Ranking the 7 Wildest Casino Heists in History

TV shows, movies, and video games tend to include incredibly intense casino robbery scenes to get your blood pumping. They aren’t all completely fiction, though, as there have been several crazy casino heists that happened in real life.

You might have wondered what you would do if you were in one of those casino heists scenarios, but these people did it. They tried robbing their way into riches and landed in jail because of it.

Casinos have been targeted a plethora of times due to the nature of their business. Some people feel wronged by casinos, or some think they are holding an unfathomable amount of money somewhere in a big safety vault.

It led to the following casino heists, but did they succeed?

Casinos should pay attention to the kind of people they hire because they might have a situation like what happened at the Soboba Casino back in 2007. A man named Ronaldo Luda Ramos hogtied 10 of his co-workers during his casino heist.

He also said that his weapon was a BB gun and wouldn’t have hurt anyone (like that makes it any better).

Ramos was found two days later at the Los Angeles International Airport and was arrested for strong-arm robbery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, and battery.

He couldn’t seem to keep quiet about the job either. Ramos and his accomplice (Eric Alan Aguilera) were the brains behind the job, and he was the pawn. Aguilera was arrested a day before Ramos, with his pregnant girlfriend being charged as an accessory.

Nearly all the money was recovered after the California casino robbery, while Ramos was sentenced to up to 18 years in jail.

You might be wondering, “Has anyone successfully robbed a Las Vegas casino?” Well, you would be shocked to find out about a man named Bill Brennan. Brennan was the cashier at the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas back in 1992.

This was no elaborate armed robbery that took place; it was simply Brennan walking out of the casino with $500,000 in cash and casino chips.

Although he did not commit or even come close to committing a vulgar crime, Brennan was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The Stardust Casino closed in 2006 and thus closed Brennan’s case.

This is one of the funniest casino robberies ever to happen, and the Stardust Casino should be embarrassed to have such a lack of security. When dealing with tons of money in a casino, you would think it would be harder to get away with something like this.

Luckily for Brennan, he remains as free as a bird and is $500,000 richer from that day in casino history.

Check out the post below for a legal way to have easy cash out at online casinos.

How to Ensure an Easy Cash Out at Online Casinos

Almost as much fun as the gambling itself is, “getting paid” is part of the process. Something about all that cash coming to you that you can put into a big pile and dive into like Scrooge McDuck… well, it just satisfies. But how do you find that...

Read More

Who else would have been robbed by a bunch of real-life ninjas with smoke bombs other than the Stardust Casino? It’s hilarious that Brennan and the smoke bombers got away with robbing a combined $1.6 million from the Las Vegas casino.

Brennan’s effort was not as much for the payout, but it was a much simpler plan, and you got to give him credit for that.

Royal Hopper and his two sons robbed the Stardust Casino not once but twice. They robbed them for the first time for $150,000 in 1991. Hopper was a security guard at the casino when two sons took the money and ran.

The three were caught, and Jeffrey Hopper (one of the sons) turned his life around into a pastor for jailhouse inmates. This Las Vegas casino robbery will be better known for the smoke bombs and ninja-like escape from the scene.

One of the scarier, more successful Vegas casino robberies happened in 1993. This one happened at the Circus Circus Casino with a boyfriend and girlfriend. Roberto Solis was a convicted murderer who was released due to his poetry.

Yes, you read that correctly. Solis wrote poetry under the name “Pancho Aguila” and led artists and poets to sign a petition that led to his release in 1991.

Heather Tallchief was his girlfriend, who got a job that transported cash in armored vehicles to ATMs. While 3 of the guards were inside at a routine stop, Tallchief drove away with $3 million in the truck.

The couple moved out of the country, but Tallchief turned herself in 2005. She wasn’t with Solis anymore and only got a mere $1,000 from the plan. That was quite a terrible turnout for her, as she was the one to make the big move there.

Solis has still yet to be found, but there’s a Netflix docuseries on it, and it could be the biggest heist in Las Vegas.

Another huge Las Vegas casino robbery happened at Bellagio, Las Vegas. It was worth $1.5 million and happened by the “Biker Bandit.” Anthony Michael Carleo wore a motorcycle helmet and was armed with a gun while stealing the money from a craps table.

He also stole $20,000 worth of chips from another casino the same way, barring the name Biker Bandit. The $20,000 he pulled off was at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino, and he took credit for his crimes.

That led to Carleo getting caught, but not before he had already lost a bunch of gambling. He sold his chips to an undercover cop and eventually was arrested and admitted to his involvement in the robberies.

Robbers will try to go back to the same place of their robbery to cash their chips or steal more, which Carleo was trying to do. His lack of plans after his casino heists led to his capture.

He probably should have tried our best casino hacks page out for a safer way to make money.

Reginald Johnson was the robber of the Treasure Island casino not one, not twice, but three times. The third time was not successful and was not the charm for Johnson. He committed all three robberies in 2000 in July, October, and December.

He was caught the third time and pled guilty to robbery and attempted murder charges. Johnson shot and injured a security guard in one of his three attempts and was sentenced to 130 years in prison.

Johnson’s mind was twisted as he laughed at the footage of himself shooting the guard. He also threatened the deputy’s life and threw another inmate off the second floor of the Clark County Detention Center. He also asked for popcorn before watching the video of his robbery attempts.

In 2000, Jose Vigoa, Luis Suarez, and Oscar Sanchez robbed the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Vigoa was involved in multiple casino heists and was a wanted man already. He didn’t wear a mask in the robbery at Bellagio and was spotted and chased down.

After getting busted, he was sentenced to four life sentences without parole on 46 criminal accounts. He also pleaded guilty to the murders of Richard Sosa and Gary Dean Prestidge II.

Vigoa was an actual criminal, and not wearing a mask was the slight detail that led to his capture.

These seven casino heists will go down in history as some truly terrible events. Some of these criminals could get away scot-free, but most were caught, and the money was returned.

It’s genuinely wild that people would even try at something as insane as robbing a casino. Granted, most people attempting something like this aren’t that smart, to begin with.

It was good that some of these instances had a funny element to them. If there were to be any casino heist worth talking about, it would be Bill Brennan’s. Hopefully, casinos have learned from their mistakes of putting tons of faith in a mere cashier.

These robberies all happened years ago so that technology advancements could catch an act like Brennan’s today.