Ten legendary cases in history

Skydiving in Winter Night, Life and Death Suspense —— The hijacking case of Dan Cooper in America

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 case shocked the world.

It is legendary, not only because it personally challenged the most authoritative security department in the world, but also because it is the only unsolved mystery in American history, which greatly humiliated the FBI.

197 1 year165438+1On October 24th, a man who claimed to be "Dan Cooper" boarded a passenger plane of Northwest Airlines, preparing to leave a heavy mark in the history of crime.

Shortly after the plane took off, he handed the stewardess a printed note. At first, the stewardess thought he didn't care about anything to drink, so she stuffed the note into her uniform pocket. But Cooper then opened his wallet and whispered, "You'd better pay attention." What's in the wallet is obviously a bomb.

The stewardess took out a note again, which read: "Miss, I brought a bomb. Would you like to sit next to me? " The tenth legendary case in history has begun.

For the safety of the plane and passengers, the stewardess obeyed his wishes. Cooper had already written a series of notes and handed one to the stewardess from time to time to show his request. Cooper asked for $200,000 and two parachutes. In exchange, he will ensure the safety of the crew.

200,000 is not much now, but at 197 1, the money is equivalent to 800,000 dollars. Judging from the amount of money required for hijacking, it was also large enough at that time. But the crew quickly agreed to his request and contacted the headquarters before the plane landed in Seattle.

After receiving the report from the airline, the FBI took immediate action: they prepared the ransom and copied all the money, so that they knew the amount of each money in the 200,000 ransom. Once the criminals run out of money, the FBI can catch them immediately. But what happened next surprised everyone. After the ransom and parachute were delivered to the plane, Cooper released all the passengers and most of the crew members, and only detained three crew members and 1 flight attendant in the cockpit. When the other two stewardesses got off the plane, Cooper also gave them a tip of 2000 yuan. Although they all refused, people still admired his calmness and composure.

Federal agents are very confused about Cooper's behavior. Just when they were suspicious, Cooper took off again with the detained crew. After he locked the crew firmly and safely in the cockpit, he made the next incredible move he had planned.

Behind the cabin of Boeing 727, there is a gangway that can be put down. Sometime before the plane arrived in Reno, Cooper managed to put it down by himself. Then he jumped down from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, opened his parachute, and floated into the boundless Yuan Ye at his feet on a cold winter night, leaving no trace.

No one knows the result of this airborne, but people only know that he is missing.

The FBI tried every means to track him down, but never found any clues, which made the federal agents investigating the matter scratch their heads. "He is a smart guy", which is the final conclusion of their investigation. Although they still didn't give up even a glimmer of hope in the later years, especially the arrest of a hijacker who had absconded for 30 years on 200 1, which greatly enhanced their confidence, Cooper's case still didn't improve.

From Cooper's amazing jump to now, so many years have passed, and no one has seen him or his body or his parachute. The police finally found only a ransom of $5,880 near the Columbia River in Washington. This makes people believe once again that Cooper is still alive, living in a corner of our world, recalling his legendary experience when he was young.

This is the only unresolved hijacking case in American history.

-J.D. Reid, author of Free Fall

ninth

The Black Hand of Citibank Network —— Citibank Network Theft Case in America

Long before the invention of the airplane, rude western robbers rode Ma Chong into the banks in the city.

1994, the online bank robber Fu Lademyr Levi walked into the St. Petersburg subway station, ready to go home by bus, and started his criminal activities, which ranked ninth among the legendary cases.

1994, computer expert FuLademyr Levi stole millions of dollars from Citibank in St. Petersburg only through a 286 computer. He stayed in Russia without even leaving his desk. Levi connected his terminal to Citibank's computer and successfully entered the bank customer's account. He transferred other people's funds to his account. As far as we know, this is the first important case of using the Internet to steal huge amounts of money.

Although Li Wei can successfully transfer money online using a personal computer, if he wants to withdraw cash, someone must enter the bank to withdraw money. As a result, the police stood by the ATM, caught the cashier while withdrawing money, and then tracked down Li Wei.

Levi only spent three years in prison. This is not the heaviest sentence for a criminal who uses high technology for the first time.

This case has opened people's eyes. People are aware of the potential threat of this kind of theft for the first time. When criminals get online, the geographical location is irrelevant.

Because the problem of network security has not been completely solved, the cases of using the Internet to commit crimes are increasing year by year. There are dozens of methods and tools for cyber thieves to commit crimes, including: releasing computer viruses to paralyze computer systems; Through the "scanner" that can find the weakness of website software programs and the "sniffer" that steals passwords, key passwords are cracked and core technologies or information are stolen; By cracking the password to modify the account data in the computer system, create chaos to steal funds, and so on.

Bill Gates once predicted: "Traditional commercial banks are a group of dinosaurs, which will be extinct in 2 1 century." He even said that banking is necessary and 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 system used to handle banking business is very safe. But the difference is that the vault is now in every criminal's bedroom.

-Charlie Kufman, co-author of Network Security.

eighth

The nightmare of luxury hotels-Pierre Hotel in new york was robbed.

The eighth super robbery also happened in new york. But the criminals did not use the information superhighway, but drove directly into Fifth Avenue.

In 1970s, there were many rampant jewel thefts in new york. Jewellery thieves Sam Nello and Bobby Comfort have become a big worry for the new york Police Department and local politicians. For criminals, with the improvement of the bank protection system, robbing a bank has become a high-risk and low-return bet, and stealing jewelry in the safe only requires a fine.

Be prepared, but the risk is much smaller.

1972 65438+1On October 2nd, Komft and Nello, the lean partners, started their biggest robbery. Their goal is: Pierre Hotel.

One of the reasons why they chose Pierre Hotel as their first choice is that it provides customers with the service of "permanent safe". Comfort and Nello spent a long time familiarizing themselves with the hotel, so they knew its arrangement like the back of their hand. After long-term observation, they found the key to implementing the plan: pretending to be rich.

In the early morning of the 2nd, Comfort and Nello dressed up in a limousine and stopped at the main entrance of the hotel. The doorman bowed to the two rich men to welcome them. After entering the hotel, these two guys flashed their pistols and became the most unwelcome guests.

They waved pistols and handcuffed all the staff. Because after careful investigation, they know exactly where there will be what kind of staff and how many people are on duty. "I have been a security guard for 20 years, and these people give me the impression that they are very good," said Johanp Kenney, head of security at Pierre Hotel. Because they brought 14 handcuffs from the beginning, and there were 14 people on duty at that time. "

There were three guests present. It was an accident, but Comfort and Nello didn't panic. On the spur of the moment, they tied up the guests and shut up.

After taking control of the hotel, the robbers ransacked the safe. They made a mess of the scene, robbed the cash and jewelry worth 10 million dollars, then got into the limousine and fled without a trace.

The theft in this case amounted to $6,543,800,000, which was the biggest hotel theft in history.

The police recovered jewels worth $750,000 in Detroit, but there was no news of other jewels. Later, the police stumbled upon Comft's bill, so they followed suit and arrested them both. After pleading guilty, they were sentenced to two and a half years in prison. For these thieves, this is a piece of cake.

After he was released from prison, Comfort bought life insurance and opened a gold exchange.

Comte and Nello think that the case they are working on is basically a Robin Hood plot of robbing the rich and helping the poor, and they are the poor. Of course, this is just their personal opinion.

-Jia Anthony Harewood, writer of mystery novels.

seventh

The "inside ghost" in the cab of armored car-robbery of armored car in America

Philip johnson is an armored car driver with an hourly wage of $7. 1on March 29th, 997, he finally couldn't resist the attractive opportunity. On this day, Johnson found that the cash truck was loaded with $6.5438+0.8 million, which was enough to make anyone excited, so he took risks. He pulled out his pistol, locked his colleague in the car and hijacked the armored car. Then he went straight to his home, handcuffed one of his colleagues to his house and tied the other to a tree, on his way to North Carolina.

Johnson went over the mountains to find the hiding place of the largest sum of money robbed by a single person in history. It seems that robbing huge sums of money was his improvisation, even if it was arranged in advance, it was careless. Johnson finally drove the armored car to a warehouse in North Carolina and spent the night moving money. He didn't notice a monitor working overhead. When he realized that his every move was recorded, Johnson wisely took the video from the monitor, but he unwisely hid it in the warehouse.

Johnson fled to Mexico with only $654.38 million. Investigators quickly found his colleagues and hidden stolen goods, but they didn't find him. Five months later, in order to get the money order, Johnson foolishly walked into a trap

The police estimate that Johnson may have spent all his money living in Mexico. He tried to come back to get the money, and when he crossed the border, he used the same alias as when he committed the last crime. The police have informed all parties, including border inspectors, of this pseudonym. The border inspector recognized the pseudonym at a glance and immediately notified the relevant departments.

Johnson was taken back to Florida for trial. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

It is said that kidnapping hostages is an important factor in sentencing him to severe punishment, and of course robbing huge sums of money is also one of the factors. But there are also many people who stole millions, and the sentence is much lighter than him. Johnson's answer to this is that he should not attack his boss publicly. Those guys paid him such a low salary, but they made a fortune.

Perhaps in his subconscious, he has always had the idea of stealing the boss. For ordinary employees, it's just stealing a pen or something. For Johnson, that is $654.38 million+$080,000.

Paul Jeslow, criminologist at the Police University.

sixth

Raid on Royal Mail train-British train robbery

On August 8th, 1963, Bruce Renold and two other men robbed a Royal Mail train. What they didn't know at that time was that they would become legends of that era.

1963, an unprecedented great train robbery happened in Britain, and this country has the earliest train robbers. 13 gangsters robbed a Royal Mail train with 2 million pounds on it.

It happened after the bank holiday in August, and the train left Glasgow for London. Renold knew in advance that there was a large sum of money on the train. So, he gathered some people to prepare for carjacking. These people include fruit shop owners, hairdressers and antique dealers. Among the members he recruited, one person is key: this person knows railway signals.

Robbers lie in ambush on both sides of the railway. When the train came, the knowledgeable partner gave a red stop signal, so the Royal train had to stop at an unplanned place temporarily. The co-pilot stepped down to see why he was forced to stop. Several robbers swarmed, knocked him to the ground, threw him under the embankment, and got on the train. The driver resisted, but his head was also injured by robbers with iron bars, bleeding profusely.

The robbers used money to remove the first two carriages from the train and forced the injured driver to drive the train for miles. At this time, there were 70 bank employees on the train, all of whom were in charge of safety, but they were all subdued by robbers. In the end, the robbers snatched more than 2 million pounds. At today's speed, this huge sum is as high as 6.5438+0.5 million pounds. This is by far the biggest loss in the train robbery.

The robbers took Leslie Farm, only 20 miles from the crime scene, as their hiding place. When they got there, they began to spend some money. It is said that they also light cigarettes with paper money and play chess with real money. They stayed there, hoping that the police would cast their nets as far as possible.

Instead, the police concentrated on searching the surrounding area of the crime scene. When the robbers learned that the lookout had fallen into the net, they had to flee to other places in a hurry.

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

A serious head injury caused the driver Jack Mills to die several years later, but before that, the brave man testified against the robber in court.

The British Supreme Court sentenced Renold to 35 years' imprisonment. This is the heaviest penalty ever imposed on train robbers in Britain. However, after only 15 months in prison, Renold, a well-connected person, managed to escape by hiding in a furniture car, and then he took his wife and son on the road to escape.

In order to avoid being chased by the police, the train thief first spent a lot of money on plastic surgery in France. 1965, 1965 In February, he flew to Sydney alone and transferred to Melbourne after meeting his wife and children. But three years later, the British media found out the whereabouts of Renold, and the thief had to go into exile again and fled to Rio de Janeiro. Train thieves who have repeatedly escaped the punishment of the law have not escaped the punishment of the creator. 1998 After two strokes, he became a cripple. In desperation, Renold, who has completely lost his source of livelihood, can only go home. He also tried to get Amnesty from the British law enforcement agencies and enjoy the health insurance of British nationals. But as soon as his Sunplane landed, the train thief was arrested.

Even so, the train thief who has become a cripple made the news, and now the news that he got married in prison has been hyped up by the newspaper media.

However, in the 20 years since Renold was sentenced, there has never been a train robbery in Britain.

In fact, these criminals are not thin at all. At best, they are just well-organized criminal gangs.

-Roland Barrow, former Liverpool police officer

fifth

Challenging the Security of British Airports —— Blinking Mark Robbery in Britain

The sixth Astrotrain robbery in the 20th century took place in Britain. At the same time, another notorious robbery happened there. Ranked fifth on the list.

Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, and its security is also called the highest in the world. However, several major robberies that shocked the world in the history of Heathrow airport made people doubt the serious security guarantee of the British government.

1983165438+1On October 26th, six gangsters broke into an airport warehouse in London. A small mistake turned this ordinary robbery into a super case that caused a sensation in the world.

Blings-Matt is a warehouse near London Heathrow Airport. It should be indestructible: all exits are closely monitored by closed-circuit television, and each doorman holds a different lock code for the vault. It is considered as an inaccessible place.

The key figure in this case is Tony Black, brother-in-law of bandit leader Robinson. He's a security guard at blings-Matt's vault. He knows how to get into the warehouse. After repeated persuasion by the robbers, Blake finally gave them the topographic map of the warehouse and a key, and told them the best time to enter the vault: when the security guards in the early shift changed their posts, the alarm was turned off.

At 6: 40 in the morning, six robbers came to the vault when the security guards changed their posts. With Blake as the inside man, they easily subdued the guards at the entrance of the vault, and things were in chaos from then on.

In order to force the security guards to tell the password of the combination lock, they shot one of them in the head with a pistol and poured gasoline on him, threatening to light his lantern. The poor security guard was so scared that he couldn't even remember the password of the safe. So another security guard told them that a batch of newly arrived goods were lying on the wall of the vault, so he might as well take them away and let his colleagues go.

Who knows, "those goods" turned out to be 6800 gold bars packed in several wooden cases! The robbers' good fortune has come. You can imagine their surprise when they opened the box and found it full of gold bars. These gold bars were worth 26 million pounds, and the robbers accidentally bumped into Aladdin's treasure.

They got two trucks to move all the gold bars, and then fled the vault, having no idea where they were, as if they had disappeared into the air.

Because the amount of robbery was so large, the price of gold in London soared that day. A few days later, the international gold price rose, and within a week, the robbers made more than 165438+ million pounds.

The police soon discovered the connection between Blake and Robinson, the bandit leader, and arrested them both. The accomplice Michelle McVeigh was also arrested and imprisoned for another case; But the rest of the robbers and gold will never be found. They became the richest robbers in history.

After the incident, a Heathrow airport spokesman argued: "The robbed warehouse is in the controlled area, but it is not in the absolute restricted area, so robbery will not endanger aviation safety!" However, the spokesman's remarks were immediately strongly criticized, and an aviation official said that this was the most serious airport security loophole in Britain.

fourth

Naked Robbery, Dog Bites Dog —— Bank Robbery in Boston, USA

Bank robbery is a primitive form of crime, but the danger of dog-eat-dog between criminals is far greater than the threat from the police.

The fourth legendary case 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 most headache for the police. Fortunately, there are frequent internal conflicts between criminal gangs due to the distribution of stolen goods, which makes them kill each other and brings convenience to the police.

1950 65438+1October 17, the Boston robber Joseph mcginnis and his accomplices made the biggest robbery in the world at that time.

Jack Barry, the retired detective chief of Boston Police Department, still clearly remembers this case: "I was on duty in Boston Garden at that time, on the same street as Blinking Vault. I got a call saying that there was a big robbery there, so let me send some detectives there quickly. "

When Barry arrived at the scene, he found the cashier in the bank vault tied firmly to the ground and his mouth sealed. The cashier's office was stolen and the scene was in chaos. The guards are still in shock.

Cashier Joseph Allen recalled the crime scene with a lingering fear: "They forced me to put my hands behind my back and tied my arms and legs. A man came by and I heard something tearing. He gagged me and knocked out my glasses. Then he said, "Lie still." I lay there for the longest 20 minutes of my life. "

The robbers wore fake uniforms and strange masks, and it took only 17 minutes to take away huge sums of money. It turned out that a few weeks ago, in order to quickly enter the vault, they stole the lock of the vault, matched the key, and sent it back, waiting patiently for the opportunity.

This case is far from impeccable. The day after the incident, the police had a key suspect. Barry said, "I remember that the suspects at that time included Richardson, O'Keefe, Custer and Pi Nuo. They are all members of the jazz mafia. "But because there is no direct evidence, there is nothing the police can do. In the following years, they have been persevering in the investigation.

At this moment, O'Keefe was arrested and imprisoned for another case, and the police finally found a breakthrough in the case. The robbers began to be afraid. They decided to hire a killer and kill O'Keefe before he went to prison, so that he wouldn't give them all up.

For some reason, the professional killer the robbers were looking for only played an amateur level. He used a submachine gun, but only hit O'Keefe's watch. O'Keefe finally survived and went to prison.

After O'Keefe's accomplices squandered his share of the stolen money, they finally went to find him. They met and had a quarrel. His partner finally gave him some money, but it was definitely not enough.

O'Keefe made a new account and began to deal with the FBI. Just a week before the statute of limitations expired, O'Keefe let go. So his accomplice was sentenced to life imprisonment.

As for O'Keefe himself, he was later seen in LA. There, he worked as a driver and cook for movie star gary grant for several years. The famous movie star may not know that his driver used to be as famous as him.

As far as we know, these gangsters lived well in the future. They didn't get much reward.

-Jack Barry, former Boston Police Chief.

third

Los Angeles Gangsters-Shooting the Central Bank of California, USA

1997, two professional bank robbers, armed with submachine guns, robbed the bank. Even the police can't match their firepower.

"The bank is so easy to grab, and the brothers on the road know it."

"We regard the bank as a fat sheep, and all the brothers on the road call it there." It's circulating among gangs in Los Angeles.

A joke.

Los Angeles, California is a frequent area of bank robbery in the world. In the past 20 years, there have been more than 20 thousand such cases. It is natural for the police station to lose face when there are successive robberies in a fixed area and the perpetrators are at large for many years. The police hope to take big action to arrest criminals as soon as possible and curb the trend of bank robbery, but they have encountered an unprecedented counterattack.

This is the legendary third bank of America gunfight.

1997 at 9: 00 am on February 28th, two masked armed robbers knocked down two patrolmen and rushed into the Bank of America in northern Hollywood.

Professional robbers Lanrui Phillips and Aimei Matashalunu robbed all the cash and rushed out of the bank with a huge sum of more than 300,000 US dollars, and had a head-on exchange of fire with the police outside.

They carried submachine guns and fired in a semicircle from north to south. Police and passers-by have to dodge. The AK47 submachine gun in the gangster's hand has been modified, and they also have a HK90. These guns have good performance and very strong firepower, and there are thousands of bullets in the car. In contrast, most of the police who arrived at the scene were equipped with standard 9 mm caliber pistols, which was obviously backward.

When the first batch of policemen arrived at the scene, there was news on the radio that the police were calling for help and someone was injured. Several policemen were hit by gangsters and lying in the street.

John Camprelli, a senior police officer in Los Angeles, arrived at the scene after receiving the call. "As soon as I got there, I heard the voice on the radio. The police began to get hurt. I mean, they were all screaming. The sound of automatic weapons fire sounded in the nearby residential area. It sounds unreal, like a dream. We have always had an unwritten rule that one of your men should not be killed or injured as much as possible. At that time, I thought, there may be more than one this time, and several will die. "

When the robbers fought their way out to find their car, they became even more rampant. Phillips didn't retreat to the car. He just stood there and shot at everyone he saw, helicopters and anything moving. He must think he is invincible.

The police camera recorded all the shooting scenes, and Phillips never lowered his posture, so he stood up straight and fired at will. His weapon was so powerful that it overwhelmed the firepower of all the police. The police shot at him desperately, but they just couldn't hit him.

Ironically, Philip swept the battlefield with a gun and ended up dead on his pistol. In the fierce battle, Philip's AK47 gun jammed, so he pulled out a stainless steel Bei Leita pistol and continued shooting. But the pistol fell to the ground, and just as he bent down to pick it up, the gun suddenly went off. He was shot on the spot.

After trying to hijack the car failed, the rest of the gangsters still stubbornly resisted until the special forces arrived and killed them, and the gun battle ended.

This central bank robbery is the most violent and the longest battle in American history. Afterwards, an eyewitness mentioned the gun battle and still said with a lingering fear: "I have only seen or read such a gun case in Hollywood blockbusters and newspapers before, but I didn't expect it to hit my head today. It's terrible! "

Although the gun battle paid a heavy price, it ended in the victory of the just side. For a time, people received rave reviews of the police's performance, which greatly exceeded their expectations. Letters of condolence, food and flowers flooded in. People look at LAPD with new eyes, because they never compromise in the face of difficulties.

Of the 350 policemen in the police district, 32 took part in the war, 10 policemen were injured and 7 citizens were injured, but only those two gangsters died. In this case, a record number of people were awarded the Medal of Courage, and 10 police officers won this honor at one time.

In the face of gangsters' weapons, no one flinched, and everyone present was a hero.

John Campli, winner of the Medal of Courage.

second

Mona Lisa under an Umbrella —— The theft of a famous painting from the Louvre in France

19 1 1 year, a joke about the theft of the Mona Lisa was popular in Paris: "Hey, I'm going to the Louvre. Do you want anything? "

Although the Louvre is the most heavily guarded place in the world. But with a little negligence, thieves will steal. History has proved this: this is the second situation. 19 1 1 year, the museum staff took advantage of their position to easily enter the Louvre and stole the most expensive oil painting in Europe, the Mona Lisa.

19 1 1 year, the Louvre is undergoing interior decoration and employs many workers to make protective glass covers for its precious collection.

On August 2 1 day, Vincent Berrugia, who worked as a temporary worker in the Louvre, and two other workers took off the glass cover on the portrait of Mona Lisa, took out the portrait, rolled up the oil painting, hid it in an ordinary umbrella, and then walked out of the Louvre with this "most famous lady in the world".

Incredibly, due to the ongoing construction, the museum was in chaos and the collection was moved around, so the museum didn't notice it at first. The French police also have no clue about this case.

As soon as the news came out, there were rumors of the rise of bees in the society. At that time, some scholars thought that a fake expert stole the portrait so that he could sell it to a private collector.

The portrait just disappeared for two years. Later I learned that Berrugia hid it in a box under her bed. It is easier for Berlusconi to hide the portrait than to steal it.

Two years later, Berlusconi returned to his native Italy and took the Mona Lisa with him. After that, his action surprised everyone: he tried to donate or sell Mona Lisa to Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

The staff of uffizi Gallery was shocked. He finally used his quick wits to report Berrugia, and was rewarded for it. However, public sympathy is obviously biased towards patriotic thieves, and the final ruling also shows this feeling. Berrugia ended up in prison for less than a year, and this sentence was simply too light for the biggest art thief in the 20th century.

This great commotion nearly a hundred years ago finally changed the way tourists watch works of art, which is also the fundamental reason why visitors are forbidden to bring long-handled umbrellas into the Louvre Museum today.

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

Anna Caslow, director of the stolen art declaration bureau

Trivia:

The first suspect of the police was a young painter named Pablo Picasso, because he bought a figurine stolen from the museum.

first

A "Black Hole" Reaching into the Bank Vault —— Bank Theft in France