Benjamin Hoskins Paddock

Early life Paddock was born at St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on November 1, 1926, the son of Benjamin Hoskins Paddock Sr. and Olga Emelia Elizabeth Paddock (née Gunderson).

In the 1950s in Tucson, Arizona, he operated a service station where he sold used cars. He later sold garbage disposal units under the name of Arizona Disposer Company and was connected with the operation of a nightclub in Tucson. In the late 1950s, Paddock volunteered with the Pima County Juvenile Probation Department and in 1959 was named special deputy to handle cases of wayward youths. In one of his early arrests, he was found with a concealed revolver. He robbed another branch of $4,620 ($ in dollars) on July 26, 1960. He was captured and then convicted for the third robbery in federal court in January 1961. During his arrest, he attempted to run down an FBI agent with his car. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. On December 30, 1968, Paddock escaped from the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna in Anthony, Texas. While on the most wanted list, he was described as being tall, weighing , having blond hair, but being balding and frequently shaved. He had green eyes and wore contact lenses or glasses. He also had a scar above his right eyebrow and on his right knee and had a birthmark on his left ankle. He was described as a smooth talker, as arrogant and egotistical, liking cigars, cigarettes, and steaks. He also played bridge, enjoyed gambling, and watching sports, particularly baseball, for which he also worked as an umpire. His nicknames included "Chromedome", "Old Baldy", and "Big Daddy".

After escaping prison in 1968, Paddock moved to Oregon where he took the name Bruce Warner Erickson. In Oregon, he worked as a contract trucker and in drug abuse rehabilitation. He was twice cited for traffic violations and in September 1977 he applied for and was granted a license to open a bingo parlor, but his identity was not uncovered. He then operated a bingo parlor for the Center for Education Reform, a non-profit organization based in Eugene, Oregon.

He was captured and arrested in early September 1978 in Springfield, Oregon, and was eventually released on parole.

In 1987, he was charged by the Oregon Attorney General with racketeering related to his bingo business and fraud for an illegal business he ran rolling back car odometers, but avoided a prison sentence by paying a $100,000 fine ($ in dollars). Later in life, his involvement in bingo earned him the nickname, Bingo Bruce. During the last decade of his life, he lived quietly in Texas where he co-owned a car shop with his girlfriend.

Personal life and death

Paddock married Dolores Irene Hudson (born January 10, 1928) in 1952, and they had four sons, Stephen (1953–2017), Patrick (born ), Bruce (1959), and Eric (born 1960).

In 1989, he filed incorporation papers to open a church named the Holy Life Congregation Inc. but it never was established.

He died of a heart attack on January 18, 1998, in Arlington, Texas. He is buried at the Fort Gibson National Cemetery in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma.