Crook Escapes by Masquerading as Lawyer

by **Illuminated One** Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:43 am

SOURCE: http://news.aol.com/article/career-crook-ronald-tackman-escapes-by/695307

(Sept. 30) – A career criminal with a string of hit-and-run robberies to his name escaped from Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday morning by masquerading as a lawyer, the New York Daily News reported.

Ronald Tackman, 54, was charged with six counts of robbery in New York City. He had been awaiting trial on Rikers Island, and showed up for his pretrial hearing in a three-piece suit, said the paper.

Tackman managed to slip down two flights of stairs and gained access to a holding area for prisoners awaiting trial, the News said. There his crisp suit caused him to be mistaken for a lawyer.
"Counselor, what are you doing here?" a court officer reportedly asked him.

At this point, Tackman was essentially free to go. However, he created something of a ruckus on his way out, said the New York Post.

According to the Post, he wandered into the nearby courtroom where Anthony Marshall, son of the the late socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor, is being tried for allegedly embezzling millions from his mother. And there, said New York magazine's Daily Intel blog, which has been covering the Astor trial, Tackman had something of a meltdown, screaming about nuclear bombs.

The fuss sent Marshall and his wife, Charlene, scrambling downstairs to their car. And not long after, said the News, surveillance footage showed Tackman exiting the north entrance of the building.

Tackman, who is not considered especially dangerous, has a long history of escape attempts, said the News. In 1985, he tried to commandeer a prison van crossing the Brooklyn Bridge by using a rubber-band-powered zip gun he had made out of a comb and metal tubing. Earlier, he attempted a similar trick with a fake gun carved out of soap.

"The guy is a legend," one source told the paper.

And what about Tackman's current whereabouts? His lawyer, Joseph Heinzmann, seemed to suggest his client might prove an elusive prey for police. "I don't know where he is," Heinzmann told the paper, "but he's a very intelligent man."