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Thieves make off with nearly $1 million in under a minute.  Wanted for robbery Suspect #1: Gender: Male  Wanted for robbery Suspect #2:  Wanted for robbery Suspect #3: CASE DETAILS  The bomb was a fake April 19, 1989. Eden Prairie, Minnesota. At 1 p.m., armored car company guards performing an ordinary afternoon pick up suddenly found themselves under siege by a band of thieves– thieves with a plan to get rich in less than 60 seconds. One guard grabbed one of the robbers’ guns but was quickly overpowered. Immediately, another vehicle pulled up in front of the armored car, blocking its escape. A fourth robber then placed what looked like a bomb on the truck’s hood. In just under a minute, the robbers had stolen close to one million dollars in cash from the armored car, and then vanished without a trace. Robert Roman, of the FBI investigated the case:
Using a rope and pulley rig, the bomb squad carefully removed the bomb from the hood.  Same bomb as previous robbery The FBI linked the fake bomb to an identical device used in a Baltimore, Maryland robbery three years earlier. In that operation, the same gang of thieves made off with over $600,000. It was thought that the gang would quit while they were more than a million dollars ahead. But one year later, they struck again. Just ten miles from the scene of the last robbery, in the town of Burnsville, Minnesota, a Brinks guard was waiting in the cab while his partner began loading the back of the armored car with cash. Suddenly, the armed gang arrived and forced the guard loading he cash to the ground. The Brinks driver was terrified:
A getaway car pulled up and the thieves raced off. Robert Roman says it is fortunate that no one was injured:
The robbers abandoned their car behind a nearby shopping center and fled on foot. The FBI believes they may have had another vehicle parked nearby. Authorities brought in tracking dogs and set up roadblocks, but the gang had once again made a clean getaway. The following morning, police found one of the stolen getaway cars less than a mile from the bank. It contained no evidence that could identify the robbers. Robert Roman, FBI:
Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season three with Robert Stack and in season one with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu. SUBMIT A TIP |
PikNik
Where are the getaway vehicles? Surely they can be recombed for DNA, hair follicles..
Kevin MURPHY
Beautiful execution. What a crime! Respect.
Guest
Did you benefit from these heists?
Robert M. Blevins
There is a Statute of Limitations on these things, usually five years. It mostly applies when they don’t know who they are looking for. It is POSSIBLE to obtain a John Doe warrant, although judges are often reluctant to issue one. However, a friendly Federal judge DID issue one in 1976 for the skyjacker D.B. Cooper. The idea being…once the cops manage to get a warrant…they can keep renewing it as necessary until they either catch you, or give up on the case. Even if they brought these guys in for questioning today, unless they confess there isn’t much chance of a conviction. (Comment opinion by Robert Blevins, author of ‘Into The Blast – The True Story of D.B. Cooper’)
Mr. O
Always nice hearing about banks getting stolen from. Give them a taste of their own medicine every so often. Even sweeter when such robberies are never solved. Here’s hoping for more of those to ensure!
Guest
Unfortunately, the banks pass the costs of theft to their customers, which could mean more and higher fees and lower interest rates for deposits.
Chances are these crooks didn’t steal to help the poor.
Johnny Diamond
These guys are probably dead or eventually got caught on another robbery and are in jail. These guys are a throwback to the mob connected armored car robbers we used to see a lot 30-40 years ago in NY and Boston. Every man had a specific job to pull off to make the heist successful and each had to take place in concert.
LUKE
Sounds like people who were way into the book The Turner Diaries. P.O.S. white nationalists doing this kinda stuff was common then.
xen
I might be completely off base, but I’m currently a college student in Minnesota, originally from New England. My freshman year of college, a girl at a party mentioned something about her family came into a ridiculous amount of money out of nowhere in the late 80’s. I think she said something about her biological dad being former military, he brought money to his ex-wife and essentially said he’d never see her again and she could consider it child support
(since she was pregnant with his sin, my friend’s older brother) money. He was working a basic warehouse job so they never knew where he got the money. I believe at the time they’d been living in Chanhassen, though I could be wrong. Thought it was a weird coincidence. I fell out of contact when she transferred schools, so I can’t ask her.
Johnny
I remember this case from years back. Sounds like these guys were ex-military or in the same squadron. Probably well-trained and tight knit group. Not going to talk. With that amount of $, they could be in Alaska, Canada, France, Hawaii, Mexico. Some tropical island. Anywhere possibly. These guys probably around 50-55 now. It’s been a long time but some kind of witness hypnosis could provide something like a tattoo or voice accent. Minnesota is close to Canada. That’s where I would check. Cities and towns along the Canadian border. They might have stopped to eat at a restaurant or fuel up their cars. I think almost 30 years now…These robbers might have pulled the perfect crime. However, 3 people involved only need info on 1. Then, that could lead to a rest of the gang. This definitely is a case that needs to be refeatured. Like the List case. What these robbers would look at 50-55 today. A bust or sketches. Worth a shot.
Zach
I remember going to Target with my family while they were filming the reinactment at First Bank across the parking lot. I though that I had imagined the whole thing until I saw this episode on Amazon!
Jeremy
Where was this in Burnsville exactly?
Zach
Target parking lot across from Burnsville Center.
Kilroy OIF
Is this the same as the burnsville Minn believe Oct 1989. Remember hearing All the excitement and commotion, Plus hearing on the 10pm WCCO news. Greezs that been 28 years ago. Wonder if the person’s of interest still alive?
B
Is this case still active? Have they found these suspects yet? Also is there any evidence they struck again?
unsolved
The investigation is ongoing with the FBI. No additional information has been released recently.
DennisOn
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