The Biggest Heists in American History, Ranked

On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper extorted $200,000 in ransom (worth over $1.5 million in 2026) aboard Northwest Orient Flight 305 before leaping from the Boeing 727's aft stairs over Washington State. As of 2026, it remains the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.

Though the fortress-like Old U.S. Mint in San Francisco survived the 1906 earthquake intact, its vault was breached from within in 1901. Chief cashier Walter N. Dimmick used a duplicate key combination to steal $30,000 in gold coins (over $1.1 million today) before his capture.

On a Sunday morning in September 1994, an inside security guard let robbers in blazers into Tiffany & Co.'s famed Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan. Without firing a shot or breaking a single display case, the crew used keys to loot over $1.9 million in diamond jewelry and gold watches.

On August 14, 1962, armed men wearing police uniforms detoured a U.S. Mail truck carrying Federal Reserve shipments along Route 3 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They made off with $1.5 million in untraceable small bills (over $15 million in 2026 dollars), and the cash was never recovered.

On October 29, 1964, Miami beachboys Jack Roland Murphy ("Murf the Surf") and Allan Kuhn climbed through an unlocked fourth-floor window at New York's American Museum of Natural History. Finding the burglar alarm battery dead, they snatched 24 gems including the 563-carat Star of India sapphire.

While her coworkers loaded ATMs inside the Circus Circus hotel-casino in Las Vegas on October 1, 1993, Loomis armored driver Heather Tallchief drove the truck straight to a private jet hanger with $2.95 million. She eluded the FBI for 12 years in Europe before surrendering in 2005.

In June 1981, tightly coordinated robbers wearing disguises intercepted employees opening the First National Bank of Arizona branch in Tucson. Timing the vault's morning release mechanism to the second, they escaped with $3.3 million in the largest bank heist in state history.

In December 2004, four Kentucky college students disguised as elderly scholars gained access to the rare book room at Transylvania University in Lexington. After stunning the librarian, they attempted to flee with $5.7 million in treasures, including Darwin's 1859 "On the Origin of Species."

Billed at the time as the "Crime of the Century," an 11-man gang spent two years picking locks at the Brink's armored depot on Prince Street in Boston's North End before striking on January 17, 1950. They bound guards and escaped with $2.775 million (equivalent to over $36 million in 2026).

On June 12, 1924, the notorious Newton brothers teamed up with corrupt U.S. postal inspector William Fahy to ambush a Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul mail train near Rondout, Illinois. Using tear gas bombs, they stole $2 million in cash and bonds (over $36 million adjusted) in U.S. rail history's top heist.

On October 20, 1974, burglars bypassed three steel doors without forced entry at the Purolator Security vault in Chicago, escaping with $4.3 million in cash (roughly $27 million in 2026). Despite massive FBI sweeps and a local mobster's eventual murder, most of the money vanished.

On September 12, 1983, Wells Fargo guard Victor Manuel Gerena overpowered two fellow employees at the West Hartford, Connecticut depot, injected them with a sedative to avoid bloodshed, and loaded $7.1 million into a rental car. As of 2026, Gerena remains an international fugitive.

Immortalized in "Goodfellas," Lucchese crime family associate Jimmy Burke orchestrated the pre-dawn December 11, 1978 raid on Lufthansa Cargo Building 261 at New York's JFK Airport. Six gunmen escaped with $5 million in untraceable cash and $875,000 in gems (worth nearly $29 million in 2026).

On the night of December 12, 1982, thieves disabled the antiquated alarm system at Sentry Armored Courier Corp. in the Bronx, New York, and hauled out 4,000 pounds of cash totaling $11 million (over $35 million today). Only a fraction of the loot was ever traced or recovered.

After his shift at the Loomis, Fargo & Co. branch in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 4, 1997, vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt loaded $17.3 million in cash bricks into a company van—actually leaving $20 million behind because the van was full. Wild spending soon exposed the crew.

On September 12, 1997, former regional safety inspector Allen Pace III led five childhood friends into the Dunbar Armored facility in downtown Los Angeles. Timing the security cameras he once inspected, Pace's crew ambushed guards as the vault opened and escaped with $18.9 million in cash.

In the early hours of January 2, 1972, Lucchese crime family burglars Samuel Nalo and Robert Comfort arrived by limousine in formal wear at Manhattan's five-star Pierre Hotel. Alongside six accomplices, they handcuffed 19 staff and guests and looted $27 million in diamonds, gems, and cash.

Over the weekend of March 24, 1972, Ohio bank burglar Amil Dinsio and his crew disabled seismic alarms at the United California Bank in Laguna Niguel, California, and used dynamite to blast a hole straight through the reinforced concrete vault ceiling, looting up to $30 million from 500 boxes.

Modern crews have targeted massive commercial depots: in March 2010, thieves rappelled through an Eli Lilly warehouse roof in Enfield, Connecticut, stealing $76 million in pharmaceuticals. On Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024, burglars breached a GardaWorld vault in Sylmar, Los Angeles, taking $30 million in cash.

In the early hours of March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as Boston police officers talked their way into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, bound two guards, and spent 81 minutes cutting 13 masterpieces from their frames—including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer worth $500 million. As of 2026, it remains unsolved.