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(More customer reviews)"IN MY WORLD, YOU ARE EITHER THE HUNTER OR THE PREY, AND I AM THE HUNTER. VEGAS WAS MY PREY. I TELL MY CREW: VEGAS MAKES IT, VIGOA TAKES IT!"
** JOSE VIGOA **
The first thing for potential readers to comprehend is that this entire story is absolutely true! This is not some phony, unbelievable, implausible, mockery of a Vegas caper like the "OCEANS ELEVEN" (THE REMAKE) "OCEANS TWELVE" AND "OCEANS THIRTEEN" Hollywood movies. For a period of TWENTY-FOUR MONTHS AND NINE DAYS, STARTING ON MAY 28, 1998 a "storming" of Las Vegas occurred when SIX (and nearly seven) world-class hotels were "hit"! The Desert Inn was involved in an attempted robbery which failed as it escalated into a bloody firefight. The other casinos, armored car companies, and businesses suffered losses exceeding three-million-dollars. This entire rampage was accomplished by a crew of merely three and possibly four men led by the violent and cunning Cuban born, former Russian/Cuban special force soldier Jose Vigoa.
This improbable string of successful robberies in the absolute heart of the world renowned Las Vegas, Sin City, is even harder to grasp when you take into account that the hotels employ thousands of security personnel in addition to the Metropolitan Sheriffs and police. The hotels also utilize thousands upon thousands of cameras. Jose planned and approached each heist like a military operation. Some of the "interesting" things he found out is that the new modern non-mafia controlled hotels had become in his own words: "A SOFT TARGET." Armored car guards cannot brandish their weapons on casino property no matter how much money they're transporting, according to hotel policy. "Security employees, long the backbone of Vegas protection, were disarmed and ordered not to engage criminals with deadly force on hotel property, much less provide backroom retaliation." The newer hotels had open cashier cages without bars or even bulletproof glass. The city was in the midst of runaway growth, and as a result, the police department was seriously undermanned. All the while Jose researched every variable imaginable during his pre-robbery scrutiny. He would follow armored cars on their routes for months at a time. He rightly believed that faulty "getaway" plans is what hindered many would-be casino robbers. To prevent this problem, during two nighttime raids the "audacious gang" stole seventeen vehicles from a Thrifty Car Rental lot. The stolen cars were then dispersed in crucial spots of each escape route, so they could quickly change cars so the "APB's" would have law enforcement searching for the wrong cars. This scheme worked so well that after a couple of heists, the cops and FBI lost the trail so quick that Jose would go back to the crime scene and laugh at the investigation that was just started at the most recently robbed hotel.
How did Jose's well planned heists turn out? Well, let's use the MGM Grand Hotel as an example. "The MGM, at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, is not only the grandest complex in Las Vegas with its 170,000 square foot casino, 6.6 acre pool complex, four thirty-story towers, nine signature restaurants, and 5,044 guest rooms. It is also the biggest hotel in the world. Jose and his boys stole more than $1.5 million in currency and checks from the main cashier's cage in TWENTY-EIGHT-SECONDS!! On April 22, 2000 shortly before dawn, Jose sat by the slot machines in the NEW YORK-NEW YORK HOTEL AND CASINO and waited for the hotels two armed guards to collect money from the gaming tables. He then jumped out of his seat in front of a slot machine and pulled his .357 magnum chrome revolver out, and said, "Don't move to one, and told the other one to "Get out of here!". "I guess the guards knew who I was. They froze." One of his crew appeared from the other side with his gun drawn, picked up the smaller cart, and placed it on top of the main dolly. Then they simply pushed the cart through the casino and out the door.
Think this sounds like fiction? Well, the introduction states that the prosecuting attorneys cooperated with the author, and Jose from prison cooperated fully and even signed a release, wrote detailed reports, with color sketches and blue prints. Vigoa also permitted the author to interview his former wife and three daughters, and authorized the author, without restrictions, to view his legal records. This is a meticulously researched book. What also enhances this whirlwind trip through the greatest crime spree in modern times are hospital pictures of armored car drivers, pictures of shot up armored cars, pictures of arrests, hand drawn robbery plans by the criminal himself. *NOTE* It's almost humorous to see in the lower corner of some of the exhibits: "COURTESY JOSE VIGOA." You will not be able to put this book down and you will be shaking your head from side to side as the share enormity of these crimes hit you. I don't think anyone would believe it as a movie.
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Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip to the Tune of Five World-Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Millions of Dollars
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