The most famous casino robberies!
Surely you have seen some amazing scenes of casino robberies in the movies, right? But, as many of you may know, art imitates life! This means that there are casino robberies that have gone down in history! And, some are even so impressive that it is common to doubt that they actually happened.
The Vegas casino robberies: The Bellagio
The Bellagio is one of the most iconic casinos in Las Vegas, set in several movies and one of the main establishments in town along with The Mirage and MGM Grand. One of the iconic movies was Ocean’s Eleven and saga, which includes Ocean’s twelve and includes casino robberies in Vegas. Follow along! There were three!
The Bellagio Casino was the scene of one of the most famous heists in the world. And, to say this carries no exaggeration. The robbery was commanded by Jose Vigoa, who had the help of two accomplices. They were Luis Suarez and Oscar Sanchez, and it all happened between 1999 and 2000. Even a book was inspired by Vigoa, “Storming Las Vegas”, written by John Huddy and published by Random House editorial in 2008.
They were pretty daring thieves in casino robberies! Vigoa was not an amateur robber. In fact, his criminal record already contained many casino robberies. However, in this particular robbery, the plan did not go as planned. In fact, the plan of the three was to steal $160,000!
They jumped over a casino counter to simply get the money. Even though they were wanted, none of them wore masks to hide their faces. In other words, much more audacity than strategy. So, poking at a jaguar with a short stick did not end well. Sure enough, after an intense chase, Sanchez was arrested soon after the robbery. Vigoa, on the other hand, baptized “Tony Montana” by the police in reference to Al Pacino in “Scarface”, took it pretty hard: he ended up with four life sentences.
A historical robbery – The Stardust Casino
In the case of the Stardust, this robbery took place in 1992 and is considered one of the greatest casino robberies to date! The crime was planned by Billi Brennan, who was a casino employee. Billi was a cashier at the casino, and on a certain day, he went out for lunch as usual. Only, there was no turning back. It may seem trivial, but it is not!
Billi left carrying a bag with $500,000 from a casino! And he has never been arrested, even after being included in the FBI’s list of the most wanted people in the world. He may even be reading this post right now and very proud of his accomplishment!
The impressive London Ritz robbery
The year was 2004, and the setting was London. The stage was the renowned Ritz Casino, one of the most famous casinos in Europe. This robbery was done by two Serbs and an accomplice of Hungarian origin. The three of them were playing on one of the roulette wheels. Only, the game lasted two days that earned them 1.3 million pounds.
A coordinated and very unusual action!
What happened is that they were counting on another kind of help, namely, laser scanners with state-of-the-art technology. These scanners were connected to a remote computer that established an analysis to predict the roulette outcome. In other words, knowing exactly where the ball was supposed to end up.
The trio did not get away with it and was caught. But incredibly, the court concluded that they had not committed a crime. With this decision, they got to keep all the money!
Bugsy Siegel
Do you know the story of the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas? Certainly, this story was recreated in the movie “Bugsy”.
It portrays part of the life of the person who envisioned and imagined Vegas back in the early 20th century. Have you ever heard of the Flamingo? This hotel-casino was built to honour a woman. Although this story is quite different from the Taj Mahal, it also has tragedy and passion. “Bugsy” is a beautiful film from the ’90s that tells the period of Siegel’s life when he is summoned to head the Los Angeles Mafia and ends up falling in love with the actress Virginia Hill and building the Flamingo. It deserved a Golden Globe as Best Picture in 1991.
Certainly, Benjamin Siegel was an essentially lonely boy, the son of Polish migrants settled in New York who ended up emancipating himself in childhood to support his family. But he was also a major liquor dealer during the prohibition of alcohol in the United States, better known as the “Dry Law.”
Although some of the outcomes were impressive, it is clear that robbing casinos are not good business! Not least because the chance of ending up in jail is quite high in the end. But these casino robberies make for great stories.