Zhou Lin

What's the most successful way to rob a bank?

The answer to this question may surprise you – convenience store-style robbery.

So, what is a "convenience store robbery"?

It's simple: walk into a convenience store, hand over the money in the register at gunpoint, and then leave the scene.

There is no need for careful planning or strong physical fitness. All you need is one person, a gun, a time with few people, and a general look at the surrounding situation before you can take action.

Many people who commit such robberies don't even drive a car, because they know they will definitely be photographed by surveillance cameras, and driving makes it easier to leave traces, so they simply commit the crime on foot.

Compared with those complex criminal activities, this kind of brainless robbery that "does it and then talks about it" is often successful.

Among them, the most critical factor is speed.

Fast means a short process. The shorter the robbery process, the lower the risk factor and the higher the success rate.

This is an iron rule, everyone knows it, but not all robberies apply to this set of rules, especially bank robberies.

However, in the United States in the mid-20th century, a robber did use this "convenience store robbery" technique to rob banks.

This man is neither an international thief nor a fierce gangster. He is just an ordinary middle-aged man. Many witnesses can prove this.

This person is not like those well-known bank robbers in history who became famous and infamy for thousands of years by robbing tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in a single case...

His method of robbery is very simple - pick a small bank or credit union in a small town, walk into the lobby, shoot directly into the ceiling, and then aim at the bank clerks on the counter and let them take all the money on the counter. No matter how much he ended up pocketing, he would take the money and leave the scene within five minutes.

It is such a set of procedures that can be explained in a few words, which created a series of unsolved cases that the American police pursued for decades without success.

Although this robbery plan is so simple that it cannot even be called a "plan", if you analyze it carefully... you will find that there are many clever things in it.

First of all, this robber is very aware of people's psychological weaknesses. A gunshot can control the situation much faster than a loud roar. Therefore, every time he robs, he will first shoot the ceiling and target everyone present at the beginning of the operation. A strong deterrent for all.

Secondly, the targets he selected were all small banks with only one or two security guards on duty. The lobby of that kind of bank was not large. He could guarantee that... before the robbery was completed, most people, especially the security guards, would be out of sight at all times. All within their line of sight.

Thirdly, he only took the money on the counter, because most of the money was old banknotes that had been circulated outside the country and were very safe; in addition, he would threaten the bank staff and talk to them (in the United States at that time, bank tellers (more than 90% of them are women) said, "Don't play tricks", "What I'm robbing is not your personal money, don't be a hero", "If you dare to put marked money in, I will not only see it, but I will also shoot you." "Such words... In that case, no one would take the risk.

Finally, the most important thing is that he will not lose his mind because of greed, that is to say... he knows how to give up when things are good.

He never asked the bank manager to open the vault for him, nor did he hold back because he saw a lot of money on the table that had not been put into the bag; he strictly controlled the time of the robbery... as long as he felt it was time to go , he will definitely leave.

Relying on such a set of techniques, this person committed more than ten crimes in a few years and succeeded repeatedly. Although the amount of each robbery was not too much, there were no cameras in that era, and the US dollar had not experienced so many inflations. In the 1990s, this guy had robbed millions of dollars in total and was always at large... This made him one of the most troublesome bank robbers for the police and FBI.

If the method of robbing a bank were viewed as a mathematical formula, then a convenience store robbery might very well be the Goldbach Conjecture of the "bank robbery world."

Knowing and understanding are two different things.

Just because you know that one plus one equals two does not mean you can prove that one plus one equals two.

It looks like you are in a situation where a bastard punched the old master to death, but in fact it is a situation where Dugu Jiu Jian has no move and he has a move to win.

Of course, what I said so much is not to teach you how to rob a bank, but to pave the way for my next metaphor.

In a nutshell - Yan Wushang is the Linghu Chong who "robbed the silver world"...oh no, Euclid.

When you feel that comparing a person to a fictional master in a novel cannot describe his strength in a certain field, then you can only compare him to a mathematician who has existed in reality.

Friday the 13th, around noon.

Yan Wushang was sitting in the car with his four friends, eating chicken sandwiches and drinking bottled mineral water.

This meal was arranged by Yan Wushang, and there was no doubt that there was a certain reason for it.

Speaking of this lunch, his four accomplices actually had different opinions...

"Mr. Bai" is a B-movie fan. He thinks that they should match each other by color code like in an old movie, and find a family restaurant to eat before the robbery, and each give the girl something before leaving. A dollar tip for the waiter.

"Mr. Orange" is a rough man who is anti-intellectual, hates thinking, and hates being asked to join in thinking; when others ask him what he wants to eat, nine times out of ten his response is to go to the drive-in restaurant and buy a fast food.

"Mr. Blue" is a strip club addict and wants everyone to eat at the club's buffet.

And "Mr. Pink" is a serious racial prejudicer, which is why... he would rather use the code name "Mr. Pink" than "Mr. Black"; however, he never admits that he is against Discrimination or stereotyping exists against any race.

When asked what he wanted to eat before the robbery, Mr. Fen said this: "I personally want to eat blueberry pie and stew, but I guess Mr. Hong (Yan Wushang) you must want to eat Chinese food, right?" ? Hehe, okay, you don’t need to explain, I won’t argue with you, I don’t want to be beaten up by your kung fu.”

After listening to the opinions of the four living treasures, Yan Wushang said that Mr. Bai's idea about code names was good. It would be safer for them to use code names during the robbery, so he kept it; but he rejected the idea of ​​going to the family restaurant because Bacon , meatloaf, coffee, beer and other things mixed together will have a certain chance of making the stomach upset...For the same reason, fast food is not allowed.

Mr. Fen's opinion made Yan Wushang dumbfounded. In a sense, it made him unable to eat Chinese food.

As for the proposal to go to a strip club, Yan Wushang didn't express his opinion, and the others ignored it - if you have a friend, he rarely gets up in the morning, and at noon he wants to go to a nightclub or something like that, and If you even want to eat in that kind of place, then basically... you don't need to care about anything he says.

So, in the end... they ended up eating these two things.

This is a reasonable choice for people who plan carefully; you don’t want to have gastrointestinal discomfort or even shit in your crotch due to stress and a recent lunch during the robbery, right? Then just eat cleanly and be 70% full.

This is also a detail. Your body is the capital of robbery. According to incomplete statistics... the incidence of abdominal pain and heart disease during robbery may be much higher than you think.

After lunch and a short rest, the five "gentlemen" - red, white, orange, blue and pink - put on ski masks and held semi-automatic rifles, and drove to the entrance of the Federal Savings Bank in downtown Kitchener. , and started taking action.

According to the arrangements made by the team leader, Mr. Hong...that is, Yan Wushang, the relatively simple-minded Mr. Cheng was left in the car to watch, while the other three rushed into the bank with him.

Chu tu tu tu——

As soon as he entered the door, he fired several shots at the bulletproof glass above the counter, leaving a bullet mark on it.

"Everyone...get down!" Yan Wushang shouted and walked towards the counter.

The next second, there were screams, and his three accomplices immediately began to control the situation with bluffs and shouts, telling the panicked passers-by to shut up and lie down.

At this moment, the bank's lunch break has just passed, but there are not many people in the lobby, only seven or eight passers-by and two security guards; after all, Kitchener's population density is like this, and 90% of personal banking transactions these days are in You can handle it yourself online.

Mr. White, Blue and Pink quickly gathered the people together and made them lie down in a row on the ground.

Yan Wushang came to the counter, stuffed four empty folded large travel bags into the flip-up drawer under the counter, and said to the microphone on the counter: "I'll give you five Minutes, no matter where you get it from or how you get it... in short, fill these four bags with money, and then ask your person in charge to carry the bags outside the counter."

Having said this, he paused and took out what seemed to be a remote control from his pocket: "A few days ago, I hid a model WVRHDT ultra-high intensity bomb in your building, which is powerful enough to Your building will be razed to the ground; after five minutes, if the money is taken out, I will put down this detonator and leave here with my companions; if not, you don't have to make excuses or delay... I don’t want any more money, I will kill everyone who tries to resist, then go out and detonate a bomb.”

In the middle of Yan Wushang's words, a manager on duty at the counter had already started to wink and gesture to other bank employees frantically, asking them to collect the money on the counter and put it into their bag, while he himself took the money and put it in his bag. The three of them carried their bags and ran quickly to the back. They used the magnetic cards and fingerprints on their bodies to open the door to the vault, and called two colleagues to follow them.

Yan Wushang understood that this manager was a smart man, but not too smart... Such a person would make his plan go more smoothly.

In fact, Yan Wushang did not install any bombs at all. The so-called "WVRHDT" was actually an abbreviation he saw on a roadside billboard today, which meant "Wireless Network Virtual Reality High-Definition Television", and the so-called "WVRHDT" in his hand The "detonator" in the movie is just a TV remote control; he would mention the "bomb model" because when he was making up a lie, he would add such details that no one knew what it was anyway. Greatly increases credibility.

Obviously, even if the bomb is fake, the threat of "killing everyone in five minutes" is just talk.

It's not that Yan Wushang has never killed anyone, but he has his own principles. He will not kill anyone unless he has to; he speaks very harsh words just to make the other party have no time and energy to think, and uses pressure to force the other party not to dare. Or not being able to do unnecessary things.

Five minutes is either long or short.

It took exactly five minutes from the sound of the silent linear alarm inside the bank counter to the arrival of the police. This was the data obtained by Yan Wushang through experiments (reporting false alarms) and calculations (looking at maps to measure distances and routes). If there happened to be a patrol car nearby, two police officers might arrive earlier. However, the time Yan Wushang chose to rob was a time when there were no patrol cars nearby... This was of course also included in his calculations.

There are basically no traffic jams in Kitchener, so there is not much error in this time. Sure enough, when the bank manager took out four travel bags full of money from the door next to the counter in two times, there was just a faint light outside. You can hear sirens.

"White, blue." After the four bags were placed on the ground, Yan Wushang turned his head and shouted.

Mr. Bai and Mr. Lan heard the sound and immediately came over to get the money.

There are two things in this world that when you carry them, they will feel lighter than they actually are: money and women.

At this moment, Bai and Lan had this illusion... Even though the bags they were carrying were very heavy, their steps were brisk. In less than twenty seconds, they had already returned to the car with the money. .

Yan Wushang also put down the "detonator" and evacuated the bank lobby with Mr. Fen.

Since the hostages lying on the ground rushed to the door with their feet, no one dared to get up until the robbers left.

Everything is going smooth.

Everything is developing according to Yan Wushang's plan...

When their SUV started, the police car at the front was still two blocks away from them, and the direction in which those police cars came was consistent with Yan Wushang's prediction.

Next, they only need to follow the route arranged by Yan Wushang in advance, avoid being rounded up by police from other jurisdictions, drive at full speed for about a kilometer, and then head towards the rear in an area with many surrounding alleys and narrow roads. Drop a homemade "smoke box."

This box can cover a large area in thick, choking smoke. The police who are dispatched temporarily will not be equipped with corresponding equipment, but they can put on the gas masks that have been prepared and get out of the car. The money was divided into two parts, and the soldiers escaped from the alley in two ways.

Yan Wushang's employer this time, an individual or organization code-named "The Tobacco Club", demanded a robbery amount... which was roughly enough money to fill two large bags. Therefore, in the end, as long as one of the two groups escaped , the mission is considered a success.

Of course, it would be better if both teams could run away, then they would have four big bags of money.

According to the rules of the road, for this kind of bank robbery "job", the employer must not only provide the funds, equipment, false identities, etc. required before the robbery, but also be responsible for laundering the money after the robbery, and the "clean money" obtained in the end , and then share it with the executors in proportion; and if the executors can "overfulfill" their work, then the share will become extremely high, usually increasing exponentially.

What Yan Wushang did today was 90% completed from the moment they walked out of the bank with the money. The last 10%...that is, "escape" was something Yan Wushang was best at. ; in a moment, as long as the smoke rises and he sneaks into the streets, the hundred people can't catch him... Believe it or not, even if Yan Wushang is carrying two large bags of cash, he can still use parkour to defeat this person. Get rid of the crowd.

However, just when his deal was extremely close to success, an accident... occurred.

A "Rhino" (a police heavy-duty SUV with enhanced suspension and impact performance, built-in EMP, pop-up spike strips, etc.) suddenly drove out of a fork in front of them and approached within fifteen meters of them. .

"What's going on? Why did something like a 'rhinoceros' suddenly appear here?" Mr. Cheng, who was driving, panicked at the time. Even though he stepped on the accelerator, the gap in vehicle performance still caused him to gradually catch up.

The answer to this question... Yan Wushang also wanted to know. He had investigated the police force and resource distribution in the surrounding jurisdictions. Unless someone could foresee that they would run this way one minute in advance, the normal response mechanism of the federal police would be There was no way a car could catch up to this place at this time.

And in fact, it is indeed the case.

The police officer driving the "Rhinoceros" was a retired soldier who had been injured in the "Battle of Cochin" (one of the major frontal battles between the rebels and the Federation).

Half a month ago, he had just finished treatment for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and was confirmed to be able to join the police force; according to the doctor, he has basically recovered. At most, he may become mentally more sensitive than the average person. Some.

Today, while Yan Wushang was robbing the bank, the "police officer" in the garage of a police station a few kilometers away... suddenly began to feel a strong "sense of déjà vu". In those few minutes , he found that everything he saw and heard became familiar, and he could even rush to say the other person's next sentence when chatting with his colleagues...

In this way, with an ominous premonition that he could not explain that something big might be about to happen, he boarded a "Rhinoceros"; regardless of his partner's complaints, he just "followed his feeling" He drove out of the police station.

A few minutes later, after driving one kilometer, he actually received an alarm on the communication channel...

So, there was this scene in front of me.

"Damn it! They're coming!" Mr. Orange yelled while trying to stabilize the car amid the collision and squeezing of the rhinoceros.

But no matter what, their speed slowed down after all, and the other police cars gradually approaching from behind were the reference points.

Bah-bang!

After a chase and collision that didn't take too long, the robbers in the SUV almost vomited. At this time, the "Rhinoceros" next to them launched an EMP attack that made matters worse.

In this era, almost all cars have electric main drive or gasoline-electric hybrid... The results of being attacked by EMP are self-evident.

Yan Wushang and their car lost control at that time and began to slide. There was an arc intersection in front of them. If this continues, their car will be surrounded by police cars and get stuck in the blind corner of the curve before it can resume speed; " The driver of the "Rhinoceros" undoubtedly saw this terrain and decisively activated the EMP. At this time, he had also begun to slow down, turned the front of the car to the inside of the bend, and pressed against the car in front.

At this critical moment, unexpectedly, another change occurred!

However, a school bus full of elementary school students drove out of the intersection in front of it. Facing the SUV that was sliding out of control and sliding towards the corner at high speed, it was inevitable to avoid it due to the steering performance of the school bus...