This Here's a Stick-Up: The Big Bad Book of American Bank Robbery

This Here's a Stick Up covers the history of bank robbing in America, from the days of the old West gunslingers like Jesse James and the Dalton Gang, to the infamous bank robbers of the Great Depression (Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson) to the infamous Stopwatch Gang, who ripped off a series of Los Angeles banks wearing masks of U.S. presidents. (Their exploits were portrayed in the Keanu Reeves moviePoint Break). From the first heister to scribble a demand note to the first cyber criminal to pull off a heist using a laptop and a modem, this book will have it all, and then some. Author Duane Swierczynski will be utilizing information culled from actual FBI files from the 1930s up until today. Additional chapters will include a rundown of the 100 biggest hauls in bank robbing history; another chapter will feature what you should do if you find yourself in a bank that's being robbed; still another chapter will chronicle the 25 oddest bank robberies in history. The book will be written in a breezy, irreverent, and often humorous style and will have much in common with such bestsellers as The World's Dumbest Criminals and The Worst Case Scenario books.

Table of Contents:
I. THE MEN BEHIND THE MASKS. 1. The Carpenters' Hall Heisters. 2. Edward Smith. 3. Edward W. Green. 4. The James Gang. 5. The Reno Brothers Gang. 6. George Leonidas Leslie. 7. Johnny Dobbs. 8. The Dalton Gang. 9. The Bill Doolin Gang. 10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 11. Adam Worth. 12. Henry Starr. 13. John Ashley and the Everglades Gang. 14. Herman "the Baron" Lamm. 15. The Newton Boys. 16. Harvey Bailey. 17. Wilbur Underhill. 18. Bonnie and Clyde. 19. John Dillinger. 20. "Pretty Boy" Floyd. 21. "Baby Face" Nelson. 22. "Machine Gun" Kelly. 23. Eddie Bentz 24. The Barker-Karpis Gang. 25. Willie Sutton. 26. William Liebscher Jr. 27. Bobby Wilcoxson and Al Nussbaum. 28. Patty Hearst. 29. Stanley Rifkin. 30. The Cops Who Were Robbers. 31. The Boys. 32. Dougherty and Conner. 33. Patrick "Paddy" Mitchell. 34. Vladimir Levin. 35. "Hollywood" Scurlock. 36. The North Hollywood Gunmen. 37. The Trench Coat Robbers. 38. The Average Joe Bandit. 39. Pritchert and Guthrie. 40. The World Trade Center Heisters. II. A TREASURY OF BANK HEISTS. 41. How to Rob Banks in Three Easy Lessons. 42. Casing the Joint. 43. Shut Up and Live. 44. Hurry Up! It's the Law. 45. Meet the Goldilocks Bandit. 46. Reservoir Dorks. 47. All About the Benjamins. 48. The Naked Cities. 49. Let's Book 'Em. 50. Repeat Offenders. III. APPENDIXES. The Stick-tionary. The Hard Numbers. This Here's a Bibliography. Index.

About the Author :
Duane Swierczynski is a senior editor at Philadelphia Magazine. He has written and edited for such magazines as Details, Maxim, Men's Health, The New York Post, and George Magazine. His first book, Have You Seen This Man? The Encyclopedia of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List will be published by Checkmark Books in 2002.