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10 Most Famous Robberies in the US

Bank robbery is a federal crime in the United States, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation defines the act of robbery as taking or attempting to take property through the use of, or the implied use of force.

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.

 Bank robberies are a major plot device in films, particularly the once-popular western genre.

In reality bank robberies in the American western frontier days were relatively rare.

Train and stagecoach robberies were more common since they could be carried out in remote locations, without having to contend with the inconvenience of local law enforcement.

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. In a later era came John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Willie Sutton and many others.

1. Sentry Armoured Car Company Robbery -$11million

Armoured car cash delivery by booledozer –

On December 12, 1982, at about 11:00 p.m., a pair of men in ski masks cut through the roof at Sentry, an armoured car company in the Bronx.

They burst into the security office and subdued the only guard on duty Christos Potamitis, by handcuffing him to a railing.

They cracked the money room with a crowbar and bolt cutters, and they left with $11 million.

The robbers’ knowledge of the building’s layout, security system, alarms and garages all pointed to an inside job.

The FBI claimed jurisdiction since the money was federally insured. Chrisos Potamitisthe lone guard on duty at the time was arrested after the administration of polygraphs. 

 Potamitis and 3 friends; Demetrious Papadakis, Steve Argitakos, and Eddie Argitakos (Steve’s son, and the crime’s alleged mastermind) faced trial in October 1983.

 $1 million was recovered from a closet at the home of Papadakis’s in-laws. About $9 million of the take remains unaccounted for.

It was the biggest cash robbery in US history at that time. Five of the perpetrators were sent to prison, but the authorities managed to recover only $1.5 million of stolen money.

2. Loomis Fargo Robbery – $17.3

Photo by Vmenkov –

This heist inspired a comedy titled Masterminds.

In 1997, within a period of seven months,  Loomis Fargo was hit twice.

It was masterminded by its regional vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. Eventually, eight people were convicted for this crime, with as many as sixteen others proven of having indirectly helped them.

Ghantt loaded more than $17.3 million into a branded truck then went on to move the cash to private cars with his associates.

After that he crossed the border into Mexico, taking $50,000 with him (the maximum that could be taken without authorization).

 His associates were to hide the cash until the heat was off.  Ghantt was considered to be the prime suspect as he was the only missing employee. He also was captured on cameras.

Further investigation unveiled the connection between the gang and the whole crime scheme. Nearly $2 million of stolen cash is still missing to this day.

3. Loomis Fargo Robbery  Reloaded- $18.8 million.

vault by Conrad Poirier-

29th March 1997 was approximately Seven months before the crime described above.

Loomis Fargo lost even more cash in a heist performed by its armoured car driver Philip Noel Johnson.

He got rid of two of his co-workers leaving them handcuffed in different locations, hid the money, and moved to Mexico.

In August he tried to move back to the U.S. but due to his suspicious responses to Customs Agents’ questions, he came under the scrutiny of the authorities.

Agents discovered that he had multiple passports and arrested him.

 in his storage shed was $18 million.

4.  Dunbar Armoured Car Company Robbery- $18.9

6 armed men stole a record $18.9 million in cash.

Allen Pace III was the brains behind the operation that involved five other associates.  

A robbery of this magnitude often involves someone with inside knowledge.  In this case, Pace was the guy, having worked for Dunbar as the company’s safety inspector. 

he secured pertinent information regarding daily operations, building security features, and schedules of Dunbar’s fleet of armoured delivery vehicles.

Though fired, he had already provided the group with detailed floor plans of the facility, locations of cameras to avoid, and door keys to critical areas.

On the night of Friday, September 12, 1997, Pace and five of his old friends got inside the facility by subduing the guards and slipping through the cameras unnoticed.

It took just about half an hour for the robbers to load millions of dollars into their truck, as Allen Pace knew which bags contained the highest denominations.

He also took care of the recording devices for the cameras, taking them away.

The robbers carefully laundered the money through property deals and phoney businesses.

A transaction using a stack of cash with the original currency straps sold out the perpetrators.

Nevertheless, only  $5 million of the money stolen cash was recovered.

Finally, the cleverest of criminals are sometimes victims of their own carelessness.

5. United California Bank Robbery -$30 million

Image by from

On  24 March 1972 Professional burglars Amil and James Dinsio with their nephews, brother-in-law, and two other associates, who were good at disarming the alarms, pulled off the largest heist in U.S. history.

They used dynamite to blast a hole in the roof of the safe deposit vault at United California Bank and looted $30 million in cash and valuables.

They could have probably run away with the cash, but they got greedy and tried to perpetrate a similar heist in Ohio.

The investigators linked these two heists and figured out that the gang travelled to California using their real names.

Later officials found a townhouse the robbers rented in California to stage their heist.

 Investigators recovered the burglars’ fingerprints in the dishwasher. 

6.  The St.Albans Raid

In early October 1864, former soldiers of the Confederacy who had fled to Canada began to gather in the small town of Saint Albans, Vermont.

It seemed, they were under the command of Bennett Young, a former member of Morgan’s Raiders who had escaped to Canada.

Young ordered the simultaneous robbery of the three banks in the town. On October 19 the citizens of the town were held at gunpoint on the town common while the raiders robbed the banks.

the United States government protested to the British authorities the raiders were arrested in Canada and the money seized.

The raiders protested that the action had been a legitimate act of war and the Canadian authorities released them but returned the money to Saint Albans.

Whether the raid was an act of war or a bank robbery has been debated ever since.

7. First Malden Bank Robbery- $5000

Armed robber by the Kobal collection –

The first armed robbery of a bank in the United States.

Frank Eugene Converse, whose family later founded the Converse Shoe Company was a seventeen-year-old clerk at the First Malden Bank.

He was alone at w Decork when Edward Green entered the bank. Green was the local postmaster. Consequently,  he was well known to nearly all of the town’s citizens, including Frank.

 Most of the town’s residents knew that  Green was heavily in debt.

Green’s intention was to rob the bank leaving no witnesses.

After ensuring that the teenager was alone in the bank, Green shot him in the back of the head and left with about $5,000.

Green was not a suspect at first, the citizens of Malden unable to believe that a man in his position was capable of such a heinous crime.

As it became evident that Green was paying off his debts, the townspeople began to wonder where the money had come from.

 In February 1864, Green admitted to committing the murder and robbery.

Further,  he informed the authorities where the remaining money was hidden.

8. Clay County Savings society Robery-$60,000

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On February 13, 1866, a Tuesday, a group of riders rode into Liberty, Missouri.

Two gang members entered the bank while the rest of the gang waited outside. The bank only had 2 employees.

The two men had extracted roughly $60,000 from the Savings Association, and though many historians attribute the robbery to being led by Jesse James, it was never officially solved.

No witnesses positively identified James.

9. The Northfield, Minnesota Raid

The Northfield, Minnesota raid ended the career of the Younger Gang.

The gang included Jesse and Frank James and the Younger brothers they robbed banks, trains, stagecoaches, town fairs, stores, and other victims from around 1867 until 1876.

 One clerk refused to open the safe, stalling the robbery while the other fled out the back door wounded at the shoulder. The wounded clerk raised the alarm.

The failed robbery and the resulting pursuit brought all of the Younger gang to heel, except the James brothers who separated from the rest and fled to Missouri.

The pursuit included the local militia who killed or captured the remaining members of the gang.

The only money the gang managed to take during the robbery was a few bags of nickels.

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.

10. Hole in the Wall Gang- $32,000

Tom O’Day, alias Joe Chancellor, member of the Hole in the Wall gang  –

Several criminal gangs had hideouts in the Hole in the wall pass in Wyoming as it was easy to defended and difficult to approach position.

The most famous of the gangs which used the pass as a hideout include the Wild Bunch led by Robert Leroy Parker, also known as Butch Cassidy, and his partner Harry Longabaugh, known to history as the Sundance Kid.

On 19th September 1900, members of the Wild Bunch entered the town of Winnemucca, Nevada. T

Three men entered the First National Bank and demanded that the cashier, George Nixon, open the safe and give up the gold coins within.

After the cashier reluctantly complied the men made their escape with about $32,000 most of it in gold. Pinkertons pursued them but they eluded the chase.

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.

Alarm buzzers and bells, which rang loudly inside and outside of the bank, were one of the earliest.

The bells notified law enforcement of a robbery taking place in the bank, and often caused the robbers to flee without obtaining any, or at least not very much, cash for their efforts.

Silent alarms that send a signal to law enforcement allowing them to confront the robbers as they exited the buildings replaced bells and sirens.

Then came CCTVs.