Toy guns, a tunnel and a poetic message: Why Argentina’s Heist of the Century still fascinates 20 years on |
“In a filthy rich neighborhood, without weapons or grudges, it’s just money and not love.”
Twenty years ago, a gang of five thieves left that poem, which rhymes in Spanish, stuck on the empty vaults of a bank in one of Buenos Aires’s most affluent neighborhoods, having left with an estimated US$19 million.
By the time the police found the message — along with the toy weapons they had used to commit the robbery — the thieves had long escaped following a plan they had put together months before.
Over 200 police officers were left dumbfounded, trying to make sense of a situation they had never seen before. Despite the fact that 23 people had been held hostage during the heist, it seemed the police’s egos were the only ones hurt during the holdup.
The case instantly turned the thieves into living legends, and was quickly dubbed the “robo del siglo,” the heist of the century.
Twenty years on, only a handful of the bounty was recovered, and every one of the gang members is free after serving their time. They’ve since featured in their own documentary on the theft, written books about it and even appeared in and helped to write the script of a mainstream film.
So how does a robbery become a beloved cultural milestone?
Leaving a poem after carrying out a massive heist sounds a bit surreal, but the thieves weren’t exaggerating when they referred to the wealthy area they had chosen as a target.
Acassuso, in the north Buenos Aires metro area, is one of the most affluent and privileged areas around the Argentine capital.
The bank was located on Libertador Avenue, one of the most important and exclusive arteries in the north of the city, less than fifteen minutes by car from the Quinta de Olivos, the official residence of the president of Argentina.
One of........