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UPDATED 4/16, 7:02 p.m. ET: The $30 million GardaWorld heist is apparently a head scratcher for investigators, but their findings so far suggest that this wasn’t an ordinary robbery.
TMZ claims that it obtained a number of call records made to the money storage facility in the San Fernando Valley. These apparently reveal a pattern of false alarms over the past year, with only one reported as a possible burglary last July, despite it also being labeled as a false alarm. Another false alarm arrived on March 30, just one day before the actual robbery.
Three alarm calls were made on March 31 with only one of them confirmed to be legitimate after authorities discovered millions of dollars were missing from a safe.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ that the frequency of false alarms, along with staffing issues at GardaWorld, has raised suspicions. The sophisticated nature of the crime, as well as the lack of arrests or named suspects, might signal that the heist was a well-planned operation.
See original story below.
What may very well go down as the biggest cash heist in Los Angeles history took place on Easter Sunday, as first reported by Richard Winton for the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. Up to $30 million—in cash, mind you—was taken from a money storage facility in the San Fernando Valley area on the evening of March 31. At the time of this writing, those responsible for the bold burglary had not been located, nor had certain aspects of the operation been explained.
Winton’s report cites sources as saying the group had made entry by way of the building’s roof, after which they hit the vault. But the success of the heist has investigators zeroing in on two directly related questions, per CNN sources: How did this arguably Heat-esque crew not trip the alarms, and what if one of them had an insider connection to the building?
When reached for comment on Thursday, an LAPD rep confirmed to Complex that the investigation remains active, adding “at this time there is no information that will be released.”
Complex has also reached out to the FBI's Los Angeles office. This story may be updated.
As you can imagine, Michael Mann enthusiasts couldn't help but meet this news with a cavalcade of Heat 2 jokes. The celebrated auteur’s 1995 classic Heat, featuring a brilliantly assembled cast led by Al Pacino as LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna and Robert De Niro as prolific thief Neil McCauley, notably boasts some elaborate Los Angeles-based heistery of its own.
Below, savor some of this week's Heat talk.
As for the actual Heat 2, Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner released their prequel-and-sequel novel back in 2022. A film adaptation, meanwhile, is presently in the works.
