Turns out that Willie Sutton is no longer right.
Sutton was the definition of a career criminal, practicing his craft of bank robbery for more than 40 years. He is likely best remembered for something that he really didn't say, but which was attributed to him by a reporter looking to fill out his story. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton actually replied "Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life." That apparently didn't fit the narrative the reporter wanted, so he made up the quote which lives to this day: "Why? Because that's where the money is."
While that might have been true back when Sutton was at his peak in the 1920's and 1930's, it's no longer the case. That's not say that banks don't have cash. But as a primary target, several reasons have come together to make them less attractive as a source. For one, there are simply less of them: after peaking at over 85,000 in 2009, the number of branches in the country has declined to a little over 72,000. Meanwhile, punishments have increased: a mid-1980s study put the median sentence at 10 years if a gun wasn't used, and 15 if a gun was involved. And the take is nothing to get excited about: in 2006, the average bank robbery netted about $4,330. Not peanuts, but far below what the movies would have you believe.
That said, the field still attracts professionals and amateurs alike. In the first category are people like DeAndre Thorington and Jeremy Martin from Ohio, who were linked to robberies at 15 banks between February and June of this year. Thorington was the lead, using notes and one minute in-and-outs, while Martin drove the getaway car. All told they netted a little over $41,000 before they were caught, the highest haul being about $9300 and the lowest $753.
You can argue they weren't the sharpest knifes in the drawer, as they were caught on camera multiple times, had identifying tattoos, and used the same car, all of which led to their eventual arrest. That said, they were positive geniuses next to Sam Brown who successfully robbed a Chase branch in Fountain Valley CA, and then thought it was so easy he came back to rob it again the next day. Or the Florida man who held up a store and got $120, but was quickly arrested with his weapon: his hand in the shape of gun in his shirt. And they both pale next to the guys who ripped off about $18,000 worth of what they assumed where some hi-tech boxes with good resale value, only to find out the hard way that they were GPS trackers. Once they turned them on, the cops knew just where to find them.
It's the same story in cyber-crime, where the money really is, the pool of potential targets is practically limitless, and there is far less risk of getting caught. The big players routinely net millions of dollars, with the biggest haul this year linked to an online game called Axie Infinity. A five-month hack of that system discovered this past March netted over $600 million, though most of that was eventually recovered. Not so with a hack on Crypto.com back in January, where the thieves made off with about $30 million, and neither they nor the loot has been identified.
At the other end of the spectrum are the multitude of phishing emails we all get, some more obvious than others. I got a notice resembling a Citibank official communique saying I had to respond, or my money would be frozen. Troubling, if not for the fact that the return address was a name at dressbarn-execptional.com. Not quite a tattoo, but a pretty good tell none the less.
That said, they are rocket scientists compare to Alvin Neal. Neal walked into a Wells Fargo branch in San Diego intending to rob it. He approached a teller with his note and plan, but first, he swiped his debit card. Needless to say, he was quickly apprehended. He was sentenced to 46 months, plus paying back the bank the $565 he took. Poor Willie would have been horrified.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford has never stolen anything to which he will admit. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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