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Insane Way Bank Robbers Executed Perfect Bank Heist (Stole $20 Million) - YouTube
Channel: The Infographics Show
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Itâs January 13, 2006, a beautiful summer
day in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when a call
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went out to local police at 12:38 PM that
Banco Rio was being robbed.
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Located in a serene, rich neighborhood in
Argentinaâs capital, the prestigious bank
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contained a fortune in its vaults.
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Police officers arrived at the scene to discover
that four thieves and twenty three hostages
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were inside.
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They secured the perimeter, guarding the only
two possible exits from the bank.
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After communicating and negotiating with the
robbers throughout most of the afternoon,
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the thieves suddenly went silent.
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At 7 PM, police officers broke into Banco
Rio and found a confounding scene: the hostages
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were alive and well, almost one hundred and
fifty safety deposit boxes were forced open
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and emptied of their contents, and the robbers...were
gone.
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No sign of the thieves could be found, no
windows were broken, and the exits had been
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watched by police the whole time.
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How did these thieves get away with what has
become known as âthe robbery of the centuryâ?
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How did they disappear under the careful watch
of more than one hundred police officers?
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We dug deep into this infamous Argentinean
bank heist to find out.
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Banco Rio, now known as Banco Santander Rio,
was one of Argentinaâs leading financial
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institutions, with branches throughout the
country.
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One of its branches was nestled in the calm,
wealthy neighborhood of San Isidro, in Buenos
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Airesâ northern suburbs.
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How well off was San Isidro?
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Well, the neighborhood now has two golf courses,
a sailing club, and a jockey club.
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You can almost see the residents clutching
their pearls.
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In 2006, Argentina was already no stranger
to infamous bank robberies.
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In fact, a heist that had happened a few years
earlier had left the nation reeling, and as
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it turns out, inspired the heist of Banco
Rio.
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In 1999, thieves had broken into a bank in
Ramallo, Argentina, and taken hostages in
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order to negotiate their freedom from police.
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The robbers tried to leave the bank using
the hostages as shields and police opened
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fire, killing one of the robbers, but also
two innocent hostages.
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As though the tragic event wasnât enough
of a PR nightmare for the police, the whole
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bank heist had been shown on live TV via the
many news cameras at the scene.
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Most Argentinians had seen both the robbery
and the killings go down in real time.
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The nation was in shock.
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As a result of the Ramallo case, police in
the 2006 Banco Rio heist were more reluctant
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to take drastic action when they arrived at
the scene of a bank robbery in progress.
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That warm January day, with even more news
cameras trained on the hostage situation at
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Banco Rio, police were trying to move as carefully
as possible.
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Then again, they werenât in a rush, because
they thought they had the thieves trapped
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and surrounded.
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Over 100 officers had shown up at the scene,
and every vantage point to the bank that wasnât
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occupied by a news photographer was occupied
by a sniper.
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The two bank exits were covered.
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Where could the thieves go?
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One of the robbers inside, who bypassed several
cool Argentinian names to codename himself
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Walter instead, was negotiating the release
of hostages with police.
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The thieves let the bankâs security guard
walk out the door unharmed, then a young man,
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then a young woman as well.
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It seemed like things were going well and
the robbers were playing along with the cops.
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Walter, who had been given the nickname of
âThe Man in the Gray Suitâ, seemed to
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be in a strangely happy mood given the gravity
of his situation.
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He and the other thieves were treating the
hostages well.
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At one point, they sang âHappy Birthdayâ
to one of the bank employees after discovering
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it was the manâs birthday, which is more
than you remembered to do for most of your
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friends last year without Facebook reminding
you.
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Later on, around 3:30 PM, Walter called police
to complain that the 23 remaining hostages
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were hungry and theyâd like some pizza.
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After this call, the line went silent.
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What was happening inside Banco Rio?
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For three hours, with Walter having ghosted
them, the police had no idea what to do.
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Do they barge in, putting hostages in danger
and risking another Ramallo-like situation?
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Like a needy ex, they kept trying to contact
Walter even after several missed calls.
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Finally, special forces lined up and forced
their way in to discover a truly unbelievable
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situation.
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Twenty three hostages were being held or had
been locked into three separate floors: the
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lobby, the mezzanine, and the basement conference
room.
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The thieves were nowhere to be found.
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Police even double checked to see if they
were hiding among the hostages, but could
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not find them.
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When they entered the basement, they realized
what the thieves had really been after.
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Out of the 400 reinforced-steel safe deposit
boxes in the basement, 143 had been cracked
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open.
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Why didnât the thieves steal cash from the
bank instead?
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Well, most Argentinians at the time were pretty
distrustful of the countryâs banking system.
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During the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina,
the banking system had collapsed, wiping out
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the fortunes of those who had most of their
money in bank accounts.
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Viewing money held in bank accounts as suspiciously
as most people view bitcoin today, Argentinians
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instead decided they would only use banks
for their safe deposit boxes, which couldnât
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be wiped out in the event of a crisis.
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In these safeguarded boxes, Argentinians piled
in their cash, jewelry, and other valuable
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items that they could always reclaim in the
event of an emergency.
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Given that San Isidro was an exceptionally
rich neighborhood, the safe deposit boxes
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of this particular branch of Banco Rio contained
an immense amount of wealth.
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After officers found so many of the boxes
forced open, they also found the only few
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pieces of evidence the thieves had left behind:
a battery pack, a tool that police assumed
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had been used to crack open the boxes, and
a row of toy guns.
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Thatâs right; the robbers had conducted
this epic bank heist without even using real
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weapons.
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The last item police found was perhaps the
most perplexing and obnoxious piece of evidence.
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The robbers, trying to make some sort of poetic
statement, left behind a note that read, âIn
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a neighborhood of rich people, without weapons
or grudges, it's just money, not love.â
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Argentinians throughout the country, lacking
Netflix at the time, had been watching the
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whole robbery unfold for hours from their
televisions, and now saw that the thieves
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had pulled off an impossible escape as well.
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Public opinions and rumors in Argentina almost
immediately depicted the robbers as Robin
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Hood-like folk heroes.
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After all, they had stolen from the rich,
hadnât harmed anyone, and given the money
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toâŠ(pause)...well, it seemed theyâd given
it to themselves.
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But still; their heist was somewhat ingenious.
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So who was at the center of it all?
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And how had they executed and gotten away
with such a perfect heist?
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Well, the mastermind behind the robbery of
the century turned out to be a man named Fernando
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Araujo.
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You see, the Ramallo bank heist had made an
impression on Araujo, who thought the robbers
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had almost pulled off the perfect heist, but
botched it all up when they tried to leave.
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One day, when Araujo was a few bong hits deep
and talking to a dear friend, he thought of
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the obvious: what if the robbers never had
to leave?
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What if, instead, they disappeared through
a hole?
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Araujoâs friend, Sebastian Garcia Bolster,
agreed that this sounded like a crazy, yet
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perfect plan.
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However, he didnât pay his friendâs theory
much attention, as Bolster was neither a criminal
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or in any dire financial straits.
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Also, most people donât take grand stoned
plans seriously.
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Araujo and Bolster had grown up together in
an upper middle class neighborhood, also located
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in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, and
while Araujo sometimes dabbled in hobbies
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on the wrong side of the law, Bolster enjoyed
a completely legal lifestyle.
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Bolster had a wife and child and was mechanically
inclined, repairing mostly small engines for
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money and tinkering around with inventions.
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Araujo, on the other hand, had a very impulsive
and somewhat eccentric lifestyle, teaching
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martial arts occasionally to pay the bills
while also cultivating marijuana for money.
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He was a free-spirited artist who was dealing
with a recent break up as many free-spirited
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artists do: melodramatically.
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He decided he needed to remove the world from
his personal space, so he blacked out the
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windows of his loft.
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According to others, Araujo ate relatively
little and slept whenever the mood hit him.
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Frequently high on weed, permanently underfed,
and presumably lacking a whole lot of Vitamin
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D, Araujo was drawn towards stranger and stranger
ideas.
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His biggest obsession?
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Bank robberies.
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Apparently, Araujo voraciously consumed any
and all media involving bank robbers, from
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movies and shows to documentaries of real-life
heists.
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His goal was to observe the mistakes other
fictional and real robbers made, and use these
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observations to plan out the perfect heist.
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In 2004, Araujo finally realized he had not
only figured out a plan, but also needed his
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friend Bolsterâs mechanical and technical
knowledge to help him.
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Bolster wasnât too happy about the idea,
and he knew banks were harder to break into
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than most people thought as he had worked
part-time in a bank for a while.
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However, he was also furious that his father
and grandfather had entrusted money to banks
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and then lost it all during economic downturns,
so like many people, he ended up hating bankers.
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When Araujo guaranteed Bolster that no one
would get hurt - in fact, they wouldnât
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even have real weapons - Bolster agreed to
the plan and got to work.
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So what exactly IS the prep work for the robbery
of the century?
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Thanks partly to its temperamental weather,
Buenos Aires has plenty of storm drains underneath
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its streets that lead directly out to the
river.
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The robbers would enter one that ran close
to the bank and then dig up a tunnel to connect
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it to the bank itself.
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However, bypassing the bankâs nighttime
alarm system would be a huge challenge, much
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more difficult than digging a hole.
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So how would the thieves turn off the bankâs
alarm?
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Simple: by not tripping it at all.
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The thieves would rob the safe deposit boxes
in the bankâs basement in the daytime, when
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the alarm wasnât set, but the bank was swarming
with people.
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How would they enter a bank during the workday
and not draw attention to themselves emptying
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the safe deposit boxes?
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In Araujoâs mind, the answer was even simpler:
stage a fake bank robbery upstairs, to cover
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the real bank robbery going on in the basement.
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Some say the phrase âitâs so crazy it
just might workâ was born that day.
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The duo then proceeded to assemble a crew
of experienced thieves, financiers, and misfits
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theyâd need to pull off this job, presumably
in an âOceanâs Elevenâ-style montage.
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Enter: an experienced bank robber named Doc
and his associate Ruben Alberto de la Torre,
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nicknamed Beto.
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They were former members of an Argentinian
group of armed bank robbers known, unimaginatively,
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as âSuper Bandaâ.
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Another fixer and a getaway driver were added
to the crew.
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Araujo also found a financier and problem
solver in retired rich Uruguayan thief Luis
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Mario Vitette Sellanes, who invested $100,000
into the operation.
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What did they need the money for?
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Well, Bolster had to come up with a way to
get into the bank, spend a lot of time and
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energy tunneling through, and find a relatively
unobtrusive way to get the safe deposit boxes
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open so they wouldnât be heard from upstairs.
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Bolster decided to rent a safe deposit box
at another Banco Rio branch, noted down the
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brand name, and ordered a few boxes himself
to find the best way to open them.
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He concluded that a jackhammer punching through
the locks would do the job, and could be kept
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to a reasonable noise level.
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He built a jackhammer that could be transported
in pieces to the bank, assembled there, and
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then taken apart.
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However, as anyone whoâs seen âThe Italian
Jobâ or almost any heist movie knows, getting
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a lot of valuable, heavy goods out of the
location youâre robbing presents its own
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challenge.
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Since the thieves were going to drop back
down into water-filled drains, getting the
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goods into Zodiac boats seemed like a good
idea, but the water level was usually too
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low to hold up the loaded-down boats.
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Since Bolster couldnât make it rain - no
more puns, we swear - he naturally decided
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heâd build a wooden dam in his shop, disassemble
it, and reassemble it in the storm drains
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over several days.
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The morning of the heist, the seven men met
for coffee - because apparently even bank
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robbers need caffeine to start their day - and
then dispersed to start the heist of the century.
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Bolster headed to the storm drains to make
his way towards the bank underground.
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Julian Zalloecheverria drove the getaway car
to a pre-arranged meeting spot.
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Vitette and a mystery man named Luis the Uruguayan
drove a stolen car to the garage under the
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bank, while the rest of the men drove another
stolen car to the bank itself.
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Beto and Doc headed in first, with Beto waving
around a toy gun he had stolen from his nine
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year old son that morning.
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Shockingly, this worked, and everyone in the
bank immediately dropped to the floor.
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Araujo left another stolen car outside the
bank purposely to make it look like a getaway
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vehicle, so police would think they had found
the robbersâ escape plan.
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Araujo walked into the bank in a baseball
cap, ski mask, long blond wig, and sunglasses;
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how he managed to avoid weird looks on the
sidewalk before entering is anyoneâs guess.
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Meanwhile, Bolster had reached the end of
the tunnel he had dug and was just chilling
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in the dark underneath the bank.
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Doc went down, broke the basement wall separating
the bank from Bolsterâs tunnel, and let
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Bolster in to help with the robbery, unbeknownst
to anyone inside the bank.
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This was because Luis and Beto had already
subdued and isolated the hostages.
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Vitette then took on the persona of Walter
to deal with the cops that had just arrived,
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in order to make police believe that the robbers
had been caught in a heist gone wrong.
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Araujoâs plan was somewhat brilliant: the
thieves were basically staging a visible botched
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bank robbery upstairs to cover up the invisible
robbery happening in the basement.
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Vitette even released a few hostages one after
the other to make the police think that they
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had the upper hand, and could get the rest
of the hostages through negotiation alone.
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The whole crew had been told they had two
hours to get in and get out.
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Bolster assembled his jackhammer-like contraption
in 20 minutes and spent another hour and a
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half opening safe deposit boxes.
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After Vitette got the signal from Araujo to
come downstairs, he told the cops to order
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pizza and then went down to the basement,
telling the hostages if they moved theyâd
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be killed.
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Beto and Vitette helped Bolster stuff the
valuables into bags, while Araujo and Doc
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sprayed bleach to destroy any DNA and threw
around fistfuls of hair from a barbershop
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floor to confuse police even further.
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As you do in a bank heist.
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As the men exited through Bolsterâs tunnel,
they cleaned up all evidence of the broken
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wall, and hid the hole behind a large, heavy
cabinet.
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The men piled into the Zodiacs, and even though
the motor malfunctioned, Araujo had brought
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paddles.
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The men paddled to the getaway van ten blocks
away, used a previously tested pulley system
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to haul the bags up from the storm drain,
and drove off, all while police still thought
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they had the bank robbers surrounded in Banco
Rio.
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When police officers eventually stormed the
bank, the robbers were already home watching
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the report on live TV, while finally eating
their long-awaited pizza.
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Bolster, being one of the smartest of the
group, and figuring credit cards would be
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the most useless of the valuables as they
could be cancelled, scattered the cards all
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over various streets far away from the gangâs
actual route out of the bank.
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This not only left no clear trail towards
the robbers; it also created a lot of false
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leads for police, as every time a passerby
would pick up a credit card and try to use
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it, the police would have to hunt them down
and see if they were involved.
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Frustrated, tired, and with no viable leads,
the police, like any âLove is Blindâ contestant,
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realized they had just been publicly humiliated
on TV.
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So wait - if the robbers got away with it,
how do we know the names and stories of everyone
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involved in this crime?
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Well, as it usually happens in life, even
the most carefully thought out plan can be
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undone with one dumb, egocentric mistake.
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When Beto brought home the money, he bragged
to his wife Alicia that he and his friends
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had robbed Banco Rio.
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Considering Beto had a habit of frequently
cheating on Alicia, disclosing this information
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so readily probably wasnât the best idea.
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When some of the valuables went missing from
the house, Beto and Alicia had a huge fight
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that led to the unraveling of the whole heist.
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Sure enough, five weeks later Beto got pulled
over by police while out driving with his
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mistress.
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Apparently, Alicia had told them the whole
story of the heist, and identified Beto, Araujo,
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Bolster, Vitette, and Zalloechevarria as robbers
as well, as she had seen them work on the
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getaway van in her garage.
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Alicia didnât point fingers towards Doc
and the mysterious Uruguayan Luis, as she
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had never seen them in her house, and they
presumably hadnât cheated on her.
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The men were all tried and sent to jail, though
most have been released by now, and are presumably
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still pissed at Beto for being unable to keep
it in his pants.
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However, their daring heist lives on in infamy
in Argentina.
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Do you think you could commit the perfect
crime?
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If so, please let us know by revealing your
identity and full plan, in detail, in the
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comment section below!
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Or better yet, if youâd like to stay out
of jail, go discover another unbelievable
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story or check out this other video instead!
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