The Largest Bank Heists in History

We always fall in love with a good heist, and Hollywood knows it. Money Heist, the Ocean’s series, Inside Man, Fast Five, The Italian Job, The Town, Baby Driver. We love the stories about high stakes heists that seem impossible to pull off. Well, they are impossible to pull off. But we love the characters, plot twists, and special effects that Hollywood gives us. Sorry to play spoiler, but there likely isn’t a group of thieves out there that look like Rihanna and Charlize Theron, drive like Lewis Hamilton, and fight like Conor McGregor.

But there has to be some true stories of people who actually pulled off a sizable heist. Right? Well, here’s a list of the top 5. Number 1 is pretty much cheating, but I had to include it purely because of the amount of money that was “stolen.”

5. Bank of America, 1998: $1.6M

On January 14th, 1998, Ralph Guarino and four others executed the robbery of a Bank of America branch in the World Trade Center for $1.6M. Guarino was an actor and petty criminal who had connections to the DeCavalcante crime family, one of the more powerful crime families in the New York and New Jersey area. The DeCavalcantes were known for corruption, drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, murder, money laundering, prostitution, racketeering, etc. You know, typically mafia stuff.

Guarino received from help from a World Trade Center worker, Salvatore Calciano, who told him about the increased security measures in the building following the bombing in 1993. Calciano gave Guarino his employee badge and let him know that a Brinks truck would be unloading money via the 11th floor elevator. Guarino and 3 others robbed the truck and escaped with the money. But here’s the best part. Only one of the guys was wearing a ski mask to protect their identity.

Surprisingly, they were never caught and got away with it… Just kidding. What happened is exactly what you think would happen after robbing a bank without a mask. They were quickly identified and arrested after they returned to their neighborhoods. Except for one guy who was smart enough to escape to Albuquerque, New Mexico. But he was still found and arrested. Guarino eventually became an informant for the DeCavalcante family.

4. United California Bank, 1972: $30M

On March 24, 1972, Amil Dinsio led a group of thieves into the United California Bank and stole $30M in cash and valuables. They were after what they believed was dirty Nixon campaign money coming from extorting dairy farmers. The crew was a mix of Dinsio family members and a few others from Youngstown and Cleveland, Ohio.

They made several trips to California and rented a townhome that was next to a vacant building that they used as an entry point into the bank. Over the weekend, they deactivated the alarm system, climbed onto the roof, and blasted a whole into the concrete. Once inside, they broke into 436 safe deposit boxes and collected millions in cash, bonds, and jewelry. When they were finished, they loaded up rental cars and drove back to Ohio.

They executed the robbery without leaving a trace of evidence that could lead to them. However, the FBI was able to link the crew to a similar robbery that happened a few months earlier. They were able to link the two robberies not only because of the similar methods they used to break in, but also because transportation records showed that they booked flights to California on a single flight using their own names, and Amil’s brother even rented the townhome in his own name. Yeah, pretty smart stuff. The FBI searched this townhome and initially found nothing, but then they opened the dishwasher (new technology at the time) and saw that they forgot to run it. They used the fingerprints lefts on the dishes to get arrest warrants and eventually convict the whole crew.

Charles Broeckel, who was essentially just used as the muscle in the burglary, ended up snitching working with the FBI and testified against the rest of the crew to receive immunity. Amil, his brother James, and the crew was convicted of bank robbery and plotting to burglarize a bank. Amil got a 20-year term, while James received 10 years. Charles was sent to witness protection to avoid sleeping with the fishes.

A significant amount of the stolen goods remains missing to this day. Rumor has it, the crew hid a lot of the money across the country. If you want to watch a dramatized version of this story you can watch the 2019 movie, Finding Steve McQueen.

3. Banco Central, 2005: $71.6M

To be fair, this one actually sounds like a movie. The preparation, violence, and execution surrounding this robbery is something out of Hollywood.

Sometime in the spring of 2005, a gang of thieves rented a commercial property in the center of Ceará, Brazil. They made a tunnel, spanning about 265ft, from the rented property to a place under Banco Central, basically our version of the Fed. This tunnel was so sophisticated that they had their own lighting and AC system. While they were digging the tunnel, they had put up signs indicating they were a landscaping company that was doing some renovations in the area.

On Saturday, August 6, 2005, the gang used bolt cutters, blow torches, electric saws, and more to break the concrete barrier and enter the bank vault. Then they disabled the internal alarm systems and sensors once they were inside. They removed 5 containers of 50-real notes that totaled R$164 million (Brazilian currency), which is about $71M USD and weighs 3.5 tons. So, they needed a lot of time to move this much weight out of the vault.

Thankfully, they remained undiscovered until employees began to show up for work on Monday. Initially, 25 people were assumed to be a part of this robbery, including mathematicians, engineers, corrupt security guards, and excavationists. But what happens to them and others after the robbery is where this gets even more interesting.

Here’s a timeline of the arrests, kidnappings, and deaths following the robbery:

• August 10, 2005: two men arrested driving a truck carrying R$2.13 million (Brazilian currency)

• September 28, 2005: five men, who were suspected builders of the tunnel, were arrested with about R$5.2 million

• October 7, 2005: Luis Fernando Ribeiro, the alleged mastermind, was kidnapped and ransomed for R$893,600, but was never released after the ransom was paid. 3 police officers were arrested for being involved in the kidnapping

• October 20, 2005: Ribiero was found dead with seven gun shot wounds

• October 22, 2005 - April 13, 2006: six men were kidnapped and ransomed

• September 1, 2006: after wiretapping a phone found in the tunnel, police arrested 43 people suspected to be involved in the robbery

• October 3, 2006: a suspect was found dead in a favela in Sao Paulo

After all of this, only R$20 million of the R$164 million was recovered. Oh, and the best part? None of the stolen money was insured because as a bank spokesperson put it, “the risks were too small to justify the insurance premiums.” Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

2. Dar Es Salaam, 2007: $282M

Ok, now we’re moving into more corruption than flat out crime. The robbery of Dar Es Salaam, a private bank in Baghdad, resulted in over a QUARTER BILLION AMERICAN DOLLARS being stolen during the summer of 2007. To put this into perspective, that’s almost the cost of an American soccer franchise. This amount of money is very unusual for a private bank to have on hand.

Two to three security guards were assumed to have carried out the robbery, but it’s likely that many others, including militia groups, were involved. The robbers would have had to use the militia to pass through various checkpoints throughout Baghdad. Because this took place during the Iraqi War (2006-2008), Iraqi police were low on resources to get to the bottom of it. But they also didn’t have much interest in getting to be bottom of it, which makes it wreak of corruption. Most of the money has been recovered but no one was ever charged.

Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of specifics surrounding the robbery. So, just chalk this one up to an inside job with the assistance of government corruption.

1. Iraqi Central Bank, 2003: $1B

If you thought the last one was a lot of money, you can almost quadruple that amount for this next one. The craziest part? It was technically “legal.”

On the morning of March 18, 2003, Saddam Hussein, the former president and prime minister of Iraq, caught wind of the US gearing up for an attack on Baghdad. So, he ordered his son, Qusay Hussein, to take approximately $1B from the Iraqi Central Bank. Qusay showed up to the bank with a handwritten note from his father and arranged for the money to be removed. It took 5 hours and 3 eighteen wheelers to transport the money out of the bank. It’s believed that Saddam used this money to pad his personal liquidity and also to put together a response to the attacks from the US.

In the weeks following the robbery, $650M was recovered from multiple stashes throughout the country, and Qusay was tracked down and killed in a house by American forces. Saddam was found by the US military in December of 2003, and was executed by hanging in 2006 after being found guilty of hundreds of crimes against humanity. However, the bank robbery was considered legal because Saddam was the absolute dictator with personal and direct control over every aspect of the country’s governance, including the central bank.

The other $350M was never found. But in the end, the guys responsible for it were taken down by American forces. ‘Merica! I guess?

- Jay T