The United States has always been known as the land of opportunity, and that’s especially true when it comes to robbing and stealing. It’s been that way since the days of Butch Cassidy, and though we’ve made strides in technology, things haven’t changed much otherwise.
We’re looking at some of the most infamous heists by state, from American gangster John Dillinger to the disappearance of 300,000 packages of ramen. These are each state’s most notable robberies in American history.
In 1982, two men robbed a coin show at the Montgomery Civic Center in Alabama, making away with $3.5 million in precious metals and rare coins.
Three men—later described by witnesses as “hippie types”—robbed Seward, Alaska’s only bank of somewhere between $100,000 and $170,000 in 1971.
People will do strange things—like don Halloween masks and wear stockings over their faces—for a bit of cash. In this case, about $3.3 million. At least, that’s what four gunmen did in 1981 when they robbed the First National Bank of Arizona.
In 2015, seven Oklahomans came over to Little Rock to literally steal some little rocks. The thieves made off with $300,000 in jewelry in just a few minutes.
In an effort to redefine “family time,” one man banded together with his nephews, his brother-in-law, his brother, and two alarm experts to steal $30 million (about $183 million today) from the United California Bank in 1972.
The infamous Butch Cassidy committed his very first bank robbery in 1889 at the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, to the tune of $20,000 (a little over half a million dollars today). He would later be played in an acclaimed film by the man who also appears on your favorite salad dressing bottle.
A guerrilla group named Los Macheteros—likely inspired by Robin Hood—stole $7 million from Wells Fargo in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1983. The group later claimed that they gave the money to Puerto Rican communities for education, housing, food, and more.
In what the media delightfully calls the ol’ “smash-and-grab,” five men stole $4.4 million worth of gold, diamonds, and other gems from Stuart Kingston Galleries in 2011.
Imagine being given such an unimaginative moniker as the “cell phone bandit.” One college student doesn’t have to: in 2006, Candice Rose Martinez committed four bank robberies—netting a total of $48,620—all while calmly talking to her boyfriend-slash-getaway-driver on the phone.
In 1997, Philip Noel Johnson, who worked as an armored car driver for Loomis Fargo, took it upon himself to rob his own place of employment of $18.8 million.
In what was surely one of the most delicious heists ever, thieves stole about $100,000 worth of ramen—or about 300,000 packages—from a tractor trailer in 2018.
In arguably less delicious news (depending on who you ask), Spam was stolen in various quantities across multiple stores in Hawaii in 2017. Stores were forced to put the mystery meat behind plastic cases, making it as difficult to purchase as fancy razor refills and cough medicine that barely works.
After having a few drinks with his crew at the local saloon, Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch robbed the Bank of Montpelier of somewhere between $7,000 and $16,000—plus $30,000 in gold coins—between 1896. You know, just your usual cute, criminal outing with a couple of friends.
In 1977, $1 million disappeared from Chicago’s First National Bank without a trace. It turned out to be the perfect crime too: the money was never found, and no culprit was ever charged.
In 1977, two men stole over $3 million in cash from Marjorie Jackson and shot her when she confronted them. Jackson, a grocery store heiress, had stashed an estimated $15 million throughout her home after her husband’s death.
John Dillinger—famous for being a gangster during the Great Depression, less famous for being played by Johnny Depp—raked in $52,000 (about $990,000 today) from the First National Bank in 1934.
In 2010, burglars stole about a million dollars in valuables from Vinca Jewelry and were never caught. Even a retired FBI agent admitted it was basically the perfect crime.
In 2004, four college kids stole rare books valued up to $5 million from the Special Collections Library at Transylvania University in Lexington. The thieves were celebrated with jail time—and eventually a film version of their exploits.
In 1984, five men stole a helicopter, got greedy, and then used the helicopter to steal $163,000 (a little over $400,000 today) from a small bank in Louisiana.
Bernard Patterson threw a red wig on his head and a toy gun on his hip to rob the Northern National Bank in Mars Hill of $177,000 (over a million dollars today). Apparently the teller recognized Patterson in the 1971 robbery, but he still managed to escape.
Three women from Baltimore started a theft ring where they stole $100,000 worth of clothing from shops like Victoria’s Secret and Dick’s Sporting and sold them for profit on Instagram in 2017.
Two men dressed as police stole 13 objects—including paintings from Degas, Rembrandt, and Vermeer—from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, worth a combined total of $500 million in 1990. The case remains unsolved, though a new podcast has renewed public interest.
In 1991, inspired by watching the impeccable movie Point Break, four men robbed the only bank in Saugatuck, Michigan, wearing masks of former United States presidents. They made off with more than $350,000 ($658,000 today).
We’re not in Kansas anymore. We’re actually in Minnesota, where Dorothy’s famous red slippers—valued between $2 million and $3 million—were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005.
The original Prohibition-era George “Machine Gun” Kelly robbed Citizens State Bank in Tupelo of $38,000 ($654,000 today) in 1932.
In 1930, thieves stole over $1 million ($14.6 million today) in cash and jewelry from Grand National Bank as it prepared to relocate to a new building. Grand National never recovered, closing its doors permanently in 1933.
Two men stole a bunch of guns—113 pistols, 20 rifles, and three shotguns, to be exact—from a freight trucking facility in Billings in 2010.
Richard Gathercole stole more than $90,000 from a bank in Nebraska City in 2014, sporting the understated look of a balaclava paired with an AK-47—hence the moniker.
In 2010, Tony Carleo stole nearly $1.5 million in chips from the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He then used those chips to gamble at the Bellagio, lose a lot of his stolen money at the Bellagio, and get caught… at the Bellagio.
A New Hampshire couple travelled to their vacation home for some well deserved R&R, just to find that their 10-by-20-foot home was, well, missing.
In 2017, four men banded together for a mighty adventure: to steal high-end booze from a liquor store in New Jersey. The thieves made off with four bottles of scotch worth a combined value of $52,000.
In 2014, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque was robbed of an uncut diamond that had more scientific value than monetary value—it was worth only an estimated $8,500. Understandably, the stone was recovered and returned to the museum the next day.
In 1978, several men stole $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels (worth a total of $21.6 million today) from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The heist later inspired a few films, including Goodfellas.
In 1997, a Loomis Fargo vault supervisor and his accomplices stole $17.3 million in cash (nearly $25.9 million today) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A multistate electronics theft ring raked in nearly $400,000 worth of merchandise across Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota in 2017 and 2018. To be fair though, the thieves managed to steal roughly 48 cell phones without anyone noticing.
In 1972, a couple of Ohioan burglars heard tell that President Nixon had a slush fund in a California bank. Naturally, the group took it upon themselves to fly to California, saw through the ceiling of the United California bank, and steal $8 million. Turns out the money wasn’t even Nixon’s.
In 2011, several members of the Hoover Crip gang committed a string of violent robberies, including a hit at the Tulsa Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union, where they stole about $170,000.
D.B. Cooper infamously hijacked a plane traveling from Portland to Seattle, extorted about $200,000 ($1.2 million today), and then parachuted away with his ransom money in 1971. Did he survive? Nobody knows!
In 2003, Brian Wells, a pizza delivery driver, walked into a bank and delivered a note to the teller, instructing him to hand over $250,000. Wells then lifted his shirt to expose a collar bomb around his neck and chest—and it gets stranger.
In 1975, eight men stole $3 million ($14.5 million today) from the Bonded Vault Company in Providence, a safe-deposit business that doubled as a secret bank for a local crime family.
In 2007, five men stole $9.8 million from an armored car service. They immediately spent their earnings on the finer things in life: tattoos, visits to strip clubs, and Mother’s Day gifts.
Dillinger strikes again. This time, joined by the fantastically named Baby Face Nelson, the gangster got away with $46,000 after holding up the Security National Bank in Downtown Sioux Falls in 1934.
In the biggest robbery in Memphis history, two men stole $6.5 million from a Wells Fargo on Thanksgiving Day, 1983. In a festive and misguided touch, the men wore Mardi Gras masks during the robbery.
Theresa Roemer, a woman famous for having a 3,000-square-foot, three-story closet, had her closet burgled of $1 million in jewelry, watches, and handbags in 2014.
Thieves stole more than six miles of copper wire from the median of Interstate 15 in Salt Lake City in 2013. The copper was worth between $5,200 and $9,000.
A lone gunman robbed an armored car of $1.9 million in 2002 in Rutland, Vermont. To date, it’s the biggest robbery in Vermont’s history.
A group of thieves grabbed about $200,000 in cash and jewelry from a store in Falls Church, Virginia, in 2017.
Straight out of a zany heist film, two men in trench coats stole 355 pounds of cash from Seafirst Bank in 1997. Their total damage? A cool $4.46 million.
In 1915, three men held up a train, robbing it of more than $100,000 ($2.4 million today) in unsigned bank notes.
This one wins for tastiest heist ever. Cheese thieves with very refined palates stole $160,000 worth of cheese between two different robberies in 2016.
In 1899, two men wearing masks forced the train crew of a Union Pacific train to separate the locomotive from the carriages and later blew open the safes on the train. They made away with an estimated $50,000, or about $7 million today.
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