Simply a thought experiment

[Lallapalalable]

*I intend in no way to orchestrate and execute an actual crime. This is just a thought experiment, and no illegal activity is intended. Each user is responsible for their own actions.*

That said, lets rob a bank. Do we want to do it all stealthy like, or go in and out with a bang? I think a good challenge would be to make a show of firepower without ever putting civilians or civil servants in any actual danger. Ideas?

 

[DepricatedZero]

Blanks. Make lots of noise, raise pulses, but doesn't actually endanger anyone.

 

[nasher168]

Go in stealthily, say during the night. That way the response time of the police will be slower, thus giving more time. Then, for the display of force (and the bonus of removing forensic evidence) you could plant charges around windows, doors and thin walls and detonate them as a display of force. Drive off in a completely unremarkable white van with a fake foreign number plate.
Repeat in several different cities.

 

[australopithecus]

Let's make it more of a challenge. We go in stealthy during the day!

 

[Lallapalalable]

For a bang: Blanks are a good idea, as they pose ~0.000...1% threat to anybody at all, including ourselves. However, they are easy to notice by anyone happening to keep their cool (an off duty police officer, lets say, and he sees no bullet holes in the roof). So, I propose we do bring some live ammunition along, expend it all shooting cameras/making the show of force, then the remainder of the magazine is blank and can be used for whatever. Just remember to count . Its probably not wise to use the blanks indoors, with the no damage thing and all, and could blow our bluff, so only use them as intimidation if confronted.

To back it up a bit, casing would probably be a good idea. Location? Would a city bank be easier to get away from, what with getting lost in the crowd, or a small town bank where you take two turns and you are outside town limits? City would have more money on hand, and you would stick out in a small town, so I vote for the city bank. What kind of security do they offer? Cameras, guards, alarms, vicinity to a police station?

Time of day? Police are probably less busy in the mornings and mind to keep an eye on businesses opening up that would be prone to robbery. After hours are probably tighter, what with darkness falling (banks in the US at least have extended their hours in the past few years, as late as 7pm). Probably want to go in during the afternoon, after lunch breaks but before people get out of work. Also, learn the schedule of the armored car, because Im sure the police know it well.


For a stealthy operation: Couldnt we just get someone to hack the bank's computer, transfer whatever into a phony account (with no "suspicious activity" protocall), and each of us, incognito, goes to an ATM and empties it (rinse and repeat) before anyone notices? That may be a bit over the top in terms of stealth, but that seems the sneakiest way.

Another hacking/virus method would be to transfer a penny from every account you can access. Less appealing because this would take forever and you would get caught having stolen $15.47.

More realistically: I think a stealth operation is better with fewer people, best with one, if you want to go into the bank. Hand the teller a "withdrawl slip" have her fill a bag, and walk out. Bring an empty gun for intimidation (although it is still armed robbery). I saw a documentary program where a guy did this about a dozen times until he effed up by throwing an exploded dye pack into a dumpster next to his house, so it works apparently (or not anymore, as this happened in the late 90's).

Edit: Awesome Idea- grow a beard, and go in with an obviously fake beard over it. That way, when the witnesses say "Oh he had a fake beard lol" you wont be suspect because you're all like "Real beard!"


Most badass way possible would be to do as they did in that Denzel Washington movie where he was the negotiator, for a "Stealthy Bang" style.

 

[Daealis]

The bigger the heist, the more heat it's gonna generate. So to do a big enough gig to justify the risks, it's going to have to be a careful and covert thing. I'm also a fan of stealthy action, so I'd do something along these lines:

Target
Study the security details to the extent any civilian can. Learnng about the more recent system and how do they go about with the alarms. Visit the bank, track down all the cameras, if possible try to trace all the wires for the cameras as well. Or, if the modern systems do automatic alerts when the cameras go offline, then check for a possibility of blocking some key camera locations.

Do the cops get there, if a window breaks? It's an easy test, find a window, throw a stone in and wait for the cops somewhere nearby. If the roof accessible? If so, can you get up there unnoticed? If so, are there any security measures if you try to break in? Similar test is required like with the windows. Crack a door/window and run to wait the cops.

Most likely there are several cameras covering the floors and even more when you near the cash. With a larger bank, there might be security about 24/7, so a small enough bank for that. Also an older bank for less of a high-tech vault/doors. Propably all of the rooms with the cash have some circuitry instantly setting the alarm off when you get in uninvited.

Of course, the thing to consider is "is this too elaborate?" You're going in from the roof just to buy a few minutes of time, and basically losing it on the trip downstairs. Unless the security can be bypassed altogether from this route, maybe it's more efficient just by going through a door or a window.

Most important of all, map out the extraction route. If we assume that one can get as far as the vault door until the alarms go off, there's propably less than five minutes to haul as much cash out as you can before running out yourself. The shorter the distance, the more trips you can make. Side-alley, back-door, fire-escape, anything but the public front door would be my choice, since the front door would be the first place for the cops to arrive as well, so maybe one can slip by from some small street.

The job itself
So there's the target picked up. A small, older branching office yet large enough for them to keep considerable amounts of cash at their disposal and small enough not to have around-the-clock guards in. I'd propably pick a weekend, maybe friday night, for the heist. Possibly some major event, football finals or some other nationwide drink-fest, to ensure that most of the police are busy with brawls and there might not be enough forces to respond right away, giving a few extra minutes for the heist. Also there might be several glass-breaking incidents involved with hooligans and sports, so a possible break in might be just classified as another act of vandalism and not get such an urgent response. You might even set these up by going about breaking windows before your own "vandalism".

Set up a few spotters to the major roads you'd anticipate the police to use when coming for the bank, so you can have another warning, in case they are faster than anticipated(also the direction, so you can avoid them if possible). Get in, wheel cash out in large enough amounts, and flee like you've just done a bank robbery.

 

[kenandkids]

Simple is best. 4 people in the bank and 1 outside as driver/lookout.

1 person inside is plainclothes, and carries a gun.

3 people inside are robbers.

Establish dominance by the planted person drawing his weapon and getting "shot."

1 person maintains this dominance through threat while 2 bounce to registers/tills.

Two minutes, in and out.

 

[WarK]

Edit: Awesome Idea- grow a beard, and go in with an obviously fake beard over it. That way, when the witnesses say "Oh he had a fake beard lol" you wont be suspect because you're all like "Real beard!"

There was a guy in the US who used a mask, the one that you can hardly tell it's a mask. He was a white bloke the mask was of a blackman He got caught because his girlfriend found the mask and notified the police.

So, another rule... no girlfriends

 

[derkvanl]

In the Netherlands was a robbery yesterday, they made sure the police had a hard time reaching the bank, by blocking the main highway exit the police uses to get there fast. We should have something somewhere else to keep police busy at the time of the robbery.

 

[Lallapalalable]

So, another rule... no girlfriends

absofuckinglutely. Only people who live alone may partake, and tell your family you are on a vactaion or something (camping) during the heist so there would be no surprise visits with potential evidence. Then, after the robbery and the getaway car is ditched, drive (walk) into the woods and burn/bury all of the evidence. Bring a tent and such to cover your aforementioned alibi.

We should have something somewhere else to keep police busy at the time of the robbery.

If you mean like clogging the infrastructure, causing an "acciedent" would be a good way. It does put some risk on the operation, because no matter how careful you are there are just too many variables in traffic to be 100% sure on safety.

 

[Lallapalalable]

Simple is best. 4 people in the bank and 1 outside as driver/lookout.

1 person inside is plainclothes, and has a movie gunshot-wound prop on him.

3 people inside are robbers.

Establish dominance by the planted person getting "shot."

*Announce that the group has a police scanner and that we will know if an alarm was tripped

1 person maintains this dominance through threat while 2 bounce to registers/tills.

*Planted person is taken as a "hostage" to threaten against calling the police (wont stop them, but they may have a moment of paranoia that delays them)

Two minutes, in and out.

I like this one best, with the fixes. It would on average be six more minutes before any police even showed up, if they called the moment you walked in.

Also park the van like a douchebag over two spaces, straddling the dividing line. Easy access for a quick leave.

 

[ArthurWilborn]

I gotta say the best way to rob a bank is by fraud. Zero physical risk, less chance they'll even contact the police, and probably a greater payout then a smash-and-grab.

 

[aeritano]

6 man job

1 to kill the alarm and to scram the cameras
2 plain clothes with pistols (be willing to spend a few hours on the makeup chair to disguise their faces)
2 robbers with automatics (full metal preferably) (masked with body armor)
1 get away driver with a burner van and a clean car a few miles away

Best time to his is during a shift change for the police
in Sf, police numbers peak between 3-4pm, but drop off precipitously the following hour 5-6. vault also closes at 6pm
best time in around closing time for the bank, everyone is tired, so the target time would be around 5:30pm

The situation will begin when the two armed guards burst in, at that point the plain clothed men will draw weapons
The guy on the room will cut the alarm
now, the 2 plain clothes men are the ones collecting money
the two masked ones are needed to maintain order in the lobby and secure the front door

its important to remember not to pick up marked bills (identified by double denomination bands)
wipe out the safe, leave the drawers... its a waste of time to get money from the tellers, go straight for the vault

since cash is heavy to move, make sure to load money in reinforced bags, best to take money outside the back or side door.

load money into van and collect men. Its important that no one see the van.

drive away cautiously, dont want to draw police attention

drive to the back up car, lead money into that car, remove masks and clothing, throw into a bag full of peroxide to destroy any DNA evidence. use a bug sprayer to flood the van with gas, set it on fire with a remote trigger and dive away.

As for laundering the money, best to take it to a casino. make sure to only use small portions of the cash at any given time.. take in a couple thousand ( try to get no sequential stacks) get chips, play some poker or slots, cash the rest in.. you loose a small fraction, but the money will be back to you clean.. a small price to pay for clean money

using it all at once is too obvious. best is to store money in a safe place and launder it slowly but effectively

 

[Case]

You want to steal other people's money by robbing a bank?

Amateurs.

Let's start a new bank.

 

[nemesiss]

You want to steal other people's money by robbing a bank?

Amateurs.

Let's start a new bank.

or start a job inside a bank and rise to power via extortion and other methods...

but when it would come to robbing banks, i'd go for stealth.
more for persecution. if they can not identify you, they can't catch or put you on trial.
as for the execution of robbing the bank... i'd start with the investigation.
-how much money does the bank store?
-where is it stored?
-where is the storage facility?
-where are the entrances/exits in the bank?
-how many people?
-how detailed is their security?
-where are the blind spots in the security?

after these few question, i'd start on planning.
i will have to decide on day, month, time, amount of people used for execution ( the fewer, the better), tools needed.
i wouldn't mind quite of time on preperation, so that execution is done in such a short time that they don't even know what hit them.

perhaps the best way to rob a bank, is to take a position as those guys who bring and collect money from banks in those armored cars.
get a guy to get such a job, that you know the shifts and the way they work.
then adjust a plan so that people think it's business as usual and even hand you the money personally.
that way, it can be even done by day without arousing suspicion.

the trick in this is to make it look as normal as possible, so that it alarms no one.
that way, even when they figure it out... it'll be way too late

 

[nefariousvirtuoso]

I'd use the method in the 2001 movie Bandits.

 

[nasher168]

I'd use the method in the 2001 movie Bandits.

Care to elaborate?

 

[nefariousvirtuoso]

I'd use the method in the 2001 movie Bandits.

Care to elaborate?

They go to the home of the bank manager the night before subdue the family, spend the night and in the morning they go early and clean the place out.