Casino heists don’t often involve cops and robbers, yet are no less captivating. From counting cards to outwitting the pit bosses, these heists are truly remarkable.
Bill Brennan was an enthusiastic employee at Stardust Casino until one day when he decided to rob more than $500,000 worth of cash and chips without being detected or tracked down – only then fleeing quickly from both scene and country.
1. The Bellagio Heist
There aren’t many casino heists that garner global media coverage like this one did. On October 5, the Bellagio was held up by an individual wearing a motorcycle helmet who came into the casino armed.
He stole chips of various denominations – up to $25,000 ones – before fleeing on his bike. Police soon began tracking him down and arrested him days later after he tried to sell the chips to undercover officers.
At peak hours, a suspect entered a casino, approached the poker cage, demanded money from employees, and entered into an exchange of gunfire with police, who later shot him in the chest.
2. Circus Circus Heist
Robbery can often involve inside jobs. That was exactly the case at Circus Circus Casino in 1993 when an armored truck driver from Loomis and her partner successfully executed a $3 Million heist.
Heather Tallchief met Roberto Solis in a San Francisco bar. As an insecure nursing assistant who had fallen on hard times, Heather found solace with Solis – until he began brainwashing her by hypnotising her before work and persuading her to rob casinos with him as their partner.
Tallchief turned herself in 12 years later while Solis remains at large.
3. Monte Carlo Heist
One man pulled off an impressive casino chip heist in Melbourne, Australia that involved more than $33 million worth of chips stolen by another. Most likely assisted by casino staff members.
An audacious broad daylight heist was carried out in Monaco where a group started a fire before raiding a Cartier shop’s contents – one robber was shot during this remarkable heist attempt!
One Harvard graduate became adept at Blackjack and recruited a group of MIT students to assist him in building his fortune with this card game. From 1979 to 2000, this team allegedly stole $22 Million by using card counting strategies.
4. MIT Blackjack Team
The MIT Blackjack Team is one of the most legendary casino heists ever conducted. A group of mathematicians devised an intricate system to flip odds in their favour and steal money from casinos around the globe.
Kevin Spacey made the story famous through a movie adaptation; yet there is more to this tale than meets the eye.
Jeff Massar of the MIT Blackjack Team committed one of the biggest blunders ever seen in gambling history when he left behind a bag containing cash on campus where his team met for meetings – this bag was later found by a janitor and given over to police as evidence.
5. Ritz Casino Heist
Ripped off from movies such as Ocean’s Eleven, robbing casinos is no simple task that should be undertaken lightly. In reality, however, it requires both courage and even borderline stupidity if one hopes to pull off such an act successfully. Modern surveillance technology makes things even harder!
Rolando Luda Ramos managed to sneak into work, hog-tie his coworkers and take away more than $1.5 million from Soboba Casino without raising too many eyebrows as an employee at Soboba Security Technologies (Soboba Security Techs). Since these secure spots had access to Rolando Luda Ramos as their surveillance tech heist didn’t raise too many red flags.
6. Soboba Casino Heist
Casinos take many measures to prevent heists, yet criminals still find a way to exploit casino security measures and get away with large hauls of cash – as happened at Soboba Casino in 2007 when an employee tied down fellow workers before fleeing with millions.
Rolando Ramos, a low-level security technician at Soboba Casino owned by Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians in California, began his criminal trial this week for using gunpoint robbery to commit $1.5 million worth of theft from this gambling establishment.
He was arrested shortly thereafter and later claimed he could not recall anything about the heist, attributing it to drug use as the reason. Now facing up to 20 years behind bars.
7. Heather Tallchief
Heather Tallchief hails from Buffalo and became a nurse caring for patients living with full-blown AIDS. But as soon as she turned 21, Tallchief took on greater ambitions – landing a position with Loomis Armored where she drove vans full of cash to casinos to refill ATM machines.
On October 1, 1993, she made a stop at Circus Circus casino and made off with around $3 Million while her colleagues were inside loading up. She managed to evade police for 12 years until she surrendered herself in 2005.
