Dishonest Abe

A robber is loose in the Maryland and Virginia area that has hit 10 locations during the past seven months, dressed in a stovepipe hat, dark coat, and a fake beard. On at least two occasions, he has had an accomplice who also wears a fake beard.

In 1993 much the same type of robberies took place in this area with thieves wearing Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan masks. Two men were charged with those thefts, but were acquitted by a federal jury.

Local How-To Pays Off
Monseratt, in the Caribbean, suffered devastating damage from ash and rubble from a volcano eruption. Most of the banks on Monseratt are inland, protected against hurricanes. Unfortunately, closer to the volcano.

One of the banks was completely covered during the volcano eruption, but though devastated by the loss of the building, the bank's officers were not worried about the vault or the safe deposit boxes. They were, if anything, more safe because of being buried.

After things got back to normal, experts were brought in to advise as to how best to access the vault and retrieve the boxes and the currency. Using the most modern equipment and expertise available, after surveying and evaluating, they began to dig.

They were too late. Using picks, shovels and buckets, locals had gained access via a tunnel dug by hand, and cleaned out the whole vault - currency, boxes and all!

Lights, Camera?
A traveling theatrical group made up of prison inmates in Italy kept busy on-stage and off. Seems that while they were between shows, they would leave their performance disguises on and rob banks. The warden was not amused. The troupe was disbanded and the show closed.

Copyright © 2000 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1/00