"The moral of the story is: if someone asks you to rob a bank, say 'yes.'" (Via) [more inside]
posted by zarq on Dec 3, 2011 - 11 comments

An image showing disparity in sentencing appears in a tweet by Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow and raises questions of its validity. Paul R. Allen is clearly a real case and Roy Brown an actual criminal but what do the differences in their sentencing say about the state of justice in America? [more inside]
posted by geekyguy on Jun 25, 2011 - 28 comments

Back in 2003, MetaFilter noted a very strange bank robbery in which the robber was also a particularly desperate victim. Seven years later, the story has become even more gnarled and mysterious, despite the ultimate conviction of a 'mastermind'. The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist. [more inside]
posted by dragstroke on Jan 11, 2011 - 45 comments

Bank Notes - a collection of bank robbery notes, successful and otherwise.
posted by nthdegx on Nov 2, 2009 - 64 comments

Keep calm and lie down on the floor The John Dillinger Died for You Society has been commemorating the death of Public Enemy #1 every July 22 (last July Pope Michael Flores spoke) Their major spiritual teaching comes from the eminently quotable St. John Dillinger the Martyr who said: “Lie down on the floor and keep calm” during his bank robberies. (Considering his other quotes, it’s ironic that he was canonized) You can join just for the hell of it. Maybe check out a scrapbook of his greatest (ahem) hits. If you’re in Indiana some time you can check out his grave . And of course there’s Dillinger’s women (and everyone’s got a myspace page) But was he a hero for burning mortgages or a villian for robbing banks? Really, does it matter?
posted by Smedleyman on Nov 6, 2007 - 14 comments

Erie bomb victim was the dupe in a greedy plan. This story has always freaked me out...and now it freaks me out in brand new ways.
posted by punkfloyd on Jul 11, 2007 - 100 comments

This was not a lucky crime, this was a well-organised crime A gang stole at least £20m ($40 m) in cash from a Belfast bank yesterday. Many suspect the involvement of one of the paramilitary organizations which collectively made off with over £43m during 22,000 armed robberies during the Troubles using the tiger kidnap. Only one problem: most of the cash was in Northern Irish notes. Which sometimes are not even accepted in the rest of the UK.
posted by fshgrl on Dec 22, 2004 - 22 comments

Bank robbery in progress: You can probably watch it live on TV right now. Six schools close to the bank have been shut down, and the FBI is negotiating for the hostages to be released.
posted by ktheory on Sep 4, 2001 - 4 comments