The top ten legendary cases in history

Tenth

Skydiving on a winter night, suspense of life and death - the hijacking case of American Dan Coop

In the 1970s, the center of criminal activities was in the air. From 1967 to 1972, there were 147 hijacking cases in the United States, but only one shocked the world.

It is said to be legendary not only because he personally challenged the world's most authoritative security department, but also because it is the only unsolved mystery in American history, which greatly embarrassed the FBI. .

On November 24, 1971, a man who called himself "Dan Coop" boarded a Northwest Airlines passenger plane, preparing to leave a heavy mark in the history of crime.

Shortly after the plane took off, he handed a printed note to the flight attendant. The stewardess thought he wanted some drinks at first, so she didn't care and stuffed the note into her uniform pocket. But Kupp then opened his purse and whispered, "You'd better pay more attention." The thing in the purse was obviously a bomb.

The flight attendant took out the note again and wrote: "Miss, I brought a bomb, please sit next to me, please?" This is how the tenth legendary case in history began. prelude.

For the safety of the plane and passengers, the flight attendant complied with his wishes, and Kupp had already written a series of notes and handed one to the flight attendant from time to time to express his request. Coop demanded $200,000 and two parachutes in exchange for keeping the crew safe.

200,000 may not seem like much now, but in 1971, this amount of money was equivalent to 800,000 US dollars. Judging from the amount of money demanded for hijacking, it was large enough at the time. But the crew quickly agreed to his request and contacted headquarters before the plane landed in Seattle.

After receiving the report from the airline, the FBI took immediate action: they prepared a ransom and copied all the banknotes, so that they had every banknote in the 200,000 ransom. Money number. Once criminals spend the money, the FBI can catch them immediately. But what happened next was beyond everyone's expectations. After the ransom and parachutes were sent to the plane, Cupp released all the passengers and most of the flight attendants, except for the three crew members and one stewardess in the cockpit. When the other two flight attendants on the crew got off the plane, Kupp gave them a tip of 2,000 yuan. Although they both refused, people still admired his calmness and calmness.

Federal agents were baffled by Coop's behavior. Just when they were suspicious, Kupp took off again with the detained crew members. Once he had the crew securely and securely locked in the cockpit, he made the next incredible move he had long planned.

Behind the cabin of the Boeing 727, there is a ramp that can be lowered. At some point before the plane arrived in Reno, Cupp managed to lower it himself. Then he jumped from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, opened his parachute, and floated into the vast wilderness below on a cold winter night, leaving no trace.

No one knows the result of this airborne landing. People only know that he disappeared.

The FBI exhausted all methods to trace his traces, but never found any clues, which left the federal agents investigating the matter scratching their heads. "He's a smart guy," was the conclusion of their investigation. Although they still did not give up even a glimmer of hope in the following years, especially the arrest of a hijacker who had been on the run for 30 years in 2001, which greatly enhanced their confidence, there was still no improvement in Kupp's case.

So many years have passed from Coop's astonishing jump to the present, and there is still no trace of him, his body, or his parachute. The police finally found only $5,880 in the ransom near the Columbia River in Washington. This once again makes people believe that Coop is still alive and living in a corner of our world, recalling the legendary experiences of his youth.

This is the only unsolved hijacking case in American history.

——J.D. Reed, author of "Free Falling"

Ninth

The cyber gang reaches out to Citibank - Cyber ??theft of Citibank in the United States Case

Long before the invention of the airplane, rough Western robbers had already rushed into the city's banks on horseback.

In 1994, online bank robber Vladimir Levi walked into a St. Petersburg subway station, preparing to ride home, and began his ninth most legendary crime. .

In 1994, computer expert Vladimir Levi stole millions of dollars from Citibank in St. Petersburg using only a 286 computer. He just stayed in Russia and didn't even leave his desk. Levy connected his terminal to a Citibank computer and successfully gained access to bank customers' accounts. He transferred other people's funds to accounts he set up. As far as we know, this is the first major case of using the Internet to steal huge sums of money.

Although Levi can use his personal computer to successfully transfer money online, if he wants to withdraw cash, someone must walk into the bank to withdraw the money. As a result, the police guarded the ATM and caught the cashiers when they were withdrawing money, and then followed the clues to find Levi.

Levi spent only three years in prison. This is not the harshest sentence for a criminal who committed a crime using high technology for the first time.

This case was an eye-opener. For the first time, people became aware of the potential threat of this type of theft. When criminals get on the Internet, geography doesn't matter.

Since network security issues have never been well and completely solved, the number of crimes using the Internet is increasing year by year. There are dozens of methods and tools used by cyber thieves, including: releasing computer viruses to paralyze computer systems; using "scanners" that can discover weaknesses in website software programs, and "sniffers" that steal passwords to decipher them. Key passwords, stealing core technology or information; modifying account data in the computer system by deciphering passwords, creating chaos to steal funds, etc.

Bill Gates once predicted: "Traditional commercial banks are a group of dinosaurs that will become extinct in the 21st century." He even said that the banking industry is necessary, but banks are unnecessary. Now it seems that the security risks of online banking have not been eliminated, and Gates' prediction is too optimistic.

The computer systems used to process banking transactions are already quite secure. But the difference is that now the vault is in each criminal's bedroom.

--Charlie Cuffman, co-author of "Cybersecurity"

Eighth

A Nightmare at a Luxury Hotel—New York Pie Hotel Robbery

The eighth-ranked super robbery also occurred in New York. But instead of using the information superhighway, the criminals drove straight onto Fifth Avenue.

In the 1970s, there were many rampant jewelry thefts in New York. The jewelry thieves Sam Nile and Bobby Komft became a serious problem for the New York Police Department and local politicians. For criminals, as bank protection systems become increasingly complete, robbing banks has become a high-risk, low-return bet. And stealing jewelry from safe deposit boxes requires careful preparation. But it is much smaller.

On January 2, 1972, the capable pair of Komft and Nilo began the biggest robbery in their career. Their target: the Hotel Pierre.

One of the reasons why they chose the Pierre Hotel as their first choice is because the hotel provides customers with a "permanent safe deposit box" service. Komft and Nilo had spent a long time familiarizing themselves with the hotel and knew its arrangements well. During long-term observation, they discovered the key to implementing the plan: pretending to be rich.

In the early morning of the 2nd, Komft and Nilo drove a well-dressed luxury car and parked at the main entrance of the hotel. The doorman bowed to the two wealthy men and welcomed them. After entering the hotel, these two guys showed their pistols and became the most unwelcome guests.

They brandished handguns and handcuffed all staff. Thanks to careful research beforehand, they knew exactly where the staff would be and how many people would be on duty.

John P. Cairney, the head of security at the Pierre Hotel, said: "I have been a security guard for 20 years, and these people gave me the impression that they were very powerful. Because they brought 14 pairs of handcuffs at the beginning, and it happened to be 14 people were on duty.”

There were three guests present at the time. This was an accident, but Komft and Nilo did not panic. They improvised and tied up the guests and sealed their mouths.

After taking control of the hotel, the robbers looted the safe deposit boxes. They made a mess, stole $10 million worth of cash and jewelry, then got into a limousine and escaped without a trace.

The amount stolen in this case reached 10 million US dollars, which can be said to be the largest hotel theft in history.

Police recovered $750,000 worth of jewelry in Detroit, but there was no news about the other jewelry. Later, the police accidentally discovered Komft's accounting sheet and followed the clues to arrest the two of them. After pleading guilty, they were jailed for two and a half years. For these thieves, this is a piece of cake.

After being released from prison, Komft bought whole life insurance and opened a gold exchange.

Komft and Nilo believed that the case they were working on was basically a Robin Hood-style plot of robbing the rich and giving to the poor, and they were the poor. Of course this is just their personal opinion.

——Garth Anthony Harwood, writer of mystery novels

Seventh

The "ghost" in the cab of the cash truck——U.S. Cash Truck Robbery

Philip Johnson is a cash truck driver earning $7 an hour. On March 29, 1997, he finally couldn't resist the tempting opportunity. On this day, Johnson discovered that the armored truck was loaded with 18 million US dollars, a huge amount of money that could make anyone's heart beat, so he took the risk. He drew his pistol, locked his colleagues in the car, and hijacked the cash transport truck. He then went straight to his residence, handcuffed one of his colleagues at his home and tied another to a tree on his way to North Carolina.

Johnson searched the mountains for a hiding place for the largest single-person robbery in history. It seems that the robbery of huge sums of money was an impromptu work on his part. Even if it had been planned in advance, it was not very thorough. Johnson finally drove the cash truck to a warehouse in North Carolina and spent a night moving money, unaware that there was a monitor working overhead. When he realized that his every move was being recorded, Johnson wisely removed the tape from the monitor, but unwisely hid it in the warehouse.

Johnson fled to Mexico with only $100,000. Investigators quickly found his associates and the hidden loot, but not him. Five months later, Johnson foolishly threw himself into a trap in order to collect the money order.

Police estimate that Johnson may have spent all the money he used to live in Mexico. He tried to come back to withdraw money, and when he crossed the border, he used the same alias as when he escaped last time. The police had already informed all parties of this pseudonym, including the border inspection personnel. The border inspector recognized the pseudonym at a glance and immediately notified the relevant authorities.

Johnson was transported back to Florida for trial. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

It is said that kidnapping hostages was an important factor in sentencing him to a heavy sentence, and of course robbing huge sums of money was also a factor. But there are many people who also stole millions of dollars and received much lighter sentences than he did. Johnson's version of this is that he simply shouldn't have publicly lashed out at his boss. Those guys paid him such low wages and they made a fortune.

Maybe in his subconscious, he has always had the idea of ??stealing from his boss. To the average employee, it's like stealing a pen. For Johnson, that's $18 million.

——Paul Jethro, Police University Criminologist

Sixth

Surprise Attack on Royal Mail Train – British Train Robbery

On August 8, 1963, Bruce Reynolds and 12 other men robbed a Royal Mail train. Little did they know that they would become legends of their time.

In 1963, an unprecedented train robbery occurred in Britain, the first country to have train robbers. 13 gangsters robbed a Royal Mail train with ￡2 million on it.

The incident happened after the August bank holiday on a train from Glasgow to London. Reynolds knew in advance that there was a huge sum of money on the train. So, he gathered some people and prepared to hijack the car. Among these people are fruit shop owners, hairdressers and antique dealers, etc. 12 people. Among the members he recruited, one person was crucial: this person understood railway signals.

The robbers were lying in ambush on both sides of the railway. When the train came over, the knowledgeable accomplice played a red stop signal, so the royal train had to stop temporarily at an unplanned place. The co-pilot came down to see why he was forced to stop. Several robbers swarmed him, knocked him over, threw him under the embankment, and then broke into the train. The driver resisted, but his head was also injured by the robbers with an iron bar, and he was bleeding profusely.

The robbers detached the first two money cars from the train and forced the injured driver to move the train several miles. At this time, there were 70 bank employees on the train, all responsible for security, but they were all subdued by the robbers. In the end, the robbers stole more than 2 million pounds in one fell swoop. At today's rates, that sum would be as much as ￡15 million. It was the largest amount of money lost in a train robbery to date.

The robbers used Leslade Farm, only 20 miles away from the crime scene, as their hideout. Once there, they started counting the money. It is said that they also used banknotes to light cigarettes and played strong hand chess with real money. They stayed there, hoping that the police would cast the net as far as possible.

But on the contrary, the police concentrated their efforts on searching the surrounding area of ??the crime scene. When the robbers learned that the attacker had been caught by the law, they had to flee elsewhere in a hurry.

Due to their hasty escape, the robbers left fingerprints on the chessboard, glasses, and bottles, leaving many clues everywhere, which became the basis for arrest and evidence. their important evidence. So one by one, these notorious robbers fell into the law.

Serious head injuries would lead to driver Jack Mills' death years later, but not before the brave man testified against the robbers.

The British Supreme Court sentenced Reynolds to 35 years in prison. This is the heaviest sentence ever imposed on a train robber in the UK. But only 15 months after being imprisoned, Reynolds, a man of extraordinary powers, managed to escape by hiding in a furniture truck. He then embarked on the road to escape with his wife and son.

In order to evade police pursuit, the train robber first spent a lot of money to have plastic surgery in France. In December 1965, he flew to Sydney alone, met his wife and children, and then transferred to Melbourne. But three years later, the British media discovered Reynolds' whereabouts, and the thief had no choice but to embark on the road of exile again, absconding to Rio de Janeiro. The train robber who repeatedly escaped legal sanctions failed to escape the sanctions of his Creator. After 1998, he suffered two strokes and was almost a disabled person. In desperation, Reynolds, who had completely lost his source of livelihood, could only go home. He also tried to obtain an amnesty from the British law enforcement agencies and enjoy the British National Health Insurance. But as soon as the "Sun" plane he was traveling on landed, the train robbers were arrested.

Even so, the disabled train robber is still in the news, and now the news of his marriage in prison has been stirred up by newspapers and media.

However, in the 20 years after Reynolds was sentenced, there was no more train robbery in the UK.

These criminals are actually far from being heroes. At best they are nothing more than well-organized gangs of criminals.

——Roland Barrow, former Liverpool police officer

Fifth

Challenging British airport security-Brinksmark robbery in the UK

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The sixth largest train robbery of the 20th century occurred in the United Kingdom. Another infamous robbery took place there at the same time. It ranked fifth on the charts.

Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom is one of the busiest airports in the world, and its security is also known as the best in the world. However, several major robberies that shocked the world in the history of Heathrow Airport have cast doubt on the security guarantees sworn by the British government.

On November 26, 1983, six gangsters broke into an airport warehouse in London, and a small mistake turned this originally ordinary robbery case into a super big one that shocked the world. case.

Brinks-Mart, a warehouse near London's Heathrow Airport, is supposed to be impregnable: all exits are closely monitored by CCTV, and each doorman holds a different ID card. The secret lock code for the vault door, which is considered a difficult place to enter.

The most critical figure in this case is Tony Black, the brother-in-law of the bandit leader Robinson. He was the security guard at Brinks-Matt's vault and knew the way into the warehouse. After repeated persuasion by the robbers, Black finally gave them a topographic map of the warehouse and a key, and also told them the best time to enter the vault: when the morning shift security guards changed guard, the alarm was turned off.

At 6:40 in the morning, six robbers came to the vault during the changing of security guards. With Black as the inside track, they easily overpowered the guards at the vault door, and things started to go haywire from there.

In order to force the security guard to reveal the combination lock password, they hit one of them on the head with a pistol, poured gasoline on him, and threatened to light his sky lantern. The poor security guard was so frightened that he couldn't remember the password to the safe. So another security guard told them that there was a batch of newly arrived goods lying beside the wall of the vault. They might as well take those goods and let his colleagues go.

Who knew that "those goods" turned out to be 6,800 gold bars packed in several wooden crates! Good luck to the robbers. You can imagine their surprise when they opened the box and found it full of gold bars. The gold bars were worth 26 million pounds, and the robbers accidentally stumbled into Aladdin's treasure.

It took them two trucks to remove all the gold bars, and then fled the vault, never to be seen again, as if they had disappeared into thin air.

Because the amount of the robbery was so large, the price of gold in London skyrocketed that day. In the next few days, the international gold price rose accordingly, and within a week the robbers made more than 1.1 million pounds.

The police soon discovered the connection between Blake and the robber leader Robinson, and captured both of them; the co-defendant Michelle McVeigh was also arrested and imprisoned for another case; But the rest of the robbers and the gold were never found. They became the richest robbers of all time.

After the incident, a spokesman for Heathrow Airport argued: "The warehouse that was robbed was in a controlled area, but not in an absolute restricted area, so the robbery will not endanger aviation safety!" However, The spokesman's remarks were immediately met with strong criticism, with one aviation official saying it was the UK's worst airport security breach.

Fourth

Naked robbery, dog-eat-dog fighting - Boston bank robbery in the United States

Bank robbery is a primitive form of crime, but criminals The danger of dog-eating dogs is far greater than the threat to them from the police.

Legendary Case No. 4 is also a bank robbery. With the establishment of financial institutions, banks have become the most frequented places for criminals, and the detection of such cases has become the biggest headache for the police. Fortunately, internal strife frequently occurs within criminal gangs due to issues such as division of stolen goods, causing them to kill each other, which facilitates police detection.

On January 17, 1950, Boston robber Joseph McGinnis and his associates committed the largest robbery in the world at that time.

Jack Barley, retired chief of detectives of the Boston Police Department, still remembers the case clearly: "I was on duty in the Boston Garden at the time, on the same street as the Brinks Vault. I received a call A phone call said that a huge robbery had occurred there and asked me to send some detectives there quickly." When Barry arrived at the scene, he found the teller of the bank vault tied to the ground. , the mouth was also sealed. A huge amount of money was stolen from the cashier's room, and the scene was chaotic. The security guards were still in shock.

Cashier Joseph Allen recalled the scene of the crime with lingering fear: "They forced me to put my hands behind my back and tied my arms and legs. A guy came over and I heard tearing. The sound of something. He blocked my mouth and knocked my glasses off. Then he said, "Lie down and don't move." I just lay there for the longest 20 minutes of my life.

"

This group of robbers, wearing fake uniforms and strange masks, looted a huge amount of money in just 17 minutes. It turned out that a few weeks ago, in order to quickly enter the vault, they stole After matching the key to the vault lock, he sent the lock back again, and then patiently waited for the opportunity to come.

This case was far from watertight. The police had it the day after the incident. Key suspects. "I remember that the suspects at the time included Richardson, O'Keefe, Custer, and Pino. They were all members of the Jazz Mafia. "But because there was no direct evidence, the police had nothing to do. In the following years, they continued to investigate relentlessly.

At this time, O'Keeffe was arrested and imprisoned for another case. The police Finally found a breakthrough in the case, and the robbers became afraid, and they decided to hire a killer to kill O'Keeffe before he went to jail to prevent the guy from confessing them all.

For some reason. The professional killer hired by the robbers was only an amateur. He used a submachine gun, but he only hit O'Keffe's watch.

After O'Keeffe's associates squandered his share of the stolen money, they finally went to visit him. They had an argument and eventually gave him some money, but it was certainly not enough.

O'Keefe settled old and new scores and began to deal with the FBI. Just a week before the statute of limitations expired, O'Keefe relented, and his co-defendants were all sentenced. A life sentence.

As for O'Keefe himself, he was later seen working as a driver and chef for the famous movie star Cary Grant in Los Angeles. Little did he know that his driver was as famous as he was. As far as we know, these gangsters had a very good life.

—Jack Barry, former chief of detectives of the Boston Police Department

Third

Los Angeles gangsters-shootout case at the Central Bank of California

In 1997, two A professional bank robber, armed with a submachine gun, robbed the bank. Even the police's firepower was unable to resist them.

"The bank was so easy to rob, it spread to all the brothers on the road." knew. "

"We regard the bank as a fat sheep, as the brothers on the road call it. "This is a joke circulating among Los Angeles gangsters

.

Los Angeles, California, is a hot spot for bank robberies in the world. In the past 20 years, such cases have There have been more than 20,000 robberies in a fixed area, but the perpetrators have been at large for many years. The police hope to take a major operation to arrest the criminals as soon as possible and curb them. Bank robberies became popular, but they encountered an unprecedented counterattack.

This is the third legendary case, the Bank of America Shootout

February 28, 1997. At 9:17 a.m. on the same day, two masked and heavily armed robbers knocked out two police officers and then broke into the Bank of America north of Hollywood.

Professional robber Langry Philips. After looting all the cash, Si and Emmy Matasalunu rushed out of the bank with more than 300,000 US dollars, shooting all the way, and had a head-on exchange of fire with the police outside.

< p> They carried submachine guns and fired in a semicircle from north to south. The police and passers-by had to dodge. The AK47 submachine guns in the hands of the gangsters were modified. They also had an HK90. These guns were very powerful and had very strong firepower. , they also had thousands of rounds of ammunition in their cars. In contrast, most of the police officers who rushed to the scene were equipped with standard 9 mm caliber pistols.

When the first batch of police officers arrived, they were obviously at a disadvantage. After arriving at the scene, news of police calls for help and injuries continued to come from the radio. Several police officers had been shot by gangsters and lay on the street.

Los Angeles senior police officer John Camprelli. I received the call and rushed to the scene. “As soon as I got there, I heard the voice on the radio. Police officers started getting hurt. I mean, they were all screaming. The sound of automatic weapons exchanges rang out in nearby residential areas. It sounded unreal, like a dream.

We have always had an unwritten rule to prevent any of your men from being killed or injured as much as possible. And at that time I thought, this time maybe not just one, but several would die. ”

When the robbers fought their way to their car, they became even more aggressive. Phillips did not retreat to the car, he stood there and shouted at everyone he saw. , helicopters, and anything that moved. He must have thought he was invincible.

The police cameras recorded all the gunfights, and Phillips never lowered his stance, just standing there. He fired at will. His weapon was so powerful that it overpowered all the police's firepower, but they couldn't hit him.

Ironically, Fili couldn't hit him. Phillips relied on his gun to sweep the battlefield, but in the end he died from his own pistol. During the fierce battle, Phillips' AK47 gun jammed, so he pulled out the stainless steel Bellata pistol and continued shooting. On the ground, when he bent to pick up the gun, the gun suddenly went off. He was killed on the spot. The remaining gangsters still resisted until the special forces arrived after their attempt to snatch a car failed. After arriving, he was shot dead, ending the shootout.

This central bank robbery was the most violent and longest-lasting shooting in the history of the United States. Afterwards, witnesses still mentioned the shootout. He said with lingering fear: "I have only seen or read about shootings like this in Hollywood blockbusters and newspapers, but I didn't expect that it hit my head today. It's really terrifying!" ”

Although this shootout paid a heavy price, it ended with the victory of the just side. For a time, people praised the police’s performance, which was beyond their expectations. Letters of condolences, Food and flowers were everywhere. People admired the Los Angeles police because they never compromised in the face of difficulties.

32 of the 350 police officers in the police district participated in the battle, and 10 police officers were injured. Citizens were injured, but only the two gangsters died. A record number of people were awarded medals of valor in this case, with 10 police officers receiving this honor at one time. No one retreated from the gangster's weapon, everyone present was a hero

- John Camprelli, Medal of Valor recipient

Second

Mona Lisa in an Umbrella - Theft of the famous painting from the Louvre in France

In 1911, there was a popular joke in Paris about the theft of the Mona Lisa: "Hey, I'm going Louvre, do you want anything? ”

Although the Louvre is the most heavily guarded place in the world. But if you are a little careless, thieves will take advantage of them. History has proven this: this is the second-ranked case. In 1911, museum personnel Taking advantage of his position, he easily entered the Louvre and stole the most expensive oil painting in Europe, the "Mona Lisa".

In 1911, the Louvre was being renovated internally. Many workers were hired to make protective glass covers for its precious collections.

On August 21, Vincent Berrugia, who turned out to be a temporary worker at the Louvre, joined forces. The other two workers removed the glass cover on the "Mona Lisa" portrait, took out the portrait, rolled up the oil painting, hid it in an ordinary umbrella, and then walked out with the "most famous lady in the world" swaggeringly The Louvre.

Incredibly, the museum was in chaos at the time and the collections were being moved around, so the French police were not aware of this incident at first. There was no clue about the case.

When the news broke, rumors and discussions arose in society. At that time, some scholars believed that an expert forger had stolen the portrait so that he could pass it off as a fake. Sold to a private collector.

The portrait disappeared for two years. It was later discovered that Peruggia had hidden it in a box under his bed. It was easier to hide it than to steal it.

Two years later, Beruggia returned to his native Italy and took the Mona Lisa with him. People were shocked: He tried to donate or sell the "Mona Lisa" to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

The staff of the Uffizi Gallery were stunned, and he finally got the idea and reported it. Berrugia was awarded for this.

But public sympathy was decidedly biased towards the patriotic thief, and the final verdict reflected this sentiment. Berrugia ended up spending less than a year in prison, a sentence that was simply too light for the biggest art thief of the 20th century.

This uproar nearly a century ago ultimately changed the way tourists view art. This is the fundamental reason why the Louvre Museum prohibits visitors from bringing long umbrellas into the museum today.

The Mona Lisa theft case is definitely one of the top ten legendary cases of this century.

——Anna Kesloo, head of the Stolen Art Reporting Bureau

Facts:

The initial suspect of the police was a man named Pablo. Picasso's young painter because he once bought a small statue stolen from a museum.

First

The "black hole" reaches into the bank vault - French bank theft case