You are right. Gates Brown was the guy. I don’t know how I mixed him up with Willie Horton. I guess my brain is getting real fuzzy.
Willie Horton baseball player
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Horton_%28baseball%29
Willie Horton current inmate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Horton
Was “Gates” his given name, or an allusion to the prison gates swinging shut behind him?