Series: St. Martin's True Crime Library | Publication Date: April 16, 2001
"You haven't heard the last of us yet..."
These were chilling words on a note left behind by seven armed and dangerous inmates who escaped from the John Connally prison in South Texas on December 13, 2000. Their promise has apparently been fulfilled. The inmates, now known as the Connally Seven, are suspected of having first robbed a Radio Shack in Houston, and then, days later, on Christmas Eve, of having fatally shot and runover a young police officer during an assault on a Dallas sporting-goods store. For six frantic weeks, a massive manhunt with a significant reward had only turned up dead ends...until a tip came in from someone who had seen the gang on Fox-TVs "America's Most Wanted." Authorities arrested four of the seven prisoners, including suspected ringleader George Rivas, in Woodland Park, Colorado, and a fifth inmate shot himself during police negotiations.
Immediately intensifying the search for the last two heavily armed and dangerous prisoners, police and FBI closed in on them at a Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs just two days following the previous arrest. After five hours and a telephone interview with a TV news station in which they expressed their feeling that the breakout was a statement against Texas's judicial system, the two inmates surrendered themselves, putting an end to a long and frightening episode.
The Texas 7 goes behind the scenes to give you a detailed, fascinating account of the events leading up to and after their brazen prison escape--and the exciting chase that ultimately led to their capture.
Gary C. King, a freelance author and lecturer, is regarded by readers and critics alike as one of the world's foremost crime writers, a reputation he has earned over the last 31 years with the publication of more than 400 articles in true crime magazines in the United States, Canada, and England. King took over Ann Rule's job as Pacific Northwest stringer for True Detective, Official Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Master Detective magazines, writing hundreds of articles under various names until those magazines ceased publication in the mid-1990s. More recently he has found alternate venues for his stories, including TruTV's Crime Library. He has published several "classic" true crime stories for Investigation Discovery, which can be found on their website. He is also the author of several true crime books including: Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer, Driven to Kill, Web of Deceit, Blind Rage, Savage Vengeance (with Don Lasseter), An Early Grave, The Texas 7, Murder in Hollywood, Angels of Death, Stolen in the Night, Love, Lies, and Murder, and An Almost Perfect Murder, which is about the murder of Nevada State Controller Kathy Augustine by succinylcholine poisoning administered by her husband, critical-care nurse Chaz Higgs. King also wrote Butcher, about Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, which was published by Pinnacle Books in April 2009. King recently finished work on Rage, about millionaire Reno, Nevada businessman Darren Mack, who murdered his wife, Charla, in 2006 and then shot and seriously injured their divorce judge, Chuck Weller, with a high-powered rifle from a parking garage facing the judge's chambers. Rage is scheduled for publication by Pinnacle Books in July 2010. King also wrote The Murder of Meredith Kercher, which was published by John Blake Publishing, Ltd., in January 2010.
Driven to Kill, the story of serial child killer Westley Allan Dodd's killing spree, was published in April 1993 by Pinnacle Books and was nominated for an Anthony Award in the Best True Crime Book category at Bouchercon 25.
Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer, details the bizarre case of Dayton Leroy Rogers, Oregon's worst serial killer to date. Blood Lust was published in December 1992 under NAL/Dutton's Onyx imprint as an original paperback. A German language edition of Blood Lust was published later, in 1995. Both Blood Lust and Driven to Kill were chosen as featured selections of Doubleday's True Crime Book Club.
King has also written articles on several celebrated cases that include: "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz; the Hillside Stranglers; Jim Jones and the Guyana Massacre; D.B. Cooper; Gary Gilmore; John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman; and Seattle's bizarre Chinatown Massacre in the 1980s. He has also contributed to several true crime compilations books with various publishers.
The subjects of King's other books include: Blind Rage, about suspected serial murderer Darren Dee O'Neall, published by Dutton-Signet under their Onyx imprint in August 1995, and was reprinted in 2001 by the Mystery Writers of America/iUniverse. Savage Vengeance, co-written with Don Lasseter, was published in 1996. An Early Grave, published by St. Martin's Press (SMP), is about the mysterious death of Las Vegas casino scion Ted Binion; The Texas 7: A True Story of Murder and a Daring Escape, (SMP) about the infamous Texas prison break in which a dedicated cop with a family was brutally murdered; Murder in Hollywood, (SMP) about the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley, actor Robert Blake's wife; Angels of Death, (SMP) a story detailing the murder of Terry King in Florida, purportedly committed by King's 12- and 13-year-old sons, Derek and Alex King; and Stolen in the Night, (SMP) about the horrific Joseph Edward Duncan III case out of Idaho. Love, Lies, and Murder is about the riveting Perry March case, the shady Nashville lawyer who was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Janet, and for plotting the murders of Janet's parents, from Pinnacle Books.
King's television appearances have included Entertainment Tonight, Larry King Live, Inside Edition, Court TV, MSNBC's Headliners and Legends, E!, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Extra TV, and several other programs. He also frequently provides radio interviews. Upcoming interviews include an episode of Biography about serial killer Robert "Willie" Pickton, the subject of Butcher, and an episode of Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice called "Strange Bedfellows," about the murder of Nevada State Controller Kathy Augustine and the subject of King's An Almost Perfect Murder.
King is an active member of the Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, American Crime Writers League, American Society of Journalists and Authors, The Crime Writers' Association (U.K.), National Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists, International Thriller Writers, Investigative Reporters and Editors (I.R.E.), and the International Association of Crime Writers.
King is represented by Peter Miller of PMA Literary and Film Management.
This review is from: The Texas 7: A True Story of Murder and a Daring Escape (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
this book was really good it waz the first book i ever read. well i cant help but feel sorry for the guys well some of then we commited a crime here are there and texas law is very stiked but they did what they had to do to stay free they never wanted to kill any one but it happened it's not like that police officer waldent have done the same to one or all of them but god rest his soul and the of them as well like i said very good book :) :(
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This review is from: The Texas 7: A True Story of Murder and a Daring Escape (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
Interesting book. These guys all got handed the death penalty for the sadistic murder of police officer Hawkins, & rightly so i/m/o. The only one that escaped that was Larry Harper,(shot himself rather than be arrested), whose story is a really sad one. He mom, according to the book was so abusive to him & his brother that his father was recalled from the battlefield to take care of his sons. Then she leaves the family when he's ten. He grows up to be an honor student, part-time teacher etc... starts drinking & becomes a serial rapist. Because of the really stiff laws in Texas at the time (a reaction to the high crime rate of course) he was left with a 50 year sentence for three rapes. I hate to say it but I did finish the book feeling that Harper had gotten an awful deal in life. (Goes without saying nothing justifies rape or crime in general.) Why the others did what they did is still a puzzle to me. Anyway interesting read. Really gives you an inside look at what happens during a prison break. I actually found it such a good read I finished it in one day.
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This review is from: The Texas 7: A True Story of Murder and a Daring Escape (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
I came upon this book about a month ago. I was at my friends house one night when I remembered that I needed a book for my college reading class. I asked my friend if he knew of any good books and he said that the only book he ever liked was called the Texas 7. He let me borrow it and I read it. I thought the book was very well detailed and accurate. It is based on a true story about a prison break and I thought that it sounded interesting. It is a very informative novel on every detail ranging from how the prisoners broke out to the time they were captured over one month later. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure and strategy. I give this book 4 stars.
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First Sentence:
Kenedy is located in the southern part of Texas, some 62 miles southeast of San Antonio. Read the first pageKey Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
picket officer, seven escapees, remaining fugitives, electrical room, seven inmates, aggravated sexual assault, maintenance department, maintenance office, unit administration, institutional division, maintenance supervisor
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Connally Unit, San Antonio, George Rivas, Colorado Springs, Aubrey Hawkins, Donald Newbury, Michael Rodriguez, Patrick Murphy, Radio Shack, Woodland Park, Randy Halprin, Fort Worth, Larry Harper, Larry Todd, Van Zandt, Glen Castlebury, Irving Police Department, Pace Arrow, Dallas County, Gary Johnson, Joseph Garcia, Wade Holder, Auto Zone, Holiday Inn, Jayne Hawkins
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