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Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery
On August 28, 2003, in the suburbs of Erie, Pennsylvania, a pizza delivery man named Brian Wells was accosted by several men who locked a time bomb around his neck. They then ordered him to rob a bank. After delivering the money, he would receive clues to help him disarm the bomb. It was one of the most ingenious bank robbery schemes in history, known as Collarbomb by the FBI.
It did not go according to plan.
Wells, picked up by police shortly after the robbery, never found the clues he needed. Investigating the crime after his grisly death, the FBI soon discovered that Wells was not, in fact, an innocent victim. He was merely the first co-conspirator to fall in a bizarre trail of death following the crime.
Jerry Clark, the lead FBI Special Agent who cracked what became known as the Pizza Bomber case, and investigative reporter Ed Palattella, who followed it from the beginning, tell the complete story, from the inside, for the first time.
INCLUDES PHOTOS
It did not go according to plan.
Wells, picked up by police shortly after the robbery, never found the clues he needed. Investigating the crime after his grisly death, the FBI soon discovered that Wells was not, in fact, an innocent victim. He was merely the first co-conspirator to fall in a bizarre trail of death following the crime.
Jerry Clark, the lead FBI Special Agent who cracked what became known as the Pizza Bomber case, and investigative reporter Ed Palattella, who followed it from the beginning, tell the complete story, from the inside, for the first time.
INCLUDES PHOTOS
438 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2012
47 people are currently reading
515 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
January 31, 2023
I’m kind of right in the middle with this book, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. Some parts were incredibly interesting and completely held my attention while others had me just not caring and wanting to skim over them. Some parts were also quite repetitive, I only need to hear the same facts so many times before it starts to get annoying. The book could easily have been cut in half by taking away all the repetitiveness and it would have made it a much more interesting read. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely fascinated with the Pizza Bomber story and the book was interesting at times, I just didn’t need to same facts thrown at me twenty different times. While some things about this book really frustrated me I do still think it’s worth a read if you’re morbidly obsessed with true crime and this fascinating case as I am.
May 3, 2020
I remember hearing the story on the news years ago about a pizza delivery man who was reportedly kidnapped and forced to wear a bomb to rob a bank and it exploded, then we heard he was a willing accomplice, then we heard nothing more. This book finally tells the story, written by a news reporter and a law enforcement official who had been on the case.
It turns out the plot was hatched by several crazy people on the fringes of society, and the pizza deliveryman was tricked into performing the robbery. He and one other man in on the robbery were deliberately murdered, and because a real bomb was involved, the FBI as well as the local law enforcement agencies were involved, and this created inevitable conflict and confusion, delaying solving the mystery, which involved a highly sophisticated bomb made from homemade materials. Also, one perpetrator died of cancer soon afterward, making it very difficult to bring cases against the surviving conspirators, so it was years before they could finally be prosecuted,
Justice would ultimately prevail, but that path to it was not at all easy.
It turns out the plot was hatched by several crazy people on the fringes of society, and the pizza deliveryman was tricked into performing the robbery. He and one other man in on the robbery were deliberately murdered, and because a real bomb was involved, the FBI as well as the local law enforcement agencies were involved, and this created inevitable conflict and confusion, delaying solving the mystery, which involved a highly sophisticated bomb made from homemade materials. Also, one perpetrator died of cancer soon afterward, making it very difficult to bring cases against the surviving conspirators, so it was years before they could finally be prosecuted,
Justice would ultimately prevail, but that path to it was not at all easy.
June 26, 2025
What’s up Goodreads
September 26, 2018
Interesting topic but was a disappointing read: dry, repetitive and overall felt like an unfinished draft.
January 19, 2013
This is the story about the crime from 2003, where a man delivered a pizza, had a bomb strapped to him and was forced to rob a bank. Then the bomb went off and he was killed. I always wondered what happened, what the story was behind that weird crime. This book provides the answers, and describes the weird cast of characters in detail and the events before and after the crime. It is better written than many true crime stories, although you would not choose this book for the writing but rather for the story it explains.
March 21, 2013
This book could have been a lot better had it been written from a first-person perspective. It dragged on and continued to repeat itself. Halfway through the book it almost felt like I was reading it over again. The writing seemed amateurish and some of the facts would change throughout the book. The story itself was interesting, but the way it was written made it boring.
June 21, 2025
review of
Jerry Clark & Ed Palattella's Pizza Bomber - The Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 16, 2025
My full review of this is at: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticC...
I rarely read 'True Crime' bks. I reckon I just don't like that much. I do get engrossed in them - but not to get my jollies off, I find them consistently tragic. I'm from Baltimore, where I was exposed to more than enuf debased humanity to last multiple lifetimes. I read this b/c I remember hearing about the crime when it happened & didn't ever hear about its solving. Even after reading this, I feel unsettled - as if we'll never know the true story - esp the true story of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong & Bill Rothstein.
One might ask: Exactly what do I mean by "debased humanity"? I mean people who've gotten so deranged that they no longer have much feeling for other people, people who want to hurt other people w/ the same detachment that people generally treat inanimate objects. Usually, this state-of-mind comes about from a more general lack of ethics in their environment coupled w/ excessive drug use - esp crack & speed. Having a megalomaniacal mindset contributes but isn't absolutely necessary.
The crime was committed in 2003 but the bk wasn't copyrighted until 2012 - that's a long time coming. The "AUTHORS' NOTE" begins:
"This account draws from personal observations, contemporaneous notes, interviews, court documents, transcripts and other official records, as well as news media reports, particularly those in the Erie Times-News. The opinions expressed in this book are the authors' alone and not those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." - p -iv
The "Introduction" begins:
"Since the founding of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1908, its agents have infiltrated the Mob, probed corruption and pursued terrorists. But fewer than three hundred of the FBI's investigations have earned Major Case status, which refers to the bureau's most complex and serious probes.
"The first Major Case was the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping, on March 1, 1932. Six decades later, the FBI opened a string of some of its most famous Major Cases in recent times, OKBOMB, Major Case 117, covered the investigation of Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building, in Oklahoma City, on April 15, 1995." - p 1
Jerry Clark, the coauthor of this bk, was the FBI agent in charge of the COLLARBOMB (Pizza Bomber) investigation. His coauthor, Ed Palattella, was a reporter for the Erie Times-News who covered the case. As such, it's not surprising that the presentation of the FBI wd be a fairly straight-forward presentation of it as the country's main law-enforcement agency out to do capture major criminals for the protection of the citizen. Many people wd beg to differ. 1st off, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's notorious boss for decades, was a closeted gay man w/ well-known biases that interfered w/ any actual detection work. His orientation was to create a PR image, his reality was that he was very oppressed & oppressive. He's sd to've denied that organized crime even existed. Black Panthers were certainly framed by the FBI - as were Native American political activists. Even the Oklahoma City Bombing has been under scrutiny: the FBI allegedly had infilitrators in Right Wing groups connected to the bombing, they allegedly knew it was going to happen.. & did nothing to stop it. In other words, trusting the FBI isn't exactly something that its record gives confidence for - but nowhere in this bk is the FBI or any of the other law enforcement agencies called into question.
"Before joing the FBI, Clark investigated large-scale drug trafficking as a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, in Cleveland; before that, he had worked as a forensic therapist, a probation officer and a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, the NCIS. Clark had more experience with bank robberies and other violent crimes than any of the six other FBI agents in Erie at the time; his whole FBI career he had been assigned to violent crimes—fugitives, kidnappings, bank robberies. He had a bachelor's degree in forensic psychology. He had wanted to be a psychological profiler, who used clues to develop the protrait of a criminal." - pp 25-26
One of the reasons why I don't like True Crime bks is that, for the most part, they're tragic & I don't like tragedy. The COLLARBOMB case is tragic b/c Brian Wells, a pizza deliverer, was killed after robbing a PNC bank w/ a bomb strapped to his chest. Wells was caught almost immediately after robbing the bank, he told the police that the bomb was going to go off & kill him & that he didn't know how to stop it. The bomb squad didn't get there in time to stop it & Wells had a large hole blown thru his chest. The bomb squad supposedly had traffic problems. Really? If it had been one of their guys who had the bomb strapped to them do you think the bomb squad wd've gotten there in time?! Maybe they're not familiar w/ sirens & flashing lights, they're used for navigating thru traffic. I cd care less about the bank being robbed of a mere $8.000+ - that's trivial in contrast to Wells's death.
"As the police questioned Wells and a television camera rolled, the homemade contraption exploded and tore a fatal wound into his chest." - p 2
Maybe they shd've taken the situation more seriously. Easy for me to say, right? I wasn't there.
The author(s) quote from Wells' high school psych profile.
"The study found Wells suffered from nascent psychological problems. "The . . . record appears to indicate psychpathic tendencies along with paranoid flavor," it said.
"The school psychologist gauged Wells' 'self-projection" by having him draw a person. Wells drew "a make figure that appears to be physically strong and dominant," according to the study. "This large figure appears to indicate slight manic and gradiose signs in this adolescent. It appears to be related somewhat to studies of aggressive psychopaths."
"The study portrayed Wells as an intelligent but troubled and defiant loner with no need for authority. "He claims that he will not please others," the study said, "and he presently sees adults as being too demanding and that he will lead his own life in his own time."" - p 9
I can't say that I'm very impressed by the above psychoanalysis & find it close to useless for knowing who Wells was around the time of his death. It seems to me that having "no need for authority" is a healthy thing & that seeing "adults as being too demanding" was probably equally sensible. Much of the way he's described just seems like a portrait of adolescence. Dropping hints about psychopathia doesn't seem to've been born out in his life.
We come to the robbery:
"Lapinski told him the manager was at lunch and would be back in about a half an hour, or around 3:00 P.M.
""I don't have until 3:00," the man said, "I don't have that kind of time. I need $250,000."
"He lifted the baggy white T-shirt. A graycolored device hung from his neck and rested on his chest. It looked like a bomb.
"Lipinski looked at the man. He still wanted $250,000." - p 17
"Lipinski got more cash from other teller stations. She put the money in a white canvas bank bag and gave it to the robber: $8,702.
""It's not enough," he said.
""What do you want me to do?" Lipinski said.
"She told him it was all the money she had." - pp17-18
"The robber got out. He walked to the McDonald's drive-through sign, which was posted in a flower bed. He got down, lifted a rock that was embedded in the landscaping and grabbed a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the rock. The robber stood, read the note and lifted his eyes. He looked toward an Eat'n Park restaurant on the other side of Peach Street." - p 19
Erie isn't far from Pittsburgh. PNC banks & Eat'n Parks are quite common. Reading these descriptions makes me feel like it happened in my home turf.
Wells gets caught.
"The robber told Stafford he was wearing a ticking time bomb.
"Stafford shouted a warning. The troopers fell back. Weibel called the Erie police, the only local department with a bomb squad. The call reached the Erie police station, six miles north of the Summit Towne Sentre, at 3:04 P.M." - p 20
"He said a black man locked the bomb around his neck and ordered him to rob the bank.
"Here we go, Dawdy thought. He had heard this story before." - p 21
Somehow, I doubt that Dawdy had heard this exact same story before.
""Holy shit," he thought. "This man is dead."
"It was 3:18 P.M.—ninety-one minutes after Wells left Mamma Mia's, seventy-eight minutes after he left the TV tower site, fifty-one minutes after he walked into the bank, forty minutes after he left the bank, twenty-nine minutes after Trooper Weibel stopped him in the parking lot, fourteen minutes after Weibel called the bomb squad."
[..]
"Clark and the others backed off. Three minutes after the detonation, at 3:21 P.M., the bomb squad pulled up; they had driven as fast as they could through the traffic." - p 28
It took them 17 minutes to get out of the police stn & to drive 6 miles. Let's say it took 5 minutes to get in their vehicle. That leaves 12 minutes to drive 6 miles. That's a mile every 2 minutes. That means an average speed of 30 mph (not counting lights).
"As he reviewed this finding, Jason Wick, the ATF agent, thought the late arrival of the Erie bomb squad had been a blessing. If the bomb techs had arrived before the bomb exploded, they might have moved the wire mesh to get to the gust of the collar bomb. Then not only Wells would have died." - p 106
"No one wanted to cut the bomb off Wells' neck. Vey, using a newly sharpened dissecting scalpel, cut off his head instead." - p 88
The authors (well, presumably, the reporter half of the duo) present some setting-the-scene history about Erie.
"At its best, the city mined its heritage to its benefit. Erie became famous in the War of 1812 as the port where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry built the ships he used to defeat the British fleet near the present-day Put-in-Bay, Ohio, in the Battle of Lake Erie, on September 10, 1813." - p 32
One of my favorite movies that I've made is called Bent. A minor portion of it was shot at a reenactment of a military camp in Put-in-Bay. Here's a link: https://youtu.be/pq9wSjKJf9E
"Some nights on the South Pier, Diehl-Armstrong would laugh with Barnes about another murder—how, twenty years earlier, she shot and killed another live-in boyfriend on July 30, 1984. She would chuckle how she was acquitted in the case that established her notoreity.
""I shot the motherfucker six times," Diehl-Armstrong would say, "I got away with it."
""How'd you do that?" Barnes would say.
""I told them he was beating me up."" - p 34
Note that that purported dialog is presented as if it's a factual recounting when, in fact, it's a reenactment of an alleged conversation, reenacted by a crack head 20 yrs later. What's the likelihood of its being accurate or even anything other than imaginary?! It's this sort of thing that makes me question this bk. The writing is that of a 'news'paper reporter, the style is such that it's presented as 'reality', the typical 'news' approach - &, yet, the news is often fabricated w/ a manipulative end in mind - even when there's a degree of innocence involved, it's basic to the nature of the 'news' to put forth its stories as 'fact'.
Now, I don't think it's contested that Diehl murdered her live-in boyfriend from 5 to 7 ft away w/ a handgun that she brought into the rm where he was for that purpose. As for the allegations that her boyfriend, a Vietnam Vet w/ PTSD, was actually beating her up? This bk provides no evidence that this was true. It may be the case that Diehl was completely making this up in order to justify her murder of him. Keep in mind that this was 1984, the yr of "The Burning Bed":
" The Burning Bed is a 1984 television drama film starring Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, and Richard Masur. Based on the 1980 non-fiction novel of the same name by Faith McNulty, it follows battered housewife Francine Hughes and her trial for the murder of her abusive husband, James Berlin "Mickey" Hughes. Hughes set fire to the bed her husband was sleeping in at their Dansville, Michigan home on March 9, 1977, after thirteen years of physical domestic abuse at his hands.
"The film was written by Rose Leiman Goldemberg and directed by Robert Greenwald. It aired on NBC on October 8, 1984. The movie premiered with a household share of 36.2, ranking it the seventeenth highest rated movie to air on network television and NBC's highest rated television movie." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bur...
While Diehl's murder was committed before the Oct 8 broadcast of "The Burning Bed", I'm speculating that her trial was after the broadcast. It seems likely to me that the popularity of the TV program was highly influential on Diehl's being acquitted. Her defense didn't have to based in reality, it only had to appeal to the public mindset of the time. According to the narrative of this bk, this was her 1st murder - there was at least one more to come & the possibility of several more.
A footnote on page 40 adds another mysterious death around this time of another man who'd dated Diehl:
"While Diehl was incarcerated and awaiting trial," [for this 1st murder of Bob Thomas] "another death occurred in the rented house on Sunset Boulevard where she had killed Thomas on July 30, 1984. On April 4, 1985, the owner of the house, E.C., a sixty-five-year-old man whom Diehl-Armstrong once dated, was found hanging from a nylon rope in the house's entranceway. The coroner ruled the death a suicide and reported that E.C. left two suicide notes and was suffering from throat cancer but was also distraught over Thomas having been killed inside the house. A fiend of E.C. told the coroner that E.C. "had been extremely distressed since this murder," according to the coroner's report. "He had been the object of much harassment.""
One cd potentially count this as violent death #2 that Diehl was at least patially responsible for.
"The first criminal case against Diehl resulted from her work for an abortion clinic. The Erie police charged her in a sting in April 1980. The police accused her of telling an undercover female Erie police officer that the officer was pregnant, based on the results of her urine sample. The police said Diehl recommended the officer pay at least $150 for an abortion at a clinic in Buffalo. The urine sample was that of a male police officer. The police charged Diehl with conspiracy and attempted theft by deception.
"Without pleading guilty, Diehl entered a program for first-time, nonviolent offenders. She got two years of probation, which included sixty hours of community service." - p 38
While my overall tendency is to believe that Diehl-Armstrong was a murderous & highly manipulative person, I keep questioning the narrative that's presented about her. Sting operations aren't to be trusted, they're entrapment - that doesn't mean that the above story isn't true, it just makes me wonder what the defense's version of the story was & if it differed significantly from the prosecution's.
This bk depicts the younger Diehl as attractive, charming, & sexual. As such, maybe it's no wonder that even after murdering her boyfriend she managed to get married 7 yrs later.
"Marjorie Diehl became Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong in 1991. Her first and only marriage ended in death. Her husband, Richard Armstrong, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had such a fear of germs and bacteria that he drank bleach with meals. Diehl accused him in April 1990 of threatening to kill her, mutilate her and burn down her house. He entered into a plea bargain and was sentenced to a month in prison in early January 1991. Richard Armstrong married Marjorie Diehl while he was on parole, on January 23, 1991.
[Uh, there are so many red flags w/ the above that it's practically record-breaking! She gets him put in jail for threats of violence against her & then marries him while he's still on parole after he gets out! Surely, that's a sign that violence turns her on.]
"Armstrong died twenty months later. Paramedics arrived at Diehl-Armstrong's new house, at 1867 East Seventh Street, in Erie, and found him sitting on the floor, having vomited, and resting against a couch, unable to walk. He said he had been suffering from headaches for two days, had become increasingly dizzy and fell that afternoon and struck his head on a table. He said, according to Diehl-Armstrong, that it felt as if something had busted in his head or a hammer had hit him. The damage left him with a brain hemorrhage. Armstrong fell into a coma at the hospital, was declared brain dead and died on August 24, 1992. He was forty years old." - p 45
Um, does that seem suspicious to anyone? The author(s) of this bk are careful to not accuse Diehl-Armstrong of a 2nd murder here but I don't think a suspicion of such is uncalled-for.
Much of the bk is spent on diagnosises of Diehl as manic-depressive &/or otherwise mentally ill. This, of course, is used to explain her homicidal & other behaviors.
"["]some of the greatest artists and writers who ever lived were bipolar."
"Diehl-Armstrong considered herself a part of this illustrious group—the rarified ensemble of the socially and artistically brilliant and praised—rather than a member of a certain class of murderers.
""I am not," she once said, "one of these people that goes around like Ted Bundy and does these horrible things."" - p 48
& it's this aspect of Diehl that's so unsettling to me in the sense that while I believe she's guilty of "horrible things" I'm not really sure of what truly went on in her mind. She's depicted in this bk as having talent as a child - but as an adult, she's mainly depicted as living in deranged squalor. Did she ever play concerts as an adult? Did she ever publicly display talent of any kind? Was her private life full of creativity? These questions aren't answered in this bk. One friend of mine who's a prison activist says: "People aren't the worst thing they've ever done." That doesn't mean that people such as Diehl shd be excused for murder, it does mean that if we really want to understand her it wd help to know what her life was like when she wasn't murdering people.
Jerry Clark & Ed Palattella's Pizza Bomber - The Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 16, 2025
My full review of this is at: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticC...
I rarely read 'True Crime' bks. I reckon I just don't like that much. I do get engrossed in them - but not to get my jollies off, I find them consistently tragic. I'm from Baltimore, where I was exposed to more than enuf debased humanity to last multiple lifetimes. I read this b/c I remember hearing about the crime when it happened & didn't ever hear about its solving. Even after reading this, I feel unsettled - as if we'll never know the true story - esp the true story of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong & Bill Rothstein.
One might ask: Exactly what do I mean by "debased humanity"? I mean people who've gotten so deranged that they no longer have much feeling for other people, people who want to hurt other people w/ the same detachment that people generally treat inanimate objects. Usually, this state-of-mind comes about from a more general lack of ethics in their environment coupled w/ excessive drug use - esp crack & speed. Having a megalomaniacal mindset contributes but isn't absolutely necessary.
The crime was committed in 2003 but the bk wasn't copyrighted until 2012 - that's a long time coming. The "AUTHORS' NOTE" begins:
"This account draws from personal observations, contemporaneous notes, interviews, court documents, transcripts and other official records, as well as news media reports, particularly those in the Erie Times-News. The opinions expressed in this book are the authors' alone and not those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." - p -iv
The "Introduction" begins:
"Since the founding of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1908, its agents have infiltrated the Mob, probed corruption and pursued terrorists. But fewer than three hundred of the FBI's investigations have earned Major Case status, which refers to the bureau's most complex and serious probes.
"The first Major Case was the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping, on March 1, 1932. Six decades later, the FBI opened a string of some of its most famous Major Cases in recent times, OKBOMB, Major Case 117, covered the investigation of Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building, in Oklahoma City, on April 15, 1995." - p 1
Jerry Clark, the coauthor of this bk, was the FBI agent in charge of the COLLARBOMB (Pizza Bomber) investigation. His coauthor, Ed Palattella, was a reporter for the Erie Times-News who covered the case. As such, it's not surprising that the presentation of the FBI wd be a fairly straight-forward presentation of it as the country's main law-enforcement agency out to do capture major criminals for the protection of the citizen. Many people wd beg to differ. 1st off, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's notorious boss for decades, was a closeted gay man w/ well-known biases that interfered w/ any actual detection work. His orientation was to create a PR image, his reality was that he was very oppressed & oppressive. He's sd to've denied that organized crime even existed. Black Panthers were certainly framed by the FBI - as were Native American political activists. Even the Oklahoma City Bombing has been under scrutiny: the FBI allegedly had infilitrators in Right Wing groups connected to the bombing, they allegedly knew it was going to happen.. & did nothing to stop it. In other words, trusting the FBI isn't exactly something that its record gives confidence for - but nowhere in this bk is the FBI or any of the other law enforcement agencies called into question.
"Before joing the FBI, Clark investigated large-scale drug trafficking as a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, in Cleveland; before that, he had worked as a forensic therapist, a probation officer and a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, the NCIS. Clark had more experience with bank robberies and other violent crimes than any of the six other FBI agents in Erie at the time; his whole FBI career he had been assigned to violent crimes—fugitives, kidnappings, bank robberies. He had a bachelor's degree in forensic psychology. He had wanted to be a psychological profiler, who used clues to develop the protrait of a criminal." - pp 25-26
One of the reasons why I don't like True Crime bks is that, for the most part, they're tragic & I don't like tragedy. The COLLARBOMB case is tragic b/c Brian Wells, a pizza deliverer, was killed after robbing a PNC bank w/ a bomb strapped to his chest. Wells was caught almost immediately after robbing the bank, he told the police that the bomb was going to go off & kill him & that he didn't know how to stop it. The bomb squad didn't get there in time to stop it & Wells had a large hole blown thru his chest. The bomb squad supposedly had traffic problems. Really? If it had been one of their guys who had the bomb strapped to them do you think the bomb squad wd've gotten there in time?! Maybe they're not familiar w/ sirens & flashing lights, they're used for navigating thru traffic. I cd care less about the bank being robbed of a mere $8.000+ - that's trivial in contrast to Wells's death.
"As the police questioned Wells and a television camera rolled, the homemade contraption exploded and tore a fatal wound into his chest." - p 2
Maybe they shd've taken the situation more seriously. Easy for me to say, right? I wasn't there.
The author(s) quote from Wells' high school psych profile.
"The study found Wells suffered from nascent psychological problems. "The . . . record appears to indicate psychpathic tendencies along with paranoid flavor," it said.
"The school psychologist gauged Wells' 'self-projection" by having him draw a person. Wells drew "a make figure that appears to be physically strong and dominant," according to the study. "This large figure appears to indicate slight manic and gradiose signs in this adolescent. It appears to be related somewhat to studies of aggressive psychopaths."
"The study portrayed Wells as an intelligent but troubled and defiant loner with no need for authority. "He claims that he will not please others," the study said, "and he presently sees adults as being too demanding and that he will lead his own life in his own time."" - p 9
I can't say that I'm very impressed by the above psychoanalysis & find it close to useless for knowing who Wells was around the time of his death. It seems to me that having "no need for authority" is a healthy thing & that seeing "adults as being too demanding" was probably equally sensible. Much of the way he's described just seems like a portrait of adolescence. Dropping hints about psychopathia doesn't seem to've been born out in his life.
We come to the robbery:
"Lapinski told him the manager was at lunch and would be back in about a half an hour, or around 3:00 P.M.
""I don't have until 3:00," the man said, "I don't have that kind of time. I need $250,000."
"He lifted the baggy white T-shirt. A graycolored device hung from his neck and rested on his chest. It looked like a bomb.
"Lipinski looked at the man. He still wanted $250,000." - p 17
"Lipinski got more cash from other teller stations. She put the money in a white canvas bank bag and gave it to the robber: $8,702.
""It's not enough," he said.
""What do you want me to do?" Lipinski said.
"She told him it was all the money she had." - pp17-18
"The robber got out. He walked to the McDonald's drive-through sign, which was posted in a flower bed. He got down, lifted a rock that was embedded in the landscaping and grabbed a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the rock. The robber stood, read the note and lifted his eyes. He looked toward an Eat'n Park restaurant on the other side of Peach Street." - p 19
Erie isn't far from Pittsburgh. PNC banks & Eat'n Parks are quite common. Reading these descriptions makes me feel like it happened in my home turf.
Wells gets caught.
"The robber told Stafford he was wearing a ticking time bomb.
"Stafford shouted a warning. The troopers fell back. Weibel called the Erie police, the only local department with a bomb squad. The call reached the Erie police station, six miles north of the Summit Towne Sentre, at 3:04 P.M." - p 20
"He said a black man locked the bomb around his neck and ordered him to rob the bank.
"Here we go, Dawdy thought. He had heard this story before." - p 21
Somehow, I doubt that Dawdy had heard this exact same story before.
""Holy shit," he thought. "This man is dead."
"It was 3:18 P.M.—ninety-one minutes after Wells left Mamma Mia's, seventy-eight minutes after he left the TV tower site, fifty-one minutes after he walked into the bank, forty minutes after he left the bank, twenty-nine minutes after Trooper Weibel stopped him in the parking lot, fourteen minutes after Weibel called the bomb squad."
[..]
"Clark and the others backed off. Three minutes after the detonation, at 3:21 P.M., the bomb squad pulled up; they had driven as fast as they could through the traffic." - p 28
It took them 17 minutes to get out of the police stn & to drive 6 miles. Let's say it took 5 minutes to get in their vehicle. That leaves 12 minutes to drive 6 miles. That's a mile every 2 minutes. That means an average speed of 30 mph (not counting lights).
"As he reviewed this finding, Jason Wick, the ATF agent, thought the late arrival of the Erie bomb squad had been a blessing. If the bomb techs had arrived before the bomb exploded, they might have moved the wire mesh to get to the gust of the collar bomb. Then not only Wells would have died." - p 106
"No one wanted to cut the bomb off Wells' neck. Vey, using a newly sharpened dissecting scalpel, cut off his head instead." - p 88
The authors (well, presumably, the reporter half of the duo) present some setting-the-scene history about Erie.
"At its best, the city mined its heritage to its benefit. Erie became famous in the War of 1812 as the port where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry built the ships he used to defeat the British fleet near the present-day Put-in-Bay, Ohio, in the Battle of Lake Erie, on September 10, 1813." - p 32
One of my favorite movies that I've made is called Bent. A minor portion of it was shot at a reenactment of a military camp in Put-in-Bay. Here's a link: https://youtu.be/pq9wSjKJf9E
"Some nights on the South Pier, Diehl-Armstrong would laugh with Barnes about another murder—how, twenty years earlier, she shot and killed another live-in boyfriend on July 30, 1984. She would chuckle how she was acquitted in the case that established her notoreity.
""I shot the motherfucker six times," Diehl-Armstrong would say, "I got away with it."
""How'd you do that?" Barnes would say.
""I told them he was beating me up."" - p 34
Note that that purported dialog is presented as if it's a factual recounting when, in fact, it's a reenactment of an alleged conversation, reenacted by a crack head 20 yrs later. What's the likelihood of its being accurate or even anything other than imaginary?! It's this sort of thing that makes me question this bk. The writing is that of a 'news'paper reporter, the style is such that it's presented as 'reality', the typical 'news' approach - &, yet, the news is often fabricated w/ a manipulative end in mind - even when there's a degree of innocence involved, it's basic to the nature of the 'news' to put forth its stories as 'fact'.
Now, I don't think it's contested that Diehl murdered her live-in boyfriend from 5 to 7 ft away w/ a handgun that she brought into the rm where he was for that purpose. As for the allegations that her boyfriend, a Vietnam Vet w/ PTSD, was actually beating her up? This bk provides no evidence that this was true. It may be the case that Diehl was completely making this up in order to justify her murder of him. Keep in mind that this was 1984, the yr of "The Burning Bed":
" The Burning Bed is a 1984 television drama film starring Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, and Richard Masur. Based on the 1980 non-fiction novel of the same name by Faith McNulty, it follows battered housewife Francine Hughes and her trial for the murder of her abusive husband, James Berlin "Mickey" Hughes. Hughes set fire to the bed her husband was sleeping in at their Dansville, Michigan home on March 9, 1977, after thirteen years of physical domestic abuse at his hands.
"The film was written by Rose Leiman Goldemberg and directed by Robert Greenwald. It aired on NBC on October 8, 1984. The movie premiered with a household share of 36.2, ranking it the seventeenth highest rated movie to air on network television and NBC's highest rated television movie." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bur...
While Diehl's murder was committed before the Oct 8 broadcast of "The Burning Bed", I'm speculating that her trial was after the broadcast. It seems likely to me that the popularity of the TV program was highly influential on Diehl's being acquitted. Her defense didn't have to based in reality, it only had to appeal to the public mindset of the time. According to the narrative of this bk, this was her 1st murder - there was at least one more to come & the possibility of several more.
A footnote on page 40 adds another mysterious death around this time of another man who'd dated Diehl:
"While Diehl was incarcerated and awaiting trial," [for this 1st murder of Bob Thomas] "another death occurred in the rented house on Sunset Boulevard where she had killed Thomas on July 30, 1984. On April 4, 1985, the owner of the house, E.C., a sixty-five-year-old man whom Diehl-Armstrong once dated, was found hanging from a nylon rope in the house's entranceway. The coroner ruled the death a suicide and reported that E.C. left two suicide notes and was suffering from throat cancer but was also distraught over Thomas having been killed inside the house. A fiend of E.C. told the coroner that E.C. "had been extremely distressed since this murder," according to the coroner's report. "He had been the object of much harassment.""
One cd potentially count this as violent death #2 that Diehl was at least patially responsible for.
"The first criminal case against Diehl resulted from her work for an abortion clinic. The Erie police charged her in a sting in April 1980. The police accused her of telling an undercover female Erie police officer that the officer was pregnant, based on the results of her urine sample. The police said Diehl recommended the officer pay at least $150 for an abortion at a clinic in Buffalo. The urine sample was that of a male police officer. The police charged Diehl with conspiracy and attempted theft by deception.
"Without pleading guilty, Diehl entered a program for first-time, nonviolent offenders. She got two years of probation, which included sixty hours of community service." - p 38
While my overall tendency is to believe that Diehl-Armstrong was a murderous & highly manipulative person, I keep questioning the narrative that's presented about her. Sting operations aren't to be trusted, they're entrapment - that doesn't mean that the above story isn't true, it just makes me wonder what the defense's version of the story was & if it differed significantly from the prosecution's.
This bk depicts the younger Diehl as attractive, charming, & sexual. As such, maybe it's no wonder that even after murdering her boyfriend she managed to get married 7 yrs later.
"Marjorie Diehl became Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong in 1991. Her first and only marriage ended in death. Her husband, Richard Armstrong, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had such a fear of germs and bacteria that he drank bleach with meals. Diehl accused him in April 1990 of threatening to kill her, mutilate her and burn down her house. He entered into a plea bargain and was sentenced to a month in prison in early January 1991. Richard Armstrong married Marjorie Diehl while he was on parole, on January 23, 1991.
[Uh, there are so many red flags w/ the above that it's practically record-breaking! She gets him put in jail for threats of violence against her & then marries him while he's still on parole after he gets out! Surely, that's a sign that violence turns her on.]
"Armstrong died twenty months later. Paramedics arrived at Diehl-Armstrong's new house, at 1867 East Seventh Street, in Erie, and found him sitting on the floor, having vomited, and resting against a couch, unable to walk. He said he had been suffering from headaches for two days, had become increasingly dizzy and fell that afternoon and struck his head on a table. He said, according to Diehl-Armstrong, that it felt as if something had busted in his head or a hammer had hit him. The damage left him with a brain hemorrhage. Armstrong fell into a coma at the hospital, was declared brain dead and died on August 24, 1992. He was forty years old." - p 45
Um, does that seem suspicious to anyone? The author(s) of this bk are careful to not accuse Diehl-Armstrong of a 2nd murder here but I don't think a suspicion of such is uncalled-for.
Much of the bk is spent on diagnosises of Diehl as manic-depressive &/or otherwise mentally ill. This, of course, is used to explain her homicidal & other behaviors.
"["]some of the greatest artists and writers who ever lived were bipolar."
"Diehl-Armstrong considered herself a part of this illustrious group—the rarified ensemble of the socially and artistically brilliant and praised—rather than a member of a certain class of murderers.
""I am not," she once said, "one of these people that goes around like Ted Bundy and does these horrible things."" - p 48
& it's this aspect of Diehl that's so unsettling to me in the sense that while I believe she's guilty of "horrible things" I'm not really sure of what truly went on in her mind. She's depicted in this bk as having talent as a child - but as an adult, she's mainly depicted as living in deranged squalor. Did she ever play concerts as an adult? Did she ever publicly display talent of any kind? Was her private life full of creativity? These questions aren't answered in this bk. One friend of mine who's a prison activist says: "People aren't the worst thing they've ever done." That doesn't mean that people such as Diehl shd be excused for murder, it does mean that if we really want to understand her it wd help to know what her life was like when she wasn't murdering people.
September 10, 2025
Fascinating nonfiction book covering the detailed and twisted pizza bomber case from Erie, Pennsylvania. How does a pizza delivery man end up with a bomb attached to his neck? Very complicated case, thoroughly detailed. Follows the event, the aftermath, investigation, and trials. Includes pictures at the end.
🪦4+
🪦4+
January 16, 2013
I didn't expect much out of this book but I was pleasantly surprised! Very well written and quiet the page turner. It gives you a lot of insight into the case that the general public never got from the new coverage. I was young when the incident occurred but remembered enough to enjoy this book.
September 19, 2015
Kinda boring book, it went on and on
And went on with some other cases!
And went on with some other cases!
October 19, 2020
Pizza Bomber: The Shocking Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery by Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella (Berkeley Books 2012) (364.15)(3471).
I remember when this bizarre crime occurred. In August 2003, A fifty year old career pizza delivery dimwit walked into a bank in Erie, PA with what looked like a toilet seat hung around his neck. The pizza guy said that he had been assaulted by a group of people who threatened, beat, fired at, and finally forced him to wear this mechanism which was actually a time bomb locked around his neck. What's more, he was there to rob the bank; he had a note that demanded $250,000 in cash. The pizza guy told the bank officers and the police that the bomb was actively counting down and that unless he delivered the money to the bomb builders by a deadline, the bomb was going to detonate. He left the bank with some $8000 and was stopped outside by the police. They cuffed him, listened skeptically to his story, and sat him down on the parking lot pavement while they awaited the arrival of the bomb squad. Shortly thereafter, the bomb exploded, and it killed the robber dead. The FBI became interested at that point.
It was seven years before the crime was fully unravelled and the motives and methods understood; I waited all those years to learn the details of what had actually happened.
It turned out to have been a conspiracy of misfit malcontents who all knew each other. The ringleader was a bipolar-schizophrenic woman who had killed before for profit.
I listened as the FBI spokesperson explained in a press conference how the case had been solved. But I was interested in more detail, so I ordered the paperback tell-all from Amazon. Was it boooooooring! The authors were two of the principal investigators. As far as the authors were concerned, no detail in their investigation was too small or too trivial to be included in their narrative. Seriously! It appears that they simply transcribed every note they jotted during this multi-year investigation including what each of them had for lunch on a given day.
What this book sorely needed was an editor with a sharper pencil and a stout backbone. A decent editor could have turned this bloated 435 page book into a streamlined 250 page story of much greater appeal and interest.
My rating: 6/10, finished 10/18/20 (3471). I purchased a PB copy in like-new condition on 9/25/20 from Amazon for $1.54.
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
July 2, 2018
My husband and I read this after watching the Netflix documentary Evil Genius. It takes a different point of view, as it is written by the lead FBI investigator on Major Case 203, Jerry Clark.
If you know anyone from Erie, I’m sure they’ve told you where they were when the Pizza Bomber case was on the news... especially after the documentary aired. I’ll be different in saying, I was 13 so I don’t remember! I vaguely remember news reports and then I remember, as a completely separate event, breaking news that a body was found in a woman’s freezer. That’s the extent of my memory.
However, during my Master’s study I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Clark during my assistantship at the Dean’s office. He was friendly and personable. A big presence - but put you at ease... and this is just an impression from one brief encounter. It was after that I had learned who he was and that he had written a book. It piqued my interest but... grad school... so, I hadn’t thought of the book again in years.
The documentary paints a picture of a bipolar woman, calm one minute, manic the next; an eccentric man who lived life in bib overalls and big black framed glasses who were once engaged. Both highly intelligent they were surprisingly unsuccessful in life. She battle mental illness and a father who wanted to “squander” her inheritance. He was never motivated enough to get out of his childhood home and make something of himself.
Majorie Diehl-Armstrong and Bill Rothstein. Key players in a bank robbery that involved more conspirators, a victim, a scavenger hunt, and a collar bomb.
If you’ve watched the documentary, you know the details. But what you don’t know is why the FBI pursues a connection between James Rosen’s murder and the Wells case. Or why Robert Pinetti wound up deceased. Or why they don’t believe Brian Wells was a totally manipulated, innocent, and unaware victim.
This was a relatively easy read and extremely informative. An new insight into the case from what we’ve already heard and worth the read, in my opinion.
If you know anyone from Erie, I’m sure they’ve told you where they were when the Pizza Bomber case was on the news... especially after the documentary aired. I’ll be different in saying, I was 13 so I don’t remember! I vaguely remember news reports and then I remember, as a completely separate event, breaking news that a body was found in a woman’s freezer. That’s the extent of my memory.
However, during my Master’s study I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Clark during my assistantship at the Dean’s office. He was friendly and personable. A big presence - but put you at ease... and this is just an impression from one brief encounter. It was after that I had learned who he was and that he had written a book. It piqued my interest but... grad school... so, I hadn’t thought of the book again in years.
The documentary paints a picture of a bipolar woman, calm one minute, manic the next; an eccentric man who lived life in bib overalls and big black framed glasses who were once engaged. Both highly intelligent they were surprisingly unsuccessful in life. She battle mental illness and a father who wanted to “squander” her inheritance. He was never motivated enough to get out of his childhood home and make something of himself.
Majorie Diehl-Armstrong and Bill Rothstein. Key players in a bank robbery that involved more conspirators, a victim, a scavenger hunt, and a collar bomb.
If you’ve watched the documentary, you know the details. But what you don’t know is why the FBI pursues a connection between James Rosen’s murder and the Wells case. Or why Robert Pinetti wound up deceased. Or why they don’t believe Brian Wells was a totally manipulated, innocent, and unaware victim.
This was a relatively easy read and extremely informative. An new insight into the case from what we’ve already heard and worth the read, in my opinion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2019
This novel follows the bizarre bank robbery turned murder of a pizza delivery driver in Erie, Pennsylvania. I became interested in this case after watching the Netflix documentary 'Evil Genius'.
This novel provides the facts of the case while still maintaining an easy to understand narrative. Background information is provided pertaining to lead FBI Agent Jerry Clark; however he does not overshadow the writing of the investigation. The complexity and sheer weirdness of this case make it an engaging read.
Overall I would recommend this novel to true crime enthusiasts. Additionally, I would recommend the Netflix series as a companion for readers to understand more about this incredibly interesting case.
This novel provides the facts of the case while still maintaining an easy to understand narrative. Background information is provided pertaining to lead FBI Agent Jerry Clark; however he does not overshadow the writing of the investigation. The complexity and sheer weirdness of this case make it an engaging read.
Overall I would recommend this novel to true crime enthusiasts. Additionally, I would recommend the Netflix series as a companion for readers to understand more about this incredibly interesting case.
April 11, 2022
This happened in my town, I’ve met both authors and know one of the detectives mentioned in the book. Still, there were lots of things in here that I didn’t know including how Brad Foulk withheld evidence, although I’m not surprised.
I read other reviews that said the book repeated itself, but there were 8-10 people involved stretching over 4 different criminal cases…. Any repeats were to show how each account overlapped, ultimately revealing a central truth.
I didn’t care for the style the book was written in, it was like reading a newspaper article - very short sentences with little elaboration. Only one chapter seemed to be written like a normal book, I wish it had all been like that.
I still recommend the book, along with the Netflix documentary.
I read other reviews that said the book repeated itself, but there were 8-10 people involved stretching over 4 different criminal cases…. Any repeats were to show how each account overlapped, ultimately revealing a central truth.
I didn’t care for the style the book was written in, it was like reading a newspaper article - very short sentences with little elaboration. Only one chapter seemed to be written like a normal book, I wish it had all been like that.
I still recommend the book, along with the Netflix documentary.
April 10, 2023
We were first introduced to Dr. Jerry Clark when our son Spencer was visiting Gannon University back in the fall of 2017 at a college open house. Dr. Clark is inspiring and was a huge part of the reason our son decided to attend Gannon with majoring in Criminal Justice! Dr. Clark was an amazing mentor to our son as a professor and as his advisor and helped prepare him for his transition to law school at Dayton. We are forever indebted to him! Now onto the book- this is a must read for any true crime fan!! It’s incredibly written with a well detailed of the crazy list of players in Erie who all were part of the infamous pizza bombing case! You will love this book and it’s story will stick with you forever.
May 22, 2018
The content, in terms of the case was very well written and corroborated the new Netflix documentary, Evil Genius. However, the execution of the writing could have been better. I found it odd that Palattella, a journalist, found it acceptable to incorporate himself into this book, despite the fact that when he was mentioned the information stated was usually frivolous and unnecessary. He could have been left out of the text all together. Maybe this book was a way for Palattella to get recognition he felt he was unable to achieve at the time of the case?
July 4, 2020
This book is a phenomenal in-depth look at one of the most bizarre bank robbery cases in history. While some books go into only the most sensational details of a crime or a trial, this book covers it all. It breaks the crime down from the angles of the crime itself, the investigation, the bizarre behavior of the conspirators, the trial, and the impact of the case on everyone involved. There have been few crime books I have read which have been able to go into as much detail as this book. I highly highly recommend!
September 6, 2022
Having lived in W PA my whole life I remember following this case closely when it happened. I then lived in the City of Erie during the trial and followed that story.
There is just enough details to keep you engaged while not getting lost in all the nuts and bolts of the case. It is a tragic story in many ways and one that hurt a large number of people.
It also gives you a look at why it takes so long to develop a federal case, including cooperation between law enforcement organizations and prosecutors.
It is the story of several deaths, not just Wells, the victim of the bombing.
There is just enough details to keep you engaged while not getting lost in all the nuts and bolts of the case. It is a tragic story in many ways and one that hurt a large number of people.
It also gives you a look at why it takes so long to develop a federal case, including cooperation between law enforcement organizations and prosecutors.
It is the story of several deaths, not just Wells, the victim of the bombing.
August 25, 2018
Although the story was extremely informative on the investigation, there were many times where I felt it sidetracked into irrelevant cases. It seemed at times the purpose was not to go over the case, but instead to pat Jerry Clark on the back as it would go into detail about his life and other things not related to the case. In the end, I was interested in the book to learn about the case, not about Jerry Clarks chuldhood and college life.
October 2, 2021
I remember this happening and living in western PA, it was a big story. I was fortunate to hear these authors speak a few years ago at my library conference. This book provides a lot of information about this case. It seemed repetitive at times, but this case was so involved and confusing, I can't imagine the hard work it took to crack this case. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a true story and not fiction, because some parts were so strange and hard to believe.
April 16, 2023
I was 13 when this happened. I remember bits and pieces throughout the years. It’s crazy to think some like this could happen so close to home. I live about 2 1/2 hours from Erie PA and go multiple times a year.
This kept my attention. I couldn’t put it down. Some parts were confusing but that’s how these cases go
This kept my attention. I couldn’t put it down. Some parts were confusing but that’s how these cases go
April 18, 2018
Bizarre Strange Cast Of Weird
Characters In Twisted Plot! **Who Would Think An *Unassuming Brian* *Humble Pizza Delivery’s Man* End Up With A *Genuine Bomb* *Around His Neck* Under “Threateningly Conditions *Force Robbery Of A Bank! *Reality*Evil People “Heads Of Garbage” “Wickedness Lifestyle”!
Characters In Twisted Plot! **Who Would Think An *Unassuming Brian* *Humble Pizza Delivery’s Man* End Up With A *Genuine Bomb* *Around His Neck* Under “Threateningly Conditions *Force Robbery Of A Bank! *Reality*Evil People “Heads Of Garbage” “Wickedness Lifestyle”!
December 27, 2019
Thorough and detailed
This was a well organized and through book about the pizza bomber bank heist and conspiracy. I recommend this to anymore that wants to know more about this complex case.
This was a well organized and through book about the pizza bomber bank heist and conspiracy. I recommend this to anymore that wants to know more about this complex case.
January 28, 2021
Overall good book. I remembered hearing about the case but never knew anything about its outcome or who was involved until this book. It’s an interesting case and hard to believe to be a true story. Worth the read if you are a true crime fan looking for something a little different.
October 30, 2021
Phenomenally written recount of a fascinating true crime from my hometown of Erie, PA. I was able to meet the author while I worked at Gannon and Jerry Clark is a wonderful human. Great book and companion to “Evil Genius” on Netflix.
August 30, 2022
I live in Erie County, where this bank robbery/murder took place. While I thought I already knew a lot about this case, I wanted to read about all that went into solving it. It was fascinating to get into all the details behind the scenes. It was a page turner, for sure. I recommend the book.
July 23, 2025
While this book definitely had a lot of information about the case, the writing wasn't the best. It was full of short sentences and a lot of jumping around. Overall still an interesting writeup of the case.
August 8, 2025
very repetitive and slow read. I heard about this from my boyfriend. I watched the documentary but seemed like it missing key details so I had to read the book. it was worth the read if you can push through to understand the case and investigation with more details.
October 22, 2018
An excellent follow up to Evil Genius on Netflix. Written by the detectives who worked the case. Would highly recommend, especially if you binged the entire series on one sitting like I did.
May 29, 2019
Once you get past the poorly constructed sentences you'll be in for a great read.
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