Wyatt Redd is a freelance writer from Nashville, Tennessee. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Learning about US history? I stole $17 million, and Zach Galifianakis played me in a movie. The FBI (Leslie Jones, Jon Daly) made easy work of the case, however, and everyone involved was eventually arrested and imprisoned. Some of the friends and family members received parole, while Ghantt was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. As the FBI listened in to Chambers calls, they discovered that he was also planning to have Ghantt assassinated, hoping to keep all the money for himself. How? David Ghantt : I had a hard time liftin' it up. Its a farce that never farces; a comedy without jokes. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. The problem with the movie, however, is that the talented cast had no idea what the hell they were trying to do. 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. The two struck up a friendship during work that would continue after Campbell left the company. I knew it was over then, Ghantt said. Will Mcintyre/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. But his partners soon began to get greedy and were spending large amountswith Chambers and his wife, Michelle, even buying an exclusive mansion in cash. Chambers and his wife also made some cash payments on a few cars. Ill never pay it off on my paycheck, Ghantt said. From Oct. 6 through Feb. 20, the couple made 47 deposits totaling $271,500 at a Belmont bank, and at. hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? 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. They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. One day, Campbell was speaking to an old friend named Steve Chambers. 2023 www.gastongazette.com. I figured it had to be me. On March 1, 1988, Mexican police arrested Ghantt at Playa del Carmen. Federal Judge Graham Mullen sentenced her to between those lengths. 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. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM MASTERMIND MOVIE. Ten days later, the group was indicted for bank larceny and money laundering. Authorities had the receipt and had known it was missing. But of course, then they had to decorate that spectacular new space and so they spent tens of thousands of dollars on things like cigar store Indians, paintings of Elvis, and a bulldog dressed up like George Patton. Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. Her husband, Steve Chambers, whom prosecutors have called the main defendant, began serving an 11-year sentence earlier this year. I knew that if we could stay off the radar for about a year, we could basically live a vacation life, Ghantt said. Bubbling under the surface, however, was a deep frustration at the way he was treated. On the night of October 4, the plan went into action. Question: Which do you regret more, stealing the money or getting caught? All but one of the indicted pleaded guilty. ', He explained the glorification and glamour often associated with bank heists and bank robberies in Hollywood films is far from reality. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? According to Campbell, Chambers could help Ghantt execute a massive cash robbery of the vault at Loomis Fargo in one night. To find out more about how the thieves got caught and how long they landed behind bars, tune in the Super Heists on CNBC on Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. . On the evening of October 4, 1997, one man loaded $17.3 million in cash from the vaults of Loomis, Fargo & Co. into the back of a van. 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. You have permission to edit this article. Q: Do you appreciate your normal life now more than you would if you hadn't spent years in prison? BBC Motion Gallery. Pocketing $50,000 for himself, that man, named David Ghantt, hopped into a car of his own and headed towards Mexico. The FBI continues to search for a missing $2 million from the theft. And Ghantt hadnt really thought about the physical challenge of moving such a large sum of money. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. 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. Ghantt, now 29, was a tall, decorated Persian Gulf War veteran whom early newspaper reports likened to Huckleberry Finn. By then, the FBI had become greatly concerned for Ghantt's personal safety; they had learned that Chambers had plotted to have Ghantt killed in a murder for hire scheme using a "hit man" named Michael McKinney. VIDEO. After his release, Ghantt took a job as a construction worker and was eventually brought on as a consultant for the 2016 movie Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo Heist. Its heavy. Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. Wij, Yahoo, maken deel uit van de Yahoo-merkenfamilie. The Election, U.S. Foreign Policy, And Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Lecture, Nate Parker on Rape Allegations: 'I Don't Feel Guilty'. In fact, David Ghantt was about to commit the heist of a lifetime. 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. Both were involved in the second-largest cash heist in U.S. history, in which a group of people stole $17 million from the. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, had never been in trouble with the law. His wife, they said, got breast implants and used cash to purchase a 1998 BMW Z3 sports car. Guided by federal sentencing rules, prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Michele Chambers. Michelle Chambers received a harsher sentence than Ghantt seven years and eight months because she had violated several bond conditions. If so,check out some of these books on our AP History Exam reading list. A: When you're locked up, you live in an 8-by-10 box and you share that with two other people. Because the money in the vault was largely from banks, the crime was technically a bank robbery and thus a federal offense. 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. But Ghantt has been open about what he did and how he believes it changed him for the better. You can cancel at any time. They had initially agreed to control their spending for a year or two, in the belief that the government would vigorously track the spending habits of any and all suspects for at least a year before relenting. Two of them, Mike and Kim Goodman, are scheduled to be sentenced today. The FBI quickly connected Ghantt to Campbell, who was a former Loomis Fargo employee. Then check out another bank robber who inspired a movie, John Wojtowicz. 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 . Before he decided to steal $17 million from the bank, Ghantt had worked for years as a relatively taciturn and compliant employee. Instead, the bandits just started throwing as much money as they could into the van until they couldnt fit anymore. (His wife tells him to change that word to "selfish."). Authorities say Steve and Michele Chambers moved from a mobile home into a $635,000 house three weeks after the theft. I learned that I was an a--hole. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: PrepScholar 2013-2018. An elderly American couple who went missing in Greece in late January this year were discovered dead in Taygetos mountain range. David Bowie 's widow recently took to Instagram to post selfies, while promoting both her makeup brand and fashion line. 1) David Ghantt is underpaid and unhappy. A: People are very forgiving if you're open and honest right from the start. Until it's gone, you don't appreciate it. On March 12, a Charlotte grand jury indicted the eight co-conspirators for bank larceny and money laundering; the latter offense was included because of how they spent the stolen money. ``This defendant was second to Steve Chambers in (benefiting) from the crime,' he said. A comedy film called Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo heist and starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, and Jason Sudeikis, was released in 2016. 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. On Oct. 4, 1997, former Kings Mountain resident David Scott Ghantt finished his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo in Charlotte. When the rest of the Loomis Fargo employees showed up the next morning and found that they couldnt open the vault, they called the police. 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. 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. The Loomis Fargo heist became something of a media lightning rod. But before thehit could be carried out, the FBI swooped in and arrested Ghantt and the others. So Chambers decided to solve the problem by putting a hit on Ghantt. Across the border in Mexico, Ghantt was also living it up. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Nebraska cheerleader competes by herself at state competition, but crowd doesn't let her feel alone, Police identify victim who died Wednesday in Greensboro's 11th homicide of 2023, William Sturkey: Chapel Hill trustees 'hellbent' on winning campus culture wars, Rob Schofield: North Carolinas chronic public employee shortage wasnt an accident, KFC is bringing back a fan favorite after a nearly 10-year hiatus, Richard Groves: What the 'He Gets Us' media campaign says about the decline of Christianity, Two Things: Victim's family not surprised by no show; hospital wars in Greensboro and money well spent, Mark Elliott and Jeremy Rinker: Budget reductions at UNCG punish it for serving disadvantaged students, Samet: Guilford County wanted more black-owned businesses added to construction project after the bids were opened, Former Page High School teacher arrested on child sex charges, records show, Proposed rules for Airbnb, other short-term rentals advance in Greensboro, 'A bizarre case': Greensboro TikTok star found not guilty in fatal 2019 crash, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist proposes community hospital in Greensboro, Greensboro police officer involved in confrontation on Golden Gate Drive resigns, Jaydon Young's lessons of sacrifice mix with two-hour transfer, Virginia Tech and 2023 tournament. Elizabeth Poile was in 10th . Its 90-minutes of mugging for the camera, but the only people who feel mugged are those that pay to see Masterminds. Playing upon David's obvious feelings for her, Kelly is the . his wife-to-be. At the time it was the second largest cash robbery ever to happen on US soil. Ghantt believed the new employee would make a good replacement for his wife, but the feelings were not necessarily reciprocated. In the end, eight co-conspirators were indicted for the Loomis Fargo heist. 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. While Ghantt spent more than 6 1/2 years in federal prison, he said he usedthat time to"re-invent" himself. Dont worry, its not drug money.. In total, 24 people were convicted. But after one visit, she asked a teller "How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds?" 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 . Michele Chambers 1998 BMW for sale following the prosecutions of the Loomis Fargo heist conspirators. A: I'm in dire need for some RO's barbecue and some Tony's Ice Cream. 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. When Ghantt called Chambers to have the latter wire him more money, Chambers sent just a few thousand dollars. Within two days, the investigators found the van with $3 million in cash and the security camera tapes inside. Robbing the 7-Eleven and getting $40 bucks and a pack of Marlboros was not for me. She wondered how much she could deposit without attracting the attention of the FBI, so she decided to just ask the teller: How much can I deposit before you have to report it to the feds? she asked. They called the police, who brought in the FBI, classifying the heist as a bank robbery. After loading the massive cache of loot into the armored truck, Ghantt set the time lock on the vault, which locked the door for days unless the employees drilled through the lock. ", The much-faster-than-expected economic recovery thats followed the easing of the coronavirus pandemic has produced several encouraging develo. 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Ghantt added, I really enjoyed the movie. Chambers would hold on to most of the remaining cash and wire it to Ghantt as needed. Everybody thinks being famous and being an actor is stupendous, and the money is fantastic, but they kind of live in afish bowl. Steve Chambers and his wife (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) were a little more difficult to connect to the heist. On Oct. 4, Ghantt sent home the employee he was training and disabled two security cameras near the vault in preparation for the heist. All rights reserved. One of the best ways to learn more about U.S. history is to make sure youre taking history classes. Steven Chambers, left, and David Scott Ghantt leave federal court. 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. Ghantt and his compatriots, it turns out, had underestimated how bulky money is. David Ghantt was a nuisance to Steve Chambers and Kelly Campbell, John Wydra, a retired FBI agent who handled the case, told Super Heists.. A former co-worker told me, "Everybody has screwed up. The couple was married for 22 years before her untimely death in 2012. Victoria Beckham's family were on hand as she debuted her latest collection at Paris Fashion Week on March 3, including her and husband David Beckham's oldest child, Brooklyn Beckham .

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