When you arrive in Las Vegas, you’re bound to try to make a fortune! And yes, with its multitude of casinos, the opportunities to make a jackpot and thus to leave with the jackpot seem infinite! Well, that’s the legal way to do it…
Others don’t hesitate to use less legal methods to get rich! The many casinos in Sin City have often been the target of robberies, some very elaborate, others totally improvised! We’ve put together a small collection of some of the robberies that have been carried out in Las Vegas gaming establishments!
#1 – Bill Brennan: The Elusive
“Stay close to your friends, and even closer to your enemies.” This now cult line from the movie Godfather II can be applied to this heist. Bill Brennan is, at first glance, an ordinary man, employed as a croupier at the Stardust Casino. But of course, seeing all that money in front of his eyes, Bill does the irreparable. In 1992, at the end of one of his shifts, he walked out of the casino with a purse containing nearly $500,000 in cash and chips.
But by the time the establishment realized this, it was already too late! Bill Brennan has literally disappeared into thin air, taking great care to erase all traces of himself, whether in the United States or abroad. The police were unable to find him and the case was closed in 2006, the year the Stardust was finally closed. To this day, we still don’t know what happened to Bill Brennan.
#2 – Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis: ready to do anything for love
What would you do for love? For Heather Tallchief, nothing was too good to prove her love to Roberto Solis. The young woman met Solis when she was only 21 years old, 22 years younger than her lover. It is this last one who is going to embark her in a criminal life.
This culminated in 1993, when the two pulled off one of the biggest jobs in Vegas history. Heather managed to get herself hired as a driver for a money transporter. One day, her route took her past the Circus Circus Casino. She stops at the back of the casino, her two co-workers get off to pick up the funds. She is supposed to meet them on the other side of the establishment, as usual. Except this time, she doesn’t do as usual and runs off to find her Roberto with a truck containing three million dollars in cash!
But what seems like the perfect robbery soon turns into a nightmare for Tallchief. His accomplice and lover, Roberto Solis, abandons him, leaving him with barely $1,000. After more than ten years on the run, Heather Tallchief surrendered to the police in 2005. As for Solis, he remains untraceable, as do the millions of dollars stolen.
#3 – Royal Hopper: A Family Affair
In 1991, Royal Hopper was working as a security guard at the Stardust Casino. While carrying money with a co-worker to the cashiers, they are robbed by a man, who walks away with over $153,000.
A robbery like any other, you may say. Except that the robber was not just anyone, it was Bobby Lee Hopper who is none other than … the son of Royal! All this was just a set up to get the money back.
Delighted with their first stunt, the Hopper family prepares a second one, of greater magnitude. After hiring their two sons and an accomplice in security, they set their sights on an armored truck, mounting a strategy in which each one has a precise role. While one of the sons distracted the rest of the security, the other two disguised and armed waited for the driver. Once he arrives, they knock him out and take the truck and the 600,000 dollars inside.
But as everyone knows, crime does not pay and the four men are arrested some time later.