Butch and Sundance were alleged to have been killed in 1908 in South America, though their exact fate remains in question. It took about fifteen minutes for the thieves to leave the World Trade Center, taking with them $1.6 million in cash. One of the fake heads used by the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris bank robbers all during their 1962 escape from Alcatraz. Martinez, an attractive college student, would approach a bank teller while talking on her cell phone. Stolen: $20 million - $50 million. On September 19, 1900, members of the Wild Bunch entered the town of Winnemucca, Nevada. If you ever got robbed by John Dillinger you knew it because he would have told you so. In April 1925, Pierpont was arrested in Detroit and was soon returned to Indiana to face trial. To me, its just natural, given that a bank has a vault full of cash and money makes the world go around. Floyds support from the public was especially evident in Oklahoma, where residents sheltered and protected him, in return for financial largesse, an eventuality which infuriated J. Edgar Hoover. Officially the FBI considered the men dead, drowned in the cold waters off Alcatraz Island, but numerous sightings of the brothers were reported over many years in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. bank. They were able to do so thanks to the driver, who was not an accomplice but was provided along with the vehicle, which had been rented by the two bank robbers. FBI. The brothers were sentenced on federal charges and later received additional time on state charges. Eventually the F.B.I. ", "No. Hunt rushed to the scene to begin investigating what would turn out to be the biggest bank robbery in San Antonio history. Tumey has set up a Kickstarter to fund a book he intends to write about how 'bank robbery changed my life'. James and his brother Frank robbed banks, stagecoaches, trains, and once even a fair. Only one of the robbers wore a mask, the others were easily identified and arrested. One of the main things I learned from research was that an overwhelming number of people are caught because they didn't do it solo. On the way, Bowman stopped in Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. Green was the local postmaster and was of course well known to nearly all of the towns citizens, including Frank. The father of a man who was kidnapped was friends with President Franklin D Roosevelt, and as a result the FBI stepped up their efforts greatly to foil this type of crime. This is how it works in America because the amount of money a bank gives up ($5-$7k on average) per bank robbery is infinitely less than the amount of business they'd lose if shit got wild in a bank full of customers. Each year there are approximately 3,000-4,000 bank robberies. August 6, 2012, The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In December a robbery attempt was foiled when a bank worker pushed an alarm button, forcing the would-be robbers to flee empty-handed, but a week later they were more successful at a bank in Upland, Indiana. He wasnt hurt, but the car was disabled, and soon after he engaged in a chase with police. 9. Kent, UK; 2006. On September 26, 1933, a total of 10 men, including Hamilton, escaped using smuggled guns from the recently paroled John Dillinger. In the late 1920s Lester Gillis, who used the alias George Nelson, was developing a budding criminal career by performing home invasions stealing cash, jewelry, and furs, and robbing stores and taverns. During his first brief stint in prison, the director of research wrote the following: This fellow is a criminal of the most dangerous type. He was arrested after being recognized during the robbery and sentenced to 10 to 20 years imprisonment, which was a very harsh sentence, indeed, for a first time offender. Beginning in late 1924 and stretching into the early spring of 1925 a series of bank robberies throughout Indiana baffled authorities, as bank after bank found itself victim to a gang which simply vanished into thin air following the robberies. Nelson robbed his first bank in April 1930, another in October, and in Chicago that year robbed jewelry from the mayor of Chicagos wife. Its funny how a lot of bank robbers never wear disguises anymore. As such, they've always been pretty intriguing, especially how old-fashioned they are in an age of hacking and cryptocurrencies. Athan G. Theoharis, John Stuart Cox. The robbers left with $6,700 in cash, unwittingly leaving behind another $9,000 safely hidden in file cabinets. On that Friday morning, after months of planning two armed bank robbers entered and robbed the North Hollywood Bank of America branch in California. 7. She started screaming "lock the doors, lock the doors" but I ignored it and just kept walking like nothing was happening. Dillinger buried his friend at the home of Volney Davis and Edna Murray. 8. He was acquitted in both cases, and though Missouri had other cases in which the surviving James brother could have been charged, he was never again brought to trial. He was not, but it was likely that the Sundance Kid was, and if so Cassidy certainly knew about the robbery, which took place as he was in Tipton, Wyoming, making plans for another train robbery. The infamous Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus was one of the nations most notorious prisons when Pierpont was sent there for execution. No one pulled off more armed robberies in New York since Mikhaylich started his holiday spree in 2009. He moved to America shortly before the outbreak of World War I, and became a hold up man; quickly adapting his military training, his study of tactics and his precision and discipline to the art of crime. One of the most famous bank robberies is that of the Coffeyville raid in Kansas. Willie Sutton loved using disguises to rob banks. It was she who labeled him as having a baby face and the sobriquet Baby Face Nelson was quickly bandied about in the press of the day when describing his crimes. The pair robbed numerous banks as well as some gas stations and stores in rural areas. As a young man he enlisted in the US Navy, but was dishonorably discharged after he deserted. He reunited with girlfriend, and partner in crime, Edna Murray before joining Alvin Karpis and the Barker gang, who were at the peak of their criminal success. Considered to be the most sensational bank robberies in India to date. I studied countless reports of other robberies that had gone wrong and people who were caught. Eventually he would do some time (all bank robbers eventually do some time), but that didnt keep Williams from his day job. Needless to say, she got fired. 1988, Americas Own Robin Hood: The Dillinger Legend. Shutterstock. He died after being shot by cops during a failed rescue attempt by his crew (Nash was on his way to prison). The safety deposit raid in 1971 is one of the most baffling in British criminal history, and rumours that its true purpose has been covered up by the British establishment . 4. Safecracker Zed meets his junkie friend after 11 years to rob a bank. Unbeknownst to the three was that they were being monitored by security cameras, the film from which was broadcast that night on national television. Box 146, folder 2. "No threat. Dillinger was portrayed by Jonny Depp in the 2009 film Public Enemies, though the film has some major inaccuracies, such as the timeline of deaths of Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson. Nov 18, 2020. Johnson was sentenced to four life sentences and Neill was again given the death penalty. This makes the act of tunneling into a bank, or other unlawful entry such as forcing the locks, technically a burglary rather than a robbery, but in the public imagination they are one and the same thing for the most part. Sutton carried on his criminal career whilst on the run, but eventually ended up spending more than half his adult life in prison. The men were John, Clarence, and Alfred Anglin, and they did not wear masks. November 1968, Why family believes Alcatraz escapees survived their journey. Wikimedia. However, instead of returning to prison, he went on the run. It was the first known instance of an automobile being used as a getaway car following both an armed robbery and a bank robbery. In the 1920s a surge of bank robberies across the United States began which continued through the Great Depression of the 1930s. An illustration from an 1882 book on the lives of Frank and Jesse James and the Younger brothers. He did a Reddit Ask Me Anything yesterday, and it yielded some fascinating stuff. The young men produced shotguns and ordered the chief cashier, a man named Birge, and his aides to hand over all available cash. On April 23, 1934, the gang were confronted by police and, during a getaway, Hamilton was wounded and died shortly after. Via cbsnews.com. His demise finally came when he attended the Biograph Theatre, in Chicago. The Soboba Grab and Dash was a casino heist straight out of the Hollywood movies. By then Jesse James had been dead for seven years, but the two remaining Younger brothers, Jim and Cole, continued to maintain their silence over any crimes committed by the James brothers, including the Northfield robbery. Frank Nash knocked over 200 banks in his time and is known by many as the most successful bank robber of all time. The riders escaped pursuit by a posse. In 1945 Sutton, along with 11 other prisoners, escaped from Eastern State in a prisoner-dug tunnel that went almost 100 feet . It is important to keep in mind that Butch Cassidy and his "Hole-in-the-Wall Gang" are one of the few successful bands of bank robbers during this time period. Seventy-five stab wounds were inflicted on the three employees, and the stabbings only ended when they were interrupted by the entry of three customers, who were taken to the back at gunpoint and shot in the head. The robbers thought they were going to steal 3 million in cash. Floyd grew up in Oklahoma, and was first arrested at age 18, after stealing $3.50 from a post office. The most famous aspect of the Lamm Technique was casing the bank before the robbery, and planning getaway routes so as to leave nothing to chance. Still, theres got to be something to walking into the prison yard and being asked what you do and reply with Bank Robber. There are much worse things to put on your prison resume. When he was paroled he vowed to never see the inside of another prison. Conrad was a 20-year-old bank teller at the Society National Bank in Cleveland when he walked . The Bureau of Investigation (BOI), formed in 1908, expanded into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1920s and became involved in the investigation of bank robberies and the apprehension of the robbers in the 1930s. As the gang became notorious, Dillinger rose to the top of the list of Public Enemies, with other members of his gang filling out most of the top ten. After staying unidentified for more than 50 years, an infamous bank robber from the USA has finally been identified. Sutton was an accomplished bank robber, although he never carried a loaded gun and never killed anybody throughout his criminal career. Baby Face Nelson was a prominent member of John Dillingers gang who, along with Homer Van Meter, had a particular reputation for violence. As tropes in crime films go, the slick bank heist is one of the most romantic and frequent, ripe for cool cinematography, interesting costume and brazen dialogue. Answer (1 of 2): Let the Countdown begin: 10. Here are 15 of the greatest bank robbers of all time, some with a little fame, others not as much and some the basis for major motion pictures. Also, Starr starred in a silent movie based on his criminal activity titled A Debtor to the Law. Train robberies. He would often flirt with female bank tellers whom he was robbing, and would also sometimes leap over the counter, a stunt he imitated from the movies. The robbers weren't caught until January 1956. Kit R. Roane, The New York Times. Nelson remained on the run with his wife, usually staying at the auto camps which were common in the 1930s. Journalist Smith (Now Go to Hell) delivers a rollicking portrait of his cousin Daniel David Courson, the scion of a prominent evangelical Christian family who is also a notorious bank robber.According to Smith, the Coursons are "a gilded evangelical Christian Camelot," with members serving as megachurch pastors and missionaries in California and Oregon and . They were not in uniform and were not connected to any existing command of the Confederate Army, though they were under the ostensible command of Bennett Young, a former member of Morgans Raiders who had surrendered with Morgan but escaped to Canada. The World Trade Center employees had already been subdued. The earliest recorded bank heist in the States, as far as we know, was in 1798. He conned his way into a program that allowed him out of prison during the day to attend the University of Michigan. This time he escaped through a tunnel along with other convicts, although he was recaptured the same day. Hamilton and the rest of the gang learned that Dillinger had been imprisoned in Allen County prison, in Lima, on bank robbery charges. John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, and several others, were cheered by those who had been hurt by the banks during the collapse of many of them in the early days of the depression. Warsaw Daily Times. AP. ", "I still acknowledge what I've done, but the process and experience of going to prison and finding myself (as well as a purpose in life) has really made it all worth it, relatively speaking. The case eluded officials for decades, until an obituary appeared online and family secrets began to unravel. One of the most famous bank robbers in American History, "Slick Willie" spent 11 years at Eastern State Penitentiary. It is estimated he stole over $2 million from banks. After another robbery three months later, a composite sketch was finally able to be drawn up and . There has to be some disappointment that comes with getting caught because cameras picked up the license plate of a stolen getaway car. When those convictions were overturned (they had been tried together) they have tried again, in separate trials, and again both were convicted. When it comes to weapons, 44.8% of robbers used strong-arm tactics, 36.4% used firearms, and 8.5% used knives or cutting instruments. David S. Grant is the author of several books including "Blood: The New Red." After many successful bank robberies and kidnappings, Davis was captured and charged with kidnapping. After the second gun battle in San Bernardino County, the surviving robbers escaped into the San Bernardino Mountains. FBI. Their point of entry was a tunnel they dug from the sewers. After Pretty Boy Floyd was killed Nelson inherited the designation of Public Enemy Number One. However, he has reportedly already died and was never brought to justice. 1. Volney Davis was the boyfriend of Edna rabbits Murray. ", "Walked in the bank and waited in line like a regular customer. The Burrowing Burglars. Hamilton went on to commit a spree of chaotic, yet lucrative, bank robberies with the Dillinger gang. Lee Murray, who is thought to be the mastermind behind this robbery was caught in 2010 in Morocco. Johnny D. Boggs, True West Magazine. Ted P. Yeatman. No deliberation. Bells and sirens were replaced in many cases by silent alarms, which sent a signal to law enforcement, allowing them to confront the robbers as they exited the buildings, after several instances when robbers reacted to the loud alarms by shielding themselves with employees and customers as hostages. At the time of the robbery, Jesse James was bedridden as he recovered from a chest wound, and while it is likely that the thieves were members of the gang with which Jesse later rode, he was most likely not present at the robbery which later became known as his first. In April of 1934 they pulled off a bank job, but the getaway went awry and a shootout ensued. After being on the run for two years, Nelson robbed his first major bank. With the robbers broadcasting their crime live over the airwaves, it's a mystery why the police never caught the Baker Street gang red-handed. 1964, The Maiden Murder. He started with several banks in New York City and then moved to New Jersey before coming back to the city where he would eventually get caught driving a stolen delivery car. Cassidy was the ring leader of the gang known as the Wild Bunch, a group of Wild West criminals that loved to stick up banks, rob trains and then (presumably) drink whiskey and fight in saloons. In the early afternoon of April 12, 1957, Steven Ray Thomas and Wanda DiCenzi entered the St. Clair Savings and Loan in Cleveland, and while Steven held a teller at gunpoint Wanda stole about $2,000 from the cash drawers, and the two made their escape, driven from the scene by a third accomplice, Rose ODonnell. John Hamilton was hit and died shortly after. He was a master of disguise who often impersonated a postal telegraph messenger, police . He was alone at work when Edward Green entered the bank. Karpis was raised in Kansas and began associating with criminals from an early age. At the time of his death, he was 27 years old. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. The pair robbed banks together during the 1930s. 1. The banks, however, consider this kind of theft an acceptable loss, so that was okay with me being part of the loss that they consider acceptable. Over a dozen people were murdered by this duo until cops finally killed them. Sutton was once asked by a reporter why he robbed banks. "I never felt guilty because I didn't attack or assault anyone. Cassidy ordered the bank vault's location and made away with a box full of money amounting to more than twenty thousand dollars. They impersonated police officers, telling the Sheriff they had come to extradite Dillinger to Indiana. The newly formed group of escapees became the first Dillinger gang. When a man going by the name Brushy Bill Roberts (above, left) surfaced in Texas in 1950 seeking pardon for the crimes of Billy the Kid, the media took notice. The shootout began in the parking lot of the Security Pacific Bank, where one robber was killed, leading the others to steal a car in the lot and lead police on a 25-mile chase. Once the driver realized what was happening, he manipulated the vehicles controls to cause the engine to stall, after they had covered the seven miles aforementioned, and the robbers were forced to continue their flight on foot. ", On the final job that didn't go as planned, "The teller freaked out as soon as I turned to leave the bank. There was some armed resistance from the citizens of the town, and gunfire was exchanged leading to one townsman being killed and another wounded, with one of the raiders, wounded as well. Dillinger buried his friend at the home of Volney Davis and Edna Murray. The robbers shot up more than two dozen patrol cars and damaged a police helicopter. Director: Roger Avary | Stars: Eric Stoltz, Julie Delpy, Martin Raymond, Eric Pascal Chaltiel. He is renowned for his brilliant and efficient style, planning and executing robberies like military operations. Shots were fired at the robbers outside while their three companions were still inside, who shot the clerk in the head and fled. Jesse James. . Here are our sources: The Canadian View of the Confederate Raid on Saint Albans. At 9:24 am, a riddle of bullets was fired by Philip after he spotted a parked police vehicle 60 meters from the building. A crowd gathers at Chicagos Biograph theater after the death of John Dillinger, July 22, 1934. For instance, he has robbed banks dressed as a maintenance man, a postman and a police officer. They remained at large until two days later when they were encountered in the general region of the second shootout. By 1909 automobiles were being used to race across the country, as did this Model T, and to rob banks. After the cashier reluctantly complied the men made their escape with about $32,000, most of it in gold. W. D. Jones, Playboy Magazine. The bank was closed for renovations at the time, so the gang took its time, spending days breaking in and several hours emptying boxes. The two were killed in an ambush in Louisiana on May 23, 1934, and the murderous Clyde Barrow and blithe Bonnie Parker remain romanticized in the twenty-first century. They were the first bank robbers to be caught through the use of security cameras, though they were far from the last, as local newscasts have broadcast the video images of thieves on a routine basis ever since. Bank robbery statistics from 2020 report there were zero bank robberies for 12 months in South Africa. Theodore J. Conrad pulled off one of the biggest bank robberies in Cleveland's history. He was pissed, of course, because it wasn't closing time, and he thought he had gotten there too late. For John Hamilton, robbing banks wasnt his first choice. 10. Anyway, here are the stories of five famous bank robberies. After this, Nelson began to rob banks with Homer Van Meter and Eddie Green. Sam Bass 1851-1878. Martinez, an attractive college student, would approach a bank teller while talking on her cell phone. After this he had difficulty holding down a job and began to plan a robbery with a friend. The depredations of the roving criminal gangs of the depression years led to bank robbery becoming a federal crime in 1934, if the bank was a National bank or a member bank of the Federal Reserve System. In April 1930, Nelson robbed his first bank and got away with $4000. Often several different gangs occupied it simultaneously, though they did not coordinate their various nefarious activities. Guarino brought in three additional known criminals of his acquaintance to assist in the robbery, which was of a Brinks shipment of cash, which was to be taken to the eleventh floor facility after arriving at the complex. Moments later, cops were racing through San Isidro, a leafy, affluent suburb north . Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. During one robbery Nelson was reported to have sprayed innocent bystanders with machine gun bullets while screaming wildly. On January 17, 1950, 11 men steal more than $2 million ($29 million today) from the . Most bank robbers, at least the popular ones, had characteristics that set them apart. His reply was: Because thats where the money is. Maybe its not balls; maybe cocky is the right word to describe him. They fled to the north. The exact number of men who entered the town and gathered together in front of the Clay County Savings Association differs; according to accounts it was anywhere from ten to fourteen. Dillinger wanted to be more famous than Capone and let everyone know who he was. Photo: Stanislav Kozlovskiy / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0. Via: The Richest. He was paroled in 1932, and began to commit small time robberies with Parker. They were the ultimate on the run couple living on the farthest point of the ledge. They then left the bank with about $7,000 in mostly small bills. He was buried by Dillinger. Starr liked to rob banks during the day, sometimes with his picture pasted on a Wanted Man poster on the very walls of the banks he robbed. It was not their first bank heist, but it was the first in which they used the threat of force. Before the American Civil War, most thefts from banks were burglaries, among them the taking of over $150,000 from the Bank of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1798, when the thief or thieves entered the bank after hours, leaving no sign of force. Modern day pop culture has kept the tradition alive with movies such as Point Break, HEAT and Reservoir Dogs. Knightsbridge Security Deposit Robbery: The "Italian" Work. Parker was soon arrested during a botched robbery of a hardware store, although she was soon released having not been charged. They were pursued by a hastily formed posse, and later by Pinkertons, but they eluded the chase. In Indiana, Van Meter robbed a police station with Dillinger. Online, The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition. Whoever the culprits had been, they had burrowed through 100 feet of soil from a nearby sewer drain, and had drilled . Though he's probably one of Texas's most famous outlaws, Sam Bass is widely regarded to have been a rather inept criminal. For most of the shootout, the deputies had been outgunned by the bank robbers and changes to the arming of the San Bernardino Sheriffs Department were the direct result of the gun battles following the robbery. Jay, Clarke, Universal Press Syndicate, Chicago Tribune. 1. Moral sense is perverted and he has no intention of following anything but a life of crime He is a murderer at heart, and if society is to be safeguarded, his type must be confined throughout their natural lives.. Horse thievery. Eric A. Aguilera and his accomplish Luda Ramos robbed The Soboba Casino in Las Vegas in 2005. May 2, 2004, Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend. 8. Sutton later answered the question, after admitting he never said the famous quote: Why did I rob banks? September 25, 1992, The Norco Bank Robbery. I don't use that to make bank robbery "okay" but that's what made it okay for me at the time. During the sixties, Williams was linked to over 60 robberies across the East Coast and Midwest. At the time of his death, he was 31 years old. The story is unsupported by evidence and was probably created by Floyd, who hated the nickname Pretty Boy. Whilst incarcerated he became embittered against society, and began to mix with notorious criminals such as Harry Pierpoint and James Oklahoma Jack Clark. Most Famous Thieves in History: 1. The trio then proceeded to rob a bank in Minnesota for $32,000. They were shot over 50 times, including numerous headshots on each corpse. Central Bank of Iraq by urrizato - Wikimedia. He began to associate with big time Kansas City mobsters. Dillinger in particular exploited the image by robbing banks but not the customers who were present when he committed his crimes (he was not above stealing their cars though). A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. James was not positively identified by any witnesses (though he was well known in the area), and none of the money was ever recovered. Karpis continued his armed robbery career, although it became more and more difficult for him to escape capture. David lives and works in New York City. The gang even participated in kidnappings, however this proved to be their downfall.
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