Itu 1953 Great St. Louis Bank Robbery

Pada hari Jumat, April 24, 1953, three men and a getaway driver tried to rob the Southwest Bank on the corner of Southwest Avenue and S. Kingshighway Boulevard, St. Louis, MO. The St. Polisi Louis digagalkan perampokan, yang menjadi fokus dari 1959 film, The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery. The film is now in the public domain.

Fred William Bowerman dari FBI Most Wanted List – Domain Publik

Fred W. Bowerman, seorang perampok bank yang berpengalaman, memimpin kru perampokan. Bowerman adalah 60 th, while his crew were all in their twenties. Bowerman expected to get in and out of the bank quickly, but the robbery quickly went awry. One of the bank employees triggered a bank alarm notifying the local district officers, yang tiba bahkan sebelum mereka telah mengumpulkan semua uang.

Sopir, Glenn Chernick, who had been a star college football player, left when Chernick saw all the police arriving. Salah satu perampok, Frank Vito, yang sudah menghadapi tuduhan kriminal lainnya dari kejahatan masa lalu, bunuh diri. St. Louis police officers shot the last member of the crew, William Scholl, while Scholl tried to escape with a hostage.

Masih dari The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery – Courtesy of Creative Commons

Bowerman tried the same tactic but Officer Mel Stein, yang berdiri di luar pintu masuk ke bank, shot Bowerman. Stein mengatakan sebagai sandera itu baik jelas dan sisi Bowerman datang ke tampilan, ia menekan pelatuknya. Dampaknya mengetuk Bowerman ke tanah, where St. Louis police officers disarmed Bowerman.

Bowerman died in a local hospital on May 2, 1953. The court sentenced both Scholl and Chernick to 25 tahun penjara karena bagian mereka dalam perampokan. Glass caused a handful of bystanders’ minor injuries.

Hidup St. Louis mencatat peristiwa aktual perampokan di salah satu episode mereka. Tim O'Neil juga menulis sebuah artikel bergambar besar pada perampokan di St. Louis Post Dispatch Juli 25, 2012.

Di 1959, Charles Guggenheim shot a film noir about the robbery and filmed it in St. Louis menggunakan lokasi seperti di bank, Tower Grove Park, and the old South City Famous-Barr store parking lot. Guggenheim changed Chernick’s name to George Fowler played by a young Steve McQueen. Guggenheim changed Bowerman’s name to John Egan, played by Crahan Denton. Guggenheim did not change the other people’s names. Guggenheim used a couple of the police officers, including Mel Stein, and bank employees in the film.