Top 5 Summer Book Pick: King of Heists

King of Heists, by J. North Conway, is a page-turning account of one of the most brazen crimes of its time.

The New York and Brooklyn newspapers hailed the [1878] robbery as the most sensational in the history of bank robberies in this country.

According to bank examiners and police, the exact amount the robbers stole was $2,747,700, of which $2,500,000 was registered and nonnegotiable. The robbers also took approximately $11,000 in cash. It was an incredible amount in the 19th century and would equal about $50 million by the currency standards of today. As successful as the heist had been, it had not gone exactly as George Leslie had planned, in fact, not at all as Leslie had planned.

Located at Bleecker Street and Broadway, the Manhattan Savings Institution was one of the largest and most imposing banks in the world. It was not merely a bank; it was also a depository for the safekeeping of money, jewelry, securities, and other valuables. It was patronized almost exclusively by the wealthiest citizens of New York City. It had a massive vault made of concrete, stone, and steel, protected by triple steel doors, each locked with a separate combination.

It was, by all accounts, a ponderous labyrinth of bolts, locks, and seemingly impregnable doors.

Leslie's plan to rob the Manhattan Savings Institution began as all his plans did—with an attempt to get an inside man for the heist. His gang bribed a police officer to gain access to the lobby of the bank through the apartment of janitor Louis Werckle. Werckle, his wife, and his mother-in-law were bound and held until the robbers had plundered the bank. They left three men behind to guard them while the others went into the vault using hammers and chisels. Within two and a half hours, they had managed to clean the place out and make a getaway. Werckle and his family were set free, unharmed.

The robbers used brute force to enter the bank vault. The outside steel doors were pried off their hinges, and the vault was forced open, the thick door nearly smashed. While all of this activity caused a considerable amount of noise, it didn't attract any attention, and even if it had, it would not have mattered. The gang had bribed a local police officer, John Nugent, who was on duty in the vicinity at the time.

Many steel deposit boxes were strewn around the opened vault. There were 25 of these boxes in the safe; 15 were opened, and 10 remained intact. Some of the boxes contained money, bonds, and jewelry; many of these valuables were taken by the robbers. In their frenzy to open the steel boxes, the gang missed an additional $2 million in cash that was lying in money sacks on the floor.

Buy the Book
KING OF HEISTS: THE SENSATIONAL BANK ROBBERY OF 1878 THAT SHOCKED AMERICA BY J. NORTH CONWAY (THE LYONS PRESS)

From Reader's Digest - August 2009

Originally in King of Heists

 

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