1. Has Anyone Robbed A Vegas Casino
2. Has A Las Vegas Casino Ever Been Robbed
3. Has A Vegas Casino Ever Been Robbed
4. Has Anyone Ever Robbed A Vegas Casino
5. Has Any Las Vegas Casino Ever Been Robbed

Bill’s Stardust Robbery In-House Job $500K. In 1992, William Brennan, a cashier who worked for. Armored car robbers, including one toting a shotgun, made off Monday with a $1 million money bag in what police said appeared to be a well-planned daylight h.

Today we’re talking about casino heists, robberies cheats, and scams. We do not condone any of the below practices and want to make our readers aware that sometimes casinos are a target of major heists. In fact, it’s just as likely you’ll be at a casino when it’s robbed as you would if you were visiting a bank. It’s still unlikely that you’ll see a robbery go down, but it’s taken place more times than you might think.

If you think about it, it makes sense that a casino would be a primary target for a robbery. When there are massive amounts of money located in a single place (like a bank), it’s only a matter of time before a greedy criminal takes a stab at it. It’s a terrible idea, of course, and it ends badly for practically anyone who tries it.

Robbing a casino in real life is never as it’s portrayed in Hollywood. There are rarely elaborate plans, the villains are evil people, and the criminals rarely get away with the money. Instead of getting together after the heist to talk about how they’ll spend the money, the heist is stopped in its tracks before you even get remotely close to the door. There are a few stories, however, where people hit casinos for big cash scores, the stuff that ultimately turns into a Hollywood hit film.

Bill’s Stardust Robbery In-House Job $500K

In 1992, William Brennan, a cashier who worked for the Vegas casino Stardust (no longer open), filled a trash bag full of cash and chips, threw it over his shoulder, and walked right out of the casino. The bag contained over $500,000 worth of money and chips. Word on the streets is that Mr. Brennan had an accomplice who likely killed him for his trash bag full of cash.

To this day, William Brennan is still on the FBI’s most wanted list but has never been seen or heard from since the robbery. Bill’s heist is one of the most famous Las Vegas casino rip-off stories of all time. It has resulted in many casino security standards still active today. It’s highly unlikely that an employee could pull off something like this in modern casinos, especially since employees are monitored even closer than the players.

Stealing the Crown In-House Job $32M

The Crown Casino in Perth, Australia suffered a $32-million-dollar robbery attempt by one of their staff members in 2013. The story involves two men; one of them a card dealer who’s sick of their job, the other a high roller visiting from a foreign country. The duo planned to take the wins and move the money as if it had been lost in regular play, hoping the casino wouldn’t catch the hit in time. Their greed caused the floor staff to investigate the foreign player’s chance. After reviewing a few of the high-paying hands, the floor staff discovered the robbery in process.

The game was ceased, the player was escorted from the casino. The employee was then immediately fired. The penalties for these two were less than a slap on the wrist with all things considered. This type of theft has been a security issue for casinos all over the world. It’s led to tighter policies related to hand play, cameras, and approval for larger bets. Any time money changes hands; it’s always a potential security issue. It’s likely that the Crown has put in place operating producers to prevent future robberies.

Bellagio’s Biker Bandit Armed Robbery $1.5M

Tony Carleo rode his motorcycle up to the steps of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino and headed straight to the craps tables. Wearing a bike helmet, with a gun in hand, he cleared the tables of chips. He then jumped on his motorcycle and took off before casino security could respond or the authorities were alerted.

Carleo’s biggest mistake was when he went to sell the chips he stole. He unknowingly attempted to sell them to an undercover police detective. When you take chips from a craps table, you don’t have time to sort them out. The trouble was that the highest valued chips were nearly impossible for Carleo to convert to cash, likely because some of the denominations were up to $25K for a single chip. It’s hard to move around any amounts larger than $10,00 at a time in most states, as banks need to report those more significant transactions for tax accounting.

As with most armed robberies, it didn’t work out. This crime was obviously an emotionally based decision, and various errors were made in its execution. When you rob places, and you do it more than once, you must expect you’re going to get jailed. Anthony Carleo (aka “The Biker Bandit”) is currently serving a 9 to 27-year prison sentence for this and other casino robberies.

Has Anyone Robbed A Vegas Casino

Robbery at the Circus Circus Stolen Armored Truck $2.95M

Heather Tallchief had a job driving armored vehicles. In the autumn of 1993, Instead of bringing her truck full of cash to the bank, Heather drove away from the Circus Circus casino with nearly $ 3 million in stolen cash. She left the country with her boyfriend, Roberto Solis to hide in the Netherlands.

In 2005, she turned herself. That’s right; she came back. She went to the police with her wrist out and said, “Arrest me.” The guilt of her crime was a burden she just couldn’t stand to bear any longer.

She was sentenced to 5 years and three months in prison, but her boyfriend Roberto remains at large. For an inside job, this would have been a textbook win for the crook, at least until the guilt was too much to bear.

Pirating Treasure Island Armed Robbery $30K

Reginald Johnson is known for his attempted heists at Treasure Island Casino and Hotel, but he certainly isn’t the only person to try, as the casino has had many robbery attempts in the past. What makes Mr. Johnson unique, however, is that he had attempted robbing Treasure Island twice before his third ‘successful’ robbery. There’s not much glamor here as Reginald is considered a bit of career criminal.

I hate to judge, but Reginald’s robbery wasn’t that lucky, as it was only $30K; a smaller score than comparable casino robberies. This guy is a bit of a monster; robbing various other establishments aside from Treasure Island. In some of his other crimes, he hurt people. Despite having a smaller theft total, Reginald is currently serving a 130-year sentence for the Treasure Island robbery and other offenses.

Putting on the Ritz Cheating the Game £1.3M

In 2004 three men set out to rob some casinos in London, England, and chose London’s Ritz Casino as their target. They set up casino games in a private area and devised hacks to cheat them. The most successful plan was to cheat the roulette wheel. They used their cellphone camera to measure the speed of the wheel and predict the outcome of the spins.

Greed is what tears these sweet gigs up. After winning well over a million pounds, the men were reported to authorities by the casino staff. When the three criminals were brought before the local courts, they were found innocent of committing any known crime. The only penalty they received was a lifetime ban from London’s casinos. Word of their score traveled the globe, and it’s now standard policy to ban the use of your camera near any table game at the casino.

The Soboba Grab & Dash Armed Robbery $1.5M

Eric A. Aguilera and his accomplish Luda Ramos robbed The Soboba Casino in Las Vegas in 2005. The Soboba Grab and Dash was a casino heist straight out of the Hollywood movies. The two stormed into the casino, held everyone at gunpoint and tied up several of the casino staff.

Eric and Luda’s robbery game plan was the type of theft most banks and casinos train for on a yearly basis. In this instance, the training worked, as none of the staff were injured, and the authorities were notified before Eric and Luda left the casino. This warning from the casino staff gave the police a head start, and they were able to apprehend the criminals after a short high-speed chase into the desert.

The MIT Blackjack Team Cheating the Game $100M+

Once upon a time, there was a group of college students in desperate need of money (no news there). This group of broke college students decided they would teach themselves card counting methods to use at the blackjack table. There’s a documentary about this well-planned heist which took place from 1979-1993 where a group of college students practiced card counting vigorously and made systems to make it faster and easier.

They worked as a team to give themselves a distinct advantage over the house. In systematic fashion, they cheated Vegas casinos for untold millions of dollars. They were so fortunate with their success that people who participate in the first group started to form their own teams. Criminals who heard about the book and movie have since begun their very own teams of card counters.

The MIT Blackjack Team did eventually get banned from playing Blackjack at any casino, and their charade ultimately came to an end. They were never labeled as criminals and kept their winnings. So, it’s questionable if this clever group of college students was ever really punished for their crimes.

Getting Taken for a Ride Inside Fraud Job $258M

There are many large casino-resorts who use junket services to bring guests to casinos. One such junket operator, named Dore, is responsible for acting as a middleman for high rollers visiting casinos in Macau, China. Dore had been bringing gamblers to the Wynn Resorts in Macau.

The junket operators are important because they lend the money to the players so they can participate. In Sept. 2015, one of the junkets were frauded out of $258 million. This was a bit of a hit to the cash flow and impacted Wynn Resorts stock only momentarily. The individual(s) responsible for the fraud have not been named, and the case is still under investigation.

Summary

We took you around the world covering about a 30-year history of casino robberies in this article. There’s plenty of attempted casino robberies that never made it to this list, but these are some of the most well-known heists to date. Although security in Casinos is ever increasing, there will always be someone crazy enough to attempt a heist. The likelihood of success, however, continues to diminish. As with most of the examples listed above, it seems the House truly does always win.

Today, we have a collection of some of the best casino heists of all time. These might not all be the “biggest heists ever,” but they are definitely the most interesting. Surprisingly, a few of these people managed to get away clean. As for everyone else… well, you’ll have to read on to see how they fared.

Now, let’s see who got away, who got caught and who got killed in some of the most brazen (and ridiculous) casino heists of all time.

1. Bill Brennan – The One That Got Away

Bill Brennan was a cashier at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1992 when he decided to pull off one of the greatest casino robberies of all time. He had been a long term employee of the casino for years, so nobody took notice when he simply walked out the front door one day with a duffel bag containing $500,000 worth of stolen cash and chips.

This might not be the biggest casino heist of all time, but it’s definitely one of the best. To this day, Bill Brennan has never been captured. He might be living it up on a beach in Mexico or he might be dead for all we know. One thing is certain though; he’s not sitting in a jail cell.

2. Not Quite Bonnie and Clyde

Heather Tallchief was an armored car driver making a stop at the Circus Circus casino in 1993 when she suddenly drove off with $2.5 million in cash. She managed to get away clean until turning herself in 12 years later. She was sentenced to only five years in prison for the crime.

Upon further questioning, Heather revealed that it was her boyfriend who had convinced her to pull off the robbery. The only problem is that her boyfriend took the money and disappeared after Heather had their baby. Roberto Solis, the alleged mastermind of this whole operation, has never been seen or heard from since.

So did this mystery boyfriend really take the money and run or does Heather Tallchief have a couple million dollars buried somewhere on the outside? That’s anybody’s guess, but what we do know is that the money hasn’t been turned in to authorities.

3. The Biker Bandit

Has A Las Vegas Casino Ever Been Robbed

In December of 2010, a man on a motorcycle parked his bike in the valet area, walked into the Bellagio wearing his helmet and used a gun to steal about $1.5 million worth of chips. He then made a clean getaway on his conveniently-placed motorcycle.

The only problem is that many of the chips that the biker bandit stole were high value chips, worth $25,000 apiece. The casino soon put out an alert to all cashiers (and spread the news to the entire gambling community) that high denomination chips were recently stolen. The Bellagio later issued a statement saying it would discontinue all $25,000 chips within the next couple of weeks.

This put the biker bandit under considerable pressure to get rid of his chips. So, he made an account at a popular online poker forum and joined a discussion about the robbery. Eventually, he met someone through the poker forums, sent pictures of the stolen chips and offered to sell the chips at a discount. The other person contacted the police and the biker bandit was quickly apprehended.

4. The Hopper Family Heists

Back in the early 90s, a family from Texas moved to Las Vegas for a fresh start. The head of the family, a man named Royal Mayne Hopper, got a job as a security guard at the Stardust Casino. He used his time there to learn the security procedures for the casino and then hatched a plan that would eventually net more than a million dollars.

Has A Vegas Casino Ever Been Robbed

For the first scheme, Royal enlisted his son to pull a fake stickup. While Royal and a coworker were escorting money through the casino, Royal’s son Bobby showed up with a mask and gun and demanded the guards to hand over the money. Royal reported the incident as if he had no idea who the robber was. This earned the Hoppers more than $150,000.

The second time around, Royal enlisted both of his sons, Bobby and Jeff, to rob an armored truck outside the Stardust. Jeff called in a false report of a fight at the pool. Royal, Bobby and a man named Wesley Carroll waited for the armored truck with wigs and fake beards.

When the truck driver showed up, the robbers deployed smoke bombs as a further diversion and rushed the armored truck driver. They took 2 bags containing more than a million dollars in currency and negotiable instruments.

Everyone eventually got caught and did time, but they got away with a lot of money for a while. Interestingly, I got in touch with Jeff Hopper some time ago and we had a long interview. He has an awesome story to tell about his life in crime, sentence and turn to the good side of the law.

See the Jeff Hopper interview here.

5. The Soviet Commando from Cuba

Jose Vigoa grew up in Cuba but was sent to the Soviet Union to join the Spetsnaz special forces group. He later returned to Cuba and then moved to the United States during the Mariel boatlift of 1980. He eventually made his way to Las Vegas and tried to live the good life. Unfortunately, he found it difficult to make a living in Las Vegas. This is when he decided to put his special forces training to a new purpose…

Jose Vigoa joined the Las Vegas underworld, started dealing drugs and eventually did a little time in prison. When he was released, he once again had a hard time making a living. This time around, though, he decided to use his surveillance and weapons skills to rob armored trucks and five casinos. He got away with several million dollars during this time, but his last casino robbery was less than successful.

Has Anyone Ever Robbed A Vegas Casino

Wearing nothing more than a baseball cap and sunglasses, Jose Vigoa entered the Bellagio and staged yet another heist. This time, however, the casino managed to get detailed, close-up images of the weakly-disguised Vigoa. He was eventually located and, after a high speed chase with police, sentenced to 500 years in prison.

6. Lasers, Not Guns

Has Any Las Vegas Casino Ever Been Robbed

For our last casino heist, we make the switch from brazen stickups to brainy schemes. In 2004, a group of three people armed with nothing more than lasers and a dream entered the Ritz Casino in London and made off with £1.2 million at the roulette table. The team somehow used the lasers to estimate the speed of the roulette wheel and then figure out the most likely numbers for the ball to land.

The most interesting part of all is that although the roulette scheme team was caught and arrested, a judge let them go scot-free. Somehow, the scheme slipped through a legal loophole and allowed the trio to walk out of prison, richer by £1.2 million. Not bad for a few days’ work I’d say.

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