Robbery

HISTORY

When ancient Romans had something stolen from them, they would "transfer" ownership of their robbed items to a deity, so as to make the god responsible for punishing the thief.

In 1699, a robber could be sentenced to death in the UK for shoplifting to the value of five shillings.

Pearl Hart was one of the few female outlaws of the American Old West. She once held up a stagecoach to buy medicine for her dying mother. Armed with a Colt 44, Pearl netted $430,

Hart performed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Globe, Arizona on May 30, 1899.

Pearl Hart attired in men's clothing

The earliest recorded criminal use of a getaway car was after a robbery at the Société Générale Bank in Paris in 1901 when the robbers fled in a limousine.

In 1964, three amateur jewel thieves stole $400,000 worth of jewels from the American Museum of Natural History. Using a glass cutter, duct tape, and a squeegee, they were able to take the world's largest sapphire, the world's most perfect ruby, and the largest black sapphire.

In 1971, burglars broke into an FBI office by writing a note that said "Please don’t lock this door tonight" and plastering it onto the front door. It worked and they stole several files.

Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, Wai-Chiu "Tony" Ng, and Benjamin Ng gunned down fourteen people in the Wah Mee gambling club at the Louisa Hotel in Chinatown-International District, Seattle on February 18, 1983.Thirteen people died and one was seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre, making it the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.

Six robbers broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse at London Heathrow Airport on November 26, 1983 and stole three tonnes (6,612 lb) of gold bullion.(Some 6,800 ingots, worth £26m, belonging to Johnson Matthey, a firm of dealers in precious metals). It was at the time Britain's largest robbery – later outdone in this respect by the Knightsbridge safe deposit case. Many of the robbery gang were convicted, but much of the stolen gold bullion has never been recovered.

When a courier was robbed on a London street in 1990, the robber made off with bearer bonds to the value of £292 million. Today, this is equivalent to £758 million - or $1.086 billion This is still the highest amount ever stolen in a street robbery.

In 1993 a man named William Brennan walked out of the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas with $500,000 in cash and chips and vanished, along with his cat. He has never been heard from since, making it one of the most successful casino robberies in history.

On March 18, 2003, the night before the US-led invasion of Iraq, Qusay Hussein, the son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and a group of armed men entered the Central Bank of Iraq in Baghdad. They presented a handwritten note from Saddam Hussein ordering the withdrawal of $920 million in cash. The money was loaded into three tractor-trailers and driven away.

The robbery was a major blow to the Iraqi economy. The money that was stolen represented a significant portion of the country's currency reserves. The robbery also damaged the reputation of the Central Bank of Iraq.

The US military later found approximately $650 million of the stolen money in Saddam Hussein's palace. However, the remaining $350 million has never been found. It is possible that the money was hidden in secret bunkers or that it was smuggled out of the country.

At least six men staged Britain's biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent on February 22, 2006. It was masterminded by Moroccan-English mixed martial arts fighter Lee Murray.

In 2006, Essex, England  police appealed for help finding a one-armed robber who had stolen a single cufflink.

In 2009, identical twins Hassan and Abbas O. were suspects in a $6.8 million jewelry heist from a German department store. DNA evidence placed at least one brother at the scene, but couldn't determine which. Consequently, both twins were released.

Official figures show 67,462 robberies reported to the police in England and Wales in 2011-12. That works out at one robbery every 7.8 minutes. There is one every minute in the USA.

FUN ROBBERY FACTS

Theft is defined as taking something of value; robbery is theft with the use or threat of force.

A masked robber threatens a person with a gun in Germany, December 1931.

The commonest place to hide valuables is in the sock drawer; it is also the first place burglars check.

The most common time for a bank robbery is Friday, between 9 and 11 a.m. The least likely time is Wednesday, between 3 and 6 p.m.

The phrase 'To case the joint,' meaning to inspect a property prior to robbing it, comes from the U.S. criminal fraternity; ‘joint’ is a building.

Source Daily Express