Most Successful Las Vegas Casino Robberies
- Most Successful Las Vegas Casino Robberies
- Las Vegas Casino Robberies 2017
- Most Successful Las Vegas Casino Robberies History
Circus Circus (1993) Circus Circus is a casino-hotel, situated in the Las Vegas boulevard in Las. Slot player hits $4M jackpot on Las Vegas Strip A Dancing Drums Explosion video slot machine went boom on the Strip on Saturday night. Bellagio slots player wins nearly $4 million.
Curcio speaking to college football players in August 2014 | |
| Born | September 1, 1980 (age 40) |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Speaker, author |
| Children | 2 |
Anthony J. Curcio (born September 1, 1980) is an American author, public speaker, and convicted robber.[1] In 2008, Curcio was responsible for one of the most elaborately planned armored car heists in U.S. history.[2] He was eventually arrested and sentenced to six years in federal prison. Upon his release from prison he has devoted his life to working with youth in the field of drug abuse and crime prevention, speaking to students and athletes across the U.S.[3] He has been featured in GQ, Esquire, 20/20, Fox News, NPR and NBC among others.
Early life[edit]
Curcio was born and raised in Monroe, Washington. As a teenager, he was popular and talented and voted captain of both football and basketball teams at Monroe High School. Curcio broke many records in football and received several honors and awards for his play in both sports.[4][5]
Curcio would later go on to play football at his father's alma mater, the University of Idaho, which had been his childhood dream.[6] While returning a punt in practice, Curcio tore his anterior cruciate ligament, ending his promising college football career and introducing him to the powerful pain killer Vicodin. Curcio quickly became addicted to the prescription pills.[7]Soon after, he began experiencing withdrawals and even injured himself intentionally by kicking an oak coffee table repeatedly in order to obtain more pills. With family pressure, Curcio agreed to enter a drug/alcohol treatment facility.[8]
After completing a 21-day in-patient program, Curcio, now sober, started his first business, called 'Tony’s Gaming', which bought and sold casino tables and other gaming merchandise. Curcio expanded his business by leasing a commercial space and adjacent storage. Within a few months of being open to the public, Tony's Gaming was unexpectedly shut down. The Washington State Gambling Commission and local police raided Tony's Gaming and confiscated the inventory, stating that Curcio did not possess the proper permits.[8]
Under increasing financial pressure, Curcio relapsed and began forging prescriptions on his computer. He later became aware that the police raid was due to influence from a real estate broker who had financial interest in a local casino. Curcio attempted to retain legal representation in the case but was denied services by local attorneys already debriefed by the real estate broker/casino owner.[8]
Curcio and several of his associates retaliated against the casino owner by breaking into his businesses and removing computers, files and documents from the offices he owned.[8]
Curcio continued to maintain an outward appearance that resembled a successful business owner and family man. He graduated from college, married his high school sweetheart, had two daughters and would later own a real estate investment company based in Seattle, Washington.[9]
However, he was living two different lives. As his addiction progressed, so did his involvement in illegal activities. By his mid 20s, Curcio had already organized several high-dollar thefts, scams, and loan-sharking schemes, and was also behind a sports memorabilia counterfeiting ring.[10]Despite having completed four drug and alcohol treatment programs, ABC News stated that Curcio was spending nearly $15,000 a month on his increasing drug habit which now also included cocaine and benzodiazepines.[10]
Curcio's real estate investment business took a heavy downturn when the economy collapsed in 2008, leaving him with several homes on the verge of foreclosure and vehicles near repossession among other outstanding personal debts.[9]
With assets and bank accounts depleting, Curcio hatched the idea to rob a Brink's armored car.
Brink's robbery[edit]
For three months, Curcio observed a Brink'sarmored car as it made deliveries to the Bank of America branch in Monroe, Washington. He took notes of the schedule, diagrammed locations of the bank's cameras, and noted the armored car's blind spots. He also estimated how much money was being transferred to the bank and how much was being removed via ATMs.[10]
He considered police protocol in responding to robberies and the location of the bank and decided on using a local creek to escape.
After weeks of hand-dredging the creek in Woods Creek and a failed practice attempt at using a jet ski for the getaway, he changed his approach and created a cable pulley system to quickly pull himself, and large bags of cash, upstream using a connected canvas-wrapped inner tube.[11]
Curcio's planning culminated with an advertisement he placed on Craigslist a few days before the robbery. The online ad sought 15 to 20 workers for a fictitious city cleanup project, promising $28.50 an hour. The laborers were told to wear jeans, a blue shirt, work shoes, and a yellow safety vest. The ad also told the applicants they needed to bring safety goggles and a painter's mask. The ad directed them to meet in the Bank of America parking lot at the exact time Curcio planned to rob the armored car.
On September 30, 2008, Curcio, dressed identically to his decoy applicants, pretended to work the grounds near the bank. Wearing a blue shirt, jeans, yellow safety vest, work boots, and painter's mask, he pepper-sprayed the Brink's armored car guard who was pushing a dolly loaded with money into the bank. The pepper spray forced the guard to reach for his eyes and release the cart that held the money. Curcio grabbed two bags of money, containing more than $400,000, and ran toward the creek. Meanwhile, police arrived to find the bank's parking lot filled with men matching the robber's description.
At the water's edge, Curcio threw the money into the inner tube and pulled himself up the creek with the cables he had previously strung. He traveled about 200 yards upstream and exited the creek behind several businesses on the opposite side of the highway from the bank. Curcio removed his wig and worker's clothing that had been attached by Velcro, revealing different attire underneath. He climbed into the trunk of a getaway vehicle driven by an associate and left.[12]
Curcio's careful planning and unusual getaway gained national attention. The timing of the robbery came days after announcements of the government's bank bailout package that included Bank of America. The unique robbery techniques gained notoriety for the mysterious robber who was referred to as the 'Craigslist Robber' and 'D.B. Tuber', after the 1970s hijacker D. B. Cooper.
Arrest[edit]
Curcio's undoing would come a month later when a homeless man reported to police that several weeks before the robbery he had seen a man drive up to the Bank of America parking lot and retrieve a disguise from behind a trash bin. The man found it suspicious enough to write down the license plate number of the car which he later provided to police. The car was registered to Curcio.[13] What the man had seen was one of Curcio's practice runs to ensure proper timing of the heist.
After Curcio returned from a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, the FBI began their surveillance of him as a suspect in the robbery. Local authorities retrieved his DNA from a drink bottle disposed of by Curcio at a gas station and compared it to the DNA from the face mask and wig discarded a short distance from the scene of the robbery. The DNA samples matched and Curcio was arrested in Lake Stevens, Washington getting out of a luxury SUV with $17,000 in cash.[10]
With only circumstantial evidence connecting Curcio to the crime, he initially bonded out, but a month later (January 2009), his bond was revoked and he was returned to custody after being suspected of witness tampering.[4]
Later details would reveal that $220,000 was recovered after an associate of Curcio's came forward to make a deal with the FBI and local police. Curcio refused to cooperate with authorities and no other charges were ever filed against any of Curcio's unnamed co-conspirators.[1][8]
All of the money except for what Curcio paid the getaway driver and other accomplices was eventually recovered.[1]
Prison[edit]
Curcio was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison and served his time in FCI Big Spring, FCI La Tuna and Coleman Correctional Complex.[14]
While being housed in FCI La Tuna, Curcio became close with fellow inmate George Jung. Jung encouraged Curcio to write a book, and put him in touch with author/biographer Dane Batty. The two soon began correspondence.[8]
During this time, Curcio was with two inmates who had previously assaulted another inmate. While prison authorities knew Curcio was not involved in the attack, authorities still held him ‘under investigation’ until the case had been resolved. Curcio spent seven months in solitary confinement for this affiliation. In solitary, he received beatings, witnessed suicides and would have cockroaches crawl all over his body at night. Upon his release, he wrote the book Heist and High,[15] promising to prevent others from making the same decisions he had made.[8][16]
Throughout the duration of his sentence, Curcio wrote and illustrated over 20 children's books, including one aimed at the children of incarcerated parents titled My Daddy’s in Jail.[17][18]
Curcio finished his incarceration at USP Coleman in Florida, where he completed a drug-treatment program and was released from custody April 2013.
Release[edit]
Curcio was released April 4, 2013 and returned to the Seattle area, reuniting with his wife and two daughters. He has since been working with youth and giving presentations regarding drug abuse prevention and the importance of making positive choices. He speaks to middle schools, high schools and universities across the U.S.[14]
Curcio has been featured on several media platforms using his story to increase awareness regarding addiction.[19] His book, Heist and High[15] (Nish Publishing, 286 pages), was released June 21, 2013 and has been the recipient of several awards.[16][20]
References[edit]
- ^ abcClarridge, Christine (September 18, 2014). 'Inner-tube robber now free, warning about life of drugs, crime'. The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014.
- ^Doughery, Phil. 'D.B. Tuber'. HistoryLink.org. History Link.
- ^Esteban, Michelle (October 10, 2014). 'D.B. Tuber dedicates life to warn others of dangers of drugs'. KOMO 4 News.
- ^ ab'Former High School Star Athlete Sentenced to Prison for Armored Car Robbery'. justice.gov. The United States Attorney's Office. July 2009.
- ^Stangeland, Brooke (June 21, 2013). 'Out of Prison, Real-Life Thomas Crown Looks Back on Almost-Perfect Heist'. ABC news.
- ^'1999 Idaho Vandals - Sports Illustrated'. CNN/Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
- ^Stangeland, Brooke (June 20, 2013). 'Reporter's Notebook: On the Trail of a Bank Robber'. ABC News.
- ^ abcdefgBatty, Dane; Curcio, Anthony (June 21, 2013). Heist and High. Portland, Oregon: Nish Publishing Company. ISBN098579450X. Archived from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
- ^ abKushner, David. 'The All-American Bank Heist'. GQ Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
- ^ abcdBenitez, Gio. 'The (Almost) Perfect Crime'. ABC 20/20.
- ^Ith, Ian (July 2009). '6-year sentence in robbery with getaway inner tube'. The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2014-12-19.
- ^Sigerson, Doc. 'AKA: DB Tuber'. Red Fez.
- ^Hefley, Diana (November 26, 2008). 'Feds Charge Suspect in Armored Car Heist'. The Everett Herald.
- ^ abCurcio, Anthony. 'acurcio.com'. www.acurcio.com.
- ^ ab'Heist And High - Nish Publishing'. Archived from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
- ^ abManning, Craig. 'Indie Ground Breaking Book: Heist and High'. IPM.
- ^Burykill, Brett. 'The Ex-Con Who Wants to Explain Prison to Kids'. Vice Magazine.
- ^Wing, Jennifer. 'How Years Of Unforgivable Theft And Lies Became Forgivable'. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
- ^Millman, Michelle. 'How Painkillers Can Lead to Heroin Addiction'. KIRO 7 news.
- ^'2013 IndieFab Award Winners'. FOREWORD.
External links[edit]
Media related to Anthony Curcio at Wikimedia Commons
About 10 to 20 robberies are reported in Las Vegas each year. Only about 65% are solved. This is a very low percentage, given that bank robberies clear up as much as 80%.
Of course, robberies occur far more often in small casinos than in reputable and world-renowned businesses, as well as in online casinos.
In 2003, Eureka Casino on East Sahara Avenue was robbed six times. This is a record-breaking number of robberies per year in Las Vegas, and subsequently, because of that, the Eureka Casino is one of the safest casinos.
Given that all casinos are located on the Strip, where cameras are everywhere, robberies need very demanding planning.
Let’s take a look at the 10 most remarkable robberies in the last few decades.
Circus Circus (1993)
Heather Tallchief and her boyfriend Roberto Solit stole an armoured car with $ 2.5 million from Circus Circus Casino. They planned to flee to the Cayman Islands. Solis eventually packed most of the money and fled.
After 13 years on the run, Tallchief finally turns herself in. When asked why she had done so, she replied that Solis was using hypnosis and sexual magic to control her. Roberto Solis is on the run to this day.
Stardust (1992)
Bill Brennan was an employee of Stardust Hotel & Casino in 1992. One day he went for a lunch break with $ 500,000 in the banknotes and casino chips he had hidden in his backpack.
Nobody has seen him since. For 17 years, he got on the list of FBI’s most wanted criminals.
Hilton (2008)
One of the cheekiest robberies happened just two blocks from Strip. Two men in motorcycle helmets with shotguns in their hands attacked the Hilton Sportsbook.
They got $ 1 million in cash and chips and then escaped in a few stolen cars that they continuously changed. The robbery lasted just 45 seconds.
MIT Blackjack Team (1980-?)
In this case, it depends on how you look at card counting. It is not a traditional robbery, but in some meaning, they took away money from the casino because of the controversial way of playing.
Till today, this legend of Las Vegas has appeared in several films and books. This is the most successful card counting operation in Las Vegas so far. Thanks to advanced card counting method and a great group of people, this team has earned millions of dollars.
Although this MIT Blackjack Team is no longer playing, it cannot be 100% confirmed that there is no other or even a larger group of MIT people who make their living by playing and counting cards in blackjack.
Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Others (1998-2000)
“To me, everyone in the world is either a hunter or a pray. I’m a hunter, and Vegas’s my prey. I’ll just come to Vegas and take what I want.” These are the words of Jose Vigo.
It is one of the biggest robbers of history. Jose Vigoa has raided the five largest casinos in Las Vegas in 16 months. Later he became the author of “Storming Las Vegas”.
Vigoa was ultimately caught after the robbery of Bellagio. Police chased him at speeds over 100 mph, and the entire chase was broadcast live on Vegas TV.
Vigoa is currently serving a 500-year sentence. Conditional release is unthinkable.
Mandalay Bay (2005)
On March 11, 2005, at 16:00, two men visited the casino. They waited for the cashiers’ exchange and during that time they got to the money and chips in one of the booths.
The men fled in a vehicle that was parked near the entrance with an unspecified amount of money. Neither the police nor the Mandalay Bay casino itself can determine which entrance the robbers used to enter the casino, what booth they robbed, or how they left the casino.
Treasure Island
A man with a gun who leapt over the main cash register robbed the casino. The incident happened just after midnight. The man fired at the two guards, but he didn’t hit either. He then left the casino with an undisclosed amount of money. Alan Feldman, the spokesman for MGM Mirage, who owned Treasure Island at the time, described the event.
Most Successful Las Vegas Casino Robberies
The jury found guilty of Reginald and Donella Johnson. Three years earlier, Donell himself confessed to a robbery in Treasure Island.
During the confession, Reginald Johnson said he struck the cashier because she recognized his brother from his previous robbery.
Palace Station 2009
In 2009, a man with a semi-automatic shotgun attacked the armoured car in front of the Palace Station casino. The robber pointed the gun on the crew and asked them to let go of the money bags.
The first rumors reported that the robbers had taken over $ 1,000,000. Thieves only got $ 36,000. It may seem unlikely that there were only $ 36,000 in two bags, but that’s true.
Bertha’s (1981)
It wasn’t a successful robbery at the casino, but it was one of the very largest heists in Las Vegas. On July 4, 1981, the Hole in the Wall gang broke into Bertha’s Gifts casino, located at 896 East Sahara Ave. All the perpetrators (Frank Cullota, Lawrence Neumann, Wayne Matecki, Leo Guardino, and Ernie Davino) were caught and arrested.
Las Vegas Casino Robberies 2017
Most members of the Hole in the Wall gang served as inspiration in the Casino movie.
O.J. Simpson
This is not a robbery in a casino, but it is undoubtedly one of the most significant criminal cases of this decade in Las Vegas.
Most Successful Las Vegas Casino Robberies History
On September 12, 2007, a group of suspects went to Palace Station. They rented a room and then took away several sports trophies from the hotel. Former American football player O. J. Simpson led the event. He was also caught three days later and sentenced to 9 years in prison.