List of bank robbers and robberies

This is a list of bank robberies, bank robbers and gangs involved in bank robberies.

Australia

Robbers

• Brenden Abbott
• Darcy Dugan
• Keith Faure
• Frank Gardiner–Ben Hall gang
• Edward "Ned" Kelly
• Gregory David Roberts
• Ronald Ryan
• Andrew George Scott (Captain Moonlite)
• Squizzy Taylor

Robberies

• Bank of Australia robbery, 1828, £14,000 in promissory notes and coins.
• 1984 Sydney bank robbery and hostage crisis

Austria

• Johann Kastenberger

Bangladesh

Robberies

• Bangladesh Bank - February 5, 2016. A group of international robbers allegedly with the aid of some influential officials of the Government of Bangladesh stole as much as $101 million foreign reserve of the central bank named ‘Bangladesh Bank' from its account at the US Federal Reserve Bank. According to the Bangladesh Bank spokesman, a group of robbers hacked the security system of the bank online in early February and stole credentials for payment transfers. The money was channeled to the Philippines where it was sold on the black market and funneled to ‘local casinos’. After the casino laundering, it was sent back to the same black market FX broker who promptly moved it to ‘overseas accounts’ within days. The robbers had sent 35 advices by using the SWIFT codes to the US Federal Bank but five of those were complied with until the theft was unearthed. The news of such a great bank robbery came to light after almost a month on February 29, 2016 by the Daily Inquirer in Philippines. The Government of Bangladesh, more specifically the Bangladesh Bank had been widely criticized for holding this information bearing a great national interest hide for such a long time.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}
• Sonali Bank - On January 26, 2014, a Sonali Bank branch in Kishoreganj was robbed of 169 million Bangladeshi taka after two men tunneled their way into the vault from an abandoned room of a neighboring house.^[7][8]

Belgium

• Antwerp Diamond Heist - February 16, 2003. Almost $100 million worth of diamonds, gold and other jewellery were stolen from the high security underground vaults of Antwerp World Diamond Centre by a 5-man team. In a disciplined, sophisticated manner, they carefully planned and covered all possible loopholes before its execution by training themselves in a replica of the vault. They started their plot months before the heist by renting a space and starting a trading business to blend in.
• Brussels Airport diamond heist - February 18, 2013. Robbers escaped with US$50 million worth of diamonds (belonging, again, to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre) stolen from a Swiss-bound Fokker 100 at Brussels Airport.^[9][10]

Brazil

Burglary

• Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza in 2005 where 3,5 metric tons of paper money with an estimated value of R$ 164 million (USD $ 72.9 million as October 2005)

Canada

• The Boyd Gang
• Roger Caron
• Ty Conn
• Front de libération du Québec
• Ray Lawinger - The Take Back Bandit ^[11]
• Kevin Pinto - the Exchange Bandit
• Monica Proietti
• Stopwatch Gang
• Paddy Mitchell
• Stephen Reid
• Garrett Brock Trapnell

China

Robberies

• Agricultural Bank of China robbery, March–April 2007 the largest bank robbery in China's history (51 million yuan, US$6.7 million).

Robbers

• Yip Kai Foon
• Cheung Tze-keung

Denmark

The first bank robbery in Denmark occurred August 18, 1913 in the bank Sparekassen for København og Omegn at Østerbro in Copenhagen. It was carried out by two men, Danish salesman Lindorff Larsen and a German machinist Güttig, armed with revolvers; the two got away with 9000 Danish kroner. Güttig was arrested August 30 and Lindorff Larsen committed suicide after having fled the police.^[12]

The largest bank robbery in Denmark was carried out against the security firm Dansk Værdihåndtering in Brøndby at 5:30 AM on August 10, 2008. The robbers, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, got away with 62 million Danish kroner, after having knocked down a wall with a bulldozer. The robbery involved elaborate plans to obstruct the police from arriving at the scene; among other things 11 garbage trucks were set on fire and placed on routes from the nearest police stations to the scene of the crime and caltrops were placed on other key routes. The robbers used 3 getaway cars, which they afterwards parked in containers at an abandoned gravel pit for a later pickup, but the police managed to discover their placement, and following a continued surveillance of the area arrested 3 men of Swedish nationality that appeared at the scene a few days later to pick up the cars.^[13] All in all 15 persons of a variety of nationalities and ethnicities, but mainly tied to the Swedish crime scene, were sentenced to prison for a total of 110 years. Only 4 million of the 62 million Danish kroner has been recovered to date.^[14]

Finland

• 1906 Helsinki bank robbery

France

• The Bonnot gang (La Bande à Bonnot)
• Jacques Mesrine
• Albert Spaggiari
• Toni Musulin

Georgia

• 1907 Tiflis bank robbery
• Jaba Ioseliani

Germany

• Red Army Faction
• Andreas Baader
• Gladbeck hostage crisis after a DM 300,000 bank robbery by Dieter Degowski and Hans-Jürgen Rösner on August 16, 1988

India

Labh Singh allegedly masterminded^[15] what was at that time the largest bank robbery in Indian history, netting almost 60 million (58 million rupees-US$4.5 million) from Millar Ganj branch of Punjab National Bank, Ludhiana;^[15] a part of this stolen money belonged to the Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank.^[16][17] It was documented as “Biggest Bank Robbery” under “Curiosities and wonders” in Limca Book of Records.^[18] The loot enabled the Khalistan Commando Force to buy sophisticated weapons^[19] and AK-47 rifles.^[20] Sikh militants often used bank robberies to finance their campaign against the Indian government.^[16]

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that "12 to 15 Sikhs dressed as policemen and armed with submachine guns and rifles escaped with nearly $4.5 million in the biggest bank robbery in Indian history." "No one was injured." A Police spokesman described it as "a neat and clean operation".^[17]

Khalistan Commando Force members who allegedly participated in the robbery included Harjinder Singh Jinda, Mathra Singh,^[21] Paramjit Singh Panjwar,^[22] Satnam Singh Bawa,^[23] Gurnam Singh Bundala,^[24] Sukhdev Singh Sukha, Daljit Singh Bittu,^[25][26][27] Gursharan Singh Gamma^[25][26] and Pritpal Singh.^[28]

• October 28, 2014 Indian robbers tunnelled through 125 feet of earth was dig and concrete to break into a nationalised bank’s strong room and loot cash and valuables worth crores of rupees in Haryana’s Gohana township.^[29]

Iraq

• Central Bank of Iraq, March 18, 2003 - Considered the largest bank robbery in history.^[30] Hours after the start of the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein ordered his sons Qusay and Uday to steal nearly US$1 billion cash from the bank.^[31]
• Dar es Salaam Investment Bank in Baghdad—About US$300 million is stolen on July 12, 2007 by the bank's security guards.^[32]
• Al-Rafidain in Baghdad, July 28, 2009 - One of Iraq's biggest-ever heists. Thieves made off with at least US$3.8 million in a pre-dawn raid on a branch of the state-owned bank in the shopping district of Karrada that left 8 police guards dead.^[33]
• Haitham Yousif, in Baghdad, in 2002-2006, one of Iraq's biggest thieves, an investor of Assyrian-descent named Haitham Yousif tricked his investors and made off with over US$27 million, it is rumored he used to operate at night, and his family was sent to jail and forced to repay the money stolen, he now lives in Europe, and has a bounty of at least US1$ million dollars, at the Duhok Asayish Center.
• Al-Rafidain Bank, al-Mishkhab, 20 miles south of Najaf-About US$5.5 million is stolen.^[34]
• In 2014 in Mosul, the Islamic State stole $425 million after capturing the town.^[35]

Italy

• Valerio Viccei (convicted of Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery)

Japan

• 300 million yen robbery, 1968.
• 540 million yen robbery incident in Fukutoku Bank Kobe branch, August 1994.^[36]
• 600 million yen robbery incident in Tachikawa, Tokyo, May 2011.^[37]

Lebanon

• The British Bank of the Middle East in January 1976 in Beirut, £25 million, the equivalent of £100 million today. This bank robbery was executed by the PLO.^[38]

Malta

• HSBC, 2007, 1 million euros.^[39]

Netherlands

Robberies

• Museon Jewel Heist 2002.^[40]
• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol The biggest jewel and diamond heist in Dutch history at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, where 75 million euros worth of jewels and diamonds was stolen from a secured cargo area. The robbers threatened security employees with guns and drove away in a money transport truck.

Robbers

• Hans Gruyters

Nigeria

• Lawrence Anini

Pakistan

• ABL Karachi, December 13, 2009, 311 million rupees was looted from the Allied Bank Limited (ABL)’s head office.

Poland

• Wołów bank robbery - the largest bank robbery in Polish history.

Norway

• NOKAS robbery

Republic of Ireland

Robbers

• Martin Cahill
• Gerry Hutch
• Kenneth Littlejohn

Robberies

• Bank of Ireland robbery

Romania

• Ioanid Gang

Russia

• Grigory Kotovsky

Slovenia

On the night of October 31, 2005 robbers entered the safety deposit boxes of SKB Bank (Societe Generale) in Ljubljana through the main door and deactivated the alarm system.^[41][42] Robbers disarmed the security guard and opened more than 400 safety deposit boxes. They took at least 32,000,000 euros in gold, precious stones and cash.

In March 2012 two robbers were arrested. One of them was a security guard at the bank.^[43] The court process against two robbers started^[44] in November 2013. At least one robber is still free.

Serbia

• Željko Ražnatović
• Pink Panthers

South Africa

• Andre Stander

Sweden

Robberies

• The Norrmalmstorg Robbery
• Västberga helicopter robbery, 2009, helicopter robbery of a cash depot in southern Stockholm

Robbers

• Clark Olofsson
• Jackie Arklöv
• Jan-Erik Olsson
• John Ausonius – The Laser Man killer and convicted bank robber.
• Lars-Inge Svartenbrandt
• "Military League" - group of brothers who performed 10 robberies in the early 1990's. Fictionalized by the book "The Father" written by Anton Svensson.

United Kingdom

Robbers

• Lee Murray
• Freddie Foreman
• Frankie Fraser
• James Crosbie^[45][46]
• Roy Shaw

Robberies

• Croydon Airport, 1935, members of the Sabini gang stole £12 million (at today's value) worth of gold bullion.
• Heathrow Airport, 1948, Jack Spot's attempted heist of £500,000 (£15 million at 2013 value) of gold bullion and valuables foiled through the intervention of the Flying Squad.
• Eastcastle Street, 1952, Billy Hill's postal van robbery, netted £250,000.
• Great Train Robbery, 1963, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, Bruce Reynolds, Ronnie Biggs etc. robbed £2.6 million.
• Linwood bank robbery, 1969, two policemen killed.
• Baker Street robbery, 1971, London, politically sensitive material taken from safe deposit boxes.
• Bank of America robbery, 1975, Mayfair, London. £8 million stolen; £500,000 recovered.^[47]
• Brink's-Mat robbery, 1983, Heathrow Airport, England, £26 million gold bullion.
• Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery, 1987, £40 million. Gang leader Valerio Viccei caught when he returned to the country.
• Loughton incinerator thefts, 1988–92, more than £600,000 stolen from the Bank of England's incinerator plant in Loughton over a four-year period
• City of London financial messenger mugged for £292m in government bonds, 1990. All but two recovered.^[48]
• Graff Jewellers 1, 2003, £23m in jewellery taken from this Mayfair store.
• Northern Bank robbery, 2004, Belfast, Northern Ireland, £26 million.
• Securitas depot robbery, 2006, Tonbridge, England, £53,116,760.
• Graff Jewellers 2, 2009, Another £40m in jewellery taken.

United States

Robbers

• Edward J. Adams
• Clarence Anglin
• John Anglin
• Aryan Republican Army
• John Ashley
• Earl Edwin Austin
• Harvey Bailey
• Arthur Barker
• Albert Bates
• Clyde Barrow, of Bonnie and Clyde
• Eddie Bentz
• Earl Best
• Naomi Betts
• George Birdwell
• Black Liberation Army
• Stanley Ray Bond
• JACS
• Fred William Bowerman
• Christopher John Boyce
• Ford Bradshaw
• Al Brady
• Robert Brady
• Michael William Brescia
• Everett Bridgewater
• Joseph Brodak
• Henry Newton Brown
• Harry Brunette
• James J. Bulger
• Charles W. Bullard
• Edward Bunker
• Fred Burke
• James Burke (gangster)
• Donald Richard Bussmeyer
• Tommy Carroll
• Butch Cassidy, leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang
• Gerald Chapman
• John Paul Chase
• James Clark
• Jim Clark
• Russell Clark
• Archie Clement
• Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe
• Bernard Coy
• Joseph Paul Cretzer, formed the Cretzer-Kyle Gang
• Patrick Critton
• Pat Crowe
• James Cunniffe
• Anthony Curcio
• William Daddano Sr.
• Emmett Dalton, principal of the Dalton Gang, 1890s
• Ed Davis
• Lawrence DeVol
• Bennie and Stella Dickson
• The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord
• John Dillinger
• Bill Doolin, 1890s
• Thomas Doherty
• Jeffrey Neal Drake
• Frederick Grant Dunn
• Earl Durand
• Egan's Rats
• Aussie Elliott
• Gilbert James Everett
• The Flathead gang
• Fleagle Gang
• Rufus Franklin
• John Franzese
• Ralph Fults
• Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd
• Geezer bandit
• George Jackson Brigade
• Víctor Manuel Gerena
• Russell Gibson
• Fred Goetz
• Eddie Green
• Ralph Guarino
• Carl Gugasian
• Granddad Bandit
• John Hamilton
• Patty Hearst
• Clarence Hill
• Holden-Keating Gang
• Kenny Holmes
• Shon Hopwood
• Cora Hubbard
• J.L. Hunter
• Hunt-Gant Gang
• James-Younger Gang, 1866–1881
• Elmer H. Inman
• David Stanley Jacubanis
• Frank James, one of the two James Brothers
• Jesse James, the other member of the James Brothers pair
• Christopher Jeburk
• Charles E. Johnson
• Morris Johnson
• Philip N. Johnson, $18.8 million of Loomis-Fargo's Jacksonville. FL Office.
• W. D. Jones
• Anthony Michael Juliano
• Alvin Karpis
• Tom Ketchum
• Machine Gun Kelly
• John Allen Kendrick
• Israel Keyes
• Ben Kilpatrick
• Herman Lamm
• Elzy Lay
• George Leonidas Leslie
• Robert Van Lewing
• Loan Ranger Bandit
• Harvey Logan
• Harry Longabaugh, known as "The Sundance Kid"
• James C. Lucas
• David Mack
• Christopher Magee
• Charles Makley
• Candice Rose Martinez, "The Cell Phone Bandit"
• Emil Matasareanu & Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr., North Hollywood shootout
• William Matix & Michael Platt, 1986 FBI Miami shootout
• Mad Hatter (bank robber), 2006–2007
• May 19th Communist Organization
• McCanles gang, 1861
• Ben Golden McCollum
• Henry Methvin
• Midwest Bank Robbers, 1990s
• Vernon Miller
• William Miller
• Bugs Moran
• Frank Nash
• Salvatore Naturale
• Jay Wesley Neill
• George "Baby Face" Nelson
• Newton Gang
• Earl Northern
• Albert Frederick Nussbaum
• Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe
• Sara Jane Olson
• The Order
• Burton Phillips
• Harry Pierpont
• Duane Earl Pope
• Katherine Ann Power
• Phineas Priesthood
• Gerhard Puff
• Reno Gang
• Kenneth "Speedy" Raulerson
• Stanley Mark Rifkin, $10.2 million in 1978, the largest in U.S. history at the time^[49]
• David "Chippy" Robinson
• Leslie Ibsen Rogge robbed a total of $2,000,000
• Verne Sankey
• Frank Sawyer
• Susan Edith Saxe
• John Paul Scott
• Scott "Hollywood" Scurlock
• Mutulu Shakur
• Ted Skeer
• Edward Smith
• Luke Elliott Sommer
• Henry Starr
• Steady B
• The Stopwatch Gang
• Willie "The Actor" Sutton
• Symbionese Liberation Army
• Robert Toye
• Forrest Tucker
• Wilbur Underhill, Jr.
• United Freedom Front
• Homer Van Meter
• Clayton Waagner
• Donald Eugene Webb
• Wheaton Bandit
• McArthur Wheeler
• Whittemore Gang
• Bobby Randell Wilcoxson
• Johnny Madison Williams Jr.
• John Wojtowicz
• Adam Worth
• Jerry Lynn Young
• Cole Younger

Deadly US robberies

• Security Pacific Bank, Norco, California, 1980, deadly shootout between local law enforcement and five bank robbers
• Brink's robbery, 1981, deadly shootout between local law enforcement and 10+ bank robbers populated with members of two revolutionary organizations
• Geronimo bank robbery, 1984, resulted in the deaths of three bank employees and one customer
• 1986 FBI Miami shootout, deadly shootout between FBI and two bank robbers
• North Hollywood shootout, 1997, deadly shootout between local law enforcement and two bank robbers

Large value US robberies

• Bank of the Manhattan Company theft, January 1935, $1.462 million ($25.2 million today), carried out by repeat offender gang (largest value U.S. robbery to that date)
• Great Brink's Robbery, 1950, $2.78 million ($27.34 million today) in cash, cheques and securities (largest value U.S. robbery to that date)
• Pierre Hotel Robbery, 1972, $3 million ($17 million today) in cash and valuables
• United California Bank robbery, 1972, $30 million ($170 million today) in cash and valuables (the current U.S. value record)
• Lufthansa heist, 1978, $5.875 million ($21.4 million today) in cash and jewels (largest U.S. cash robbery ($5 million) to that date)
• Sentry Armored Car Company, 1982, $11 million ($27.0 million today) in cash (largest cash robbery to that date)^{[50][51][52][53][54]} (see Empire State)
• White Eagle, 1983, $7 million ($17 million today) in cash
• 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in Florida, March 1997, $18.8 million ($27.8 million today) in cash (largest U.S. cash robbery to that date)
• Dunbar Armored robbery, 1997, $18.9 million ($27.9 million today) in cash (the current U.S. cash robbery record)
• 1997 Loomis Fargo Robbery in North Carolina, 1997, $17.3 million ($25.5 million today) in cash
• 1998 Bank of America robbery, 1998, $1.6 million ($2.3 million today) cash

Uruguay

• Tupamaros

References