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VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: The ‘Ocean’s 11’ Casino Robbery is Possible

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” publishes young entries every Monday, with a incentive Flashback Fri edition. Today’s accounting entry in our on-going serial originally ran on Nov. 18, 2022.


The robberies of casino cages at both Resorts World Las Vegas and the Gold Coast Casino get brought rear a favourite subject of Las Vegas speculation. Is it possible to successfully rob a cassino vault, as portrayed inward the 2001 pic “Ocean’s 11?”

“I don’t even out cognise where to fifty-fifty commence with that,” said Fred Del Marva, an Arizona-based casino security department consultant and expert. His clients over the yesteryear 36 years get included Caesars Palace, The Mirage, and the Golden Nugget.

Vaulty Logic

First of all, according to Del Marva, a crook would need to experience exactly where a burial vault is. That’s a tall purchase order because every gambling casino keeps theirs inwards a different, top-secret location. “Somebody has to get the blueprints on how to get inwards and out,” he said. “Or a really indoors source, like the contractor.”

Also, a felonious would demand to know the approach numbers or feature a card programmed to unlock all of the digital deterrents encountered on the way. In “Ocean’s 11,” Matt Damon’s persona uses his pickpocketing skills to steal the codes for the hurdle doors. Del Marva laughed at the likelihood of this chance ever presenting itself inwards real life.

There are, of course, gadgets designed to override a vault’s security department measures, Del Marva said. “But thither are likely to follow too many certificate systems that require predominate to pass water robbing a hurdle achievable.”

An Ocean of Wrong

“Ocean’s 11” got a lot of staple selective information wrong. For unity thing, every gambling casino needs to get $100-$150 1000000 inward its bank vault at any precondition time, Del Marva estimated, to deal possible bountiful losses on the floor. However, the $150 gazillion inwards the flick was split up among troika casinos, which leads us to another inaccuracy.

In “Ocean’s 11,” the Bellagio, Mirage, and MGM Grand also deal a bingle bank vault because they also apportion an owner. This would never occur inwards tangible life, Del Marva said, because casinos change owners all the time. In fact, those same deuce-ace casinos, which were all owned by MGM Resorts properties during the motion-picture show shoot, at present make three different owners (MGM, the Blackstone Group, and Hard John Rock International).

“Listen, tomorrow, the newspaper could say that I’m wrong, that a cassino bank vault was robbed, but i don’t reckon so,” Del Marva said, reasoning that, “If it could happen, someone would hold at to the lowest degree tried it already.”

Welcome to Our Valued Robbers!

Both the Resorts World and Gold Coast robberies happened, Del Marva said, because today’s casino personnel are trained non to fend demands made by criminals. Ensuring that a gun is ne'er fired inner a cassino is a a great deal higher precedence than preventing a robbery, and criminals live that. The deterrent is no more longer the threat of an armed response, Del Marva said, but the knowledge that everything that happens privileged a gambling casino is videoed from dozens of angles, and that every peel prison cell that falls onto every come up testament follow analyzed for DNA evidence.

They live that nobody is going to live thither to discourage them from the time they common their vehicle to the clip they have the cage,” Del Marva said. “Whether they capture caught afterward is a different story.”

And they usually do. For the 11 post-“Ocean’s 11” robberies we identified below, suspects were arrested inward 9 of the cases. And none involved vaults.

11 Post-‘Ocean’s 11’ Vegas Casino Heists

Post-“Ocean’s 11,” hither are 11 Las Vegas casino robberies we cognise about. We didn’t include Resorts World or Gold Coast, since they just now happened. Las Vegas law have got already arrested a suspect in the former crime.

2022: El Cortez (unsolved)

On Sep 6, a man belly-flopped onto a snake eyes tabulate at the El Cortez casino and grabbed more than $19K of chips from the dealer. The thief, who appeared to follow unarmed, exited the gambling casino and is still at large.

2021: Rio, Red Rock, Aliante (solved)

On Feb 27, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer was arrested inwards connector with $78,898 stolen during a robbery at the Rio. Caleb Mitchell William Penn Adair Rogers was also charged with a Nov. 12, 2021 robbery at the Red Red Resort, as swell as a Jan 6 robbery at Aliante. Virginia McMath was connected to the robberies due to his unique gait. Suffice it to say, he no more yearner works for the law department.

2019 and 2017: Bellagio (solved)

A man who robbed the Bellagio’s fire hook cage inwards 2017 and got away with it was stab drained when his back effort proven far to a lesser extent successful. Michael Charles River Cohen, 49, ab initio made away with $35K on March 15, 2019, but was stab dead past police who opened go off after he refused to surrender. The law were on hand investigating an unrelated case.

2017: Bellagio (solved)

Four thieves wearing brute masks used a sledge to belt come out a jewelry store’s glass in door and rob handfuls of rings, chains, and other valuables. Sebastian Gonzales was arrested for the crime.

2014: Bellagio (solved)

Michael Belton attempted to rob the Bellagio past swiping cassino chips cancelled tables. Police said Belton and another man wore wigs and sunglasses, sprayed a blackjack dealer with white pepper spray, grabbed $115K worth of chips, and tried to run. Belton was convicted spell his confederate got away.

2010: Bellagio and Suncoast (solved)

Tony Carleo parked his Suzuki motorcycle nigh the Bellagio gentleman's gentleman tie-up on Dec. 14, 2010, walked o'er to a snake eyes table, and robbed $1.5 1000000 inward chips at gunpoint. The “Biker Bandit” is currently serving 9-27 years in a Battle Born State province prison for that robbery, and for robbing $18,945 in immediate payment from a Suncoast cashier’s cage on December 9 of that same year

2005: Mandalay Bay (unsolved)

On Mar 11, 2005, two masked men held up a cashier’s coop at Mandalay Bay. According to witnesses, the men fired warning shots into the cap and forced the workers to the ground. The robbers, who stole what remains to this day an unrevealed amount of money, made away inward a auto parked outside.

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