For a time, it was nicknamed "the hillbilly heist" because nearly all of the major players in the case came from small towns around Charlotte. Dont come to me for a treasure map, Ill put it to you that way., Michael Sainatos writing has appeared in the Guardian, Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, Buffalo News, the Hill, Alternet, and several other publications . What happens at the end of mastermind? Biography Comedy Crime A guard at an armored car company in the Southern U.S. organizes one of the biggest bank heists in American history. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. The judge said he would recommend that Michele Chambers be given mental health treatment in prison. I started just chucking it as fast as I could, he said, adding the sweat was pouring off of me.. Its about the 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery also known as the hillbillly heist the second largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. His partners, who planned to stay behind, agreed to send him his full cut of the money after the heat from investigators had died down. The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. There is nothing of value in this movie. Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. "Wells Fargo and Loomis forming armored car company", Last edited on 21 February 2023, at 16:45, Learn how and when to remove this template message, painting of Elvis Presley on black velvet, "FindACase | United States of America v. Steven Eugene Chambers", "The Unperfect Crime | New Dominion Pictures", "Sunday Evening/Late Night September 9, 2001", "Loomis Fargo heist: Q&A with guy who stole $17 million", "MASTERMINDS - Movie Production NotesCinemaReview.com", Ghantt and other gang members arrested in March 1998, Steven Chambers released from prison; announces he is a "retired criminal", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=October_1997_Loomis_Fargo_robbery&oldid=1140756292, Overcoming the mindset that led to the part David Ghantt played in the Loomis robbery and how he started on a new path was the subject of the book, Within days of the robbery, the case was depicted on the television criminal reporting show, An expanded two-hour special episode of the crime documentary series. When I interviewed for this job about three years ago, I told (my boss) that I had some dirt in my background, and if he went digging for it, he would find it. If I could get far enough away in a very short amount of time, my odds of getting away with it were pretty high, Ghantt said. 2023 www.gastongazette.com. The morning after the height, employees of Loomis Fargo realized they couldnt open the vault. Ghantt and seven others eventually pleaded guilty in federal court to charges directly related to one of the largest cash heists in history while more than a dozen other family members, friends and associates of those involved in the theft were found guilty of related charges, including money laundering. With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly employed co-worker home early (reportedly at 6 p.m) who had been assigned to train with him. David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. He and his wife,. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. Authorities said they hired a man named Michael McKinney to meet up with Ghantt and kill him, under the guise that he was planning to give Ghantt more of the money he was owed. Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, though he was released on parole after five. In February 2009 the Associated Press reported that Chambers had chosen to describe himself as "changed". The couple was married for 22 years before her untimely death in 2012. On Oct. 4, Ghantt sent home the employee he was training and disabled two security cameras near the vault in preparation for the heist. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . He then proceeded to load about $17.3 million in cash (approximately $11 million of which was in $20 bills) into the back of a company van. Als u uw keuzes wilt aanpassen, klik dan op 'Privacyinstellingen beheren'. To make a successful getaway, Ghantt had to lift nearly 2,800 pounds of currency. The former star . Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. Custom Content. Its 90-minutes of mugging for the camera, but the only people who feel mugged are those that pay to see Masterminds. But even though he worked for a company that regularly moved millions of dollars, David Ghantt himself was underpaid. He completed his prison sentence in November 2006. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. Chambers was always considered the "mastermind" behind the theft, but he doesn't talkmuch about his Loomis heist days, not even when actor Owen Wilson portrayed him in the 2016comedy about the heist titled"Masterminds.". Chambers, it turned out, became the biggest source of evidence for the FBI. I realized a lot of things that were wrong with me as a person. David Ghantt spent 11 years in the military and now works as a film consultant on the side. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. Ghantt added, I really enjoyed the movie. People still laugh when they think of the "velvet Elvis" Chambershad in his Cramer Mountain mansion, or how his former wife showed upat a local bankto deposit wads of cash that she assured the teller was not "drug money.". A: Zach and I have a runningtext conversation going, but he's very busy. I think Zachs a hell of an actor. You see, theres a reason Loomis Fargo used armored cars to move large amounts of cash. They received sentences and probation ranging from several years to 11 years and three months in federal prison for Steve Chambers, who was also fined more than $3,500,000. Answer: The painful one is getting caught. This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 16:45. ``None of these defendants , in this court's opinion, are capable of making substantial restitution, no matter what they do, or no matter what they try,' Mullen said. Although the FBI investigation was able to quickly connect Ghantt to Campbell, connecting Ghantt to Chambers was a more difficult task. No rift here! Inside the truck, they found Ghantt's ring and surmised this was a sign of Ghantt's intention to end his relationship with his wife. Not only was Ghantt the only unaccounted for employee the morning after the heist, there was also footage of Ghantt moving the cash into the back of the Loomis Fargo van. As Campbell would later explain, If David got killed, there couldnt be any finger pointing. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. But because he still owes millions to the IRS, he couldnt be paid. Ghantt, Chambers, and Campbell came up with the following plan: Ghantt would remain in the vault after his shift on the night of the heist, Oct. 4, 1997, and let his co-conspirators into the vault. Ghantt was. Pour en savoir plus sur la faon dont nous utilisons vos donnes personnelles, veuillez consulter notre politique relative la vie prive et notre politique en matire de cookies. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or www.Twitter.com/TheGazetteKevin. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when "the heat was off," Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. But in addition to a wife,. Chambers also promised to join Ghantt in Mexico as soon as she could, but she admitted to Super Heists she never had any intention of actually making the trip. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. Chambers had known enough to insist that no one blows through a ton of cash immediately after the robbery, but once he actually had his hands on the money, he couldnt follow his own advice. Separating the Red and Blue. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. Hes way smarter than youd think he would be because he tends to play Bozos. Finally, in March 1998, the FBI traced a call from Ghantts phone and he was arrested in Mexico. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. Though she agreed to cooperate with the government when she pleaded guilty to bank larceny and money laundering in August 1998, Michele Chambers didn't tell the FBI she still had the ring until December, when she turned it in. . A lot of people ask me, Oh, do you have any regrets? No, not really. [1], Steven Chambers finished serving his sentence in November 2006. Q: You came to the North Carolina mountains during Hurricane Irma, but what do you miss about Gastonia? The plan to rob Loomis Fargo was spawned by Campbell and her friend Steve Chambers, during a casual bonfire at Chambers home. Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. But neither of those things would matter after he met Kelly Campbell. Instead, the two started hanging out on the beach together and became friends. Harper Beckham and her dad David Beckham dressed in matching black outfits as they headed to a Paris Fashion Week event being thrown by Harper's mom and David's wife Victoria . David Ghantt attends the after party for the Premiere Of Relativity Media's "Masterminds" on September 26, 2016 in Hollywood, California. I felt cornered and one day the joking in the break room about robbing the place suddenly didnt seem so far-fetched.. mesurer votre utilisation de nos sites et applications. Officers responded just after 5 a.m. Wednesday to an area near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Carolyn Coleman Way and found , "The Wall Street Journal just so happened to have a supportive op-ed ready to publish within hours of the meeting. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. The next day, the Chambers, Campbell, and some other notable parties were arrested in Charlotte. He is an uncomplicated man stuck in a monotonous life. Where ever it was, it is long gone now. Guess what? ABC7 Eyewitness News Watch Now Michele Chambers declined to make a statement at the hearing. Youre better at planning bank heists than David Ghantt. I really don't miss that guy. The Election, U.S. Foreign Policy, And Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Lecture, Nate Parker on Rape Allegations: 'I Don't Feel Guilty'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCR9zyGkbo. Collections. David Ghantt is more than just a man who was a part of one of the worlds largest heists, he's more than a funny name associated with a comedy movie, he's actually just an every day person who once made a really bad decision. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. I got no real complaints, not at this point., The heist became the premise for the movie,Masterminds, released in September 2016. Steven Chambers, left, and David Scott Ghantt leave federal court. Former Cramerton Police Chief David Young soon got wind of the Chambers excessive spending spree and reached out to the FBI. And so this third camera caught everything that happened next. When he was done, the man drove off to a nearby printing press, where the money was distributed into private vehicles amongst a handful of people. Campbell knew theyd need the help of the warehouses vault supervisor, who just happened to have a crush on her, and she called Ghantt to ask for his help. Ghantt, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a relatively "boring" life working as the vault superintendent at a Loomis Fargo armored car warehouse just outside Charlotte, North Carolina making a relatively meager paycheck, when he crossed paths with Kelly Campbell. He had stayed in a luxury hotel and paid for expensive food and activities such as scuba diving and parasailing. Campbellwho was married herselfrepresented something new and exciting. The pair were both from the United States but had lived in the Peloponnese region of Greece for the past few years. Afterward, outside the courthouse, her parents said the length was about what she had expected. Follow him on twitter: @MSainat1, 20 Years Later: Masterminds of One of the Largest Bank Heists in U.S. History, The CIAs Changing Take on the Climate Emergency, Emancipation, Hollywoods Best Civil War Film Ever. However, the fact that a man who formerly lived in a mobile home was lavishly spending money on a luxury home ($635,000 in cash), expensive cars, and a ring ($42,000 in cash) eventually made it easy to connect the dots. From there, the money was moved from the company vehicle to private vehicles. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. The jokes between Ghantt and Campbell about their disgruntlement with their jobs took on a more serious note when Campbell introduced Ghantt to an old high school classmate of hers named Steve Chambers. Lindy Hop: The Dance That Defined The Golden Age of Jazz, Inside The Unsolved Disappearance Of Jennifer Kesse, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, David Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of. Galifianakis seems to be playing a character out of Dumb and Dumber 3: The Dumbening; Kristen Wiig plays what could only be described as her worst SNL character; Owen Wilson plays an Owen Wilson character; and Sudeikis plays a bumbling hitman who cant pull the trigger after he finds out his target shares the same name and birthdate, which is the dumbest twist since the Martha revelation in Batman vs. Superman. A: I hate to think about what I'd be doing if I hadn't gotten caught. He had never been in trouble with the law. Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Q: North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis portrayed you in "Masterminds." But Ghantt has been open about what he did and how he believes it changed him for the better. He also took various measures to change his appearance, such as shaving, after a patron at a restaurant pointed out to him that he "looked like the man who robbed a bank of $20 million. He made his own self miserable. AI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think, DeSantiss Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook, Erase the Memory to Erase a People? Once the heat was off, Ghantt would return and they would split the haul evenly. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. If you can see the obvious flaw in this plan, namely that Chambers would have no reason whatsoever to actually wire Ghantt any money, then congratulations. He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. The problem with the movie, however, is that the talented cast had no idea what the hell they were trying to do. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. Zach Galifianakis played David Scott Ghantt, with other roles played byOwen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. You can't get barbecue slaw in this hedonistic state (Florida), and there's nowhere to get real ice cream here like Tony's. The missing couple were identified as David Harrison Robinson and his wife Lucretia Robinson. For the New York State assemblyman, see. The judge said he doubted she would be able to pay the $4.8 million restitution, but said federal law required him to impose it. I got to eat my meal perfectly, but every 5 minutes, someone wanted to shoot a selfie with Zach or an autograph from Zach. After finding himself in prison he made a concious choice to do things differently. He made it across the border just as his deception was discovered. They would then load as much cash as they could carry into a van. Some people screw up big like you, some people screw up small.". See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. David Ghantt was a nuisance to Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, John Wydra, a retired FBI agent who handled the case, told Super Heists.. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy - who author Diamant described as "very nice." It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that. The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points, How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. The connection to Chambers took more time. In addition to his phone calls with Ghantt, Chambers began extravagantly spending the money, even though the co-conspirators had agreed to lay low for a year or two. Authorities began to hone in on the group and put a wire tap on Campbell's phones. David Ghantt : [voice-over] Steve was a petty thief, mostly known for stealing tiny wheelchairs from pediatric hospitals. Will California Save the Iconic Joshua Tree? 4 million images and real time event coverage from coast to coast , ImageCollect is the only celebrity photo site you'll ever need. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of CNBCs Super Heists, airing Monday at 10 p.m. Ghantt, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a relatively boring life working as the vault superintendent at a Loomis Fargo armored car warehouse just outside Charlotte, North Carolina making a relatively meager paycheck, when he crossed paths with Kelly Campbell. The plan was for Ghantt to commit the robbery and then quickly leave the country for Mexico but to leave the bulk of the cash with Chambers. If so,check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. Project #ShowUs. In the end, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo heist. Also charged were several innocent relatives that the robbers had enlisted to help get safety deposit boxes in various banks. Then you end up in a eight by ten cube and youre going to share that cube with two other people. 1) David Ghantt is underpaid and unhappy. If I hadnt of done that, Id probably still be in North Carolina and I would not have got to meet a lot of the interesting people that Ive got to meet. David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis), an employee of Loomis Fargo, robbed his own vault, left the $17.3 million in cash with his co-conspirators, Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) and Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and fled the country to Mexico. David Bragg . Director Jared Hess Writers Chris Bowman (screenplay) Hubbel Palmer (screenplay) Emily Spivey (screenplay) Stars Zach Galifianakis Kristen Wiig Owen Wilson Please subscribe to keep reading. So Chambers decided to solve the problem by putting a hit on Ghantt. The pair began to daydream about whether they could really pull off the heist. I work construction. Question: Which do you regret more, stealing the money or getting caught? David Ghantt on stealing 17 million dollars from Loomis Fargo (Crime & Entertainment Full Interview) Crime & Entertainment 3.77K subscribers Subscribe 4.8K views 1 year ago David Ghantt. David Scott Ghantt: Vault Supervisor David Scott Ghantt was the vault supervisor at the regional branch of Loomis, Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was like OK, yeah, we can do that, she recalled. I figured it had to be me. I knew that if I did something like that, I would take a huge amount of money, Ghantt said of the brash robbery on an upcoming episode of, To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the. Defense attorney Jim Griffin laid out his team's side of the case to the jury for more than two hours, arguing . The next day, Steve and Michelle Chambers, Kelly Campbell, and four others were arrested.[6]. Even though they drove away with less than they had initially intended, they still had more than $17 million in hand. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. Campbell and Chambers made themselves easy to catch, what with their lavish spending. [7][8], Rocket Science, a 1998 double-disc album by Charlotte-based radio personalities John Boy & Billy, includes a track ("Marvin: The Loomis Caper") mocking the defendants. Going to prison helped me grow up as a human being. Masterminds is an atrociously bad comedy, and absolutely everyone is to blame. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. (Ghantt works as a heavy machine operator in the construction industry.). FBI security footage of David Ghantt in the midst of the Loomis Fargo heist. So with the assistance of a co-worker and possible love interest as well as a small-time criminal, David Ghantt pulled off the then-second-largest cash heist in U.S. history. Chambers served 11 years before being released. On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. [citation needed], It was later confirmed by the FBI that more than 88% of the stolen cash had been located or otherwise accounted for. Outside the building, Ghantt met up with Campbell, Chambers, and others who were involved in the plot, and drove off to a printing business called Reynolds & Reynolds in northwest Charlotte. Culler acknowledged that she had overheard her husband and co-defendant Kelly Campbell talk about the plan, ``but she thought it was fantasy world.'. ', He explained the glorification and glamour often associated with bank heists and bank robberies in Hollywood films is far from reality. To its credit, Masterminds does nail down the broad strokes of the real story, although there were a couple of noteworthy details the film left out. Its easy to get somebody to do something if you know that they are that infatuated with you.. Creative Insights. The Army veteran and Hunter Huss High graduate was captured in Mexico five months later when one of the others involved in the theft, Steve Chambers, decided he needed to tie up loose ends by having Ghantt killed. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. My Proof: https://twitter.com/DavidGhantt/status/827476087596789760, My AMA time is up now, but thank you all for your participation in the Ask Me Anything session :-), New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, https://twitter.com/DavidGhantt/status/827476087596789760. Then check out another bank robber who inspired a movie, John Wojtowicz. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. According to Campbell, Chambers could help Ghantt execute a massive cash robbery of the vault at Loomis Fargo in one night. Ghantt was joking in the breakroom with fellow Loomis Fargo employee Kelly Campbell. Anonymous tips had the FBI monitoring Chambers calls. [1] Tips had led the FBI to begin monitoring Chambers's (and his wife's) activities, but it was not until the FBI recorded a phone call from Ghantt in Mexico that the final connection was made. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? Theres barely a laugh in the entire film, which looks like it was shot entirely in one take while the actors were still working out their characters. Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. Chambers promised to wire him money in Mexico until the investigation blew over and Ghantt could return to North Carolina. Galifianakis will play the armored car driver, David, who evades authorities, will be searching for his co-conspirators who betrayed him, Kelly (Kristen Wiig) and Steve (Owen Wilson). ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score, How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, Is the ACT easier than the SAT? David GhanttRetweeted Iraqveteran8888 @Iraqveteran8888 Dec 9, 2022 Elect me President and I'll fire everyone, free Julian Assange, and pardon Edward Snowden. Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning and called the police. It was an open-and-shut case and all authorities had to do now was to find the culprit and identify Ghantts accomplices. Q: How do you tell prospective employers you once stole $17 million? . After this look at David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo heist, read about a more successful robbery, the Antwerp diamond heist. Day in and day out, he drives an armored vehicle,. All but one of the indicted pleaded guilty. So he hatched a plan to rob his employers. An FBI criminal investigation ultimately resulted in the arrest and conviction of eight people directly involved in the heist, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them, and the recovery of approximately 88% of the stolen money. Philosophically, now looking back I wouldnt be who I am now if I hadnt gone through all that, said David Scott Ghantt in an interview with the Observer. CREATIVE. While Ghantt waited for the heat from the robbery to die down, Chambers would send Ghantt small amounts of money. He would eventually be arrested in Mexico in March 1998 after one of his co-conspirators put out a hit on him under the false suspicion he was the only prime suspect authorities were aware of at the time. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. But it was Ghantt, now 47 and living with his wife and daughter in Jacksonville, Florida, who actually took more than 2,000 pounds of cash and just drove away from his job. The Current TikTok Ban Doesnt Go Far Enough. You have permission to edit this article. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix tout moment en cliquant sur le lien Tableau de bord sur la vie prive prsent sur nos sites et dans nos applications. The True Story of David Ghantt and the Loomis Fargo Heist, Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. 20 years ago,on the night ofOctober 4, 1997, David Scott Ghantt loaded $17.3 million of cash from the bank vault in Charlotte, North Carolina he was employed to supervise into a van. Her husband, Steve Chambers, whom prosecutors have called the main defendant, began serving an 11-year sentence earlier this year.