To bring in 2011 some a trio of mole-like thieves in Argentina brought in the
New Years 6.5 million dollars richer. Like something out of a movie, thieves
spent six months digging a tunnel in order to break into a bank in Buenos Aires
and managed to steal 143 safety deposit boxes containing an estimated $6.5
million worth of property. An Argentinean prosecutor, Martin Niklison, told
reporters that a rumored three man team had rented a former dentist office
located on Banco del la Provincia, a neighborhood in Belgrano, nearly 100 feet
away from the back and began digging a tunnel that ran about 16 feet underground
until reaching the bank’s basement.
The robbers were able to commit the act on December 31st and didn’t leave until
January 3rd sometime around 7am just three hours before the bank had reopened
after the New Year weekend. The bank’s alarm was functional and did sound when
the thieves broke into the bank. However, the police officers who went to the
bank didn’t have keys and simply left after seeing there was nothing in the
bank, from where they stood outside.
Could these thieves have been influenced by Hollywood? Or is Hollywood simply
being used as a scapegoat? According to President of National Association for
Bank Security, a firm that provides educational materials on bank security to 32
states, Phillips Gay claims bank-robbing theme movies have always been an
influence for wannabe bank-robbers. He mentions the 1991 action film Point Break
starring Keanu Reaves and Patrick Swayze as being a movie, “thought to have
inspired quite a few robbers.” Aside from Point Break being one outlet of
inspiration, there are many others like the recently released Public Enemies
starring Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger.
The film worried some within the banking industry since it was believed the
movie would inspire copy-cats. A senior fellow at the Center of American
Progress think tank in Washington, Ulrich Boser comments that thieves who are
impressed by films don’t generally do their homework and get caught simply
because there are “a lot of cases where thieves seem to be more impressed by
film,” and the lure the film holds. Boser describes the heist as having, “the
feeling of a Pierce Brosnan film,” referencing The Thomas Crown Affair starring
Pierce Brosnan who played a art thief in the 1999 film. So, if the Argentinean
thieves were inspired by Hollywood it would be quite hard to prove it since,
like Boser claims, “The reason it’s hard to find an example is because a good
thief doesn’t get caught.” And so far, the Argentinean thieves haven’t been
caught.
