The Most Violent Bank Robbery Of The Century The FBI Files

It was 3:40 p.m. on May 9, 1980, when five heavily armed men stormed into a Security Pacific Bank branch in Norco, California. But this was not a typical bank robbery. The men were not drug addicts desperate for a fix, nor professional thieves looking for a quick score. They were survivalists, led by a born-again Christian who believed the apocalypse was coming—and that they needed money to prepare for it.Within minutes, the robbery spiraled into something the Riverside County Sheriff's Department had never seen before.

When Deputy Glyn Bolasky arrived at the scene, the robbers opened fire with military-grade weapons—AR-15s, HK93s, a G3 rifle, and a shotgun. Bolasky was hit five times, his cruiser riddled with 47 bullet holes. The getaway van crashed when a pellet from Bolasky's shotgun struck the driver in the back of the head, killing him instantly.What followed was a 25-mile running gun battle through two counties. The four surviving robbers commandeered a pickup truck and engaged dozens of officers from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and the California Highway Patrol in a rolling firefight. They fired over 200 rounds at one deputy alone, ambushed pursuing officers, and forced a police helicopter out of the sky.By the time it was over, Deputy James Evans was dead—murdered in an ambush on a mountain road. Another robber was dead. Eleven people were wounded, including eight law enforcement officers.

Thirty-two police vehicles had been destroyed by thousands of rounds of ammunition. The crime scene stretched 40 miles—the largest in U.S. law enforcement history.The surviving robbers—George Wayne Smith, Christopher Harven, and Russell Harven—were captured after a two-day manhunt in the San Bernardino Mountains. They were convicted of 46 felonies and sentenced to life in prison without parole. But the story does not end there. The trial that followed shook the community to its core and raised questions that still plague law enforcement today: PTSD among officers, religious extremism, and the militarization of local police forces.This is the story of Norco '80—the most violent bank robbery of the century.

This is The FBI Files. Press play—if you dare.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fbi-files--7331575/support.

Thanks for listening to The FBI Files. New cases every week — follow now so you never miss one. This podcast is a narrative retelling based on publicly available information and is intended for entertainment purposes.

This episode includes AI-generated content.