Inside the Ocean’s Eleven-Style $30 Million Cash Heist
The meticulously planned, Ocean’s Eleven-esque heist that saw the theft of up to $30 million in cash from a money storage facility has sent shockwaves across the United States, raising concerns that the perpetrators could evade capture for an extended period. According to a former FBI agent interviewed by The U.S. Sun, this brazen crime may take years to solve.
In an operation reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster, the thieves successfully infiltrated the Gardaworld facility located in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024. They managed to do so without triggering any alarms, highlighting the sophistication of their plan.
On the morning of April 1, 2024, aerial footage revealed a gaping hole on the south side of the building, which had been hastily boarded up, with debris scattered on the grass nearby. Former FBI special agent Terry Rankhorn, who dedicated decades to investigating cyber, fraud, and wire fraud cases, speculated that the hole was likely the thieves’ exit point.
“They probably had hand carts on a truck outside,” Rankhorn suggested. “They pulled up, shuttled the money out on that, and made off with it. In Los Angeles, that’s relatively close to the Mexican border. If I were guessing, the smart move would have been to get it across the border, as it’s probably easier to do there.”
Rankhorn emphasized the challenge of spending such a massive sum without drawing attention. “You can’t just walk into a bank with $25 million and deposit it without raising significant scrutiny,” he noted. He believes it could take years before any names connected to the March 31, 2024, heist come to light.
“The people who committed this crime will eventually be discovered, but patience is key,” he added. “The FBI has been searching for D.B. Cooper for decades without giving up, until it was deemed unlikely that he could still be alive.”
The D.B. Cooper Mystery
The infamous case of D.B. Cooper, which remains unsolved to this day, began on November 24, 1971. A man, later dubbed D.B. Cooper due to a typographical error in a news report, boarded Northwest Orient Flight 305 in Portland, Oregon, headed for Seattle with a one-way ticket costing $20. Sporting a black attache case and a brown paper bag, Cooper settled into seat 18E and ordered a drink.
Shortly after takeoff, at approximately 3 PM, he handed a note to flight attendant Florence Schaffner, revealing that he had a bomb in his suitcase. The calm hijacker demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills in exchange for the 36 passengers on board.
The president of Northwest Orient authorized the ransom payment, instructing the six crew members to comply with Cooper’s demands. For about two hours, Flight 305 circled above Seattle while authorities scrambled to gather the ransom and parachutes, as well as mobilize emergency personnel.
Upon landing, a representative from the airline boarded the plane, delivering the cash and parachutes, after which the passengers were allowed to disembark. Cooper then ordered the pilots to fly southeast toward Mexico City at the lowest airspeed possible without stalling the aircraft.
At 7:40 PM, Flight 305 took off again, and shortly thereafter, Cooper instructed the crew to remain in the cockpit while he proceeded to the aft ramp in the plane’s tail section. A stewardess caught a fleeting glimpse of Cooper tying what appeared to be the ransom money around his waist. That was the last anyone saw of him.
Shortly after 8 PM, somewhere over southwest Washington, the cockpit instrument panel indicated that the rear exit door had been opened, marking Cooper’s departure from the aircraft as he parachuted into the stormy night sky with the ransom and the items he had boarded with. Despite extensive search efforts, no trace of Cooper or his parachutes was ever found.
Infinite Memory
Rankhorn, who spent 21 years with the FBI, stated that although the heist was meticulously executed, the thieves, much like D.B. Cooper, will never truly be in the clear and will eventually make a mistake. “Congratulations, you now have 20 to 30 years of looking over your shoulder, and more than likely, you will be apprehended in the end,” he warned.
“If you’re involved in this type of crime, you must be prepared to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life. There’s no grace period, and there’s no statute of limitations on this,” he continued.
Rankhorn also discussed the risks associated with involving multiple people in a crime, noting, “The number of individuals involved exponentially increases your chances of being discovered.” He quoted the famous pirate Captain Kidd: “Three people can keep a secret when two of them are dead.”
He suggested that the biggest challenge for the thieves will be how to spend their stolen cash. “It may sound silly, but the reality is that in today’s increasingly digital economy, it’s rare to conduct transactions in cash,” he explained. “You can’t just carry a suitcase of cash around and pay for everything.”
Rankhorn suspects that the burglars have already integrated the cash into the banking system through money laundering operations they likely set up prior to the heist. “They will probably sit on this for a while, but if they have any brains at all, they’ve already integrated it into the banking system,” he said. “Liquid assets like cash are dangerous; other criminals will kill you for it, or even your associates might turn on you.”
The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office stated that the investigation is ongoing, but it would be inappropriate to comment further. The Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Potential Breakthrough in the D.B. Cooper Case
A significant new clue may be pivotal in solving the notorious D.B. Cooper case, following revelations from the children of suspect Richard Floyd McCoy II in 2024. They believe they possess evidence that their father was indeed D.B. Cooper, as the parachute he used to escape is still stored in their garage.
Chante and Richard III ‘Rick’ McCoy reached out to YouTuber Dan Gryder, who has been investigating the case for years. Gryder has expressed that a modified military parachute found in the McCoy’s garage could potentially be the very one used by Cooper. “That rig is literally one in a billion,” he stated. The siblings withheld this information until their mother passed away, fearing she was complicit in their father’s crime.
Many theorists believe McCoy is the infamous hijacker, having jumped from a United Airlines flight over Utah in 1972 after extorting $500,000. Gryder disclosed that the FBI has reached out to him following his findings on YouTube. He claimed that FBI agents met with him and Rick in 2023 to examine the harness and parachute as evidence, along with a logbook that Chante discovered, which aligns with the timeline of the hijacking.
After the handover, an FBI agent contacted Rick a month later to request permission to search the family property. “It’s a good sign that they’re taking this seriously,” Rick noted, reflecting on the thorough search conducted by the FBI and local authorities in their home.
