Episode 375 of the Bowry Boys, the great bank robbery of 1878.

Hey, it's the Bowry Boys!

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Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys, this is Greg Young.

And this is Tom Myers, and today we're bringing you the story of a classic heist from the Gilded Age,

one that was perpetrated by a host of foul creatures from the criminal underworld.

This is the story of one of the greatest bank robberies in American history.

This was the top story in the New York Times, dated October 28, 1878, under the headline,

a great bank robbery. Quote, the Manhattan Savings Institution, on the northeast corner of Broadway

and Bleaker Street, was the victim yesterday of one of the most daring and successful burglaries

ever perpetrated. It is estimated that $3.5 million in cash and securities were carried off,

and beyond mere suspicion it is believed that the police have no clue of the robbers.

And in the final tally, it was determined that the thieves stole nearly $3 million in assets,

and today's money, that sum would be worth nearly $82 million. It's a staggering amount.

The Cricks responsible for this shocking crime were considered the most successful gang of bank robbers

in the 19th century, not butchacity and the Sundance Kid and not Jesse James.

And nope, the criminals in this story may have names that are rather unfamiliar to you.

We're talking about Marm Mandelbaum, Shang Draper, and the Mastermind, a duplicitous fellow named

George Leslie. He was so famous for his skills that he would be nicknamed the King of the Bank

Cropbers. So how exactly did you rob a bank in the 1870s? Well, listener, we'll tell you how, as we

ocean eleven ourselves into the story of Leslie and his gang here. Some details of the story are

still rather unknown, and much of it is steeped in legend, and it's immortalized in a kind of

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