In 1914, Herman Lamm was kicked out of the Prussian Army for cheating at card games.
He immigrated to the United States from Germany, broke the law, and landed in prison.
While incarcerated, he theorized that bank robbery should be conducted like a military operation. After his release, he developed the revolutionary Lamm Technique.
He was the first thief to “case” a bank. His crews drew maps of bank interiors, studied getaway routes, and had specialized assignments such as the driver, the stickup man, and the vault man. His teams rehearsed drills with military precision that were timed with stopwatches.
Lamm was nicknamed the Baron.
His crews were among the most lucrative bank robbers of the 1920s, claiming over $1 million in stolen cash (roughly $14 million today).
Lamm died in a shootout during a botched robbery in Indiana in 1930.
John Dillinger hired some of Lamm’s surviving crewmen on the condition they teach him the Lamm Technique.
Comentarios