It often took years, but these infamous bank robberies were finally solved. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the most dramatic heists of financial institutions that were initially tough to crack, but which were solved after an extended amount of time or in unexpected ways.
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00:00 "In order to get this guy, we needed the help of the community, we needed
00:03 somebody to call in with information, something that they had seen or heard."
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down the most dramatic heists of financial
00:12 institutions that were initially tough to crack, but which were solved after an extended amount
00:17 of time or in unexpected ways. "With so little evidence to go on,
00:21 the police and the FBI knew that the crime of the century might never be solved."
00:29 Number 10. The United California Bank Burglary
00:32 The United California Bank Burglary occurred in a city in California named Laguna Niguel.
00:37 On March 24, 1972, a group of thieves broke into the bank's vault by blowing its concrete roof
00:43 with dynamite. They walked out with $9 million in cash and valuables,
00:51 the modern equivalent of $63 million. The robbery went unsolved for several months,
00:56 that is, until a very similar theft occurred in Ohio.
01:00 The FBI was able to link the two robberies, identifying the group and finding the townhouse
01:18 they used as headquarters. They found fingerprints on the dishwasher, and with that, the robbers were
01:23 identified and arrested. One of the burglars, a man named Charles Brockle, testified against his
01:28 conspirators and went into witness protection. Number 9. The Vow of Bank Robbery
01:48 The People's Republic of Poland was rocked by a high-profile bank robbery on August 19, 1962.
01:54 Six men robbed the National Bank of Poland of 12.5 million złoty, making it the largest bank robbery
02:01 in the country's history. While a staggering amount of money, it was all in specific print
02:05 runs of 100 and 500 notes, prompting the Polish government to monitor those bills. And this worked.
02:12 One woman soon attempted to deposit 18,000 złoty in a bank using some of that run of 100 and 500
02:18 bills, prompting the teller to call the police. And then later another woman tried paying for
02:23 a luxury carpet with a $500 bill. Both instances led to an investigation, which in turn, helped
02:29 eventually lead to the arrests of the robbers. Number 8. The Dunbar Armored Robbery
02:34 It's amazing how often stupid mistakes lead to capture, like the aforementioned paying for a
02:39 carpet and marked bills, or say, giving a real estate broker a stack of cash inside a currency strap.
02:44 We were able to later determine the paper type wrappers actually came from some of the money
02:51 stolen from the armored car company. Alan Pace orchestrated the historic
02:55 Dunbar Armored Robbery, which occurred in Los Angeles on September 12, 1997.
03:00 Pace and five others robbed the Dunbar Armored Facility of $18.9 million in cash,
03:06 making it the largest cash robbery in American history.
03:09 They drove off into the night and remained free for over two years. But then, one of the robbers,
03:18 Eugene Hill, paid a real estate broker with cash bound in their original currency straps.
03:23 Hill stored a trunk filled with smaller boxes. He gave one of the boxes to the informant.
03:30 It contained cash, still bundled by bank wrappers, totaling $100,000.
03:39 The broker called the police, Hill was arrested, and he went on to name everyone involved.
03:45 Number 7. The Aguila Blanca Heist
03:48 Before the Dunbar Armored Robbery, it was the Aguila Blanca that held the record for
03:52 the largest cash heist in American history, meaning "white eagle" in English. Aguila Blanca
03:57 occurred on September 12, 1983, with a Connecticut Wells Fargo depot being emptied of $7 million.
04:03 The crime was perpetrated by a Puerto Rican militant group dubbed Los Macheteros.
04:19 An extensive investigation tracked those responsible, who remained on the lam for
04:23 nearly two years. Most of the suspects were arrested on August 30, 1985, with leader Juan
04:41 Palmer eventually being given a 65-year prison sentence. One of the members, Victor Jerena,
04:46 remains free and spent 32 years on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.
04:52 Number 6. Herman Lamb's Robberies
04:59 This actually isn't just one bank robbery, but many, and they were all conducted by a German
05:04 immigrant named Herman Lamb. Lamb is considered a trailblazer in the field of bank robbery,
05:09 influencing the likes of John Dillinger through his famous Lamb technique. When it comes to casing a
05:14 joint before a major robbery, criminals have Lamb to thank, as he devised the idea. Lamb and his
05:19 gang were considered the most successful bank robbers of the 1910s and 20s, stealing more than
05:24 $1 million from dozens of institutions around the country. But just when the authorities were
05:29 starting to put the story together, Lamb botched a robbery on December 16, 1930, and took his own
05:35 life rather than be captured. Number 5. The Nocas Heist
05:39 We again travel across the Atlantic, this time to Norway. The country's largest heist occurred
05:44 on April 5, 2004, when a large group of heavily armed men raided Nocas cash handling. This was
05:50 not a quiet robbery, as the gang used automatic weapons, smoke grenades, and vehicle spike strips
05:56 to fight off the responding police. An officer was killed in the shootout, and the gang walked
06:00 away with the equivalent of $10 million. The case went unsolved for about a year before 13 men were
06:06 charged in 2005. Sentencing was handed down on March 10, 2006, with the men receiving a cumulative
06:13 prison term of 181 years. Number 4. The Bank of Australia Robbery
06:19 Needless to say, it wasn't easy to catch criminals in 1828. The first bank robbery in Australia took
06:25 place on September 14 of that year, with five men robbing the Bank of Australia in Sydney. The
06:30 criminals dug a sewage tunnel straight into the vault and took off with a huge fortune, leaving
06:35 the bank's employees none the wiser. The crime went unsolved for two years, until one of the men,
06:40 William Blackstone, came clean to the authorities. Blackstone informed on his partners in crime,
06:46 resulting in two convictions. The other two did not face punishment, as one was already dead and
06:51 the other had fled Australia. Number 3. Johnny Williams Robberies
06:55 Considered America's most prolific bank robber, Johnny Williams stole from 56 savings and loans
07:01 institutions between 1986 and 1993. One of his robberies took place in Solana Beach, California
07:07 in 1987, when he stole $920 from a drive-thru and shot his gun into the ceiling. This act resulted
07:14 in his nickname "The Shootist," and he would go on to rob many more places with his wife and
07:19 getaway driver, Carol. His most
07:31 profitable robbery also took place in 1987, when he got away with a haul of $43,500.
07:37 But Williams' undoing came in 1993, when an accomplice turned him in for a reward.
07:55 He was sentenced to decades in prison, but was released for health reasons in 2021.
08:01 Number 2. The Society National Bank Robbery
08:04 Many bank robberies are inside jobs, and Ohio's Society National Bank case is one of them. On
08:10 July 11, 1969, a teller named Theodore Conrad put $215,000 inside a paper bag and just walked out.
08:18 The case began on Friday, July 11, 1969, when a 20-year-old Ted Conrad left his job at Society
08:24 National Bank like normal, but was actually carrying over $200,000 with him in a paper bag,
08:30 then, almost like magic, vanished. This incident occurred on a Friday night, and Conrad was already
08:35 long gone when the bank became aware of the missing money the following Monday. Conrad moved
08:39 to Massachusetts and began a new life as Thomas Randall. To finally track down Conrad, who was
08:45 living under the name Thomas Randall in Massachusetts. Marshals don't believe he ever
08:49 did anything like this again, and instead was married in 1982, had a daughter, and took up a
08:54 pretty uneventful life. U.S. Marshals didn't crack the case until 2021, when they matched
08:59 paperwork filled out by Theodore Conrad in the 60s and Thomas Randall in the 2010s. However,
09:05 Conrad had since died of lung cancer, making him the rare bank robber to have gotten away with it.
09:10 Investigators were able to match documents Conrad had completed in the 60s with documents Randall
09:15 completed, including ones when he filed for bankruptcy in 2014. Randall died of cancer in
09:21 May of this year. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get
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09:38 Number 1. The Great Brinks Robbery. The name Brinks is synonymous with security,
09:44 yet one of their buildings was robbed of nearly $2.8 million on January 17, 1950. It was the
09:50 largest robbery in American history at the time, and it remained unsolved for years. And it might
09:55 have remained unsolved if it wasn't for robber Joseph O'Keefe. O'Keefe eventually had a falling
10:00 out with the rest of the group, claiming he was never given his full portion of the money.
10:04 After a wild series of convictions and kidnappings, another member, Anthony Pino,
10:18 then tried to have O'Keefe killed. Eventually, he ratted on his accomplices and had them arrested
10:23 just five days before the statute of limitations was set to expire.
10:27 What do you think was the craziest robbery mystery? Tell us in the comments.
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10:56 [Music]