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Showing posts from January, 2024

The Motorcycle Bandit

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Elliott Phillips Jr. A man wearing a motorcycle helmet and sunglasses enters the Grist Mill Plaza branch of Woronoco Savings Bank in Southwick, Massachusetts, at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, July 13, 1989. Seeing the two female bank employees assisting customers, he takes his place in the queue, standing directly behind Paul Jensen and an elderly female customer waiting for the next available teller. (The man's attire raises no suspicions, as it was common practice for motorcyclists and dirtbike riders to keep their riding gear on when briefly entering stores or businesses, especially in Southwick, thanks partly to its famed motocross track.) As Paul and the woman approach the counter, the man pulls out a handgun and demands cash from the tellers. He holds the gun close to Paul's face, so close that Paul can read its serial number. The man stuffs the money in his jacket as quickly as the tellers can hand it over. With a total of $2,700, he says, "I've got enough money for t

Cocaine Cowboys

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At about 3:15 p.m., on January 29, 1988, a teller at the Bank of New England - West branch in the Village Green Shopping Center on College Highway in Southwick, Massachusetts, tripped the bank's silent alarm. Moments earlier, a light-colored Pontiac Bonneville pulled up to the back of the bank. Two Caucasian men got out and walked along the side of the building to the front. With their faces covered, they entered the bank through the front door, surveillance cameras capturing their every move. One of the men is carrying a sawed-off shotgun, the other a revolver. The men order the five or so bank employees to freeze. The man with the handgun leaps over the counter. Waving his gun around, he orders the frightened tellers to empty their drawers into his bag; forgoing the vault, the bandits exit as quickly as they came. The armed robbers flee northbound on Route 202 into neighboring Westfield, Massachusetts, with an undisclosed amount of money - later determined to be $31,732. When the