Unsolved Bill Brennan - the perfect crime?

[Bunk Moreland]

Interesting one... Most punters harbour some kind of fantasy of ripping off the house. But casino heists usually fall into two categories: spectacularly unsuccessful, or undocumented. The casinos and police are usually loath to release details of robberies, preferring to investigate quietly. Even if offenders manage to successfully bypass security they’re generally found pretty quickly. All of which makes the Stardust job pretty unique.

Bill Brennan, then 34, was a floor cashier at the Stardust in Vegas around 20 years ago. Former workmates tell of a clean-cut guy from Pennsylvania, with nothing particularly remarkable about him... until one afternoon in 1992. Brennan left for his lunch break, stuffed over $500k in cash and chips into his backpack, walked straight out the front door, and fell off the face of the earth.

He’s never been seen or heard from again, by the casino, the authorities, family or friends. He’s still on the FBI’s most wanted fugitives list. And uniquely for a crime of this nature, his story has even appeared on America’s Most Wanted.

It’s hard not to marvel at the simplicity of his crime – most casino robberies have involved elaborate schemes, or violent shootouts.

It’s the largest ever known “successful” robbery in Vegas history. There’s two basic theories – Brennan went straight to the airport and immediately fled the country, never to return... or he was killed by an accomplice who wanted to put some distance between himself and the crime (some speculate he had a collaborator in security who allowed him to exit the casino unchecked). But no trace of Brennan, his body or the cash has ever been found, and law enforcement have not found a shred of evidence that anybody else was involved.

http://investigation.discovery.com/investigation/crime-countdowns/heists/heists-09.html

http://www.casinob.com/casino-blog/las-vegas/the-stardust-casino-heist/

 

[grizzlym]

Never heard of this story. Fascinating.

 

[Pie 4 Life]

Just can't fathom how someone carrying a large bag could waltz out of a casino. Hell, most people get searched without bags.

I like the "he was in with the security guard" option.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Yeah it’s hard to fathom. The accepted wisdom is he took the job with it all planned out, and spent his time there looking for holes in the security process. Makes sense.

I’ve read a bit about it, I can’t find it now but I read some quotes from the head of security at the time who was absolutely baffled. Reckoned he’d been in the game a long, long time and had seen all types of crooks and scams – he had no idea how he did this and was also convinced none of his security team were in on it.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Thing is, 500k isn't a huge amount of money. Is it really worth living a life of paranoia and separation?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

It’s a big amount for a single, one man, cash heist – you would get more from a bank or casino vault but that would be practically impossible and would require some mastermind plan and a team.

It’s more than enough to live very comfortably for the rest of your life in many parts of the world.

I imagine with something like this the initial desire would be to disappear and start of completely new life / identity somewhere far away. The job would then just be the means to fund it.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Interesting case 500k in 1992 its quiet a big deal.The FBI prob spent 10-20 times that much looking for him.

 

[Troubadour]

It’s a big amount for a single, one man, cash heist – you would get more from a bank or casino vault but that would be practically impossible and would require some mastermind plan and a team.

It’s more than enough to live very comfortably for the rest of your life in many parts of the world.

I imagine with something like this the initial desire would be to disappear and start of completely new life / identity somewhere far away. The job would then just be the means to fund it.

I worked in banks for a number of years. Australian branches tend to carry much less cash than you would think. In areas where I worked, it was rare for it to get near 7 figures - spread across 6 to 10 tellers, plus the safe/vault.

 

[rocker_oz33]

I worked in banks for a number of years. Australian branches tend to carry much less cash than you would think. In areas where I worked, it was rare for it to get near 7 figures - spread across 6 to 10 tellers, plus the safe/vault.

6 to 10 tellers open at once The bank i use lucky to have 2 or 3 open tellers.

 

[Troubadour]

6 to 10 tellers open at once The bank i use lucky to have 2 or 3 open tellers.

It was the 90's - before they sacked all the tellers

 

[BACCS]

Wow, had never heard of this story either. Very intriguing stuff. Have any substantial leads ever been found, only to flop?

 

[NitroFan]

how does stealing chips work? wouldnt someone have to actually go back to the casino to get anything for them?

 

[Silent Alarm]

how does stealing chips work? wouldnt someone have to actually go back to the casino to get anything for them?

This.

What if you owned the company that produced chips for a casino?

 

[vast]

They only way other than going back in cashing the chips, would be to sell them. I am sure they would be buyers on the black market. Sell them at a discount to their value and both parties win.

It would have to be done quickly, because the casinos change the chips regularly don't they? And if they don't it would be probably be done after a heist like this one.

 

[PACatter]

Thing is, 500k isn't a huge amount of money. Is it really worth living a life of paranoia and separation?

500k will get you by for a long time with decent quality of life in a backwater South American country that doesn't have an extradition agreement.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

Never heard of this either, great post. I have two questions (that will no doubt be answered as soon as I click the links):

- How do they know it was him? Was he seen on CCTV stuffing the bag with cash in plain sight?
- Does the FBI know the serial numbers of the bills taken; and have they ever re-entered circulation? If he fled to another country and were exhanged for local currency, what happens to those bills? Are they returned to the US, or the local bank keeps them for future use?*

*More of an economics question, but a subject I know very little about.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

how does stealing chips work? wouldnt someone have to actually go back to the casino to get anything for them?

Thought the same thing. Depending on the percentage of chips in that 500k, I'd be confident to say that a large amount of that haul would be worthless to him.

I remember reading Bringing down the house (the book that the film 21 is based on) and in that, they sort of got around the problem by laundering the money at the strip clubs (where casino chips are pretty much legal tender). I haven't seen 21, so not sure if that was mentioned there. Still, something tells me that Brennan wasn't about to be hanging around Vegas, where his face would have been recognised, for long enough to get...say 70-80% return on his chips, especially if the heist was well-publicised at the time (which would give the casino incentive to phase the old chips out and bring in new ones). Either he had an accomplice, or a lot of that 500k (almost all of whatever he had in chips) was ultimately not stolen from the casino (as they were really just small plastic discs if he wasn't able to cash them).

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Never heard of this either, great post. I have two questions (that will no doubt be answered as soon as I click the links):

- How do they know it was him? Was he seen on CCTV stuffing the bag with cash in plain sight?
- Does the FBI know the serial numbers of the bills taken; and have they ever re-entered circulation? If he fled to another country and were exhanged for local currency, what happens to those bills? Are they returned to the US, or the local bank keeps them for future use?*

*More of an economics question, but a subject I know very little about.

On the bolded, I would say there is absolutely no chance that they know, considering how much money goes through casinos. It would probably cost them a lot more to keep records of the serial numbers of every note and it still wouldn't prevent them being ripped off (as we see in this case). Traditionally, the only times I've heard serial numbers have been able to be used to track someone, has been when ransoms have been involved.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

I guess there's a slim chance serial numbers could also help in a bank robbery...but a casino? Not a chance.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The chips are definitely a little mystifying. I can’t in any way imagine that Brennan planned to stay in Vegas or return to the Stardust after the heist, so they can’t have been for his own use. Possibilities:

• they could be sold
• they were for somebody else (ie a partner in the crime)
• they were to pay off somebody who was helping him out
• it was all part of the ruse to throw of investigators

In any case, a big load of chips isn’t that useful in terms of exchanging for money. It would take months, slowly taking small numbers of chips into the casino and diluting them amongst chips you’d purchased legitimately on that day. You can’t just walk into a casino with even a few thousand $$$ worth of chips and just stroll up to a desk and cash them. It’d arouse suspicion straight away and attract a lot of attention. Casinos are super suspicious. Punters collecting any meaningful amount of money are regularly taken aside and questioned about their visit (all under a friendly, “customer service” guise of course, with free drinks etc etc), the games they’d played and their winnings. And there’s CCTV and employees absolutely everywhere to check any story that might sound a little suss.

In terms of the cash, no way they’d know the serial numbers. Casinos wouldn’t keep this information for every dollar that flows through the place, it’s practically impossible.