Winning big in Vegas is a dream come true, a life-changing moment that can happen in a push of a button or the roll of the dice. Every year millions of people flock to this desert oasis in an attempt to hit the big time, to win that poker tournament, or to just get lucky with a spin of a wheel.
Not many do. Some go broke and leave despondent, while others swear that they’ll be back to try again next year.
There is another breed of gambler, however, that flock to the casinos here, not in the hope of winning millions, but with a master plan of how to steal those millions.
Movies have showcased daring plans devised by groups of masterminds who study floor plans meticulously, time the guard rotations, monitor the camera positions, take notes on the vaults where all the loot is kept, watch how the money is moved from the cages, and memorize where all the exits are so the getaway can be a clean getaway.
It can be quite a complicated affair, especially with the array of security measures installed throughout the casino floor and beyond. It wasn’t always so, however. Back in the day, September 22, 1992, to be exact, the Stardust Casino had a few security guards and a camera or two. Surprisingly, their bare-bones security system dissuaded their patrons from robbing them. The same couldn’t be said for their staff.
Having worked at the casino for four years as a sportsbook cashier, Bill Brennan was pretty much part of the furniture and truth be told didn’t stand out in any way, shape, or form. He was average, medium everything, and kept to himself. And he was soon to become a legend.
It was hard to say what turned him from being the ideal employee, but some pointed the finger at the high roller he started to associate with, or perhaps it was the supervisor’s position he got declined for. Whatever the actual catalyst, it was soon to see him become one of the stars on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
No one can say how long he planned the heist but, disgruntled at his mistreatment, he mapped out in his head all the camera angles, what times they monitored certain areas, and where the guards patrolled. With all this information, he set about executing his plan in broad daylight, brazenly.
There were no explosions, no guns brought into play, no fast cars, no loud distractions, and no accomplices. This was a one-man show and it was its simplicity that made it work.
What Bill Brennan did was to randomly collect stacks of chips and dollars out of sight of the cameras and guards over a period of hours, hide them all away and when his shift was over simply head on home, loot in tow.
The disappearance of the money was soon discovered, but Brennan was not immediately under suspicion, being the ideal employee that he was. When it dawned on the casino that he was actually the culprit, the police raced to his apartment, kicked his door down, but too late to catch the unlikely thief.
He was gone, his cat was gone and there was no trace of the $500,000 he had squirreled away that day.
From being the perfect, unassuming employee, Bill Brennan had joined a very rare breed of casino thief – the one who had gotten away with it. He had robbed a casino in such an unassuming way, no flash, no bangs, no walloping, that his name would go down in Las Vegas lore.
Despite the fact that his face was plastered all over America’s Most Wanted List, Bill Brennan and his cat were never seen or heard from again – and a legend was born.
In hindsight, it may have been better for the Stardust Casino to have given Brennan his promotion. Odds are it would have been the cheaper bet.