Den 1953 Great St. Louis bankrån

På fredag, April 24, 1953, three men and a getaway driver tried to rob the Southwest Bank on the corner of Southwest Avenue and S. Kings Boulevard i St. Louis, MO. The St. Louis Polisen omintetgjort rånet, som blev föremål för en 1959 film, The Great St. Louis bankrån. Filmen är nu i det offentliga området.

Fred William Bowerman från FBI Most Wanted List – Public Domain

Fred. Bowerman, en erfaren bankrånare, ledde rånet besättningen. Bowerman var 60 år gammal, 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, som kom innan de ens hade samlat upp alla pengar.

Föraren, Glenn Chernick, who had been a star college football player, left when Chernick saw all the police arriving. En av rånarna, Frank Vito, som var redan inför andra åtal från tidigare brott, begick självmord. St. Louis police officers shot the last member of the crew, Scholl, while Scholl tried to escape with a hostage.

Fortfarande från The Great St. Louis bankrån – Artighet av Creative Commons

Bowerman tried the same tactic but Officer Mel Stein, som stod precis utanför ingången till banken, shot Bowerman. Stein sade som gisslan var väl klar och Bowerman sida kom i sikte, Han klämde utlösaren. Effekterna knackade Bowerman till marken, 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 års fängelse för sina delar i rån. Glass caused a handful of bystanders’ minor injuries.

Living St. Louis registreras de faktiska händelserna rånet på en av deras episoder. Tim O'Neil skrev också en stor illustrerad artikel om rånet i St. Louis Post Dispatch juli 25, 2012.

I 1959, Charles Guggenheim shot a film noir about the robbery and filmed it in St. Louis använder ställen sådana i banken, 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.