
The Great Buenos Aires Bank Heist - acdanger
https://www.gq.com/story/the-great-buenos-aires-bank-heist
======
t_mann
Quite endearing Sunday afternoon read. The complete absence of violence makes
it easy to sympathise. It seems they hold no grudges amongst each other too,
which is remarkable given the sums involved.

------
anonu
> After the movie, he hopes to produce a nine-part Spanish-language TV series
> about the heist.

Isn't this loosely the plot of the Netflix show Money Heist (casa de papel in
it's original Spanish)? There's already a show!

Otherwise it's a really strange coincidence that many of the plot points line
up. Or, its just standard practice to want to dig yourself out of a bank you
just robbed.

~~~
mrleinad
Money Heist is complete fiction, that's the difference.

------
solids
They even had time to leave a note for the police:

“En barrio de ricachones, sin armas ni rencores, es sólo plata y no amores”

~~~
gus_massa
Bad manual translation:

> In the neighborhood of ricachones[filthy rich men],

> without weapons or grudges,

> it is only silver[money] and not love[feelings].

Note that all the part of the original end with ___o?es, so it has rhyme in
Spanish.

> En barrio de ricachOnEs,

> sin armas ni rencOrEs,

> es sólo plata y no amOrEs.

~~~
lazyant
"plata" is exactly "money" in Argentinian Spanish, no need for
"silver[money]", no allegory here.

~~~
ggambetta
Can confirm. In Uruguayan Spanish too.

------
pachico
The style and rhythm of this article is superb. I wish they did a movie about
it.

~~~
lucb1e
Dare I ask, did you read the article? :D

> There is also a third book, written by yet another journalist, and just this
> year, a major film was released in Argentina, heightening national interest
> in the caper all the more. [...]

> But there's also this: If they hadn't been collared, there'd be no books, or
> movies. [...]

> Beto sold the rights to his name to the producers who made the film and he
> visited the set a few times. He pulls out his phone to show me a photo. It's
> of him, dressed for a small but important role—as the cop who pulls over the
> actor playing Beto, who in the movie version is definitely making a run for
> it with his mistress.

Edit: much further down the name is also mentioned:

> El Robo del Siglo (“The Robbery of the Century”), the big movie dramatizing
> the heist

~~~
pachico
Yes, let me rephrase "I wish there was a decent movie about this written by
the same person who wrote this article". I am actually originally from
Argentina and knew about this case.

~~~
lucb1e
Ah, fair enough. For what it's worth, they do say one of the gang hopes to
make a tv series and documentary about it. I don't know about a tv series
(that sounds expensive) but a documentary can be made expensively or cheaply
and still be pretty good so that might make it, if they're serious about it.

~~~
pachico
It is true that during the last decade documentaries have raised their level a
lot, however it won't be as entertaining as a series, right? Who knows,
Netflix has knocked at the door of much worse stories than this, haven't they?

------
S_A_P
Isn’t this a similar plot to the inside man by spike lee? That movie came out
around the same time as well. 2006

------
PhantomGremlin
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Like a real-life Ocean's Eleven.

~~~
atmosx
..and as often happens, they got caught using the most dullest of possible
scenarios.

~~~
lotsofpulp
Was really let down by the stupidity of it, I was under the impression these
guys were professionals.

------
toyg
Reminds me of something I read by David Simon (author of The Wire and a crime-
beat journalist): police like to think they are smarter than criminals, and
often are, but not always.

------
sireat
Such a brilliantly insane plan:

Pretend to have a "Dog Day Afternoon" type of scenario when you really have a
"Red Haired League" underneath.

So so many things that could go wrong and some actually did.

Also reminds a bit of misdirection in first "Die Hard" and yes also a bit of
"Man Inside".

Add in a bit of Rammstein's "Ich Will" type of use of publicity.

------
tuesday20
* Why, he wonders, do people care so much for these stories?*

I can’t understand this either. I have a curiosity about heists too, but the
max I’d do is watch an occasional movie or read an article. Ask for photos?
What are they gonna do, frame and hang it at home?

Even worse is the public’s interest on serial killers, especially in the US.
There are so many movies, books, shows on them!! Women write letters to these
guys. It’s like these guys have celebrity status. This strikes me as weird.

~~~
Shivetya
sufficiently large populations leave rooms for many view points and with a
very well connected society people of similar interest can more readily find
each other.

subjects that would die or not even gain traction can now find exposure which
does give them this opportunity. it is the same mechanism by which people can
now challenge news articles and the claims of people in power.

~~~
kragen
Dillinger and Robin Hood were celebrities before the internet and before the
Green Revolution.

