Return of the American Gangster
Pastor Dale Morgan
Return of the American Gangster*
Banks across the US are being hit in a wave of heists by gunmen
flaunting funny hats and Dillinger attitudes
Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 11, 2007
The Observer
The names may have changed, but the grand tradition of American bank
robbers like Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson is
alive and well and enjoying a revival. Now meet the Paparazzi Bandit,
Panama Jack and the Harry Caray Bandit, who robs banks dressed as a
much-loved American sports announcer. The British equivalent would be in
a John Motson costume.
But the criminals are no laughing matter. New statistics reveal that
America is suffering a wave of bank robberies, as many other crimes have
fallen in number over the past decade. Many large cities reported a huge
spike in bank robberies last year: Los Angeles has been dubbed the 'bank
robbery capital of America', with 470 in 2006. Chicago had 284 heists,
up from 2005's previous record of 240. One Chicago bank was robbed twice
on the same day. Dallas and Washington DC both saw bank robberies double
last year.
The crime wave has left the Federal Bureau of Investigation and city
police departments baffled. One theory is that the proliferation of bank
branches in store-front chains has created easy targets for wannabe
criminals.
'It could be that the opportunity is much greater than it once was. More
banks equal more bank robbers,' said a Chicago police spokesman.
Certainly banks have always presented a tempting target for America's
criminals. The first bank robbery on US soil is thought to have been in
Philadelphia in 1798, when a team of thieves hit the Bank of
Pennsylvania and made off with cash worth $1.8m in today's terms. Since
then, bank robbers have never looked back. Through Wild West gunmen such
as Jesse James to the violent 1930s heyday of Bonnie and Clyde, bank
robberies have become part of modern American folklore. They have been
celebrated in lurid newspaper stories and Hollywood myths, often with
the bank robber portrayed as a hero.
That might explain the strange cast of colourful characters that have
hit US banks over the past year. Aside from the Harry Caray Bandit,
there was the Los Angeles-based Paparazzi Bandit, who took pictures of
the bank tellers he robbed. Then there was the chatty and friendly
Hallmark Bandit, famed for asking bank staff how their Mother's Day or
Father's Day had been.
It is not just a craze among young robbers either. The Granma Bandit
tried to rob a Chicago bank with a toy gun while wearing shades and a
sun visor that read 'Princess'. She turned out to be Melvena Cooke, 79.
One thing many of the modern bank robbers have in common is their
unusual headgear. While it allows them to hide their faces from security
cameras, it also gives them a gimmick to help identify them. So in the
past year America has seen Panama Jack (who wore a Panama hat on
heists), the Hardhat Bandit (a construction worker's hat), the Goofy Hat
Bandit (a black fedora) and the Clown Bandit (mask, red wig and red
nose). The latter was caught fleeing a hold-up on a bicycle in full
costume which caught the eye of a passing off-duty policeman.
But behind the funny names lies a serious police tactic. FBI offices
have a deliberate policy of naming bank robbers to generate media
interest and leads. The FBI's Seattle branch has won a national
reputation for the inventiveness and effectiveness of its naming policy
for robbers. 'We've got hundreds of names for them,' said a Seattle FBI
spokeswoman.
One of the most famous was the 'Can You Hear Me Now?' Bandit, who robbed
11 Seattle banks while talking in an irritating manner on his mobile.
Another Seattle nickname was the Grumpy Bandit, whom tellers described
as being in a bad mood. The publicising of his nickname in Seattle
newspapers evidently unsettled the man. When a suspect was finally
arrested, he told cops: 'I robbed the bank. But I'm not grumpy.'
But bank robbery is a serious problem, carried out by dangerous men. One
of Chicago's most wanted is the Wheaton Bandit. He robs at gunpoint,
terrifying staff and customers and threatening to shoot them if they
raise the alarm. Police believe he is either ex-military or an ex-cop,
because of the ruthless efficiency with which he carried out 16 bank
raids, and fear he will eventually kill. There is a $45,000 reward for
his arrest.
And so the reality is grimmer than the gimmicky names. Bank robbery
carries a 25-year prison sentence and most heists do not net much cash.
Though 284 banks were robbed in Chicago last year, the total haul was
$4m - just $14,000 a robbery. Even the feared Wheaton Bandit has stolen
only $150,000 in five years in a very high-risk profession. That means
he earns the equivalent of a $30,000 annual salary (but without
healthcare and with a dramatically lowered life expectancy).
It seems that in modern America bank robbing is a crime that does pay.
But not very much.