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Where the Money Is: True Tales from the Bank Robbery Capital of the World
Shares bizarre stories from the annals of bank robbery, including the tale of a Dickensian thief who made children stick up banks for him and a mild-mannered antiques dealer who holds the record for the most number of banks robbed.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2003
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237 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 18, 2019
Written around 2002 by the FBI's lead bank robbery agent in the Los Angeles Field Office, this book chronicles the most infamous robberies from the 1980's and 90's in LA. Although I lived in LA during those years, I was unaware that the city was the capital of bank heists in the U.S.. Twenty percent of all bank jobs went down in LA. In some of those years, the FBI worked 2600 bank robberies in LA, an astonishing 10 per day, one robbery every 45 minutes during banking hours. I thought drug traffic was the life's blood of LA gangs until I read this and learned their main source of revenue was bank robberies. There was very little publicity about these thefts, and I had no idea at the time. This is a well-written explanation of the different types of robberies, what motivates the robbers, the techniques they use, and the FBI's response to them. It's verbose in places, but an overall fascinating nonfiction/crime book.
October 27, 2019
Bold, brilliant, and audacious the mind of intelligent criminals whose works at first sight seen flawless. But wouldn't you know, they made the stupidest errors in their crime that begs the question as to what are their IQ's chart.
Or was it that simple to find them?
Well, William J Redher takes us on a 30yrs plus as an FBI Agent specializing in bank robberies or heists and his pursuit to apprehend the suspect(s) before more harm is done.
Some are downright funny and some very clever. Almost!
California, the bank robbery capital of the world... who knew?
Or was it that simple to find them?
Well, William J Redher takes us on a 30yrs plus as an FBI Agent specializing in bank robberies or heists and his pursuit to apprehend the suspect(s) before more harm is done.
Some are downright funny and some very clever. Almost!
California, the bank robbery capital of the world... who knew?
March 29, 2008
What a fun book! I totally dig "memoir" books like this from people that led interesting lives, and can tell you about it in a well-written way.
Oh, and I now know WAY more about robbing banks then I should have ever let my imagination know. :)
Oh, and I now know WAY more about robbing banks then I should have ever let my imagination know. :)
July 17, 2011
Amazing... it is non fiction but it reads like a fiction!! Highly Recommended!!
August 17, 2022
At first, I enjoyed this book. About halfway through, I lost interest and had to keep urging myself to finish it. Some parts of the stories were interesting, but then the author would go off on a tangent. His use of curse words to make himself seem like a tough guy just made him seem unprofessional. (His co-author is listed as a journalist. He could have done some editing to give the book a smoother narrative quality.) I did learn things about bank robbers and robberies and the investigators who catch them.
March 28, 2024
This is a great read, full of fascinating stories about the people who rob banks. Stories about the tunnellers, the takeover bandits, the infamous Bank of America robbery and more kept me enthralled. The bank robber, and the people who catch them are a special breed, as you'll see. I didn't want this book to end!
July 11, 2020
An FBI agent chronicles bank heists. The book is very interesting, but was tedious reading at times.
August 20, 2024
so fun i'm gonna rob a bank
for legal reasons that is a joke
for legal reasons that is a joke
June 14, 2025
An excellent book! So interesting and informative. Captivating story telling!
Read
March 22, 2023Incredible. Fascinating and also just plain wild.
November 6, 2013
Four stars for people who enjoy a good caper or heist movie, like me! "Out of Sight" and "Point Break" are 2 favorites, and the author was an advisor to Point Break, which he disavows late in the book.
Bill Rehder joined the FBI in 1966 and worked L.A. Bank Squad for most of his career. 25% of all bank robberies in the US take place in the L.A. area, averaging a many as 10 per day in some years. He was even responsible for giving the robbers their nicknames, to help agents keep the cases straight (Benihana bandit, miss america bandit, Chevy Chase, Village People, etc) and to entice tv producers to give the stories airtime and generate tips.
The author takes pains to explain that he has not written a guide to robbing banks, even while castigating the robbers for their mistakes and explaining some bank and law enforcement procedure. Each chapter is a different style of robbery, 2 were notable. The gentleman bandit named the Yankee Bandit for his baseball cap who robbed to support his drug habit, all while owning a furniture store/ party spot and mingling with Hollywood stars. His dabbling led him to "chase the dragon" of Persian Brown heroin, to the tune of $1000/day. Everyone liked him, he was unfailingly polite even to those he robbed, doing 64 bank licks and scoring $280k over 7 months. Seems like a lot of Jack Foley in this story.
The unsolved story of the tunnelers, or "Hole in the Wall Gang" was another highlight. Skilled workers but with little bank knowledge, they managed one huge score and were foiled on a second after cleaning out the cash cart - and they had a second tunnel prepared to a bank across the street. Capers are rare events, as cunning and intelligence trump weapons and violence, but most criminals are too lazy, violent, and stupid. Caper crews never operate in LA because regular bank licks are too easy.
Bank "takeovers" became a bigger problem in the early '90s. The gangs got involved and forced younger members to stick up banks and would leave them behind if things went bad. Author says the worst gang was the Rollin Sixties Crips from early '70s, who coined the term "OG".
"Over the years, I would wonder why criminals weren't nicer to the women in tier lives. 7 or 8 times out of 10 the long-suffering girlfriend or wife would give them up".
His sole encounter with J Edgar Hoover was shaking his hand upon graduating with his training class. It was done with huge formality and improperly shaking hands or causing a bad impression could end an agent's career before it began.
Despite the author disavowing Point Break, specifically the actions of FBI bank agents, the ex-Presidents in the movie take great care in their heists. I think he would have a grudging respect for them - 90 seconds in-and-out, never go in the vault, face always hidden, getaway driver ready, never doing violence to the patrons or employees. Of course that's how the Swayze would get things done.
Bill Rehder joined the FBI in 1966 and worked L.A. Bank Squad for most of his career. 25% of all bank robberies in the US take place in the L.A. area, averaging a many as 10 per day in some years. He was even responsible for giving the robbers their nicknames, to help agents keep the cases straight (Benihana bandit, miss america bandit, Chevy Chase, Village People, etc) and to entice tv producers to give the stories airtime and generate tips.
The author takes pains to explain that he has not written a guide to robbing banks, even while castigating the robbers for their mistakes and explaining some bank and law enforcement procedure. Each chapter is a different style of robbery, 2 were notable. The gentleman bandit named the Yankee Bandit for his baseball cap who robbed to support his drug habit, all while owning a furniture store/ party spot and mingling with Hollywood stars. His dabbling led him to "chase the dragon" of Persian Brown heroin, to the tune of $1000/day. Everyone liked him, he was unfailingly polite even to those he robbed, doing 64 bank licks and scoring $280k over 7 months. Seems like a lot of Jack Foley in this story.
The unsolved story of the tunnelers, or "Hole in the Wall Gang" was another highlight. Skilled workers but with little bank knowledge, they managed one huge score and were foiled on a second after cleaning out the cash cart - and they had a second tunnel prepared to a bank across the street. Capers are rare events, as cunning and intelligence trump weapons and violence, but most criminals are too lazy, violent, and stupid. Caper crews never operate in LA because regular bank licks are too easy.
Bank "takeovers" became a bigger problem in the early '90s. The gangs got involved and forced younger members to stick up banks and would leave them behind if things went bad. Author says the worst gang was the Rollin Sixties Crips from early '70s, who coined the term "OG".
"Over the years, I would wonder why criminals weren't nicer to the women in tier lives. 7 or 8 times out of 10 the long-suffering girlfriend or wife would give them up".
His sole encounter with J Edgar Hoover was shaking his hand upon graduating with his training class. It was done with huge formality and improperly shaking hands or causing a bad impression could end an agent's career before it began.
Despite the author disavowing Point Break, specifically the actions of FBI bank agents, the ex-Presidents in the movie take great care in their heists. I think he would have a grudging respect for them - 90 seconds in-and-out, never go in the vault, face always hidden, getaway driver ready, never doing violence to the patrons or employees. Of course that's how the Swayze would get things done.
November 18, 2014
Rehder has some amazing war stories from his 33 years working as an FBI agent specializing in bank robbery in Los Angeles, and he is kind enough to share them with us. The book covers the major types of bank robberies with some of his favorite examples. Eddie Dodson robbed over 60 banks in a seven month spree of non-violent 'one-on-one' robberies to fuel his heroin habit. Casper Brown turned a street gang into violent takeover specialists. David Mack was an LAPD officer who convinced his mistress to pull an inside job. The mysterious Hole in the Ground Gang specialized in digging into vaults, and made one robbery and nearly succeeded in two others before disappearing. And Rehder has nothing but scorn for the infamous North Hollywood Shootout bandits, who violated the cardinal "120 seconds" law of bank robbery and then went down in a blaze of gunfire. Heat is a great film, but real life is not a movie, and as Rehder emphasizes again and again-bank robbers never win, and when they do get caught, it's a 15 year sentence. This is some awesome true crime reporting, and lots of fun.
May 27, 2009
Fascinating book! I could not put it down. Being from LA it was fun to read. You get real inside information behind headline news. You also get to really know the robbers. Who they were, their background, what they were like, their motivation for robbing a bank. Not all the robbers get caught, some will surprise you how stupid they were, others will surprise you about their day job, connections to Hollywood, and conspiracy theories connected to the murder of Notorious BIG. Run and get this book!
March 5, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anybody. Although it was factual, it read like a novel and the author kept it interesting filling it with little anecdotes to illustrate points. I actually found this book on Amazon while looking to see if I could find a book about another subject and thought it sounded interesting. I wasn’t disappointed.
October 1, 2017
True Crime
A great story about an FBI agent who specialized in bank robbery. He discusses MO, personalities, and evidence. It is a fascinating book, as the reader learns just how little he or she knows about bank robbery.
A great story about an FBI agent who specialized in bank robbery. He discusses MO, personalities, and evidence. It is a fascinating book, as the reader learns just how little he or she knows about bank robbery.
April 13, 2015
Very interesting and well written- not my usual genre.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews