20. George Leonidas Leslie and the Manhattan Savings Institution Heist

This weeks story takes us back to the late 1870’s in Manhattan, New York, where a seasoned criminal was planning his most daring heist yet – a robbery of The Manhattan Savings Institution on Broadway and Bleecker. Despite several hiccups in over three years of planning, including two actual murders, the team of crooks led by George Leonidas Leslie successfully pulled off what was at the time the highest value criminal heist in history. Join Carly and Tab as they unpack the first ever historically bad bank heist.

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Historically Bad is created and produced by Tabitha Festa and Carly Sullivan

Case Sources:

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2009/10/07/fact-tops-fiction-in-story/47310025007/

Conway, J. North. (2009) King of Heists: The Sensational Bank Robbery of 1878 That Shocked America. ISBN 978-1-49-304053-7

Walling, George W. (1887) Recollections of a New York Chief of Police. Caxton book concern, limited. ISBN 978-0-60-835831-4

https://www.villagepreservation.org/2022/04/28/the-big-bank-heist-at-broadway-and-bleecker/

https://crimereads.com/the-heist-of-the-century-who-cracked-the-manhattan-savings-and-loan-safe/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-manhattan-savings-bank/27936506/

https://www.nytimes.com/1878/10/28/archives/a-great-bank-robbery-the-manhattan-savings-institution-robbed-three.html

https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2021/11/historic-heist-the-great-bank-robbery-of-1878.html

The Bowery Boys: New York City History Podcast episode #375: The Great Bank Robbery of 1878

https://thehustle.co/the-architect-who-became-the-king-of-bank-robberies

https://history.hsbc.com/collections/global-archives/manhattan-savings-institution

https://history.hsbc.com/collections/global-archives/manhattan-savings-institution/records-relating-to-financial-crime/notice-issued-by-the-manhattan-savings-institution-to-alert-the-public-about-a-robbery-at-their-head-office-at-644-646-broadway-new-york-city-usa-0

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/george-leslie-bank-robber-heist-history.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1927/12/31/when-new-york-was-really-wicked-king-of-the-bank-robbers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Savings_Institution_robbery#cite_note-33

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Leonidas_Leslie