Back in Time Today
Throughout history, bank heists have captivated our imagination and made headlines worldwide. These bold crimes combine meticulous planning, nerves of steel, and sometimes incredible luck. From underground tunnels to insider jobs, criminals have devised ingenious methods to steal millions. While we don’t celebrate these crimes, the stories behind them reveal fascinating insights into criminal psychology and security vulnerabilities.
1. The Baker Street Burrow
Radio chatter foiled what could have been the perfect crime in 1971 London. A gang rented a leather goods shop two doors down from Lloyds Bank and spent weekends digging a 40-foot tunnel to the vault. They brought in specialized equipment to cut through the concrete floor.
The thieves made off with nearly £3 million (about £40 million today) from safety deposit boxes containing cash, jewelry, and other valuables. A ham radio enthusiast accidentally picked up their lookout’s walkie-talkie conversations and alerted police.
Though authorities arrived at the scene, the robbers had already vanished with their loot. The heist inspired the 2008 film “The Bank Job” starring Jason Statham.
2. The Brazilian Tunnel Masters
Patience paid off for the criminals behind Brazil’s most ambitious bank robbery. In 2005, a gang posing as a landscaping business spent three months digging an 80-meter tunnel from a rented house to the Banco Central in Fortaleza. The tunnel featured lighting, air conditioning, and wooden supports.
The crew broke into the bank’s vault over a weekend when it was closed. Without triggering any alarms, they removed five containers holding 160 million reais (about $70 million) in used, untraceable bills.
Police only discovered the crime on Monday morning. Though authorities eventually arrested several suspects and recovered about $8 million, most of the cash vanished forever.
3. The Sewer Escape Artists
Five armed men walked into Banco Río in Buenos Aires on January 13, 2006, appearing to be ordinary robbers. “We’re going to be here for a while,” they told terrified hostages, creating a standoff with police that lasted hours.
Behind the scenes, accomplices were emptying 143 safety deposit boxes in the vault. The gang had spent months digging a tunnel connecting the bank to the city’s sewer system. When negotiators finally stormed the building, they found a note: “In a neighborhood of rich people, without weapons or grudges, it’s just money, not love.”
The thieves escaped with $20 million in valuables through their underground passage and into a boat waiting in the sewer.
4. The Vanishing Iraqi Millions
Baghdad, 2007: guards arrived at Dar Es Salaam Bank to find a staggering $282 million missing. No forced entry, no broken locks, no security alarms triggered. This wasn’t a traditional heist but an inside job of breathtaking scale.
Bank employees had systematically emptied the vault, loaded the cash into vehicles, and disappeared without a trace. The theft occurred during a period of intense conflict in Iraq, creating the perfect cover for such a massive crime.
Despite international investigations, neither the perpetrators nor the money were ever found. Some speculate the funds were funneled to insurgent groups or smuggled out of the country through shadow networks operating amid the chaos of war.
5. The Playboy’s Vault Raid
Valerio Viccei lived for thrills, fast cars, and easy money. In 1987, this charismatic Italian gangster walked into Knightsbridge Security Deposit wearing an expensive suit and requested to rent a safety deposit box. Once inside the vault, he pulled out a handgun.
Accomplices joined him, overpowering guards and forcing staff to open the vault. For hours, they systematically emptied nearly 4,000 safety deposit boxes. The haul included cash, jewelry, and gold worth an estimated £60 million.
Viccei fled to Latin America but couldn’t resist returning to England for his beloved Ferrari Testarossa. Police arrested him during this fateful trip, ending his brief reign as the perpetrator of Britain’s largest robbery.
6. The Family Hostage Plot
February 21, 2006 began as an ordinary evening for Colin Dixon, manager of the Securitas depot in Kent, until fake police officers pulled over his car. Simultaneously, another team kidnapped his wife and young child from their home.
Using this leverage, the gang forced Dixon to provide access to the depot, where they bound 14 employees with cable ties. For the next hour, they loaded £53 million in cash onto a truck. CCTV footage later showed the military precision with which they operated.
Police eventually arrested the mastermind, cage fighter Lee Murray, in Morocco. While most of the money was recovered, this remains the largest cash robbery in British history, notable for its brutal efficiency and cold calculation.
7. The Dynamite Specialists
Master thief Amil Dinsio believed he’d found the perfect target in 1972: a poorly secured vault in United California Bank rumored to hold Nixon’s illegal campaign funds. His crew traveled from Ohio to California, renting a house near the bank in Laguna Niguel.
Using dynamite and expert safecracking skills, they blasted through the reinforced concrete roof of the vault over a weekend. Inside, they methodically drilled into hundreds of safety deposit boxes, escaping with $9 million in cash and valuables.
The FBI tracked them down through a surprising clue: a rare brand of adhesive tape used at the crime scene that was purchased in Ohio. This spectacular heist later inspired scenes in the movie “Heat” with Robert De Niro.
8. The Dictator’s Last Withdrawal
Hours before American bombs began falling on Baghdad in 2003, Saddam Hussein made one final bank withdrawal. His son Qusay arrived at Iraq’s Central Bank with a handwritten note from his father authorizing the removal of nearly $1 billion in cash.
Bank officials watched helplessly as government trucks were loaded with wooden crates containing $900 million in $100 bills and €90 million in euros. No masks, no weapons, no elaborate plans—just raw power exercised in its final hours.
When American forces captured Saddam months later, they discovered $650 million hidden in walls at one of his palaces. This technically legal but morally outrageous theft remains the largest bank robbery in history.
9. The Inside Man’s Perfect Plan
Allen Pace worked as a safety inspector at Dunbar Armored’s Los Angeles facility, memorizing security protocols and camera blind spots. On September 12, 1997, he let five childhood friends into the building during the night shift.
The crew ambushed guards during a scheduled cash count, quickly subduing them with no shots fired. For the next half hour, they loaded $18.9 million in cash into a U-Haul truck. Pace disabled the facility’s cameras and knew exactly which bags contained the most money.
The perfect crime unraveled when one accomplice gave a real estate broker some of the stolen bills with original cash straps still attached. Six years later, authorities had recovered only $5 million of the stolen funds.