Hunting America's Greatest Bank Robber

911 your emergency he was the most prolific bank robber in the Pacific Northwest he's Rob 14 banks in Seattle since June of 1992 this case was spinning a little bit out of control he was a smart bank robber he became our number one priority this man pulled off the most daring Bank heists in American history rotting Millions while wearing Hollywood style disguises that left the police baffled for years we told you about a bank robber nicknamed Hollywood he's number one he was known as the Hollywood Bandit a criminal mastermind who turned bank robbery into an art form meticulously planning every detail and escaping Without a Trace but after years of living on the edge The Thrill of the heist wasn't enough on a fateful November night in 1996 after what would be his final heist The Heist didn't go as planned the police finally closed in and Escape was no longer an option the man who had spent years eluding capture was now faced with a desperate choice that would lead to his tragic end this is the true story of the rise and fall of the most audacious bank robber in American history this man is William Scott Scurlock but the world would come to know him as Hollywood scurlock's descent into the criminal underworld began just as Seattle was becoming a hot spot for bank robberies the city was on the rise with tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon fueling an economic boom this financial upturn attracted a wave of banks that were ready to capitalize on the growing Prosperity however the influx of banks also led to a sharp rise in bank robberies turning the city into a playground for criminals like Scurlock who saw an opportunity in the chaos Scurlock started picking locks as a kid at one point he was labeled as a drug addict his descent into the drug trade began in the 1970s when he and a friend stumbled upon a patch of marijuana plants while working on a tomato Farm in Hawaii he began trading the plants making quick money but the farm owner soon caught him and fired him despite being fired from his previous job Scurlock still went further to pursue other illegal activities in 1978 he enrolled at ever Green State College where he studied organic chemistry and biochemistry it was there he learned to make crystal meth which is a refined crystalline form of methamphetamin Scurlock would later use the school lab to produce the highly addictive illegal drug in commercial quantities while he attended the college for 6 years he became a major supplier of the drug in the Northwest unfortunately for him his activities did not go unnoticed a professor eventually caught him in the ACT leading to his immediate expulsion from the college rather than reconsider his choices and abandon his criminal Pursuits Scurlock remained unrepentant undeterred by the expulsion Scurlock moved his operations to a more secluded location where he could cook meth without the prying eyes of college authorities for the next decade he operated out of this remote property maintaining a steady supply of the drug to his customers and his meth business thed during that period however scurlock's criminal Enterprise took a sudden and dramatic turn in 1990 the person who had been supplying him with the raw materials needed to produce meth was killed an event that shook Scurlock to his core the death of his supplier cut off scurlock's access to essential chemicals for the first time Scurlock seemed rattled and that event marked the end of his involvement in the drug trade the loss of his Supply and the close call with the violent realities of the drug World pushed Scurlock to abandon his MEF operation but rather than retreating from a life of crime altogether Scurlock would soon turn his attention to a new equally dangerous Pursuit bank robbery but Scurlock knew pulling off a successful Heist could never be a sole act he realized he needed a partner who could complement his skills and help him execute his plans with precision then he turned to his college friend Mark Biggins who also shared his thrill-seeking mentality and was willing to join him in the Venture with Biggins by his side Scurlock felt more confident in his ability to pull off a heist biggin's girlfriend trassy Marsh was also talked into driving the getaway car the pair planned their first robbery and chose their target with Care on June 25 1992 they decided to strike the sefir bank now Bank of Africa in Seattle's Madison Park neighborhood Scurlock and Biggins knew that anonymity would be crucial so they adopted a tactic that would later become one of their trademarks they disguised themselves by wearing masks apart from concealing their identities The Masks also added a theatrical element to the crime Scurlock who had been a fan of heist films since he was a child had been fascinated by the thrill of making elaborate plans getting cunning to outsmart authorities and making quick money these films did more than just entertaining him they planted in him the idea of robbing banks as revealed in his transition on the day of the robbery Scurlock and Biggins entered the bank their faces hidden behind false identities while Scurlock wore a false nose and heavy theater makeup bins wore a plastic mask with the smiling appearance of former president Ronald Reagan from their mode of operation it was clear that Scurlock and Biggins were still inexperienced robbers one of the most glaring flaws in their operation was their getaway strategy which was riddled with rookie mistakes despite having what they thought was a solid plan to escape the reality of the situation quickly unraveled After exiting the bank with nearly $20,000 in cash they found themselves on the run but instead of slipping away unnoticed they ended up making a hasty and poor thought out Dash across a golf course apart from putting them in plain view the decision also left them vulnerable to being seen by numerous Witnesses who were out enjoying their day the sight of two masked men sprinting across the greens clutching bags of money was enough evidence for passers by that they were thieves later Scurlock and his accomplice sought a way to improve their thievery skills they sought the help of another friend named Steve Meyers who was an artist Myers suggested that they replace the masks with prosthetic noses chins and cheeks to hide their identities sometimes they would wear heavy makeup the three of them would later get involved in a string of heists another thing Scurlock did was improve their mode of operation he dedicated a large amount of research to robbing the banks he was able to obtain employee manuals and study them extensively to extract major information about vaults and protocols for tellers he would would carry out surveillance of the banks to be robbed together with his accompli during the surveillance they would note that time cash was delivered by armored vehicles and when police patrols did their rounds soon they created code words and adopted lingo with a procedure also put in place to scan each money Bill after the robbery the reason was to check out for marked money so you could see why the Hollywood Bandits were able to carry out numerous missions over and over evading the police each of those times Scurlock became so engrossed with the life of robbery that he wanted to carry out his second bank robbery almost immediately after the first one however Biggins as well as his getaway driver thought it was not a good idea after the first robbery bigin couldn't cope with the process and decided to take a break realizing that he was alone Scurlock decided to pull his next Heist along he already enjoyed the thrill of having enough money to spend after a successful robbery thus he returned to the same bank he reasoned that the police would never expect the same bank to be robbed again in such quick succession also returning to the same bank saved him the hassle of having to research another bank after brandishing a handgun he made away with over $88,000 despite being heavily disguised scurlock's demeanor and intimidating style were too different from those of the first robbery his method of robbery is known as takeover or take charge robbery it was this discovery that initially led the FBI and Seattle Police Department to nickname him the take charge robber Scurlock would later pull a few other heists by himself sticking to the same Playbook of Dunning his prosthetic disguises and walking calmly into the bank though Scurlock was always pictured waving a handgun it wasn't to hurt anyone but to instill fear into people who came his way Meyers one of scurlock's accomplice would later reveal this his whole point was if you go in crazy with violence and waving your gun and if something does happen What do you do then one of his greatest strengths even as a robber was his cool demeanor with it he was able to exert control of the situation without having to threaten or intimidate his victims excessively and since he wasn't trying to get into the Vault then he didn't really need additional support he would have been out before the arrival of the police but the approach had its downside he could only have the money with the bank tellers in the tills at that moment by the time he had carried out the fifth robbery he thought he would need an accomplice on the inside who could provide him with details on how he would get into the bank vaults also if he continued the string of robberies without an accomplice he would be risking a lengthy jail sentence to just for a few thousand that's not a risk he was willing to take at that time the police were already building a profile of him although his true identity remained unknown they had seen his disguises on the CCTV tapes from his previous heists they would later change his nickname to Hollywood while the media preferred the Hollywood bandit subate in short Scurlock was considered too fast for them to catch after Scurlock decided to up his robbery game he recruited a bank teller with inside knowledge of the workings of the bank she worked at cirst bank the woman simply identified as Mustang taught him how to get into A bank's Vault her coaching helped after all on November 19 1992 Scurlock carried out the last Heist for the year at the hawor hills branch of the sea First Bank his next take was a whopping $252,000 within that year year his loot was over $320,000 with the stolen money Scurlock was able to live comfortably within a year Scurlock spent all of the money Washington Secretary of State revealed that Scurlock spent a lot of his Loot on environmental causes and rape crisis centers as he considered himself a Robin Hood character it was also established that he gave money to some selected friends hoping that he could later reach out to them for favors Scurlock also recruited other friends including Meyers at first he asked Meyers to help him launder the stolen money in gambling casinos in Las Vegas Nevada later he decided to integrate him into the system as later learned from Myers himself his role was to serve as a lookout he would sit in a car outside the bank premises listening to a police scanner whenever he discovered any 911 calls he would alert Scurlock who have been inside the bank on one occasion one of the heists was cut short after Scurlock was alerted by Meyers he couldn't empty the vaults and only went away with a few thousands of dollars it is the reason why he kept on evading the police for so long instead of taking the risk of spending too much time inside the bank Scurlock would abandon the heist if Myers hton to after all there would always be another chance in 1993 Scurlock chose the same Hawthorne branch of seir Bank where he made a quarter of a million the previous year first he and Myers observed the bank for several days then on November 24 the day before Thanksgiving they decided to make their move as already planned Scurlock went inside the bank while Meyers remained in his vehicle outside with the two-way radio monitoring police frequencies while the robbery was successful they only got about $98,000 Scurlock buried all the loot on the property he purchased for himself except for $5,000 which he gave to Meyers for his role in the operation that amount was the typical payment made by Scurlock to accomplices since he was The Mastermind and often took the greatest risks he often took more than 90% of the loot he would leave his accomplices at his Mercy the following year Scurlock and Myers robbed a total of five bands S three in Seattle and two in Portland stealing a total of $263,500 law enforcement agents were able to learn more about his move with each Heist Scurlock and Meers soon realized the police were beginning to close in on them they decided to change locations moving into unfamiliar territories although most of their robberies were carried out in Seattle they also experimented a couple of times with Portland Oregon it was time to carry out their first heist in the new environment it wasn't as it used to be it was completely a disaster Scurlock had to abort the robbery and Escape before the arrival of the police having realized Portland seemed to be a difficult terrain to navigate he and Myers returned to Seattle although their aim was to Target a new bank they knew they were back in a territory with which they were more familiar luckily for them they got [Music] $1,796 in the operation the money was enough to last Scurlock until the end of the year despite that he was making enough money from robberies he was living in a treehouse he had constructed with the help of a group of friends though it took them several months to build Scurlock would later claim they built it by taking meth and staying up all day and night his father was lucky to survive a mishap that happened at the Treehouse when he went there to visit moving forward the final heist Scurlock carried out in 1994 saw him return to Portland though it was a successful one but he was disappointed with the results he only walked away with $22,000 afterward he vowed never to attempt another heist in Portland and only stick with Seattle the decision would later be their undoing as it contributed to their downfall as they became more predictable fast forward to 1995 scurlock's first robbery of the year didn't go as planned it was at the Wallingford branch of the First Interstate Bank now Wells Fargo Bank at the time of the the robbery there was virtually no cash inside the Vault but despite that he was able to steal $11,000 unknown to him the bank tellers had discreetly placed die packs inside the bundles of cash as Scurlock made his getaway one of the packs exploded covering him and the cash in bright dye realizing the money was marked he had no choice but to toss all the cash out of the car window to avoid being caught despite the appointment Scurlock returned to the Madison Park branch of the seafirst bank making it his third time there he had another clean Heist making close to $300,000 it was his biggest score then everything went as he and his partner planned he had found a vault filled with cash and made his Escape long before the police arrived with such a huge amount Scurlock decided to take a long break for the next 12 months despite multiple attempts to catch him he managed to evade law enforcement agents until the following year meanwhile several law enforcement agencies including the FBI dominated Puget Sound violent crimes task force Seattle police detectives and King County Sheriff's detectives made the arrest of Scurlock dubbed Hollywood their top priority although they were aware he was only after the money they were worried that he would get to kill someone someday to avoid that they studied the series of robberies carried out by Hollywood and reviewed surveillance photographs to understand his mode of operation they found a pattern and concluded that Hollywood was likely spending a minimum of $20,000 a month with that they were able to determine when he would need more cash they wanted a case whereby they'd be waiting for him near his favorite Banks the banks where he had made huge scores in addition the Washington State Bankers Association offered a 50 ,000 reward for anyone who could provide them with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Bandit Scurlock realized the police were closing in on him and his gang then in 1996 he decided it was time to get bigin back to the team while Meyers would continue his role as the outside Lookout bigin would assist with crowd control inside the bank but after much persuasion from Scurlock despite the long break he took from the life of crime bins agreed to join the team again probably for the last time so Scurlock was prepared to strike with help from Myers and bins although he was reported to have had other accomplices over the years only Meyers and Biggins were later caught and spent some time in jail with Scurlock providing an opportunity for law enforcement to predict his next move this time around they got it they suspected that he was likely to strike on January 25 1996 following his previous patterns and that's exactly what he did however they couldn't determine the bank he wanted to strike Scurlock again escaped though narrowly on the fateful day he and his gang operated at the wedid branch of First Interstate making way with around $141,000 but Scurlock was already coveting a much larger stash of money throughout the year he and his accomplices made six figures in back-to-back heists however their success made the police devote even more time and resources toward bringing their reign to an abrupt end towards the end of 1996 the search light was strong on Hollywood he and his accomplices thought they would make one more huge hit and probably retire but they were wrong Mustang their inside informant had alerted them to the new security measures implemented by Banks to prevent robberies as a result Scurlock was aware that any money he took from a fault would probably contain hidden trackers but he was still ready to go for it he and his friends decided to carry out a test run with that particular robbery they thought they could find a way of removing the trackers as quickly as possible although not much is known about how the operation went it was reported that Scurlock abandoned his Hollywood disguise and used a ski mask instead for the final fin Heist Scurlock initially planned to hit about three banks in a single day before retiring from his criminal life his Target Banks were sea First Bank branches in Green Lake Lake City and the University District however after reconsidering he decided to aim for one big score at a single location instead he chose the branch in Lake City on November 27 1996 on Thanksgiving Eve Scurlock and his Associates walked into the seafirst bank in late City to carry out their final heist they were in high spirits and hoped it would be business as usual but things didn't go as expected it was almost closing time at the bank everyone left inside was either waiting to go home or got so immersed in what they were doing such that they couldn't think of anything suspicious and the bank cameras were also there monitoring everyone entering another pointed to customers waiting to see a teller some of them bored and getting impatient another camera faced an island in the center of the lobby then a man walked in the door he was wearing a hooded raincoat and a baseball cap his look was strange such that those who saw him were left startled they knew something was not adding up but they couldn't pinpoint what it could be even the tellers could tell from his appearance that all was not going to end well one of of the tellers who quickly recognized him hit the silent alarm button to send a signal that something was wrong next they saw another Strang looking man he was much larger than the first soon the atmosphere changed step back and stay away from the counter this is a robbery at that point the first man pulled a black pistol he had hidden when he entered the bank he continued I'm serious if you are nervous please St step out of the line and sit down while the first man was kind of threatening everyone with the gun the bigger man maintained a polite approach more surprising was how unfazed the two men were despite that the front doors of the bank were not locked who is the Vault teller I don't want any bait bills or die packs got it the first man left the other man in control of the lobby and went with the Vault teller after some minutes he returned with a huge duffel bag full of cash then he spoke into a walkie-talkie did you hear anything within the next few minutes they were gone all of these happened in less than 15 minutes the men took away money that some people may not make in their lifetime a million dollars but that would be the last robbery for Scurlock and his gang the robbery left the Seattle Police Department the Puget Sound violent crimes task force and the FBI in a state of confusion they had no clue about the identities of the two men including the third person who was likely behind the talkie-talkie unless it was some sort of distraction however as the men made away with the money a customer who demonstrated a high level of boldness followed them to a blue Dodge Caravan then called the 911 emergency dispatch Center giving them a description of the car and the direction it went to Additionally the men were able to remove the electronic tracers that the FBI had embedded within the stacks of money making it easy for authorities to be on their tale Lake City police were the first to be alerted they started patrolling in the neighborhoods looking for the getaway vehicle on that day the weather was quite unfavorable there was a severe wind and rainstorm coupled with the holiday traffic so the bank robbers found it difficult to leave the area quickly while trailing the getaway vehicle a authorities discovered they ditched it in favor of a white Chevrolet EST stroven as we later learned the vehicle was a drop car you may be wondering what a drop car is well it's an automobile that is bought with cash under a false name after being purchased it is taken to a mechanic of questionable repute to make it a bank robbery getaway worthy then after a successful bank robbery the car is dropped however before it gets dropped it's emptied and vacuumed thoroughly so as not to leave traces of hair strands friction ridges fibers or other DNA evidence including materials that could implicate the users also surgical gloves and bleach would be used to wipe down the dash steering wheel doors and other surfaces inside and out then the items used would be burnt and the ashes buried and that's how Scurlock and his gang kept on picking up a new drop for each robbery so despite that Scurlock and his gang took a van officers from the Puget Sound violent crimes task force were still able to flank it following their Instinct the officers began tailing the van intending to make a traffic stop at that point the robbers became suspicious they started rumaging through the bundles of money on the floor looking for possible electronic trackers suspicious of an impending arrest Scurlock didn't wait to be pulled over before stopping the van in the Rena neighborhood he got out of the van armed with a 12 gauge shotgun and pointed it at the Task Force officers to shoot at them he thought it was business as usual and the officers would be cowered into submission but he was wrong the gun wouldn't shoot however the officers fired at the van with Meyers and Biggins inside next thing they drove away just a few blocks away from the scene where the shooting be again the van stopped Meers exited the side door with a shotgun too he opened fire and the officers returned back but he was lucky to avoid being hit Scurlock and Myers returned to the vehicle and sped away again then someone was seen breaking out the rear window of the van and started firing an assault rifle Scurlock who was driving the vehicle turned off the headlights and dashed out of the vehicle as it was slowly moving and on foot the van would later hit a house immediately the officers rushed to the van finding Meyers and Biggins seriously wounded they would later recover two 12 gauge shotguns a US military 308 Caliber M14 semi-automatic rifle two 9mm semi-automatic pistols three Motorola two-way radios a police frequency scanner and $1.08 million in cash from the van both Sid suspects were transported to the emergency room for treatment during questioning Meyers revealed that Scott Scurlock was The Mastermind of the heist and he lived in Olympia meanwhile the Seattle Police Department had established a perimeter around the area where they suspected Hollywood could be hiding officers went door Todo trying to locate him and see if he was holding anyone hostage even emergency response teams and K9 units joined the search for Hollywood wood who was suspected to be wielding a 9mm semi-automatic Glock pistol despite the rain and extreme wind the search for Hollywood continued throughout that night the next day on Thanksgiving Day Robert and Ronald Walker made a visit to their 85-year-old Grandma Wilma Walker for dinner her house was just two blocks away from where Meyers and Biggins have been captured in Wilma's backyard was a 10-ft camper hearing about the hunt for The Fugitive and the $50,000 Bounty they decided to search their mother's property earlier Seattle police officers had approached their grandma and searched her backyard but found no signs of Hollywood then the boys decided to check the camper which had yet to be searched although the camper door was locked from the outside there was a small hatch at the front which could take a lean person they also realized the back door of the camper was locked indicating that someone was inside di one of them then picked up a ladder and peered through a small window in the compartment there he saw that someone was inside the description of whom matched that of the robber he and his brother notified the police who responded swiftly and surrounded the van waiting for the right time to get in suddenly a gun was fired from inside and police returned fire next they fired tear gas into the camper before entering an hour and a half later evening everyone a suspected bank robber who died yesterday during a standoff with police apparently killed himself Scott Scurlock Who police dubed Hollywood was found dead and a camper last when they got inside they found Scurlock dead it turned out that he had not aimed his gun at them instead he had shot himself in the head he was 41 then after Scurlock died by Suicide FBI agents searched the Treehouse where he lived during his lifetime at the 1000 500 ft Treehouse agents discovered a secret underground room there they found weapons and some of his paraphernalia for disguising which included a fake beard seven pairs of Converse shoes and a photo of Buffalo Bill an approximate sum of $220,000 in cash was also discovered both Meyers and bins were convicted each bagging 21 years in federal prison however Meyers was released in 20 13 and bins in 2015 since their release the duo had been living quiet lives distanced from the criminal activities that once Define their youth both of them appear in the documentary how to rob a bank 2 years after scurlock's death The Treehouse crumbled to the ground but that's not its end in 1997 six Law Enforcement Officers sued scurlock's estate for damages following the shootout that they said resulted in emotional support d damages 2 years later scurlock's mother and two sisters sold his home and land to cover restitution owed to the FBI as well as to pay off credit card debts and insurance bills related to the lawsuit filed by law enforcement officials apart from the case of robbery Scurlock has had a few encounters with law enforcement at first it was his Treehouse which a neighbor considered dangerous and reported to County officials to tear it down that's someone's dream home For Heaven's Sake Scurlock didn't argue with them he only hired a lawyer making the county back away in other incidents he'd been a passenger in cars driven by someone else on one of the occasions he refused to exit his vehicle when ordered by a cop fearing he would be arrested for public intoxication there was also another incident where someone had done Donuts on another person's property both cases however were ultimately dismissed and that's the tale of the man who Life Of Crime fueled by a fascination with Heist films ultimately led him down a path of self-destruction if you enjoyed this video hit the like button and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more interesting videos