released after serving just 18 months, but was soon arrested again. During his life, he served time at several prisons, including Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, where he befriended the notorious Al Capone. They had a falling-out in 1936 when Capone refused to join in Whitaker's prison strike, but reconciled later on. Whitaker was skillful at resetting car odometers with a screwdriver. He supplemented his income with this and other confidence tricks. He practiced several confidence schemes, among them impersonation and elaborate false arrest. His advanced education, high intelligence, command of foreign languages, expensive wardrobe, plentiful ready cash, skill at chess, and confident personal manner all aided in fooling many unsuspecting victims. During his life, Whitaker was convicted of several additional serious offenses, including sending morphine through the mail, and sexual molestation of a minor (1950). Returns to chess After his parole, and between his various prison terms, Whitaker became once again a tournament chess player, and for several years was one of the most active competitive players in America and Europe. Games databases which compile competitive events indicate a 16-year gap for Whitaker from 1931 to 1947; he played the 1947 U.S. Open, at Corpus Christi, Texas in his return. However, he qualified through a strong preliminary event into the 1948 U.S. Championship, his first. In the finals, Whitaker could only manage to finish 16th out of 20, in South Fallsburg, New York; he was in his late fifties by this time. The winner was Herman Steiner, and most of the competitors were far younger than Whitaker. Whitaker played four more U.S. Opens, with very respectable results; by this era, the event was run under the Swiss-system tournament format, with much larger fields. At Baltimore 1948, he scored 6/12 for a tied 34th-41st; the winner was Weaver W. Adams. At Fort Worth 1951, he scored 8/12 for a tied 9-13th; Larry Evans won. At Milwaukee 1953, he scored 7.5/12 for a tied 43-55th; the champion was Donald Byrne. And finally at New Orleans 1954, he scored 7.5/12 for a tied 17-23rd; Evans and Arturo Pomar Salamanca shared the title. Whitaker also served as a chess organizer and tournament director during this period, to supplement his income; for example, he organized and directed the 1959 Eastern States Open tournament in Washington, DC. He also travelled in 1956 with the New Jersey-based Log Cabin Chess Club to Cuba, playing first board for the