Las Vegas casino robberies: A history
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Robbing a casino is always going to be a gamble. Some get away with it, but many don’t.
After the recent arrest of Dshante Styles, 33, of Las Vegas, in connection with the heists of six off-Strip casinos across Clark County, here is a look back at other casino ripoffs here in Sin City:
— On Jan. 8 of this year, Caesars Palace was robbed just before midnight. “Give me hundreds or I’ll shoot you,” the robber told a manager working in the main casino cage, a arrest report for James Booth said. Booth, 37, was nabbed just days after the robbery.
— On Nov 9, 2022, $6,000 was taken from the cage at Resorts World. Zubaid Al Jarmi, 25, was taken into custody on Nov. 16. According to reports, at the time he was on probation for a 2020 robbery of the casino cage at The Venetian.
— In April 2022, a federal grand jury indicted a Las Vegas police officer accused of robbing three casinos and stealing about $164,000 in early 2022. Caleb Rogers was accused of taking about $78,900 in cash from the Rio on Feb. 27, about $78,810 from the Red Rock Resort on Nov. 12 and about $11,500 from the Aliante Hotel on Jan. 6. According to court filings, Rogers allegedly ran up to two employees at the Rio’s sportsbook and yelled, “Get away from the money. I’ve got a gun. I will shoot you!”
— In 2019, a Las Vegas police officer shot and killed Michael Charles Cohen, 49, after an armed robbery at the Bellagio. Cohen was killed after he shot a cop. Police said. Cohen also robbed the Bellagio in 2017.
— In December 2010, Anthony Carleo, the son of a Las Vegas judge, took $1.5 million in chips from the Bellagio and was dubbed the “Bellagio Bandit.” Carleo was caught after he tried to sell 14 $25,000 chips at a cut rate to an undercover Las Vegas police officer.
— In June 2001, police arrested Jose Manuel Vigoa, who was the ringleader of a gang involved in several heists including the robbery over $155,000 from the casino cages at the Bellagio on June 3, 2000, as well as the fatal shootings of two armored car guards outside a Ross Dress for Less store in Henderson in March 2000.
— In 2000, 27-year-old Reginald Johnson committed three robberies over a six-month stretch at Treasure Island, nabbing $55,000 in July, about $30,000 in October and nothing in December 2000, when he was foiled by bars the casino had installed around the casino cashier’s desk. Johnson shot a security guard, who survived. He was arrested the next day, according to a Review-Journal report from the time, while walking barefoot down Lake Mead Boulevard in a Hello Kitty nightshirt and a Santa Claus hat.
— In October 1993, an armored car driver named Heather Tallchief pulled off one of the most notorious casino heists in Las Vegas history outside Circus Circus when she drove off with an armored van, stealing about $2.9 million. After 12 years on the run, Tallchief returned to the U.S. from The Netherlands in 2005 to turn herself in. She got 63 months, or just over five years, in federal prison, and was released in 2010. Her co-conspirator, Roberto Solis, is still at large. The saga inspired the 2021 Netflix docuseries “Heist.”
— In September 1992, a Stardust sportsbook cashier named William John Brennan walked out of the hotel with more than $500,000 in cash and gaming chips and was never seen again. The famed Stardust was imploded in 2007.
