see how a prison escape could warrant some 300 pages in a paperback book, but when I stayed up until well after midnight trying to finish it, I realized that Clarke had written an exceptional true-crime story. The author brings alive the desert southwest and the people who live there with his capable writing, making the tale all the more grim as innocent victims are killed by these brutal men. Some readers might find the sections on Arizona politics and corruption in the prison system to be boring or unrelated, but I came to believe that the book was made stronger by the inclusion of this material.

Although two of Tison's sons had their sentences commuted to life in prison, Randy Greenawalt was executed in January 1997, eighteen and a half years after his crimes. Clarke doesn't directly comment on the death penalty (which, at the time, had been recently reintroduced in various American states after a Supreme Court decision in favor of it) but instead includes various quotes on the subject from people involved with the case. Readers will have to draw their own conclusions, but surely no one will disagree that Gary Tison was a true psychopath who ruined too many lives, including those of his sons.

Professor James W. Clarke has carefully and vividly recreated the escape from prison of convicted murderer Gary Tison, and the subsequent killing spree he and Randy Grunwalt embarked upon, along with Tison's three sons. Clarke describes Tison's early days, when he was committing crimes at a young age, and the romance he started with a young woman visiting prisoners as part a church mission. Tison continued to commit more serious crimes, but still managed to have three children, whose memories of him consisted mainly of their father behind bars. Tison's wife helped him escape by giving him a handgun, and the Last Rampage was on. The most memorable part of the book is the senseless and brutal murder of a young family by Tison and Grunwalt on the side of a deserted Arizona road. Clarke himself was camped next to the Tison clan in Northern Arizona one night, and sensing something was wrong, he quickly gathered his belongings and left with his wife, perhaps saving them both. The only drawback is Clarke's complete reliance on Stanley Milgrams Obedience to Authority thesis to explain the reason that the Tison boys willingly followed their father into murder and mayhem, without considering any other explanation.

I think Clarke is pretty close to the money. Randy Greenwalt took me fishing when I was a kid and did yard work for our family, his Dad was a bricklayer in my Dad's construction company. I still have a beautiful display cabinet that he built in his senior year woods class at Palmyra MO high school. Didn't know much about abnormal psych then, but in retrospect there was a lot about Randy (and his younger brother James 'Doc' Greenwalt) that I now realize was a short fuse waiting to go off. Dad often said that their father was too rough on them and it was just a matter of time before their pent-up anger blew in one direction or another. Randy was not a leader, but he was a dedicated follower, which meshed well with Tison's warped sense of purpose. Randy probably would have been a good Marine--his sister Darlene did have a successful Army career.

Most interesting study.

I read this book in August/September 1991 while traveling through the area where it all happened. The trip was kind of a premarital honeymoon vacation and our first trip to the US (I live in The Netherlands). I bought the book so I could read while off duty from driving the van and I guess it turned out to be a 'lucky' choice. From the first page on I was sucked into the story. I just could not put it away. As the story developed we came nearer to the place where it actually happened. I will never forget the day we passed Flagstaff. The book gave me the creeps. Still does.
This book screams to be put into a movie. Gary Tison makes Hannibal Lecter look like a school kid.
One of the most chilling books I've ever read!

- Tison's considered and then stoic & resigned rejection to his clergymen's last desperate appeal to Tison to change his life before the murderous rampage is initiated.

I've read it three times and each time is a moving experience.

Clarke is just phenomenal.

Don't miss this volume.

The highly disorganized and thoughtless crime spree that Clarke describes is one of the most chilling, unpredictable true crime accounts I have encountered. There are not many true crime stories published that document murders that take place in Arizona and I feel that the atmosphere and chaos surrounding this story is well portrayed. Although I am an avid true crime reader, I try to skip over gruesome parts because they seem to lack empathy for the victims by being methodically descriptive. Clarke's description of the crimes instigated by two desperate sociopaths who had absolutely no regard for human life put me in the shoes of the victims. I will never forget the way I felt after reading the chapter about young family that were the first victims of Gary Tison and Randy Greenawalt. It is no longer hard for me to imagine how vulnerable we can be when we feel that we are within the safe confines of our family.

Being from Gary Tison's hometown of Casa Grande Az. I was mesmerized by the story of his escape and the shoot out and capture of his three sons and Randy Greenwalt. I had seen the movie "Killer in the Family" with Robert Mitchum as Gary Tison and I loved it. I couldn't put the book down. Clark does a great job of telling about it all.

Being from Phoenix I knew the story well. This is a good read, but prepare to meet evil as close to face to face as one can get without actually being there. I couldn't put this book down. I couldn't believe such evil and lack of conscious could reside in one person. Any man who can kill a toddler and involve his own sons in it is really beyond evil. Insane maybe? But, I don't think so. I think that Tison was so full of himself that he thought he'd always get away with the things he had done. And having that IDIOT Cardwell as the warden was Tison's ticket to the outside.... and the multiple murders of innocent people. Unbelievable, but true.

I worked in law enforcement in Arizona and was directly involved in this case. The book was very well researched and written.

Thank you or offering this long out of circulation book. As I do reside in the area some of these incidents occured, I was even more interested, however, I did not live here at the time. Thanks again.