The 1953 Kubwa St. Louis Benki ya wizi
Siku ya Ijumaa, Aprili 24, 1953, watu watatu na dereva getaway alijaribu kuiba Benki ya Magharibi kwenye kona ya Magharibi Avenue na S. Kingshighway Boulevard katika St. Louis, MO. St. Louis Polisi kuhatarisha wizi, ambayo ilikuwa lengo la 1959 movie, Mkuu St. Louis Benki ya wizi. filamu ni sasa katika miliki ya umma.
Fred William Bowerman from FBI Most Wanted List – Public Domain
Fred W. Bowerman, an experienced bank robber, led the robbery crew. Bowerman was 60 umri wa miaka, while his crew were all in their 20s. Bowerman expected to get in and out of the bank quickly but the robbery quickly went awry. An alarm was triggered notifying the local district officers, who arrived before they had even gathered up all the money.
The driver, Glenn Chernick, who would later turn out to be a star college football player, left when he saw all the police arriving. One of the robbers, Frank Vito, who was already facing other criminal charges from past offenses, committed suicide. The last member of the crew, William Scholl, was shot, while trying to escape with a hostage.
Still from The Great St. Louis Benki ya wizi – Hisani ya Creative Commons
Bowerman attempted the same tactic but was shot by Officer Mel Stein, who was standing just outside the entrance to the bank. Stein said as the hostage was well clear and Bowerman’s side came into view, he squeezed the trigger. The impact knocked Bowerman to the ground, where he was disarmed.
Bowerman would die in a local hospital on May 2, 1953. Scholl and Chernick would both be sentenced to 25 years in prison for their parts in the robbery. A few bystanders suffered minor injuries but only the robbers were seriously hurt or killed.
Living St. Louis recorded the actual events of the robbery on one of their episodes. Tim O’Neil also wrote a great pictorial article on the robbery in the St. Louis Baada Dispatch Julai 25, 2012.
In 1959, Charles Guggenheim shot a film noir about the robbery and actually filmed it in St. Louis using locations such at the bank, Tower Grove Park and the old South City Famous-Barr store parking lot. Chernick’s character was named George Fowler played by a very young Steve McQueen. Bowerman’s character was named John Egan played by Crahan Denton. The remaining characters names were not changed. Many of the actual policeman including Mel Stein and bank employees were also used in the film.
The Southwest Bank robbery will continue to be a famous chapter in the St. Louis history book. If you are interested in the film about the robbery, I included an Amazon link at the bottom of this post. I am an Amazon Associate and earn a small commission on qualifying sales.
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