It’s no secret that Sin City has seen its fair share of brazen robberies. Ever since Las Vegas was founded by the mafia & Mormon bankers, the city has welcomed criminals with open arms. The glitz & glamour of this sleepless city is enticing enough to lure some of the world’s most outrageous criminals. While casinos go to great lengths to protect their riches, they haven’t been immune from nefarious schemes.
Today many frustrated players blame the bustling casinos for stealing their cash. While that may be true, casinos haven’t always come out with the winning hand. Every time you lose big you can take some comfort in knowing that even casinos have suffered losses. Even with a small army of security personnel & top of the line cameras, they can’t escape the madness of Sin City. For this reason, we have compiled an adrenaline-filled list of Las Vegas robberies. Enjoy this list of jaw-dropping heists!
2 Heists That Shook Up Las Vegas
Heist #1: Bellagio Bandit
The Las Vegas strip is home to some of the most heavily guarded casinos in the world, & a robbery in these casinos is a guaranteed quick trip to jail. While normally this is true, one robber made history when he almost beat the system. On December 14th, 2010 a man casually parked his motorcycle in front of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. Without taking off his helmet, he walked inside & held up a craps table at gunpoint. He ended up fleeing the scene on his motorcycle with $1.5 in chips, & the heavy traffic on the strip kept police from being able to follow him.
Fortunately for the Bellagio, all they had to do was wait for the chips to appear. A week later a Salvation Army bell ringer was fiercely questioned after he tried to cash in a $25,000 chip given to him by a stranger. Later police set up a sting online to buy chips from a man going under the username “Biker Bandit”.
Ironically they ended up arresting the man at the Bellagio when he tried to sell the chips. The police were shocked when they realized that the robber was Anthony Carleo, the son of a local judge. Instead of living low key, Carleo had been hiding the entire time in plain sight. He had been staying at the Bellagio as a guest & had even returned to the casino after the robbery to drink & gamble. Carleo had plenty of cash to blow since he had robbed another casino for $18,000 in a similar heist 3 weeks earlier. This brazenness was unmatched by any robber, but in the end, it lead to his downfall. He received a 3 to an 11-year prison sentence for these bold robberies.
Heist #2: OJ Simpson
After narrowly escaping prison for the murder of his wife & lover, OJ Simpson’s problems were far from over. The families of the victims won million dollar lawsuits against him & he ended up broke. In 2007 Simpson was invited to have a meeting with two memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. Outraged that these dealers were going to sell his gear, OJ came up with a plan. He entered the meeting with 5 armed men & got his memorabilia back. Unbeknownst to OJ, he was being set up. From the robbery to OJ laughing about this incident over dinner, every word was recorded. In the end OJ received 33 years in prison for the incident. Apparently his luck has officially ran out…
