The Friday night bank robber |Carl Gugasian| America's most notorious bank robber

Carl Gugasian, also known as the Friday night bank robber, dedicated all his life to master a crime so perfect, that it could never be traced back to him whatsoever. He worked so hard and devised his grand robbery, the plan worked so perfectly for almost 30 years. He left no trial at all; he succeeded more than 50 robberies, none of them had any clue that related him, still he was caught. He was sentenced with 115years imprisonment. How did the officials manage to catch him? What was his strategy that kept him from being caught for almost 30 years?

The story starts when Carl Gugasian was 15 years old. He tried to rob at a candy store near his locality and got caught. He served 18 months in a youth facility before he started his higher education. He did his under graduation in Electrical Engineering and joined to army to gain weapons training. Later he did his post graduation in system analysis at the University of Pennsylvania. He continued his education and completed doctorate in statistics and probability. Eventually he got trained in karate (so well that he gained a black belt).

He started visiting libraries, and spent hours and days there learning maps from his localities. All this time his only aim was to achieve a perfect robbery that left no clue. He tried 8 times before he executed his first robbery in………. He also made a list of conditions to satisfy before he robbed a bank,

The bank had to be located in a rural area.(so that it would take longer for the police to reach the crime spot. By that time he would be miles away from the area)

The bank should be located amongst woods.

The roads from the bank should lead to a freeway.

The bank should be closing late during day-light savings time.(So that his fully covered dresses wouldn’t draw more attention)

Before he robs any bank (approximately a month or so in advance), he digs a pit to hide his belongings (maps, documents, weapons, mask and cash) after the robbery. He also leaves his bike there to escape from the crime spot. Then he hides in the woods and watches the bank to learn the employee’s daily routines. He observes the employer’s position, vehicles, habits and timings to draw a perfect strategy.

Then there are a set of policies he would always follow as a principle,

He would always make sure that the robbery lasts only for 2 minutes or 3 at the worst.

He would only work on Fridays (so that there would be more money and less customers in the bank). Hence the name ‘Friday night bank robber’

He would be always certain that no one is harmed or affected by his deeds

 On the day of the robbery, he would enter the bank exactly 2 minutes before the close time. He would be dressed in loosely but fully covered clothes, wear a scary mask (Freddy Keuger’s mask from the movie ‘the night mare at the elm’s street’). He would walk inside like a crab and jump on to the lobby in one quick move, with a pistol in hand, warning no one to get anywhere near him. All of these move to distract everyone around him from indentifying his real physique (height, weight, color of his skin, color of his hair etc...)

Then he would quickly grab all the money he could and disappear into the woods. All of this would only take 2minutes to happen. Once he gets inside the woods, he would stash all of his belongings into the pit he had already dug and escape in the bike he had left there a month ago. Once he had reached the city, there he will have his van parked for him at an express way. He would load the bike into his van and flee to his place. After that case had been settled down (a month or so), Gugasian would return to get the money he had hidden in the pit.

This routine had helped him rob more than 50 banks in 30 years with literally no evidence in hand to trace back to him. From all those 50 banks or more, there was only one individual who was able to recognize his eye color. This case had almost driven the officials crazy.

It was only after 30 years, a pair of teen boys playing in the woods identified a mask from Gugasian’s belongings within a drainage pipe. The police arrived and collected them; they also managed to find a karate studio book. On further investigation, when the studio’s master was enquired about a man with expertise in karate and weapon handling, he led them to Gugasian. When Gugasian was produced at the court, the police were only able to convict him for 5 of his robberies out of 50. Even that he denied.

During his robberies he had shot two of his victims. Once, the gun was mistakenly loaded, and he shot a man in the abdomen unknowingly. Second, he shot a bank’s manager when she tried not to obey his warnings. Both were not fatal and they eventually got well, physically. And there were also other victims who were affected mentally.

Carl Gugasian had considered bank robberies to be victim-less crime. But, when he was made to meet those victims, Knowing that so many lives have been affected by his deeds did hurt him deeply. He confessed to all of his robberies and agreed to cooperate with the investigation. He was convicted with 115 years of imprisonment. Later he helped in making training sessions for CBI and FBI trainees about the tact of bank robbers and how to catch them. He also taught mathematics to his fellow jail mates.

Due to his co-operation his sentence was reduced to 17 years and he was released in 2017. The craziest thing about his story was known when he was interviewed by a FBI during his imprisonment. He had told the agent that “All his life he did not know that juvenile records would get expunged. He thought he would never be able to get a real job”

2 million might sound like huge sum. But when you actually spilt it among 30 years, Carl Gugasian barely had 135$ a month. He would have earned fortunes if he had sought a decent job for his educational qualifications. Unfortunately it was too late when he realized it and he had already given up on his life for all the misfortunes he had caused others. After his release, in an interview he had said that he was not proud of what he did.

 To listen to this story:

https://youtu.be/C17WGpW05mg

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