Aryan Brotherhood Killer Thomas Silverstein #truecrime

Tom Silverstein

Most criminals fear prison- whether it’s the lost time, bad food, crappy living conditions, or fights, but for the unaffiliated there is a bigger threat- prison gangs. There are a handful that have become household names through horrific violence and their reach into the free world, but one has become more notorious than most- the AB. Their reputation was carved with homemade knives and racial politics. One of the men who led this vicious organization was considered so dangerous after multiple murders behind bars including that of a guard he was moved to a special cell block reserved for the worst of the worst . A life of crime that began at 14 ended with 36 years of solitary confinement.

Thomas Silverstein, AKA Terrible Tom

The man who would become one of the most feared prison inmates of all time was born in Long Beach California on February 4 1952. His mother, Virginia Conway had divorced Thomas’s biological father and gotten remarried to a man named Thomas Conway. By the time her son was 4 years old, Virginia had married for a 3rd time, this time to a man named Sid Silverstein who would adopt the boy.

Thomas was a quiet child and described his childhood home as an angry and violent place. Virginia had spent time in prison for robbery and was known to be physical with her children especially when she was drinking. Silverstein would describe horrific abuse including her forcing him to drink urine after he wet the bed when he was young. Another time, when he had been beaten up by a bully she grabbed the other boy and told Thomas that if he did punch him back she would use her belt on him.

Unable to find an outlet for his rage towards his mother, Thomas once nearly strangled her pet chihuahua. In high school, he began to push back against the beatings. But this would often lead to his mother and her husband to tag team the boy, in at least one case leaving permanent scars.

Thomas took the lessons of violence to heart and at age 15 he got into a fight with a cop which landed him his first trip to prison. As a juvenile, Silverstein was sent to the California Youth Authority or as it is nicknamed today, Gladiator School. This was in 1967, just as racial tensions in the prison system were reaching a boiling point.

Silverstein would later tell how he saw immediately that to survive being incarcerated a person had to fight. The prisoners who tried to stay out of the mix and just do their time often became targets. 4 years later at 19, Silverstein found himself at San Quentin. With the racial situation, the teenager was forced to group up with others like him. It was around this time that Thomas began to associate with the AB.

After 4 years, when he was released, Thomas was ready to start his true criminal career. He got together with his former step dad, Thomas Conway and a cousin named Gerald Hoff and the 3 men began committing armed robberies. In 3 crimes, they were able to get a little over 10 grand, for which they were soon arrested. Now facing federal time, a 25 year old Silverstein was sent to Leavenworth prison in Kansas to serve 15 years in March of 1977.

The illegal activities were under the firm control of the prison gangs, who used extreme violence to enforce their will. On February 17, 1979 a man named Danny Edward Atwell stumbled out of his cell with multiple stab wounds. Guards would hear from inmates that he had refused to have his girlfriend mule drugs into the prison and that the brotherhood had him taken out for it, with Silverstein named as the hitman. Though years later this conviction would be overturned due to being based solely on inmate testimony, at the time it led to Silverstein being sent to a different prison- Marion Federal Penitentiary in Illinois.

If Tom truly had nothing to do with the murder, he would have truly felt like the system was set against him. This would explain his continued allegiance to the Brand and willingness to participate in their violence. A member of the DC Blacks prison gang named Robert Chapelle would end up dead on November 22 1981 with Silverstein and another inmate named Clayton Fountain were convicted for the strangling.

Clayton was another high ranking member of the brotherhood with a violent reputation. He would end up taking 4 lives while behind bars, one of which was a guard killed only hours after Silversteins most infamous crime. In his later years he became a religious scholar and earned several degrees.

Like the murder at Leavenworth, Silverstein would vehemently deny any part in Chapelles death and another inmate named Norman Matthews even confessed in open court. This did not stop Silverstein and Fountaon from earning a life sentence as well as animosity from the African American gangs and inmates.

Soon after the death of Chapelle, a leader of the DC Blacks arrived at Marion. Raymond Smith had gone by Cadillac on the streets, but behind bars he would adopt a new nickname- the sword of justice. smith made it known that he planned to get revenge for Chapelle and there were 2 documented attempts on Solversteins life despite the intense control and security of the prison.

Thomas tried to convince Smith that he was not to blame for Chappelles death, but it was not effective. On September 27 1982, Silverstein would one again team up with Clayton Fountain to neutralize the threat. With homemade knives they would escape from an exercise pen and inflict 67 stab wounds in Smith then the two gangsters paraded the body around the cell house, to show that they had no fear of the staff and to strike terror into the other inmates.

The strife between the racial groups in the prison escalated after this brazen murder and the guards saw terrible Tom as a major catalyst for the tension. Since he had apparently been able to continue committing heinous acts of violence under the strictest control, the guards began paying special attention to him.

One of the officers tasked with controlling the gang leader was a 51 year old man named Merle Clutts. There are multiple stories for why Tom wanted to attack the 19 year veteran guard- some say that he had threatened to give Silverstein to his rivals which would have been a death sentence. While others say it was because Clutts had taken his drawing pencils and destroyed his art. However, an investigation by the FBI cleared Clutts of any wrongdoing.

Whatever the reason, Silverstein wanted to attack the guard and put a plan into action. On October 22 1983, just over a year after the attack on Smith, Tom was being escorted back to his cell from the shower by Merle Clutts. Stopping at a friend named Randy Gometzs cell, Tom rested his hands on the bars as he spoke to the other inmate. Gometz slipped him a cuff key and a knife then Silverstein whirled around and attacked, stabbing the older man around 40 times. When he was done, Tom dropped the weapon and surrendered to the other guards.

Marion prison went on a hard lockdown which would last years, but this was not the last of the craziness regarding Silverstein. In 1987, Tom was locked down in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Georgia. Remeber the beginning of Scarface when Cuba sent a huge number of criminals to the US including Tony Montana? Well a lot of them continued committing crimes and were subsequently sent to us prisons.

The Cuban government agreed to take back a few thousand of their citizens and 1400 of those facing deportation were incarcerated in the Atlanta prison. They were not at all happy about being sent back to a failing nation and so without an alternative means of protest they rioted and took over the prison on November 23 1987.

The rioters quickly took dozens of hostages and broke open cells doors and the gates that divided the different cell blocks. Interestingly, the prison pharmacist said that they did not raid his supplies and the hostages reported being treated fairly well in many cases. One inmate was shot during the takeover, but even the armed guards could not stop the detainees whose crimes ranged from arson to murder.

One of the cells that was broken open was the small chamber where Thomas Silverstein had been housed since his last murder. He had only been allowed out for one hour of recreation a week under a 4 guard escort. Even the Cuban detainees knew that Silverstein was different from other inmates and kept a close eye on him. Meanwhile outside the prison, the gathered fbi and military personnel worried that he might become a leader of the inmates and rally them together.

While the Cubans kept Silverstein under guard, he was still quite busy as one report has him putting together a small glider that was powered with a weed eater engine. These vehicles are sometimes referred to as ultra lights, but this one would never take flight. In regular radio communications, the negotiators made it clear that they wanted silverstein out of the mix.

Hoping to improve the chances of their demand being accepted, the Cuban detainees drugged the ab leader and murderer then turned him over to authorities a few days before they surrendered. News of the elites soldiers arrival scared the rioters and on December 4 they freed the last hostages and submitted to authorities.

Silverstein was moved over to Leavenworth prison where he would spend the next 18 years. At first he was kept in his underwear and deprived of any belongings. This would be loosened once prison officials realized it was harder to control him if he didn’t have anything they could take from him such as his art materials. In 2005 the Kansas prison was designated as a medium security and Tom was moved to his final destination- the ADX Supermax in Florence Colorado. He spent his time under what is referred to as “no human contact” status.

This true crime documentary examines the crimes, the killer, and the victims.

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