Bank robberies are up in the city (the number of armed bank robberies went up 69 percent to 44 last year!), a fact apparently furthered by the recent release of a career criminal whom the FBI thinks is already back at it. Jack Mannino, dubbed the "Seven Second Bandit" when he was busted in 1999 for his lightning fast heists, was released from prison in July and is now wanted in relation to a bank robbery in Bensonhurst last week. more ›

Who knew that a Chase branch would have so much cash: According to the Post, two men dressed as painters "barged into a Chase bank as it was opening up early yesterday -- and robbed the joint of $850,000 in cash... That sum is the most netted in any city heist this year, sources said." more ›

You know the phrase "they caught them red-handed?" Yeah, well, yesterday the NYPD literally caught two bank robbers red-handed. According to police on Tuesday morning Richard Marrero, 43, and Felix Miranda, 62, flashed a .25 caliber pistol at a Chase in Astoria and made off in a waiting getaway van with $13,280 cash (and some dye packs) in hand. You can see where this is going. more ›

The "Holiday Bandit" has been busted, according to the FBI. The feds are reporting that a joint FBI/NYPD task force picked up 6"5' suspected bank robber Marat G. Mikhaylich without incident this morning around 9:30 a.m. in Queens after being tipped off that a stolen 2007 Camry which he used in a Edison, New Jersey, robbery yesterday was found on 91st Avenue. more ›

After he robbed seven New York City banks starting around the holiday season, the FBI has yet to catch Marat G. Mikhaylich, AKA the "Holiday Bandit." But we seem to be out of his crosshairs, at least for now. Police say that Mikhaylich is the man behind Friday's robbery at Sovereign Bank in Woodbridge, NJ. FBI spokesman Peter Donald said, "He continues to be a problem." more ›

Why does the NYPD have to be such a Grinch? According to police, there have been 21 bank robbery attempts since December 1st, over twice the attempts from last year. Police told the Post they attribute the spike to joblessness and the "desperation that accompanies the holiday shopping season," which is proved by one robber who decided to go shopping for clothes after the crime. Just two more of these and we'll have a trend! more ›

DNA, not a friend of criminals! As the Manhattan DA has its new cold case squad heating up old cases with new DNA evidence, the NYPD is off grabbing old criminals in new cases using the stuff. Just this week they busted a 72-year-old career criminal after his DNA was found on suede gloves left at the scene of a botched bank robbery. more ›

The police released a surveillance video still of a man who mugged two women at Manhattan bank ATMs. According to WCBS 2, "Police said the first robbery took place on Sept. 3 around 1 p.m. at a Citibank location in Columbus Circle, then again, a week later, at a Chase ATM on West 23rd Street at mid-morning." In both cases, the suspect approached the women from behind, simulated having a gun and demanded their money. Neither victim was injured. Some women reiterated reminders/suggestions about ATM safety, “Be aware of your surroundings. Make sure all of your personal belongings are close to you,” and “You need to look behind you, look on the side of you, and you should have somebody else with you." more ›

Edward Pemberton, AKA The Bouquet Bandit who made tabloid headlines after a string of bank robberies armed with nothing but foliage, has turned down a plea deal that would have landed him in prison for no fewer than seven years prison in return for a guilty plea to two of his bank robberies. His Legal Aid Society lawyer says the sentence is too high, in part because her client is so classy. "My client is accused of handing a teller some flowers and politely asking for money," lawyer Justine Luongo tells the Post. "Since his arrest, he has been nothing less than a gentleman—and that's what the DA's have said." Doesn't common courtesy count for anything anymore? more ›

It seems the Empire has fallen on hard times. Presumably to get finishing funds for his latest Death Star, Darth Vader—or a man pretending to be Darth Vader?—was reduced to robbing a bank on Long Island this morning. Impotent Rebel Alliance security forces tell Newsday (paywall) that Vader marched into a Chase bank in Setauket around 11:30 a.m. today. Brandishing a completely unnecessary handgun—as he had the power to choke the oxygen out every teller's throat—the fallen Jedi demanded cash. more ›

Police have released a surveillance camera image of a bank robber who held up a Bank of Smithtown on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea last Thursday morning, armed with nothing more than a bouquet of flowers. And they weren't even the treacherous clown flowers that spray water when you go in for a sniff! more ›

For twelve hours tomorrow, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., a mock bank robbery will be staged for the filming of a movie. So if you see some hold-up action happening over on Reade Street between Centre Street and Broadway in Manhattan, it's probably not real. The notification we received states: "Included in the simulated activity will be law enforcement and emergency response vehicles and actors dressed as law enforcement. NYPD will be on site." Seems like a good time to revisit this scene. more ›

Actor Rip Torn—who drunkenly broke into a bank, allegedly mistaking it for his home—has pleaded not guilty to burglary and firearms charges. Cops found him passed out inside the Litchfield Bancorp in Connecticut with a loaded firearm at his side. Yesterday, Torn said, "I've put myself in treatment before and I was completely abstinent before this happened.' more ›

Add this to your blogrolls! The FBI has developed a new website featuring surveillance photos of bank robbers. Dubbed "Bandit Tracker," the website features a database of images, crime narratives, and maps that authorities hope will generate valuable tips from visitors, according to the Post. Similar websites are up and running in Chicago, St. Louis and Texas, among other places, and in some cases, the technology used to establish the sites allows investigators to post images of the suspects within an hour after a robbery occurs. more ›

Police are on the lookout for a Westchester County bank robber who was apparently raised with good manners. The man is suspected of robbing seven banks since January, according to the Post, but has always thanked the tellers and "wished them a nice day" as he was making off with the money. So nice to know that he may not be a cold-hearted killer inside; we're sure that softens the blow of having a gun pointed at your head. more ›

Crooks cut holes in the roof of a Brooklyn bank and actually got into the room containing safe-deposit boxes on Sunday, but they fled without taking anything. After chiseling one hole in the wrong spot on the roof, the thieves hacked another hole and got into the bank's heating vents at around 5 p.m., according to the Daily News. They then crawled into a room containing the safe-deposit boxes, but took no money or valuables. Even though the perps didn't steal the jewelry or the "significant amount of cash" that 31-year-old Gravesend resident Sara Cohen keeps in the bank, she's not taking any chances. "I'm going to change my bank first thing tomorrow morning." more ›

Bank robber Robert Krieg and his 32-year-old accomplice John Gregg rode in cabs to some of the banks they held up, and had drivers run the meter while they made off with the money. Taking cabs allowed them to get around town fast and made for a quick getaway but, at least for Krieg, it ultimately led to arrest after a cabbie commandeered his ID and described him to the cops. more ›

Yesterday morning cops cuffed a serial thief who’s suspected in seven bank robberies—two committed just minutes before his arrest. Most amazing was that a policeman recognized Robert Krieg—who was calmly sipping coffee when he was confronted—despite the blonde wig he wore during his stick-ups (most of the papers skirt the question of the wig, but it seems as though he wasn’t wearing it when he was nabbed at Penn Station). "He fit the description," said sharp-eyed Captain Edward Winski. more ›

In the wake of his arrest for breaking into a Connecticut bank while armed and drunk, Rip Torn's daughter tells the Post's Michael Riedel, "My father is a brilliant man, but so much has been wasted. He's pissed away so much—so much of his time and so much of his talent." more ›

Check out the bank that Rip Torn broke into while drunk. The actor, who was found by police with his fly open and armed with a .22-caliber gun, thought he was in his own Salisbury, CT home, but in non-wasted "reality" he was actually in the Litchfield Bancorp! The Post decides that though the bank "looks nothing like Torn's house, the two-story yellow Colonial does not resemble a commercial building and could be mistaken for a home—especially to someone who was smashed." (Torn's blood alcohol level was 0.203, over double the legal limit.) more ›

Some banks have been hit hard by the economy, and some threatened by Obama, but only one has been broken into by a wasted Rip Torn. It was first reported over the weekend that 78-year-old actor Torn was arrested for breaking into a Salisbury, Connecticut bank with a loaded revolver after closing hours, and jailed on $100,000 bail. It's now been revealed that Torn had no intention of robbing the bank—in fact, he was so plastered that he thought the back window to the bank, which he smashed open, was his front door. more ›

Yesterday afternoon a man robbed a bank in Chinatown, at the corner of Canal and Bowery, but while being chased by the cops he dropped his newly scored bag of cash. A dye packet had exploded inside, but the NY Post reports that a bystander who witnessed the chase on the streets, picked up the loot and ran off with it anyway! While the original robber was nabbed, the one who made off with the stolen and stained dough is free as a bird. With all that useless cash though, consider this a double-fail bank robbery. more ›

Worse bank trip ever: A woman headed to her HSBC at 5 Penn Plaza and found herself in the middle of a bank robbery. So she tweeted it: "my bank was just held up- with me in it. HSBC 34 and 8. also my whole trackball is GONE!!! im locked in the bank still." She continued with updates: "they want to question us. i didnt even notice this gappenning while i was standing there," "cant figure out how to call work without a trackball... police just arrived. maybe theyll let me go now," and "they wont let us leave the bank." Her most recent Tweet: "Thanks Tmobile for providing help with my shitty phone while im stick in a bank hold up. thats sarcasm." Well, the upside is she's safe. The downside is that TV shows and Hollywood will have to incorporate Twittering hostages when depicting bank robberies. Update: Hopefully the witnesses can all leave now—Tweeting witness says "they totally got the guy. cop said he was lazy. walked right into several Penn station security cams." more ›

A man who apparently robbed a Capital One bank before fleeing the cops fell to his death from an elevated subway platform. MyFoxNY reports, "Around 1:35 p.m., the thief entered a Capital One Bank branch on 113th Street and Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens, and demanded cash. A bank clerk gave the robber some cash with a dye pack." He ran to the A train station, where the Post says the dye pack exploded,which "spooked" the thief. After tossing the cash into the trash, he ran on the tracks, but cops were headed his way at 113th Street: "The bold thief, who sources said was wanted in other heists, then chose flight over fight, trying to make the 20-foot leap onto the roof of a building below. But he missed and fell to the street." more ›

So it looks like detectives' theory that an ex-cop's bank robbery "appears to be economically motivated" is right on the money. Retired NYPD sergeant Thomas Feeney, who was arrested just minutes after robbing a Long Island bank at gunpoint Tuesday, is in major debt because of an ambitious landscaping project on the grounds of his Smithtown, LI, home, which included a new lining for his swimming pool. A neighbor tells the Post, in an article headlined "Poolhardy Choices By Heist Cop," that the pool upgrade was "a luxury item, so it didn't look like he was having any money problems." But an associate of Feeney blames his financial woes on his ex-wife, saying she "cleaned him out" after their divorce. And now she's going to try and get full custody of their daughters, which sucks for them, because their dad was probably just about to open the pool for the summer. Suffolk County Detective Sgt. Robert Doyle says Feeney's credit card debt is "well over $100,000." more ›

At first, cops thought that a series of 15 bank robberies over a two-month period was committed by one incredibly industrious thief. But yesterday the police arrested a pair of brothers for the crimes. more ›

On the heels of yesterday's story about a bank robbery that was foiled in part by an exploding dye pack, we bring you this tale from Long Island. A getaway driver was arrested after he and a "friend" (who managed to flee before police arrived) robbed a bank. James Clark and the friend who did the actual robbing—Newsday reports that the man who told a teller he had a gun was given "unspecified amount of cash and a dye pack from a drawer"—had to leave the getaway vehicle because the dye pack exploded. Oh, and a bank employee copied their license plate number. So Clark called his sister for advice—yes, telling her about dye pack and being spotted—and the sister said he should call 911. Newsday adds that at first Clark told the authorities he had no idea his friend was planning a robbery but later owned up to it. more ›

Exploding Dye Pack 1, Kevin McQuade 0: The NY Times has an interesting story about a serial bank robber—later found to be a suspect in six robberies—who tried robbing a Chase on East 79th on Tuesday. However, "a teller saw Mr. McQuade’s hands and his pants stained by the distinctive red dye from an explosive pack that tellers are trained to slip into a bank robber’s money bag. As Mr. McQuade passed a note to her, the teller hit a silent alarm, the police said, and just before handing over a bag of money she slipped in a dye pack of her own." Then, bank employees followed him out and flagged a patrol car, whose officers arrested McQuade who got dyed again. McQuade allegedly robbed three banks on Monday and his previous notes apparently read, "$7,000, no dye pack, don’t press the alarm and no one will get hurt" and "Gimme all the money, no die pack, no games and no one gets hurt." He was charged with four counts of third-degree robbery and two counts of third-degree attempted robbery. more ›

Wow: The Post reports, "Thieves hid behind a fake chimney to cut a hole in the roof of a Brooklyn bank - then made off with the contents of 60 safe-deposit boxes." The Astoria Federal Saving bank on East 2nd Street and 18th Avenue was robbed by burglars who used "heavy-duty blowtorches normally used under water to slice through the roof" and break into the building. Surveillance footage reportedly shows the thieves going to the roof of a neighboring building to reach the bank and setting up the fake chimney (!!). The bank said it wasn't clear whether customers would be reimbursed— one anguished customer said, "I purposely use the bank because it's supposed to be safer than my house." more ›

With bank robberies on the uptick, authorities are also starting to see more women striking out as bank bandits. Newsday reports, "Three female robbers struck banks five times over four months in Suffolk, and one in Nassau." Usually, Suffolk County Det. Sgt. Robert Doyle says, "Females account for maybe one or two cases a year, on the average. It happens infrequently." Last year, the FBI released a list of the top five female robbers in Southern California, ones with nicknames like the "Starlet Bandit," "Female Truck Driver Bandit," and "Will Kill Bandit," while the Cell Phone Bandit appeared near D.C. John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Robert McCrie explains that bank robberies are a "fairly safe kind of crime to commit in terms of personal risk... It's now a situation where it's becoming an equal opportunity crime. There's no barrier to women being bank robbers. It's not something where you require more muscle mass." more ›