140 Banks! The Craziest Robbery Crew You've Never Heard Of!

Summary

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The Underworld Podcast

Episode 140: Banks! The Craziest Robbery Crew You've Never Heard Of!
Date: May 12, 2026
Hosts: Danny Gold & Sean Williams

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Episode Theme Overview

In this gripping episode, Danny Gold and Sean Williams dive into the real-life saga of "The Stopwatch Gang," a Canadian crew renowned for sensational bank and gold heists throughout the 1970s and 80s. Despite pulling off some of the most audacious robberies in North American history—with minimal violence and style—they remained largely unknown outside the criminal underground. The hosts trace the origins of the crew, their escapades across Canada and the US, their friendships, escapes from prison, and eventual downfalls, all while highlighting the peculiarities of crime (and law enforcement) in the era.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Gold Heist That Started It All

• [00:18] Cold Open: Sean recaps the April 14, 1974 gold heist at Ottawa’s airport: 5,100 oz of gold bars (~$23 million today), nabbed in a meticulously planned, mostly non-violent coup.
  • Steven Reed handcuffs the guard, improvises with a hacksaw, and escapes with partner Lionel Wright.
  • Memorable Detail: The security guard sits with a cardboard box over his head until the cleaning crew finds him—not a shot fired, and the crew vanishes without immediate trace.

2. Meet the Characters: The Stopwatch Gang

• Patty Mitchell ("Patty") — The mastermind. Charming, likable, with a knack for organizing but not always participating directly in robberies. “The McKinsey of Ottawa heists.” ([12:09])
• Steven Reed — Charismatic, a “ladies’ man,” escapist extraordinaire (escaped prison twice through bathroom windows). Later pursued writing and found some form of redemption, but circled back to crime. ([22:31], [59:13])
• Lionel Wright — The silent, detail-oriented one. Did the logistics, kept a low profile, and was the most “normal” of the three, quietly fading from history after parole. ([17:22], [62:18])

3. Criminal Origins in Ottawa's “Cheers” Bar

• The bar, described as a Star Wars cantina for Ottawa's underworld, was “like a demilitarized zone where half the crowd did time in jail and the other half helped put them there." ([09:31])
• Patty, after losing his legit job, leverages connections to orchestrate heists—mostly small stuff ("booze, cigarettes, TVs") at first, but quickly steps up to the big leagues.

4. Profile of Canadian Crime and Law

• Canadian authorities’ psychological profiles are more public and detailed than those in the US—according to Danny, making Canadian crime stories uniquely rich. ([10:40])
• Patty and his circle adhere to rules: Don’t rob innocent people, minimize use of guns. More “industry codes” than mob violence. ([11:08])

5. The Stopwatch Gang’s Heist Formula

• Their process is clever but, by modern standards, disarmingly simple: Time in and out with a stopwatch (hence the name), aim for 90 seconds inside, choose banks based on getaway logistics, minimal violence. ([31:15])
• They meticulously case banks, time armored car arrivals, use disguises (from Nixon to Ronald Reagan masks, wigs, fake mustaches). ([29:34], [41:48])
  • Patty’s innovation: “He also demands that one of them wears a stopwatch around their neck so they can time it to be out in exactly 90 seconds.” ([31:15])
  • But it’s mostly “a hunch”—not rocket science. ([30:34], [31:01])
• No murder, minimal force, and politeness (“unusually polite for gangsters”). ([44:01])

6. Epic Escapes and Audacious Alibis

• Reed escapes (twice) from Canadian prison by convincing guards to let him stop for a meal—then vanishes out the bathroom window. “[He again vanishes out the bathroom window. The press has a field day…]” ([22:31])
• Patty fakes a heart attack using a nicotine water trick to get moved to hospital, where Reed helps him escape. ([24:27])
• Alibi lessons: “That’s how you plan an alibi, people—top. Not like ‘I was at my girlfriend’s’…” ([15:00])

7. A Brotherhood of Thieves

• Despite periods apart, the three display remarkable loyalty—funding each other’s escapes, never “dimming out” partners, and even sending money from afar. “[Again, another sign of, like, you know, loyalty and camaraderie.]” ([54:18])
• Patty’s regret: “There is no big score. You just keep doing it again and again. Once you start, you can’t stop.” ([56:54])

8. Mistakes, Paranoia, and The Downfall

• Their ingenuity is undermined by paranoia and small mistakes: wigs dumped in money bags, using rental instead of stolen cars.
• Final captures often result from betrayals, carelessness, or because old romantic partners tip the authorities. “[Many of them women who Patty had been with and who he had, you know, sort of tossed to the wayside.]” ([56:54])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On 1970s Underworld:
  • “The bar… is like the cheers for the town senior set… a ragtag assortment of rounders, thieves, hookers and hoods who share the bar with a quote assortment of policemen, judges, journalists and other liars.” – Danny Gold ([08:04])
• On crime philosophy:
  • “Their rule basically is: don’t rob innocent folks and try not to use guns.” – Danny Gold ([11:08])
• On their methods:
  • “He’s like the McKinsey of Ottawa heists.” – Danny Gold ([12:09])
  • “Patty also demands that one of them wears a stopwatch around their neck… Reed thinks this idea is dumb... but it does take only 88 seconds.” ([31:15])
• On gold heist proceeds:
  • “He’d put none of the money to good use, just spent it on nonsense. Even though spending it on horse racing and gambling operations sounds like the opposite of nonsense to me.” – Danny Gold ([16:07])
• On prison breaks:
  • “He again vanishes out the bathroom window. The press has a field day with the escape, considering Reid used the exact same method as the first time he escaped.” – Danny Gold ([22:31])
• On criminal camaraderie:
  • “You know, people who work together for 10, 15 years... they're real best buds, you know. It's kind of nice.” – Danny Gold ([28:10])
• On addiction to crime:
  • “That was a goddamn dreamer talking, pal. There is no big score. You just keep doing it again and again. Once you start, you can’t stop.” – Patty Mitchell ([56:54])
• On the myth of the “genius” criminal:
  • “If I’m so damn smart, what am I doing in jail?” – Patty Mitchell ([57:03])

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Timeline & Key Heists (w/ Timestamps)

• [00:18] Ottawa gold heist: Outwitting security, stealing $23M (modern value) in gold.
• [12:09] Patty’s emergence as underworld organizer in Ottawa.
• [15:00] The crew shifts from small scores to planning the airport gold heist.
• [19:09] 1974–75: Arrests and lengthy prison sentences for the gold heist and a failed drug smuggling scheme.
• [22:31] Reed & Patty’s legendary prison escapes.
• [29:34] The crew resumes heists in the US; Masked robberies with a “Nixon mask”—Point Break style.
• [41:32] San Diego’s greatest bank heist (1980): Casing for weeks, disguised as businessmen, snatching $283,000—record at the time.
• [46:46] FBI “most wanted” aftercare, paranoia, failed efforts to go straight.
• [56:54] Patty’s arrest and bitter realization—there’s never “one big job.”
• [59:13] Reed’s creative writing stint, relapses, and redemption.
• [62:18] Wright’s mysterious fade into anonymity after parole.

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Notable Sidebars & Lighthearted Moments

• Banter about old bars in Manhattan and the lost art of the underworld’s watering holes. ([09:11])
• Playful “Playboy model” jokes about Sean Williams’ work and feet pics. ([05:04]–[06:21])
• Comparisons to Michael Mann movie characters (Heat, Thief), Wayne Gro, and Point Break antics.
• Nostalgia for a bygone era of bank robberies—something lost with the rise of electronic payments and omnipresent surveillance. ([31:11])
• References to the 1986 comedy "Soul Man" and the wildness of '80s movies. ([45:10], [63:00])

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Lessons & Takeaways

• Bank robbers of this era were often more “stand-up” than the drug lords and killers featured in other episodes—polite, loyal, with a “code.”
• Even the most “ingenious” crew eventually gets caught; “There is no big score. You just keep doing it again and again.”
• There’s a strange nostalgia for this low-tech, high-risk, high-reward world—a time of charming rogues and bad wigs, before omnipresent cameras and cards killed the classic heist.
• Reed’s and Patty’s stories end in a mix of tragedy, restlessness, relapse, but also, at times, unlikely literary redemption. Wright simply disappears—a “ghost” in true underworld fashion.

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Further Reading/References

• Book: The Stopwatch Gang by Greg Watson
• Article: Josh Dean’s Atavist feature

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For more stories like this—heroes, villains, and barely visible mafias—follow The Underworld Podcast wherever you listen. For merch, bonus episodes, and more, visit underworldpod.com.

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Transcript

[Sean Williams]

Mom, can you tell me a story?

[Danny Gold]

Sure. Once upon a time, a mom needed a new car.

[Sean Williams]

Was she brave?

[Danny Gold]

She was tired mostly. But she went to Carvana.com and found a great car at a great price. No secret treasure map required. Did you have to fight a dragon? Nope. She bought it 100% online from her bed, actually.

[Sean Williams]

Was it scary?

[Danny Gold]

Honey, it was as unscary as car buying could be. Did the car have a sunroof? It did, actually. Okay, good story. Car buying. You'll want to tell stories about. Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast with Benjamin Boster. If you're tired of sleepless nights, you'll love the I Can't Sleep podcast. I help quiet your mind by reading random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. Each episode provides enough interesting content to hold your attention, and then your mind lets you drift off. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. That's I Can't Sleep with Benjamin Boster. April 14, 1974, in Ottawa, Canada. A young security guard is pulling what should be an uneventful overnight shift at a cargo warehous at Ottawa International Airport. He's watching over five boxes sealed with red wax stacked inside a locked cage. They're on their way from the Red Lake gold mines in Western Ontario to the Royal Canadian Mint, and The boxes contain 5,100 ounces of solid gold bars. That's $23 million in today's money. A few minutes before midnight, the phone rings. An angry voice on the other end demands to know if his guy has shown up yet. A worker sent to pick something up. The voice is yelling. It's angry, something about flights being delayed. And he keeps asking where the hell his guy is. The security guard is clueless, and the voice on the other line keeps yelling. Then all of a sudden, a knock on the door. In walks a guy in a blue Air Canada parka, the missing worker doing the pickup. The security guard tells him his boss is looking for him and he's not happy. The man walks over to the phone and he picks it up. He looks nervous, but in a second, he's pulled a gun from his waistband and he says, this is a robbery. If you don't do everything I tell you, I'm gonna have to kill you. The man is Steven Reed. He's a co founder of the Stopwatch gang, one of the most infamous bank robbery gangs in North American history. Reed handcuffs the security guard to the outside of the cage and asks him where the key is to get the boxes open. The security guard tells him it's stored in the main terminal, which is quite a distance away. It's a slight mishap for the robbery crew, but Reed doesn't panic. He grabs an empty cardboard box and just places it over the security guard's head so he can't see what's happening. Then he disappears into a workshop next door. He comes back soon with a hacksaw and a heavy wrench, and for the next 20 minutes he bangs and saws at that lock until it hits the floor. Then he stacks the five boxes of gold onto a cart, wheels them to loading dock where his partner Lionel Wright is waiting, and they load it all into a car and vanish into the night. The security guard sits there handcuffed to a cage with a cardboard box on his head for another 30 minutes until a cleaning crew finally finds him. The police are called immediately and they scramble to put together roadblocks and go on a massive manhunt. But it's already too late. The guys are already gone. This is the not messing around crew. And tens of million dollars in gold gone just like that. With a fairly simple robbery where no one even gets hurt. The Stopwatch gang is just getting started, but they're going to go on to become one of the most successful heist crews and ever seen in Canada and the U.S. this is the Underworld Podcast. Welcome back to the Underworld Podcast, an audio visual program where two journalists take you, our listeners, who we love and cherish, on a journey through the world of international organized crime, past, present and future. I'm one of your hosts, Danny Gold, and I'm here with long form writer turned Playboy centerfold, Sean Williams. Sean, is it true that you're actually Playboy's main model of the month or whatever they're calling it right now?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, I'm on the COVID of Playboy. Should we say that?

[Danny Gold]

I mean, be more specific.

[Sean Williams]

I did an article for them. They're back apparently. And I did a show. I did an episode. An episode. See, I can only think in podcasts now, like only podcasts exist. I did a feature, I call for them about a guy who was kidnapped in Venezuela as the US was kind of doing his thing in Venezuela, which steamrolled my story. But yeah, I. I did that. It's in Playboy. It's pretty weird. And now I did a video for them online, which I. Which I hated, obviously. I hate doing all video. And now I'm online either a communist sympathizer or an imperialist shill. So that's what happens. I mean, if it was either one of those things, I would be wa richer than I am. But yeah, isn't it great?

[Danny Gold]

We joke, but they used to have incredible articles. And the interviews. The interviews are like some of the most remarkable interview. I mean, we're talking 30, 40 years ago. Some of the best interviews ever, ever done.

[Sean Williams]

I'm bringing it back, baby. Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Okay, so there is an article, but are you or are you not showing feet in the magazine?

[Sean Williams]

We have an exciting deal that I can't yet reveal, but maybe we'll kind of like tease that one out in the next few weeks.

[Danny Gold]

Okay.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, I'm. I'm kind of like I'm bound to an NDA, so I can't really talk about that.

[Danny Gold]

All right, well, okay. I think a lot of our Patreons are going to be disappointed, but what else is new? Speaking of which, you can sign up for those that sort of [e-mail] Norworld podcast. We probably should do more regular bonus episodes, which we haven't been doing. Also can do that at Spotify and iTunes. @underworldpod.com you can get merch like T shirts and the underworld podcastmail.com for all other inquiries like advertising, social media clips. Go watch them. We. We put them up against our will again.

[Sean Williams]

We do, yeah.

[Danny Gold]

So let's talk about the Stopwatch Gang. We love a good heist crew. And the main sources for this episode are the book the Stopwatch Gang by Greg Watson and a big article in the Atavist by Josh Dean. Very cool. Read both of those. So Patrick Michael Mitchell, better known as Patty, which is what I'm going to call him because it's a very long good name, is born in the suburbs of Ottawa, Canada in 1942 in a not so nice part of town. It's bad enough that at 14 he's getting into brawls, one of which leaves another kid dead and him and juvie for a few years. So definitely, you know, hardcore, hardcore at that age. He gets out, gets married at the age of 19 and has a kid shortly after. Still smart enough to go to college though, which, you know, in the 50s, kind of a big deal. But he drops out after one semester to get a job to help support his growing family. He gets a job as a salesman at a beverage company and is living a pretty middle class suburban life. What the fuck is that? You may be asking yourself? Barbecues, ball games with his kids, hanging out with other dads. Typical stuff as he tries to Move up the corporate ladder.

[Sean Williams]

Nicely done. I feel like there's going to be a few more of those for this episode also. Yeah, I know that life well. I'm still waiting for my raids as well, actually. It's been a while.

[Danny Gold]

He's getting by. He's doing all right, but as time goes by, he realizes isn't exactly going to lead to the good life. And he wants the good life. Then in 1971, he leads a strike as the union leader versus the beverage company. It gets kind of ugly. And after the strike ends, he's fired by the company and he's out looking for jobs. And he comes home one day to tell his wife he just landed a new job as a salesman with a hefty commissions. The thing is, though, that job doesn't exist. What is he doing in actuality? He's doing what a lot of men do when they tell their wives they're busy working. He is spending his days and a lot of his nights at a bar. And the bar, as the book that I mentioned describes it, is like the cheers for the town senior set. A little, you know, Star wars cantina action, if you will. It's a quote, ragtag assortment of rounders, thieves, hookers and hoods who share the bar with a quote insortment of policemen, judges, journalists and other liars. Which is a fantastic way to describe that. That's. I mean, the bar sounds incredible. Kind of like the place Jimmy Breslin would hang out in, you know, not many of those left, unfortunately.

[Sean Williams]

Are there none. Are there none in your neck of the woods these days?

[Danny Gold]

No, no. I mean, there might be. There used to be a couple left, I think by the. By the courthouse center of Manhattan. There might be one or two like that, but they don't really exist anymore. Like that man, you know, that is sad.

[Sean Williams]

I mean, I'm on a mission to find those kind of bars here, but I can't speak the language, so it doesn't really help. Anyway, moving on.

[Danny Gold]

I'm sure you'll figure it out. The book goes on to say it's like a demilitarized zone where half the crowd did time in jail and the other half helped put them there. Patty has a lot of friends. He's got a big network of people he grew up with. He's generally a likable guy. Some of his pals grew up to be become businessmen, lawyers, cops, and the rest become crooks. And his network, it's way more crooks than legitimate people. So Patty holds court at a table in the far corner of the bar where he acts as almost like a criminal consultant. He's a very sharp guy. He's putting together robberies, but not actually participating in them himself and taking a cut of the loot. Like we said, he's sharp, he's a problem solver, and soon enough, some people are calling him the unofficial mayor of the underworld. A psychologist later profile released about Patty describes him as, quote, presenting himself as an articulate, amiable and intelligent person. Mr. Patty possesses, Mr. Mitchell possesses the strengths of personality that could lead him into successful and lawful enterprises. By the way, I feel like when I do Canadian episodes, there's always like a psychologist profile that they have there. And I don't. I mean, obviously, I think the US does those too, on criminals, but maybe it's not as openly available.

[Sean Williams]

I mean, I don't want to be out here stanning both the Venezuelan regime and the welfare state in one episode. But I don't know, maybe this. Maybe there's a good thing. Although, yeah, I don't think it's going to go so well for the Canadian state from here on out. Right.

[Danny Gold]

What do you mean a good thing that the Canadians let it be open or a good thing that the US Protects it?

[Sean Williams]

Oh, just maybe they're throwing money at psychological profiles. But then again, like, I don't think he's going to do it.

[Danny Gold]

No.

[Sean Williams]

Because otherwise why would we be doing a show about this guy?

[Danny Gold]

Pretty sure the US does psychological profiles. Like court cases do them too. I just don't remember them being so widely open. Like they. I feel like they're always quoted in Canadian crime stories and not US ones. I could also just be making that up, which could be. Could be a thing. Patty been hanging out at this bar even before he was fired. But now that he's jobless, he needs money, hence getting into crime. Since he already has the connections, he isn't really a fan of big corporations. So he has no problem putting together these robberies for his hoodlum friends. And they're basically like, you know, ripping off appliances and electronics. Their rule basically, is don't rob innocent folks and try not to use guns. Through the first half of the 1970s, nothing much of substance gets stolen around town without input from Patty. Thieves would basically say, I think I have an opportunity here. And then he works out the plan but doesn't participate in the robberies himself. It actually sounds kind of great, right? That's essentially being a consultant. Right. None of the risk, none of the hard work telling people what to do. And Just making bank out of it. He's like the McKinsey of Ottawa. Heist.

[Sean Williams]

Very good. Yeah. Nice one. Yeah. Thank you.

[Danny Gold]

The items stolen range from booze, cigarettes, TVs, truckloads of butter, blank travelers checks, all types of stuff. Heist, hijackings. You know, it's like the beginning of Goodfellas. And the cops seem to know Patty is involved with all these shenanigans, but they don't really bother with them because it's kind of small time stuff. Steven Reed is another guy from a middle class background that becomes a hippie one summer and drops out of school. And he also gets a bit of a drug problem and starts robbing to support his habit. First a corner store, then a bank. But on the bank robbery, he gets arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He escapes prison after about a year when he's on a day pass with guards to attend a course of fitness programming because he was the inmate sporting director at the prison, which is just what, I guess. Canada. Canada, bro. He convinces the guards to stop at a Chinese restaurant, against the rules. But Reid is also a very charming guy, well liked by the prison guards, so they break the rules to stop. He escapes outside the Chinese restaurant bathroom window and has a friend ready to pick him up. When Reed's out of prison, he becomes friends with Patty when another friend introduces the two and they start getting along.

[Sean Williams]

Okay, so was he going, like, from the gym or going to the gym? Because coming back, I can understand. You've got a car blow. Right? But going to. That is. I mean, that's a horror show on every level. So you got to sack everyone involved immediately. I mean, it's not great.

[Danny Gold]

I think he was.

[Sean Williams]

It's unreal.

[Danny Gold]

He was. He was coming back. But I feel like if you're like, let me get some Chinese food before you go work out, it would be. It would be suspicious in the least.

[Sean Williams]

Not if you're me, but, yeah, maybe for people who actually get fit.

[Danny Gold]

Now, In November of 1973, Reed and Patty and another gentleman are at the bar discussing business. The guy has a connection at the airport, and he's telling the guys about a hundred calculators he wants to steal. If Goodfellows was based in Ottawa, it would not be as exciting. But the guy casually mentions in the conversation there's also some gold bars that go in and out of the airport. The duo, they ask him about security, and he's like, look, there's barely any there, but can we please talk about the calculators? I don't know, man. Maybe it was those we used to have back in high school. What were they called? Graphing calculators. Remember those? They were like a couple hundred dollars each. I suppose you could play that drug dealer game on them. That was, that was kind of sick.

[Sean Williams]

Oh, I, I don't know what that is. I'm gonna need a bit more information. I do remember those kind of calculators being. They were like the coolest thing you could have, right? Like there would only be a handful of people in the school that would have them, but we all had to have them. Is the drug dealer grafted?

[Danny Gold]

Well, it was like someone like designed a game that you could get on them where it was like, like choose 1, 2 and you were like a drug dealer. I feel like it was like maybe it was before your time. I don't know, maybe it wasn't a thing in the uk, but it was a play. Definitely a thing. If you remember that game, email us or leave a comment.

[Sean Williams]

Email us now.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, definitely. Let me know. I'm pretty sure I'm not hallucinating it anyway. Patty is like, yo, forget about these calculators. Let's steal the gold and then we'll never have to work again. Which is what every robbery should be about. Yeah, he starts planning the heist, but he's a big picture guy, right? They need another guy for the details. And that guy is Lionel Wright. He's a quiet 27 year old night clerk for a trucking company that Patty had previously befriended because of his keen interest in trucking. You know, because he robs stuff from trucks. Wright quits his trucking job a year after meeting Patty and becomes a sort of, you know, do it all gopher, chauffeur and organizer for the crew. He has an incredible memory and is extremely details oriented, which Patty is not. He's also like a quiet sort of like mind his own business sort of guy. On the night of April 17, 1974, that's where we have the robbery from the cold open. The cops at this point, they know it's Patty, that he's the mastermind, but they don't have any evidence and they don't know who else is involved. In fact, Patty has a strong alibi. He was out having a drink with some people in the Prime Minister's office the night of the robbery. I mean like that work in the Prime Minister's office, not like in the Prime Minister's office, but like still Canada, right? Just a small country back then that could just happen. Which is also A great alibi, you know, I'm sure it was like an aide or like a secretary. I doubt it was like a high level justice official, but still, that's how you plan an alibi, people top. Yeah, not like I was at my girlfriend's place and your girl like, you know, I was with people from the prime minister's office. That's how it's done. Six weeks after the robbery, Patty drives down to about a mile away from the American border and sells the gold for $200,000 to a couple of friends that were doing odd jobs for organized crime out of California. So he makes out with like less than he had hoped for, but still pretty good scratch. After Patty pays out his partners, he buys some racehorses as one does. Opens up an illegal gambling operation in a fancy high rise apartment. But in no time at all he's down to like his last 40k. He'd put none of the money to good use, just spent it on nonsense. Even though spending it on horse racing and gambling operations sounds like the opposite of nonsense to me. Reid, on the other hand, is already an escaped convict. He takes his woman, he takes his 60k, the cut, he runs to the US almost immediately. Wright, like I said, the quiet guy, he doesn't really spend much of the money at all and he keeps to his low key quiet routine.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, around half our listeners are going to know this quite well. But it reminds me of the George Best one. Do you know that one? It's like I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars and the rest are just squandered. Which is. Which is very good.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, I mean that's a classic. I don't know anything else about George, but he was a football player, right?

[Sean Williams]

He was a football player. He played for the Las Tex at the end of his career. And his son is American, but he's a legend. Northern Irish.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah.

[Sean Williams]

Big drinker to a bit of a fool, but anyway. Yes, good.

[Danny Gold]

All I know is, is about that quote, which is also like, you know, great.

[Sean Williams]

You don't need to know much more about. That's good. Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

About three months after the heist, the cops execute search warrants that somehow they've somehow obtained without any real good evidence on Patty on. Right. And on the inside man, but they don't really find anything. However, even though they've got nothing on him, the inside man kind of cracks and agrees to wear a wire against Patty and the others. Patty kind of stiffed him on his promised cut of the loot, so he's not too happy with the others anyway and figures why not Patty also at this time, he's working on a hustle with some of his airport connects. He's trying to bring drugs in from Curacao. Curacao, right next to Venezuela, right?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Gold]

He's trying to bring what I assume is cocaine in for some quick cash, but it falls through because that guy is working with the police.

[Sean Williams]

It really does feel like in the 70s you could just like rock up in the Caribbean, wave around a few grand and end up being a major coke smuggler. But I guess that's the problem with today's capitalism. It's just the bars of entry, they're too high. Just can't do it anymore.

[Danny Gold]

You know how it, how it works once, like multi, you know, the global corporations just take over. Yeah, these guys, they, they started from the, you know, they started from the, from the bottom and went to the top very quickly. Not even in the 70s. If you start in the 70s and held out as long as some of these cartels did, you'd be doing quite well.

[Sean Williams]

Oh, yeah.

[Danny Gold]

On December 10, 1974, Reid gets busted because he's been fooling around with a friend's ex wife who rats him out. So he gets taken back to jail and is charged with escaping custody. It initially freaks out Patty who's expecting the worst, but nothing happens. Patty's officially out of money from the heist at this point. And then on March 4, 1975, Patty and Wright finally get arrested for both the gold heist and the drug scheme. And Reed is given his indictment just for the gold heist. Behind bars, Patty and Wright get a total of 20 years. 17 years for the drug case, three for the gold. And while Reed already in jail, he gets an additional 10 years tacked onto a sentence, which I was surprised by that. That's like serious, serious time, especially for, for Canada, you know.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Right. After spending a year in pre trial detention, he's like, this is not, this isn't going to work for me. I do not, I do not like this. Which, understandable. He's able to get involved with a crew planning an escape in October of 1976. It works out successfully and then he disappears to Florida. Patty also doesn't plan on sticking around very long, but he's in a different, much higher, higher security level prison rated as the worst in Canada. He hatches a plan with some other inmates. They find a recreational shed in the yard that's never really used. And under the guise of playing a daily scrabble game near the shed, they start digging a tunnel to get rid of the dirt. They would dump the dirt out during casual walks around the jogging track, Shawshank style. So another sort of like, you know, great, great movie style reference. I wonder if Stephen King wrote Shawshank, right?

[Sean Williams]

Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

[Danny Gold]

I wonder if he got it. I like. You hear a couple things in this movie and you're like, I want. I mean this in this story. You're like, I wonder if they took it from.

[Sean Williams]

From that straight out. Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

In the summer of 1977, Reed joins him at that prison. The tunnel effort, however, fails when the tennis court they were tunneling under collapses during an especially hot day. With that plan dashed and other potential escapes considered too high risk, the guys switch strategies. They figure they need to transfer to a less high security prison, which medium security, low security, to have a chance to escape. So they become model prisoners, chatting it up with the guards, organizing sporting events, stuff like that. Reid enrolls in the prison barber program to become a professional hairdresser. He writes to the prison administration that he needs to transfer to a medium security prison to further pursue his training. And his hairdresser instructor also comes through with a note to the warden. In September of 1978, he's approved and transferred to the medium security prison, which is quoting a stopwatch gang book. Its escape record had also prompted more than one critic to wonder why the authorities didn't install turnstiles in the fences. At least they could keep an accurate account of unscheduled departures. Patty joins him six months later using a similar strategy. When Reed gets to the new prison, he continues to be a model inmate, signs up for all the various inmate committees, even becomes the captain of the prison's hockey team, which in Canada is like, you know, the highest honor that one. One can achieve. It goes so well that when he applies for parole, the warden allows him a day pass, under guard, of course, to talk to future employers about job opportunities, which again, Canadian prisons, Man. On August 23, 1979, while on this day pass, he convinces the guard to go to a seafood restaurant so he can get a real meal. And much like his first prison escape, he again vanishes out the bathroom window. The press has a field day with the escape, considering Reid used the exact same method as the first time he escaped.

[Sean Williams]

Oh, I mean, Chinese food, seafood. Like they. That's worlds apart. I guess you could say that the. The guards this time might have been herring from their superiors. Am I right?

[Danny Gold]

That's awful, even for You. What do you think the Chinese food and seafood quality is? Ottawa's, like, not close to the. The ocean, the seafood quality.

[Sean Williams]

No, but, you know, diplomatic core, fancy government people, maybe.

[Danny Gold]

I don't know, but it's like the late 70s. I mean, the Chinese food and the seafood has probably not. I can't assume it's great. I could be wrong.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah. But, I mean, I kind of like that congealed, like, buffet stuff. It's probably my favorite kind of Chinese food. Actually, I prefer it to actual good Chinese food. There's. There's a hot take for you. There you go.

[Danny Gold]

All right, Bosch, then. Gosh. This wasn't a random escape. That happened by opportunity, though. Reid and Patty had meticulously planned out every detail of it, spending many hours poring over city maps. And even though he'd been up for parole, which, again, seems kind of silly to escape at that point, Reid assumes he has zero chance, and escape is his only option. After that, Patty gets ready, planning his own escape. He continually complains to the prison medical staff about chest pains, headaches, numbness in his left arm. So then, on November 15, 1979, when he collapses in the prison yard with, you know, all the signs of a heart attack, the prison nurse reviewing, reviewing his files automatically demand to be sent to the hospital at once. Patty fakes the signs of a heart attack by drenching cigarettes in water to make a disgusting concoction of nicotine water that he learned when talking to other inmates. If you do that, you know, that's how you get a trip to the hospital, because it kind of chugging a ton of nicotine kind of gives you some of the symptoms of a heart attack, at least enough to fake out a prison nurse, which, if anyone, has, you know, spent the night smoking Chinese Kool Aid flavored vapes, I'm pretty sure, you know, or even 12 minutes smoking one of them. Like, you do get those. Those symptoms pretty, pretty quickly, you know?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah. I think you're going to demonstrate that at the end of this episode.

[Danny Gold]

I'm off the. I'm off the Chinese basement vapes, dude. Can't do it. Can't do it.

[Sean Williams]

Are you back on, like, actual cigarettes, or we. What we talking about?

[Danny Gold]

No, I, I can't do either. My throat's, like, kind of wrecked.

[Sean Williams]

I missed it.

[Danny Gold]

I shouldn't be doing either. But every now and then, I, I. Every now and then, what I'll do is I'll just get really stressed out, and I'll go to the smoke shop around the corner for Me. And I'll buy, like a jewel, like, the device and a bunch of pods, smoke it for like one night, throw it out the next day, and be like, this is disgusting. Four days later, go back, do it again, buy a whole new one. Again.

[Sean Williams]

Yes.

[Danny Gold]

Smoke it again for. For a day. This is. Then I'll do that cycle, like three or four times. And then I'll be like, I'm not doing this for, like, another six months.

[Sean Williams]

Well, just save the actual cigarettes for me when I come out there, because I. I do.

[Danny Gold]

There's a landfill. There's a landfill, specifically, just from the jewels and jewel pods that I bought and thrown out over the course of the last three years. And I'm sorry. Like, I don't. You know, it's. It's not great. When the ambulance arrives at the hospital, the usual emergency entrance is closed due to construction. So they pull into a makeshift entrance by the administration building and are greeted by two attendants in white hospital uniforms. One of the hospital attendants is Reed, and he pulls a gun on the guard. A black Chevy pulls up. They jump inside. Inside the Chevy is the long disappeared Lionel. Right? The threesome behind the gold heist is back in business. This is like the formation of the Stopwatch gang right here. Rita actually raised the money needed to spring Patty by going on a bank robbery spree himself since the escape, so he's already just getting after it. After the escape, Wright vanishes back to Florida, where he was been hiding, where he's been hiding out with fake papers since he escaped from prison a few years prior to. Patty and Reid hang around for a couple of weeks until the heat dies down, then they make their move. Joining them on their trip is Reid's new girlfriend, who he meets when he escapes prison and was waiting for Patty's escape. Reed is just. I mean, these guys are woman out. We don't go into it in details, but these guys are. They are ladies men right here. She doesn't ask too many questions, and they take a train from Montreal to Vermont and fly to Florida from there. It's the 70s, so it's like, much easier to do these types of things as a fugitive than it is now. You know, you could just walk on flights with, like a ticket. Back then. It was crazy. When the trio arrive in Florida, Wright goes to pick them up and he hands them fake papers as well that he's prepared for them with, like, some of his contacts down there. For years, Gone south has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens through deeply reported narrative driven stories. We're digging into the myths, scandals and and power structures that still shape the south and in a lot of ways, the country itself. Follow and listen to gone South Season 5 An Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows. Have you ever wondered why we call French fries French fries? Or why something is the greatest thing since sliced bread? There are answers to those questions. Everything Everywhere Daily is a podcast for curious people who want to learn more about the world around them. Every day you'll learn something new about things you never knew you didn't know. Subjects include history, science, geography, mathematics, and culture. If you're a curious person and want to learn more about the world you live in, just subscribe to Everything Everywhere Daily, wherever you cast your pod. For the next month, the gang just kind of parties in Florida, staying at like a, you know, a roach motel in a small town. But then they eventually switch to a rented home in St. Petersburg. They drink all night, they eat in nice restaurants for a couple of months until they just run out of the leftover money that Reed stole on his bank robbery spree to find Patty's escape, by the way, after just like one or two robberies. It's kind of nice how, like, loyal these guys are.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

You know, people who work together for 10, 15 years. I mean, Wright's leaving Florida, they go help bail them out, like, even though he's not even living that life anymore. And these guys are just like, they're real best buds, you know, you get that vibe. It's, it's kind of nice, you know?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, I like the rubber ones. You know, there's like a, there's, there's something really touching about them.

[Danny Gold]

They seem to, there's some camaraderie there.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

You know, read and write, scout a bunch of different targets. But they settle on a large suburban department store where they notice that the store takes out two gigantic bags of cash every Monday afternoon at around the same time, you know, the weekend cash. Back then, people weren't mostly paying with credit cards. A lot of money lying around on a Monday from a big department store. They figure they can hit the store when they're preparing the bags before they bring the money to the armored truck. And it will net them like 100k easy. They steal a car, they gather supplies for the robbery. You know, in the days before the robbery, they go over the plan a dozen times, and on robbery day, the heist goes exactly as planned. And Patty actually uses A Richard Nixon mask as his disguise, which amazing dude. Point break. Point break, right? Like, maybe feels like every movie has borrowed something from these guys at some point. Unfortunately, they only net 40k, so it's, you know, solid, but. But not great. After a close call, when they meet a new friend's husband who happens to be a cop, the gang decides they're going to leave St. Petersburg. Reed and his girlfriend fly across the country to start again in San Diego, whereas Patty and Wright move back to the roach motel they were originally in. But after a few months, Reed kind of starts to run low on funds, and when he's down to, like, his last 5K, he calls up Patty and Wright. He tells them there's a lot of good opportunities in San Diego. So they get on a plane and they join him there. When they arrive, Reed's already cased a few potential banks to hit, but he hadn't done, like, serious research. So Patty prepares a checklist of what to look for in a bank to rob. First, they want a bank with an alley or some vegetation kind of out front to help obscure their movements from car to the bank and back. Next, they want a major thoroughfare nearby with either infrequent or brief stoplights. And finally, an underground parking garage nearby where they can kind of safely switch between their getaway car and another car. A bank with rear access. That's considered a bonus. So these guys, have. They got a system. The next thing to consider is when's the best time to hit a particular bank to maximize returns. And in terms of casing, a week before they would hit a bank, they wouldn't go inside so that they wouldn't be on camera, figuring the bank footage would be stored on the tapes only a few days back.

[Sean Williams]

It's kind of hilarious. They're just, like, banking the entire rest of their life's freedom on this hunch.

[Danny Gold]

You know, they're seen as this, like, genius group who really, like, plotted things out, but it doesn't seem that thorough. It kind of just makes you wonder, man. Like, we're two smart guys. I'm saying, like, what, Get a third smart? Did you ever wonder, yeah, maybe we could. Not now. I mean, honestly, I think now is, like, impossible. Cameras and whatnot. But you ever just think to yourself,

[Sean Williams]

can we do somewhere else?

[Danny Gold]

Is there somewhere where they don't have cameras?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, maybe not. We're relying on, like, going back to the stone Age to rob a bank and hard currency.

[Danny Gold]

I don't know if now's the time to be robbing banks. Man, there's not a lot of hard currency going on.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, true, true.

[Danny Gold]

A lot of cameras, a lot of cell phones. Just. It's a lost art form, Sean, if you will. So again, as I'm saying, these guys, they're not exactly the near on heat, but I guess the professional caliber of bank robbers back then, it's not super high. Finally, Patty also demands that one of them wears a stopwatch around their neck so they can time it to be out in exactly 90 seconds. Reed thinks this idea is dumb because he knows, he knows when to leave based on instinct. Also, Patty has no idea what the proper time for a bank robbery is anyways. He's just making up 90 seconds. So again, a hunch. But they are. They are careful. On February 19, 1980, they hit their first bank. Reed and Patty come into the bank with motorcycle helmets, and underneath the helmets are ski masks with sun visors on them. Reed pulls out a shotgun from a duffel bag and screams, this is a hold up. Open your cast draws and lie face down on the floor. Do as I say and no one will get hurt. Patty jumps over the counter and starts emptying cast draws until Reed yells, time. Reed, who has a stopwatch around his neck, doesn't actually use it. And, you know, they were correct to say it's useless. However, it does take only 88 seconds. And even though Patty doesn't have time to hit every cash draw, it goes pretty flawless. With Wright waiting outside in a getaway car, they make out with around 25 grand, which, you know, not too shabby.

[Sean Williams]

That's pretty good. And I guess we've got to bear in mind this is like almost half a century ago, right? So that's like a couple of hundred grand today. And a house cost less than a packet of cigarettes back then, so all is well.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, I mean, 25 grand has got to be like what, 300, 400, 500 grand in the same sort of. Same sort of money. So, yeah, you know, it's nice. Nice to.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, it's a.

[Danny Gold]

It's solid haul. A few days after the robbery, Reed bumps into another escaped Canadian confict nicknamed Wacko Joe, who is, you know, quite, quite wacko, I don't think, in the fun way like the, the Animaniacs that I referenced now in two episodes, I think two weeks in a row. But this guy was in prison for multiple armed robberies. So Reid, even though this guy wasn't exactly a prison pal, he figures, you know, what the heck? We got five more banks lined up and we can use an extra body since we weren't even able to grab all the cash in the last one. He invites this guy into the group. Patty, though he doesn't want to do anything with him. He kind of. This guy scares Patty, scares Reid's girlfriend. Like, they don't. They don't like his vibe. Nine days after that first bank robbery, they hit another bank. This does not go as well because Wacko Joe knocks over a lady teller, then proceeds to point his gun at several customers and bank employees telling them he's going to blow their heads off. Which, again, dude, it's Wingro. You know, totally is everything. Not a lot of references. I think he does stand up comedy at one point and does like the early part, or he did for a while. I feel like I've heard this in there. And he does the early bit in character as Wayne grow, which rules. I would go see that. I think more than most stand up comedians these days, he just starts doing Wayne Gro, dude. Like as a, as a, as a, as part of his ass.

[Sean Williams]

As a bit like an amazing.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, yeah, it's pretty solid. The robbery only nets 19,000, and this time it's split four ways. So not great. The gang meets to discuss Wacko Joe and what to do about him. They actually talk about killing him. But Wright quickly shuts that down by just asking who's going to pull the trigger? Because these guys, they're not murderers. And their next idea is simple. They just slip a note under Wacko's door telling him they're making a run for it and they'll meet up with him in Florida. Then they temporarily move into a downtown hotel. And the problem takes care of itself after Wacko Joe is arrested a few days later and sent back to Canadian jail when he's caught stealing a woman's panties off her clothesline. Which, coincidentally, is very similar to something Sean got arrested for in his 20s.

[Sean Williams]

Ah, there it is. We'll just pass over that. We'll let it sit and we're done. Okay, let's move on. Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Had to sneak it in somewhere, bud. Now the boys do actually decide to head back to Florida, team up with two other criminals, Fat Boy and the kid who were part of the team that helped Patty bust out of jail. Which is also just like a super dope nickname for like a robbery duo. You know, Fat Boy, the kid. That's solid. They'd already been robbing banks in Florida and Georgia before the trio joins up with them. You know, who knows? We like, who knew we Were importing so many Canadian bank robbers back then. Just, just flowing into the country, dude. Together they go on a two week bank robbing spree and then all five of them leave to go back to California.

[Sean Williams]

This is pre Internet. Like this is basically. I mean, what are they using, like classified ads in newspapers to get in touch with people? How come all these bank robbers are so well connected? They just keep hooking up with each other?

[Danny Gold]

I think it's a great question. I. I don't know. Phone calls, phone numbers, messages. Yeah. What? You know, they were part of a sort of underworld. I think they were able to trade messages. But yeah, you're right, it is very. How they were linking up is. Is pretty weird. Interesting.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Back in California, they now five some robbed three more banks between April 7th and April 14th, 1980. So these guys, they're just robbing banks left and right. Although Reid tells Patty the stopwatch had never been used, Patty still insists on wearing it. On April 15, the FBI holds a press conference and they announced that they are trying to stem a wave of bank robberies and are certain the same bandits are responsible for at least 4 of the bank robberies, but could be responsible for up to 20. I think at some point it might have been the 80s, it might have been the 90s, but LA was like the bank robbery capital of America. Did you know that?

[Sean Williams]

I did not, no. I mean, you know, yeah, it seems like there's like a million bank robberies happening every day at this point in time anyway. So. Yeah, I mean, you can name any city and I'll be like, yeah, that makes sense.

[Danny Gold]

I've only ever heard it for LA and Boston with Charlestown. You know, that's just because of the town of Ben Affleck movies. Yeah, or every other Ben Affleck movie. The next day, the Los Angeles Times runs a story with a dude in a Klingon mask, you know, Star Trek or whatever, with a stopwatch around his neck and a submachine gun in his hand with the title Stopwatch Gang hunted in Robberies. After the press conference, Fatboy and the Kid, they duck the heat in San Diego. They flee to Los Angeles. Reed and his girlfriend had already made social friends in the area. Reed thought it would provide an excellent cover. Patty thinks about Fling and hitting up the cash he stored in bank accounts in the Southeast from his robbing spree in Florida. But he really wants to stick around for that one dream score. Wright's just happy to do whatever. So they're all kind of like a Little nervous after the press conference, trying to figure out what to do. So they keep robbing banks, this time hitting a couple of banks in Los Angeles over the span of a few days. I guess I was wrong. They were talking about San Diego back then. But I have heard LA was like a big bank robbery. Capital place. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Reid also convinces Patty to stop wearing the stopwatch, since now it's famous and that they never use it for anything anyways. They also branch out and hit a bullion shop. Not. Not the soup stuff, but the. The kind of place where they sell gold and medals. Right. Is that the same bullion? It's the same thing, right?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, for the purposes of that sentence, yeah, it's. It's. It's good.

[Danny Gold]

By this point, the FBI have been hunting them for like four or so months. They're calling press conferences, they're passing out pictures, they're interviewing every bank employee and customer that got robbed. No stone left unturned. But they really don't know much about the guys. In fact, they bust up a different bank robbery crew in Northern California and think they've actually nabbed the Stopwatch crew. This bus ends in a shootout with one guy killed and three arrested. The press goes wild. They talk about the Stopwatch gang being busted, and the gang decides maybe this is a good thing, but it's time to split town. Reed, his girlfriend, Wright, they rent a home in small town Arizona, I think in Sedona, which was small town back then. Patty decides to head back to Canada, but only makes it as far as Washington state, where he finds a woman settled down with that only lasts about six weeks before he gets bored and joins the others in Sedona. And they just start to hang out and blend in. Reid takes up flying lessons. Patty chases girls and rice, reads books. But yeah, not a bad life, but you know how it is. Soon enough, they just can't help themselves. They get back to robbing banks in the area. The same type of routine as well. One person would be the getaway driver, one person will control the bank and the customers, and the third one would jump over the counter and grab the cash draws, all within 90 seconds. So even when a bank employee would hit the sign alarm, they'd be long gone before the cops arrive. They hit one in Texas, but in a robbery in New Mexico, they get into some trouble when a bank customer grabs Patty's gun and points at him, telling him to get down, he's going to blow his head off. When Patty goes to grab the gun, Back. The customer pulls the trigger, but a bullet doesn't fire, and Patty clocks him with a hard right and retakes the gun. Reed would always tell the others to leave the first two bullets in the chamber empty because you never know what could go wrong when you're robbing a bank. Which sounds smart in this instance, but in usual situations, not that smart.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, I think the listeners are gonna have to tell us in the comments because I'm, I'm erring on the side of incredibly dumb, but also, it's also funny. And I, and I appreciate that they're doing stuff like this because they stuck with the 92nd thing as well, and it was completely arbitrary. So, I mean, yeah, but I guess enjoy them.

[Danny Gold]

It was working for them. It was working for them, you know, so why, why change?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, I guess it's working for them because the cops seem to be just. Yeah, you know, not working. And there's no prison. It doesn't matter what sentence you get anyway because it's just bust out of prison in like 10 days. So, yeah, it's a, it's a good time to be alive. I, I, I mean, I'm, I'm kind of nostalgic for these kind of times, and I, I never even live through them. So.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, we all are, Sean. This goes on for months in this part of Arizona. They're traveling out of town to rob banks, occasionally a metal business or something like that. And then they go back and they hang out. They even stop back in San Diego sometimes. And on one trip they notice a bank they had previously robbed had changed locations. And they think, why don't we just hit it again? But this time go for a bigger score. Wright cases the place, and he notices that an armored truck arrives every Tuesday morning between 10:20 and 10:30, like clockwork. So they devise a new plan, more the town style. Right. Wright and Reed, who had already become customers of the bank in preparation, would go into the bank as businessmen with wigs, fake mustaches, and makeup, the whole nine yards, so that they're in there when the armored truck goes for the pickup. They figure the best way to do this is inside the bank when there's only one armored guard truck guy taking out the deposits. And they also estimate that the last trolley of money being taken out, there's multiple trips, is going to be the largest one, which will be close to $1 million.

[Sean Williams]

Okay, here we go. This is like classic movie denouement. Is there, I mean, is there a film written about these guys? It's like Even more perfect than any of the movies we're mentioning.

[Danny Gold]

No, there should be, you know, but the Ottawa accent just doesn't translate like the Boston one does.

[Sean Williams]

I'm surprised, you know. Are there bad parts of Ottawa? I was under the impression it was bad because it was so nice.

[Danny Gold]

Anyway, I have no. I just assumed it was not a fun place to live, but I have no. Because it was cold all the time, but I have no recollection. I have no idea. Have you been to Ottawa?

[Sean Williams]

No, no. I. I mean, but. But my, My. My girlfriend has and. Actually, yeah, no comment. Let's move on.

[Danny Gold]

So, on the great insight. Thanks again, Johnny, for your. Yeah, really just interjecting with wisdom here. So, on the day of the robbery, September 23, 1980, they enter the bank at 10:15.

[Sean Williams]

Toronto's good.

[Danny Gold]

I was, I was in Toronto last weekend.

[Sean Williams]

It's a cool place. I enjoyed it.

[Danny Gold]

Very nice city.

[Sean Williams]

Maple Leaf is expensive, but otherwise nice.

[Danny Gold]

It is full of Canadians though. I'm just kidding. Love you guys. But Toronto, dude, Toronto has like. You can find streets in Toronto that are like Queens in one, you know, there's like 14 different ethnic foods in a two block stretch near my uncle's apartment, which is pretty amazing. It's all solid, you know. So on the day of the robbery, September 23, 1980, they enter the bank at 10:15, but the armored truck ride doesn't come into the bank until 1048, which is way beyond schedule. After watching the guard make five trips to the vault with a trolley, Reed finally makes his move. On the 6th, he sticks his gun to the guard's rib cage and says, you know, don't move or I'm gonna kill you. And then adds, don't try to be a hero or I'll make you a dead one. Reed takes the guard's gun and hands it to Wright, who has rushed over. Reed tells everyone in the bank to get down on the floor and let's not have any hero speech, that usual thing. Wright grabs two sacks of cash, Reid grabs one and keeps the other on his gun. They rush into the car. The guard quickly gets up and runs to the armored truck and grabs a shotgun, but he can't get a shot off because of too many civilians in the way. They switch cards, they head back to the apartment they had rented for the job. They. They count $283,000 in stolen funds. But now they're semi paranoid, halfway expecting for like the FBI and SWAT to knock down their door. But nothing happens. And the next day they head Back to Arizona with their score. Now this robbery makes all the headlines in the press as the biggest bank robbery in the history of San Diego. Because I think 280k has got to be a few million in, like, 1980s money, right?

[Sean Williams]

Oh, yeah, it's huge.

[Danny Gold]

The FBI tells the press they don't know if it was the Stopwatch gang or not, but privately, they're convinced it was them. They're convinced because they matched the MO of previous Stopwatch gang robberies. They had the same height. They carried their guns the same way. No one was hurt. And finally, they were unusually polite for gangsters back in Arizona. Gang's a little on edge, half expecting the FBI to turn out. But nothing happens. But they do decide to take some precautions. Reid plans on getting some small scars removed from his face and a nose job, while Patty removes the tattoo from his arm and gets a facelift. Wright doesn't do anything, but he's also the kind of one who just, like, sticks to himself and stays out of the public eye the most.

[Sean Williams]

I like him.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah. Nice guy. Just wants to read books and hang out, you know? Reed also starts wearing color contacts to change his eye color. They soon get back to. You really think that's gonna be like. Like, is that really gonna fool anyone? It's like Clark Kent with sunglasses. Maybe they'll see my eyes are brown and not green, and I'll get away with it.

[Sean Williams]

I feel like, you know, change your skin color. Don't you guys? If you wanna. If you want to really do this. I mean, you don't. You don't get rid of a.

[Danny Gold]

Like, a plot of the 1980s movie about the guy who becomes black to get into Harvard Law.

[Sean Williams]

Oh, yeah.

[Danny Gold]

You know what I'm talking about.

[Sean Williams]

What's the name of that on the podcast?

[Danny Gold]

What's the name of that? It's gonna bother me if you don't think of it. God. What's it called?

[Sean Williams]

Literally incredible.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, look it up. Because the audience deserves that. We haven't mentioned it in, like, a year and a half. I feel like I mentioned it every other year. But new listeners, like, deserve to be able to look up this. At least look up the trail.

[Sean Williams]

The Soul Man.

[Danny Gold]

It's the Soul Man. Yes. It's incredible. Incredible 80s movies. Everyone was on cocaine. It's so good. It's up there with, like, I taught weird Science man, where like, they're like, let's make a. Let's make our. We're 15 years old. Let's make a nude model woman out of our in our. In our lab. In our. Dude, 80s movies are so good.

[Sean Williams]

Oh, my God. I've said I just put the trailer on you.

[Danny Gold]

Oh, yeah. No, you guys, I don't even mind if you turn off the episode right now and go watch the trailer for the Soul man. It's. It's incredible. It'll change. It'll change your life. It'll make your day.

[Sean Williams]

Wow.

[Danny Gold]

They used to show it on Comedy Central, like, run in, like, the eight. Like, the 90s. Would you be running in, like, the middle of the day? Just put that on, dude.

[Sean Williams]

You could probably get away with that if you did. What? Albanian.

[Danny Gold]

There'd be 4,000. There'd be 4,000 TikToks calling for your head. Posting the address of, like, the Comedy Central CEO, if that happened right now, finally. And everyone involved in the movie anyway. So. Yeah, Color contacts to change his eye color. They soon get back to their Arizona routine. But after a drive to Phoenix to fill up a safety deposit box, Reed and Patty have a chat. And they're just like, we need to leave. We were friends with too many people. Their stories are too inconsistent with these people. Plus, they need to take a long break from bank robberies in general and just kind of calm down.

[Sean Williams]

I don't really get why, like, Mexico is right there. Just drive across the border into Nogales. No federali is going to come near you. It's a nice place. There's great food. The people are kind. They just go there, go there.

[Danny Gold]

I'm on. I'm on board, bud. If we ever do heist, well, we'll head to Mexico. Puerto Escondido, man. That's where it's at. They just need to take care of a few things in Arizona. First, Patty's girlfriend insists on giving a two weeks notice for a job. And Reid is waiting around for a $70,000 plan he's purchased after the heist. And he's become obsessed with flying and was continually taking lessons since they got to Arizona. Reed also has to wait a couple of weeks for his plastic surgery appointment to, you know, get his face all done up. Reed, though, he's starting to get more paranoid, especially when he sees a telephone repairman outside his place for a very long time, telling Wright, I just. I don't like it. I just don't like it.

[Sean Williams]

Just imagine in that Simpsons thing with flowers by Irene or something. I'm trying to think a version of that where it's a telephone man.

[Danny Gold]

And it turns out Reed's paranoia is justified because on Halloween Morning, morning 1980, when he's driving to the airport to get his FFA, his FAA license, he gets pulled over by the local deputy, who he actually knows, but with him is a whole gang of FBI agents. Then they move on. They take down Wright back at his house and they arrest him. Patty, though, he gets away. He had ducked out of town a few days earlier with his girlfriend. The FBI soon tracks down where Patty's staying in Florida, but by that time, he's on a three week cruise in the Caribbean with his girls. He's immediately placed on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list. And the way the feds actually trace these three is that after a robbery, they had dumped their wigs in some bank of America money bags in a public dumpster. An old guy's looking for cans. He finds them and he turns them in. And the cops use them to pull fingerprints and ID the three bank robbers. They also use a rented car as a getaway car that time instead of a stolen one. So the cops are able to track down their fake IDs behind bars. Reid and Reich give an interview with a journalist. Wright doesn't say much, of course, but Reid talks for hours and says, quote, for the first time in my life, I was starting to feel straight on the inside. I know it is hard for anyone to swallow, but you're looking at a guy who had become the picture of the perfect square. And I was never happier. A real stand up girl. My dog, my house, my new plan. I had everything I ever wanted. One more week and I was headed for a lot of straight time.

[Sean Williams]

Just amazing. Amazing. What an interview. Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Just when he was gonna get out, man. Just when he was gonna get out. It's always just as you're about to get out, right?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Just when you've turned out. Just when you've turned over a new leaf. They both plead not guilty. Patty. Meanwhile, he's still on the lam. He's partying up in New Orleans. Crazy enough, he actually slips back into Phoenix to retrieve $300,000 in a safety deposit box that him and Reed had stored there, and manages to get away with it. These guys just take a lot of chances too, you know, He's. Man.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Meanwhile, the case against Read and Write takes an interesting turn when the defense team finds out there's a bunch of holes in the prosecution's case. The FBI doesn't actually pull the prints from the money bags they found in the dumpster. That whole thing, it's made up. They didn't use that information to build Their case, you know, with the fake IDs and rental cars, they actually got all the information from a career criminal that is an old friend of Patty Mitchell's. And this guy is basically an informant that they've been using for a long time. He was also working with the bank crew and he was, you know, getting them all types of stuff, like a gopher, new fake identities, you know, lining up plastic surgeons having to change their fingerprints, which I don't even know if that's a, that's a thing. And crazy enough, he's actually the one currently paying the defense attorneys, which is pretty, pretty wild. When thinning starts, it's not just your hair that takes a hit. It can change how you feel day in, day out. HIMS makes it simple to take control of hair regrowth with personalized care that fits your life. And you know, that moment when you catch a reflection and notice your hairline's creeping back. Hims makes it simple to actually do something about it. HIMS offers convenient access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with ingredients that work, including chews, oral medications, serums and sprays. Dr. Trusted ingredients like finasteride and minoxidil can stop further hair loss and regrow hair in as little as three to six months. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself. Hims brings expert care straight to you with 100 online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first. Find the right hair regrowth treatment for you with flexible subscription options, access to a 247 provider support, and once a day treatment options that fit your daily routine. For simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, ED, weight loss and more, visit hims.com Underworld that's hims.com Underworld for your free online visit hims.com Underworld Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. The guy's involved in all types of crime and him preparing to lay some charges. But because he's so kind of shady, the prosecutors of, you know, the, the heist crew, the Stopwatch gang, they just pretend he doesn't exist and that they got the evidence somewhere else tying to the gang for the robbery, you know, from their own investigation. Part of the reason the defense team is actually able to find a lot of this out is because the DA is Like, super pissed off at the FBI for protecting this guy. So they're leaking like crazy to everyone, right? The defense team, the media, everybody. And the judge knows all this. He wants the case just wrapped up. So they come up with this plan. They basically get the guys in the Stopwatch gang to plead guilty and take 20 years. And that's the sentence they initially get in front of the PAC corporate. Now, why would they agree to plead guilty to 20 years? Because there's like a hush hush deal that like, a few months later, after the media attentions died down, everyone goes home, the judge quietly changes their sentence to 10 years, which is gonna run concurrently with the 14 years Reid had left in Canada and the 17 years Wright had left on those other sentences, which is, you know, not a bad deal. It's basically no time if it's concurrent, right?

[Sean Williams]

Wow.

[Danny Gold]

Now, patty, with the 300k he gets from Phoenix, he ends up just partying again in New Orleans. He's womanizing, doing a bunch of blow. You know how it goes. He eventually heads back to Phoenix to rob a department store. Desperate for a score again. Why would you go to the place that you're already super well known in? The crew had previously scoped it out, though, before things went south. He figures it might be worth a few hundred grand, and he even plans to hit it right before Christmas in 1981. Thinking that it's going to be even more money because of holiday shoppers, he actually pulls it off. He robs the office, but when he's making his way out, he gets spotted by a copy who promptly shoots at him. Patty takes off running through the store. The cop chases him and he nabs him just when he's about to get his car going. Patty, who had had the plastic surgery, is using a fake ID doesn't say anything during the interrogation. He gets a $16,000 bail because it's, you know, a single department store robbery. The cops don't know who he is and he's, you know, or that he's on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list. So his bail just isn't that high. A criminal associate soon bails him out. He heads to the infamous hideaway of Hot Springs, Arkansas, which is like, you know, famous for. For decades, I think, where all the mobsters used to go on the lam. And he hangs out there for a few months.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, we did a show about that back in, like, Berlin Times. I think it was the book about the vapors. It was great. Yeah, crazy. Like the. The Vegas that was. Wasn't Vegas kind of thing. Really interesting place.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, about all the New York. New York mobsters in like the 20s, 30s, 40s, used to go on the lamb there. I think the Italians did. Even after, in the 50s and 60s, it was just a spot you went to to like lay low.

[Sean Williams]

Amazing.

[Danny Gold]

Of course, after a couple months, you know, Patty, it's gotta. Gotta get his fix in. It's robbery time again. I mean, at some point you do have to know when to fold them, Sean, he just doesn't. He does not. Patty does not know when to fold them. He picks. April 5, 1982, the first day of the horse racing season at Oaklawn, a track on the outskirts of town to rob a bank. I guess he figures it's a good day because the whole area is gonna be packed with people. But I would assume people would take all their money out during horse racing season, you know, to go bet it. So little surprised by that doesn't strike me as a smart move. He manages to pull it off, but he doesn't cover his tracks well enough and the cops are soon onto him. He spends the entire summer on the run. He's going state to state. The cops are hot on his trail, only missing him by a few days. A number of times they still don't know though, it's the actually infamous Patty Mitchell of the Stopwatch gang. Otherwise there would be a major FBI manhunt involved. By September, Patty settles in Central Florida, renting a small cottage. And he gets depressed because that's what happens in Central Florida, you know, he's got no women. I gotta be slim picking over there. He's tired of running from the law, and his two pals are in brutal prisons in the U.S. he occasionally sends them money from time to time, but that's about it. Again, another sign of like, you know, loyalty and camaraderie. Sending them cash doesn't have to do that. Yeah, it takes too much. And they don't dime him out, which again, you know, another like a lot of loyalty in this Canadian crew, you know. It takes two months though, for the FBI to track him down to Central Florida. But when they go to arrest him, he's already moved two hours north, where he meets a new lady. And for months he just lives like a reclusive lifestyle with her until December 19, 1982, where he decides to rob a bank in a different part of Florida, this time with a partner. Finally, on February 22, 1983, Patty gets arrested. It's taken some time for the FBI, but they finally put Together, the man who they were looking for, who robbed the department store in Phoenix and the bank in Hot Springs, is actually the top 10 most wanted fugitive, Patty Mitchell. After they just get a ton of tips from tipsters in Central Florida, many of them women who Patty had been with and who he had, you know, sort of tossed to the wayside. Patty's capture, front page news in the US And Canada. And like his partners, he gives an interview to the press saying, quote, I guess it's easier to steal money than make it. I'm lazy. That's all I wanted, the good life. After four or five years in jail, you just want to relax. He later adds, that was a goddamn dreamer talking, pal. There is no big score. You just keep doing it again and again. Once you start, you can't stop.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, I was going to say something about journalism, but, yeah, this guy is somehow every Michael Mann movie character just rolled into one. He's just fantastic.

[Danny Gold]

He really.

[Sean Williams]

I might like him, actually.

[Danny Gold]

I really do wonder if Michael Mann had based, you know, any of these off of, yeah, all of his films off these guys, because it really does. There are similarities, man. When the journalist tells him that the FBI characterizes him as a pro, as, like, one really smart, cunning guy, Patty replies, quote, if I'm so damn smart, what am I doing in jail? When he first gets locked up, Patty calls Reed, who tells him that maximum security prison in the US is not like Canada. Like, it sucks. And that soon him and Wright are going to be sent back to Canada to serve the rest of their time after putting in for a transfer. He tells Patty, like, he's got to put in his transfer for his transfer now. Patty eventually pleads out to three of the robberies I had him on. He gets 20 years to run concurrently with his Canadian sentence, which he had 14 years left on. But the Arizona prosecutor screws with him and he has to serve the first 12 years in Arizona before being sent back. And the Arizona State Prison is one of the worst in the country at that time. Rita previously told him to try to get federal jail over state jail when they first spoke, or federal prison over state prison when they first spoke on the phone, because apparently it's slightly easier. Patty does not think he can last 12 months, much less 12 years. But he does get some good news about his pals in early 1985, in that not only were they back in Canada, but because of some Canadian parole board nonsense, they both would be eligible for early release that year. This, though, it pisses off the Americans who take it out on Patty, who's still in American prison, whose application to transfer back to Canada gets delayed.

[Sean Williams]

That's wild.

[Danny Gold]

Patty, though, he's. He's on his hustle, right? He's acting like a model prisoner. He soon gets transferred to the medium security wing in the prison complex. And if you thought he was only able to escape from Canadian prisons because it was easy, like. Like I did, well, you do not give him enough credit. He soon recruits two other prisoners, and after six months of planning, they cut a hole into an air duct and climb through it to escape. And he goes on the run once again.

[Sean Williams]

If anything, that is easier than the things that he's done before. This is mad. So maybe. I mean, maybe this guy is actually a genius after all. Maybe that's the. Maybe that's the tail.

[Danny Gold]

Here's the thing, dude. He's still on the run.

[Sean Williams]

What?

[Danny Gold]

Well, we'll get to it. We'll get to it. Reid, meanwhile, writes a book in prison. Well, he was still on the run. Never mind. I said that wrong. But you'll see what happens. Reed, meanwhile, writes a book in prison, a fictional work about bank robbers. He sends the manuscript to a young writer. They fall in love and get married in prison. And the book is published in 1986, titled Jack Rabbit Parole. It is a big success. He's released in 1987 on parole and goes on to teach creative writing at college. All is well until he gets addicted to drugs and robs a Bank in 1999. Sent back to prison, he writes another book in prison. He wins the Victoria Book Award for it. He gets paroled again in 2014, and he dies in 2018. God. That, my friends, is a life lived. After Patty escapes, we're back to Patty Now. He heads back to Florida with one of his fellow escapees. He starts robbing banks again. And on December 14, 1987, in Gainesville, Florida, two armed men wearing Ronald Reagan masks rob a bank for $300,000 and get away with it. Patty then moves to the Philippines, marries a local, and has a son. He sometimes even pops back into the US to rob another bank, which, again, is insane. Go to Europe, man. What are you doing?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Oh, he's featured.

[Sean Williams]

Oh, my God.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah.

[Sean Williams]

I can't get my head around this guy. Has he also got another kid? He's got, like, another thing just hopping around.

[Danny Gold]

He just kind of. In the book, it just talks about how occasionally, like, he feels bad about it. He's got his first kid and his first wife. I think he sent them money every now and then.

[Sean Williams]

Okay.

[Danny Gold]

But yeah, he's, I bet he went to the, I bet he went to the, the Dwarf bar in the Philippines. You've been there?

[Sean Williams]

Like, like no one else got you?

[Danny Gold]

Yeah. Wait, you haven't you been there?

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, yeah, I have. Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Out of all the things you're gonna pretend you haven't done that we've accused you of on this podcast, it's going to that bar in Manila, which is like a touristy place, I assume, at this point.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah, no, I, I have been there, but I, I did actually. I, I actually left early because I, I, it was, it's insane, man. It's so wrong. It's so wrong.

[Danny Gold]

First hearing about it decades ago and just. Yeah, it sounds not, not good.

[Sean Williams]

It's still there. I was there quite recently. It's still there. I didn't go in, but it exists anyway.

[Danny Gold]

Patty's featured on both Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted in the early 90s. And in 1993, a couple he had been friendly with in the Philippines notices him from the show and calls in a tip. The FBI just misses him. But he somehow ends up back in the States in 1994 and gets caught robbing a bank in Mississippi, which, I mean, again, go to Europe, dude. Just come on.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah. Anywhere else, just. I don't get this guy. Now. He, I mean, to be fair, that quote he gave in prison was dead on. He's just addicted to it. He can't stop doing it. So he's a bit. Sounds like fun, honest.

[Danny Gold]

I do wish I had more info on him in the Philippines, period, but there's just not that much out there. He does die in prison in 2007 from lung cancer. And then Lionel Wright, the quiet one, on the other hand, he gets paroled in 1994 and just kind of disappears.

[Sean Williams]

Wow way, man. I feel like there's a lot of lessons in this show. I mean, the one I'm going to take away from it though is if you're going to do crimes and you're going to get caught, I mean, do it in Canada and then just find a hungry guard. My God, that is nuts. Yeah. Also that's also two bank robber shows in a row. And I do agree with you. Like the two bank robber shows we've done in two weeks, they have showed that bank robbers are kind of more stand up guys than other people that we tend to cover on this show.

[Danny Gold]

You're not wrong. I have a cartel one next week with our guest, Andrew Glazer.

[Sean Williams]

Would you like me to end on a quote from the director of Soul man about what Soul man is like. And this was. And this was in 2021, right?

[Danny Gold]

Yes.

[Sean Williams]

Okay. I'm very, very, very, very proud of it. I love this movie. It's beautiful. I think it's a gorgeous film. I don't feel any sense of anything negative about it. I think it's absolutely adorable and super funny. There you go. Double. I like how he's TF down.

[Danny Gold]

I like how he's not being like, oh, yeah, times are going back. And he's like, no, he's owning it, dude. And I respect that a lot.

[Sean Williams]

Do you know how backwards you are? It's a. It's a. It's a woman.

[Danny Gold]

Wow. Just unbelievable.

[Sean Williams]

There you go.

[Danny Gold]

And she could have just been like. She could have been like, we were on so much cocaine and just, like, people thought differently then. But no, she owns it, and I respect that. Guys.

[Sean Williams]

Yeah.

[Danny Gold]

Incas Armored I N K A S armored dot com. If one of you buys one of these cars, I feel like it's enough that they'll just keep advertising with us or they will let me drive around New York city in an armored 7 series, which would be. That's the main reason I started this podcast, so someone would give me an armored car, and we could make that happen. If just one of you buys an armored Suburban, Please make that happen. Thank you guys for tuning in. And, yeah, And, Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Sean Williams]

Hey, everyone.

[Danny Gold]

Ch.

[Sean Williams]

Check out this guy and his bird.

[Danny Gold]

What is this, your first date? Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league. Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent. Liberty. Liberty.

[Sean Williams]

Liberty.

[Danny Gold]

Liberty.