The Great Heist: The Story of the Biggest Bank Robbery in History: And Why All the Money Was Returned
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Publisher Description
On a sunny September morning in 1930, six men entered the Lincoln National Bank in Nebraska's capital city armed with revolvers and Thompson submachine guns. In eight minutes they emerged with more than 2.7 million dollars, the largest take of any bank heist in history.
A nationwide search for the bandits would lead Nebraska authorities through the rough, gangland streets of Chicago and East St. Louis, and deep into the heart of the Capone organization.
The Great Heist not only chronicles the search for the bandits and the trials that followed, but the incredible story of how they got the money back.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nebaska native McArthur (Pro Bono: The 18-Year Defense of Caril Ann Fugate) goes into exhaustive detail in this meandering account of a 1930 armed robbery of Nebraska's Lincoln National Bank, in which six men, armed with pistols and Thompson submachine guns, got away with nearly three million dollars (a record for that time). The first chapter is a blow-by-blow account of the actual robbery. The story loses focus thereafter, spreading out in directions only distantly related to the heist. McArthur discusses the effects on the bank and the community of losing that much money in the days before federal insurance; he also tells of the founding of the Secret Six, a group of rich businessmen dedicated to combating lawlessness in Chicago, who were not in any way involved in the heist, and includes an entire chapter on Al Capone, who was only peripherally linked to the crime. More pertinent parts describe the desperate efforts of Lincoln DA Max Towle to nab somebody for the crime and possibly get the money back. Unfortunately, the many sidetracks in McArthur's narrative take away from the story of the crime. (BookLife)
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