They both went to the Don Jail in Toronto. In 1998 CBC produced a documentary about Boyd's life, and in 2011 Canadian actor Scott Speedman played Boyd in the film Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster. They lived a life of luxury - spending time in the US and around the world - until police caught up to them in 1984. The bank only had 2 employees. [6], The Boyds soon moved again, this time to Glebemount Avenue,[7] and Boyd transferred to yet another new school, this time to Earl Beatty Public School and it was here that Boyd became more of his own person, joining the school's soccer team so that for years his picture hung in the hall of the school. Turns out she was talking with her accomplice, a boyfriend driving the getaway car outside the banks. At the time, the clean getaway (none of the loot was ever recovered) earned it a Guinness World Record for biggest bank robbery in the world. According to Margaret OHara, who was a young girl in Moosomin at the time of the robbery, all the robbers were from the United States and were called The Norman Gang. Beginning in the 1930s, and in some cases even earlier in larger cities and towns, banks installed security mechanisms to protect themselves and their employees from robberies. [16] Boyd was transferred to the Canadian Provost Corps on July 27, 1942, because he was displeased with the army. WebTuscaloosa News (The), 1995. Bank robber proud of precision work, 29 August. Within the bank, everything from cash and securities to bonds and mortgage notes had been stolen. It parades itself before you. "Have a nice Mother's Day," he told the employees before leaving. Rewards for the Vaulter have gradually increased from $10,000 in 2010, to $20,000 the following year, to $50,000 last year. From 1974[1][2] to 1980, they robbed more than 140 banks and stole the equivalent of about $15 million Canadian dollars. Edwin Alonzo Boyd was born on April 2, 1914,[1] four months before the British Empire, of which Canada was part, entered World War I. I love the story of J.L. Agents discovered that he had multiple passports and arrested him. In a later era came John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Willie Sutton and many others. The two men had extracted roughly $60,000 from the Savings Association, and though many historians attribute the robbery to being led byJesse James, it was never officially solved. Wanting to avoid a shootout, he waited until he was sure everyone was asleep. I guess you can blame Stockholm Syndrome here, but this is pretty crazy even to me (someone that totally believes Johnny Utah would join the Dead Presidents in their bank robbing adventures). Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia. One difference of course is that he used a machine gun versus a bow and arrow. Soon another experienced bank robber, Willie Jackson (no relation to Lennie), alias The Clown, arrived at the Don Jail awaiting transfer to the Kingston Penitentiary for a seven-year sentence. [3], "Notorious bank robber turned author Stephen Reid dies at 68", "Stopwatch Gang leader, Paddy Mitchell, dies", "The Life and Times of The Stopwatch Gang", "Leader of Stopwatch Gang remembered at wake", "1970s Stopwatch Gang hid in Oak Creek Canyon - Sedona Red Rock News - Sedona News, Jobs, Things to Do", "Oak Creek Canyon's infamous Stop Watch Gang", "Stopwatch Gang bank robber and author Stephen Reid denied full parole", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stopwatch_Gang&oldid=1118595337, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 October 2022, at 21:29. Two months prior to his death, Boyd told a CBC producer that he had once killed a couple and left their bodies in the trunk of a car in High Park, Toronto, years before his notoriety as a bank robber. It parades itself before you. He would put on a disguise and rob a bank during his lunch break, then return later in the afternoon to lead the investigation. The 15 Greatest Bank Robbers of All Time. After being released at the age of 30 Dillinger joined a gang whose crimes included dozens of bank robberies, three jailbreaks and 10 murders between Sept. 1933 David S. Grant is the author of several books including "Blood: The New Red." This is a list of bank robberies, bank robbers and gangs involved in bank robberies . Victor Peirce, member of the Pettingill family. Bank of Australia robbery, 1828, 14,000 in promissory notes and coins. The first bank robbery in Denmark occurred August 18, 1913 in the bank Sparekassen for Kbenhavn og Omegn at sterbro in Copenhagen. They were known for robbing banks in two minutes or less[1] and getting away with no trace. To support our blog and writers we put affiliate links and advertising on our page. The gang's story is recorded in several television documentaries and books, including Mitchell's autobiography, This Bank Robber's Life, which he wrote from prison. William L. Carlisie. Arthur was a modern day Robin Hood, providing a service for people in need by stealing. Most of the towns residents knew that Green was heavily in debt. Andr Stander finished school at the top of his class and became head of the Criminal Investigation Department in Kempton, South Africa, when he was 31 years old. Whether the raid was an act of war or a bank robbery has been debated ever since. Dunlop died just over a week later and is buried in Tombstones Boot Hill cemetery. This makes the act of tunnelling 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. 14 J.L. In, Pedersen, Anne-Marie , and Edward Butts. In their efforts to track him, investigators have identified over 100 persons of interests and have tried geographic profiling and face-recognition software. Top 10 Things to do Around the Eiffel Tower, 10 Things to Do in Paris on Christmas Day (2022), 10 Things to Do in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. The episode "Scheherazade" of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit may have partially been based on Boyd's last days. Stealing $3 million, or $43 million in todays funds, they were responsible for the most lucrative train robbery in United States history to that point. The apartment the family lived in was then too small so they soon moved to a duplex on Bee Street in Todmorden, an area beyond the Don Valley, in East York. Running out to see what had happened, she found the door to the bank had been blown off completely and the windows were smashed. Hunter. Luke Elliott Sommer (born June 26, 1986, in Peachland, British Columbia) is a former United States Army Ranger and bank robber. Maybe its not balls; maybe cocky is the right word to describe him. In this case, Pace was the guy, having worked for Dunbar as the companys safety inspector. However, the Vaulter got his moniker because, during his initial robberies, he would jump onto the counter to grab money from the teller. His means of robbing banks were never violent; in fact the machine gun he carried was empty. Over the course of the years, the population of the community fluctuated with the harvests, typically staying around the 100 resident number. From 1919 through 1924 the gang robbed dozens of banks, claiming a total of eighty-seven banks (unconfirmed) and six trains (confirmed). He was arrested and released in 1917 on bank robbery charges, which led him into a life of gambling and petty crime. Follow Tu Thanh Ha on Twitter: @TuThanhHaOpens in a new window. WebFamous quotes containing the word canada: In Canada an ordinary New England house would be mistaken for the chteau, and while every village here contains at least several Boyd, under the name John, went to Victoria, British Columbia, where he drove a bus for disabled people and after divorcing Doreen married a disabled woman whom he met on the bus. In June 1940, his regiment crossed the channel to France. One group of bank robbers spent the entire weekend casually robbing a bank vault, drinking wine and partying as they stole millions. In case you havent heard, theres a movie (1967 Arthur Penn film) that details the adventures of Bonnie and Clyde. John Dillinger was almost as famous as Al Capone. Edwin Alonzo Boyd (April 2, 1914 May 17, 2002) was a Canadian bank robber and leader of the Boyd Gang. After the loss of his beloved wife, he was left alone and aimless. The other three, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson, were all killed before being captured. In the robbery, Doc was accidently shot by Glasscock and eventually, the law caught up with the gang and each member was sent to Leavenworth Prison. Armoured car cash delivery by booledozer Wikimedia. On Sept. 27, seven charges of nitroglycerine was used to blow the bank safe open, while also destroying several windows and causing $3,500 in damages inside. Hearst, the heir to millions, was kidnapped and later arrested as an accomplice with the Symbionese Liberation Armyafter they robbed a bank in San Francisco. Hunter robbed his first bank when he was 86 years old. Now, who were those robbers? He can vault over the counter with ease. 1929 Film lobby Card by film Booking Offices of America Wikimedia. WebMENU. But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. Dillinger was charged; however, many claim it was Hamilton who pulled the trigger. He is between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10, and weighs between 170 and 190 pounds. Over a dozen people were murdered by this duo until cops finally killed them. In January of 1934 Hamilton and his crew robbed over $20,000 from a bank and gunned downed an officer. He retired to private life under a new identity. Take a second to support CraigBaird on Patreon! At the time of publishing, Caron was 39 years old and had spent 23 years in prison. They burst into the security office and subdued the only guard on duty Christos Potamitis, by handcuffing him to a railing. He secured a key to the back door from the owner and watched, from a neighbour's house, as Boyd moved into the flat. WebList of the most famous and important bank robbers in history hand-picked by our team of expert editors and ranked by their popularity on On This Day. A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. If you ever got robbed by John Dillinger you knew it because he would have told you so. [4], Reid later became a noted Canadian author after writing Jackrabbit Parole while in prison and then being paroled in 1987. [10] In 1933 Edwin had his first brush with the law when he was picked up for vagrancy by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The thieves had taken about 2.5 million rupeesin cash and 75 million rupees in gold. It was masterminded by its regional vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. 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Modern day pop culture has kept the tradition alive with movies such as Point Break, HEAT and Reservoir Dogs. In real life, they're not always so violent, but they do sometimes rival the kind of genius robberies that the Ocean's 11 crew pulls off. While Boyd and his partner were robbing banks, another more violent gang was also doing the same thing. Joe would work at several ranches over his life and die at the age of 88 in 1989. The mysterious criminal known as the Vaulter Bandit is back in the news and, even by his own brazen standards, his last job was daring. He was also known as the Robin Hood of the Rails or The White-Masked Bandit. He also was captured on cameras. Then he went inside, pulled out a handgun, locked the three staff members into the vault and made off with cash. It was the biggest cash robbery in US history at that time. Booked on charges of being drunk were Doreen Boyd and Kenneth Caustan, 40. Jesse James; 4. Loomis Fargo lost even more cash in a heist performed by its armoured car driver Philip Noel Johnson. That following September, the gang stole $2,500 from a Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway express car that was traveling through Indian Territory. At this point, things quieted down in Canada and the robberies came to an end. Below are the ten most famous bank robberies in the history of robberies. [9], In early 1930 his brothers Gord and Norm Boyd contracted scarlet fever, and while taking care of them Eleanor Boyd became sick herself and died from the disease. Ill admit that Patty Hearst probably belongs more in a Most Interesting versus Greatest bank robbers list, but here you go anyway. In April of 1934 they pulled off a bank job, but the getaway went awry and a shootout ensued. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and Pretty Boy Floyd; 5. When the loud explosion happened, several townspeople awoke and a few were ready to run out and see what had happened. He left the scene of his last robbery, in Mississauga, in a grey or silver Chevrolet Cruze. The Vaulter is the suspect in 19 bank heists in the last five years, mostly in the Greater Toronto Area but also in Hamilton, Ottawa and Calgary. People worth millions dont typically get involved in robbing banks (unless of course that is how you made your millions). In 1976, a group associated with Palestine Liberation Organization took advantage of the chaos in war-torn Beirut to break into the British Bank of the Middle East. A fictionalized film on Boyd's life, Citizen Gangster, was released in 2011; Scott Speedman plays the part of Boyd.[24]. [3][4], The gang was famous for the meticulous planning of their jobs. He's very flexible." Bank robbers became part of American folklore with the rise of the James brothers, the Younger Brothers, Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall Gang. 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. The skies darkened when Cassidy got close, thats how badass he was during the time of the Wild Wild West. Doc Newton spent six years in prison, while Jess Newton served nine months for the train robbery, while his brother Joe served one year. Lists about bizarre real crime stories that are almost unbelievable - but are actually 100% true. [13] On August 20, 1941, almost nine months to the day after Boyd and Thompson married, she gave birth to a son, Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Jr.[14] The baby was two days old when an air raid siren sounded; the bombing resulted in the baby suffering a cerebral hemorrhage from which he died. Willis would continue robbing banks over the next few years with several other men. History of robberies Robin Hood of the towns residents knew that Green was heavily in debt in 1917 bank! 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