From serving pizzas to robbing a bank

GironaOne of the most repeated comments among those who witnessed the surprising and unusual hostage robbery on Wednesday, October 1st, at the Banco Santander office in Girona's Eixample district is that the robbers had seen "too many movies." But perhaps if they had seen Black afternoon (Dog day afternoon), by Sidney Lumet, starring Al Pacino as the early robber Sonny Wortzik, whose every move goes wrong, would have thought twice. In the film, just as happened in Girona, three robbers break into a bank and take seven hostages, but the plan quickly falls apart and the police surround the building. The final similarity is that the robbery of the First Brooklyn Savings Bank ends up being broadcast on television, turning into a veritable media circus, while the robbery of the Banco Santander, which also attracted countless onlookers and blocked street traffic, is broadcast via audio thanks to the indiscreet use of a cell phone. On the corner of Emili Grahit and Rutlla streets in Girona, however, the film ends after about 20 minutes, just long enough for the Mossos d'Esquadra and the local police to realize that the robbers are novices and, despite having hostages, decide to rush in and arrest the robbers. The assailants don't resist and throw to the ground the two fake pistols they had threatened employees and customers with. A happy ending, but with open questions.

The full box

What drove three Neapolitans in their 50s to carry out a robbery with minimal chances of success? One of the most striking aspects is that at least one of the attackers worked at a pizzeria near the bank. This proximity surely made the group aware of the bank's possibilities, familiarize themselves with its routines, and decide to rob it around 2:30 p.m., shortly before closing time. "I don't think it was a coincidence that the robbery occurred on the first day of the month at noon; surely that's when there's the most money in the till," says a bank customer.

A phone on the hook

Employees and customers were tied up with plastic ties and held on the upper floor of the office. One of the attackers entered wearing a helmet, pretending to be a delivery driver, and the others wore work vests and masks. One of the employees, who was on the phone at the time of the robbery, left his cell phone on in a strategic location, allowing the other to immediately tie up heads and notify the police. The robbers didn't point their simulated weapons at anyone, but displayed them on their waistbands. They were cool enough to wait for the cash register, which had a 10-minute delay, to open, but by the time they had the loot in their hands, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and Girona Municipal Police vehicles were already surrounding the bank. Plainclothes officers discreetly strolled in front of the exterior windows to monitor the robbers' movements. It was they who gave the order to enter as soon as someone could open the door and saw that the robbers wanted to surrender.

An employee of a neighboring business admits that a robbery of this nature is a rarity and more typical of the 1980s. "Back then, there were so many bank robberies that I remember a woman recommending not going to banks either early or late, because that's when the robberies usually happened."

The detainees are three men from Naples, aged 48, 49, and 53, one of them on prison leave. The Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) in Girona has taken over the case. They are accused of robbery with intimidation and violence at the bank.