Friday’s Food for Thought: Bonnie and Clyde; History of Bank Robberies and More

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post on the ITAC blog. Last week, we focused on the snake oil salesman and the history of Internet fraud. In the vein of historical financial bad-doings, we thought we would explore the history of the classic bank robbery. With the Internet creating new forum for bad guys to steal money, do people actually still rob banks “Bonnie and Clyde” style? We hope to explore this further in this post. Hope you enjoy.

Primer on Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (pictured) were well known outlaws, robbers and criminals who, with their gang, traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during what is sometimes referred to as the “public enemy era” between 1931 and 1934. Though known today for his dozen-or-so bank robberies, Barrow in fact preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and committed several civilian murders. They were eventually ambushed and killed in Louisiana by law officers. Their reputation was cemented forever in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Read more from Wikipedia here.

America’s First Bank Robbery
Every wonder when the first bank robbery happened in the U.S.? $162,821 had been taken from vaults of the Bank of Pennsylvania at Carpenters’ Hall during the night of Saturday, August 31 or the morning hours of Sunday, September 1, 1798. There was no sign of forced entry into the building or the vault. So many expected that the robbery was an “inside job.” To learn more about this robbery (we don’t want to give too much away, but the robber was caught and the money was returned), check out this link.

Modern Day Bank Robberies
Yes, bank robberies still happen today. One would think that today’s surveillance technologies, and other law enforcement tactics, would make a criminal think twice about sticking up the community bank down the road. But, no. Bad guys are still robbing banks. Check out this story about three teens in the Seattle area being charged for robbing four banks. And check out this story about a trio of bank robbers who knocked off 16 banks in 2008. And, finally sometimes the good can turn bad. Check out this story of a ex-police officer who got tempted by the dark side and became a bank robber.

Devoted to the Apprehension of Bank Robbers in Southern California
We stumbled upon a most interesting resource online called LaBankRobbers.org. It is a web site that is devoted to the identification and apprehension of bank robbers (a.k.a. bank bandits) in the Southern California territory known as the “Bank Robbery Capital of the World.” The site features photos of bandits, serial bandits by name, bandit wanted flyers and much more. Check out the full site here.

Happy Friday!