We’ve all heard helicopters flying overhead and probably don’t give them much thought. Think again. Last year, the village of Calumet Park was the focus of a large-scale investigation including the ATF, FBI, state police, local police, NBC and ABC News helicopters, and a search dog. After all the TV news reports, a friend sent me an email with “Cal-Park makes the big time!”
The saga started in Homewood at the Jewel/Osco store where an armored truck was robbed of $1.1 million at gunpoint. There was an Apple AirTag tracking device, valued at $29.00, in one of the money bins that led law enforcement right to a house in Cal-Park. The last census shows the little village has a population of about 6,755 with an average annual income of $55,700.00.
A video of the bust surfaced on social media showing all of the above-mentioned agencies with officers all over the place. Neighbors were outside watching. Cars were being towed. The house, garage and yard were all searched. At one point, a medium-sized white dog that reminded me of Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham’s beloved and devoted Isis, joined the search inside. The dog was stark naked. No bullet-proof vest. However, enough agents had already secured the scene, so the dog was safe.
(Despite the white appearance, Lord Grantham’s dog was a yellow lab. According to SnowyPinesWhiteLabs.com, there is no such thing as a white lab. They are cream-colored and “essentially the paler version of your classic yellow lab. In fact, the American Kennel Club recognizes white labs as yellow labs.”)
A friend of mine who has a fantasy, I repeat, a FANTASY, of armored truck heists offered the first criticism I heard about the busted heist. Apparently, they should have high-tailed it out of there and headed to Mexico. Not home. Both suspects in this case had residences in Chicago, so their connection to Cal-Park is not known to the general public. Nor do we know what else was part of their plan.
This reminded me of the 2012 prison break at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago, where two inmates tied together bed sheets and dental floss, squeezed through a window, and scaled down 17 stories on a cold winter night.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the escapees hailed a taxi a few blocks away but separated. One was found three days later hiding in an apartment a few doors down from his childhood home. He later described the escape at his NEW sentencing, as a mystical event of “dropping seventeen stories, and lived to tell, having survived by the grace of God.”
The other went home to visit mom in the suburbs and was found 18 days later sleeping in a boiler room of an apartment complex in a neighboring village. The prison break was quite impressive and exciting as everyone was waiting for a news update. However, it seemed that a plan was lacking.
So anyway, back to the heist – the tracking device stirred much interest. First, knowing how far the device can track would determine how far and where to flee. “An AirTag can be tracked miles away, or even in a different country, provided it is within Bluetooth range of an Apple device on the ‘Find My Network.’ There are close to a billion devices on the Find My Network, so it’s highly likely that an AirTag will come into contact with one and update its location in the Find My App,” according to Screenrant.com. “However, this is unlikely to be the case in a remote location, such as in the wilderness or an unpopulated area.”
The AirTag is used frequently by travelers who want to safeguard their luggage. However, law enforcement would have more sophisticated tracking measures. Pegasus Technologies boasts that another tracker, “the TracPac system is the ONLY cash tracking device that can be completely hidden between just two bills of currency. It is flexible and can even be folded in half. It’s hidden inside a larger stack of cash within a cash drawer or safe. Upon the theft of the cash, the TracPac automatically activates and begins transmitting its tracking signal.”
I wondered if such tracking devices that rely on Bluetooth, radio frequency, or GPS have replaced dye packs (and how they work). I found reports as recent as 2023 where dye packs are still used by banks. The American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners explains, “The dye packs are simulated stacks of currency which contain embedded electronics and chemical components which, when activated, emit a stream of red dye and tear gas designed to mark the currency, clothing and other objects in contact with the robber as well as to encourage the abandonment of the money. The dye packs are activated electronically once the robber exits the bank.” (An online search for “Exploding Dye Pack” shows some funny videos.)
So apparently, high-tailing it to Mexico or wherever is no guarantee of eluding authorities. If people rob banks because they want to live a life of luxury, you can’t hide in the wilderness like the Unabomber. You’d want to be out there buying lots of expensive stuff and somewhere along the way, a trace of your trail will likely be found. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to handle something like this. The anxiety level would be over the top just attempting the robbery. But it wouldn’t stop there. How would you live where you have to keep looking over your shoulder?
The Cal-Park heist prompted me to watch 1996’s, Set It Off, about four young women in such dire straits, they decide to rob a bank. Queen Latifah was too gung-ho and mocked Jada Pinkett, who wanted a Plan B. While Pinkett was on the wrong track for participating, she was on the right track for a backup plan. It was a good movie and shows what can go wrong. Let’s not forget what happened to Bonnie and Clyde. It’s much better to leave this a fantasy. A final thought – the two men who escaped from the Chicago prison were both initially serving time for bank robberies.
Too big for a small town was an interesting article. I learned several things about tracking devices. I had no clue. Why would I? And I’m probably not in a minority here.
Movies do give the average person some insight about tracking devices. TV is loaded with cop shows. And the occasional movie about a bank robbery can be interesting and discouraging because the perps mostly get caught and tracking devices are used.
The different official law agencies used in this story was impressive. They were all alerted because of a 29.00 dollar electronic device that worked perfectly. It was within Bluetooth range. Nice picture of the device. It has good uses such as following luggage when traveling.
Even a police dog was part of the vast investigation. Nice picture of a white lab. Actually yellow as research discovered.
I was surprised that so much money was taken from a Jewel/Osco. I just never gave that a thought. That is something to dwell about. There are many such stores. So tempting for those who dare. Not me.
Also used by law officials are tracpacs and dye packs. The dye packs are funny to see in movies. The bad guys usually look like fools in a funny way.
So why not use all three tracking devices? If one don’t function maybe the others will. Just a thought.
Then the movies of failed bank robberies were brought up. Set it Off, and my fave Going In Style. Both were the perfect crimes until they weren’t for one reason or another. Hopefully they have a lesson to those who might have the fantasy of a perfect bank heist, which brings up the point that Cal-Park may be a small town but a big story can pop up anywhere. That was a big story. And the 17 story escape of the other bank robbers was stunning to think about. No way would I try that. But impressive that they made good with the escape but as with the crime, the escape was not thought through. They were caught again. And crime don’t pay. Usually.
Glad you learned something. Tracking devices were an interesting subject to research. I haven’t seen “Going in Style.” I saw that Morgan Freeman is in that among other big names. Freeman was good in “Hard Rain” with Christian Slater, where an armored truck is robbed. It leaves a lot to the imagination but again, better left a fantasy.
This article was very good. I got a kick out of the story of how men who have the where-with-all to pull off a robbery of such magnitude and the stupidity to get caught in such a way.
The article makes me want to say “what if” they had been smart enough to have a plan? 1.1 million dollars could go a long way. I can’t seem to resist to point out what they should have done. Tough guys can figure out how to pull off the stick-up. The old guy in the group steps up and says, “Ok, we got the loot, now what?” In these days, it’s hard to believe people don’t know that tracking devices are in everything. They should have thought of a place to hide the loot and it was not a little house in Calumet Park.
They should have researched what it takes to block the tracking device, have a location with a concrete box or lead cover that would block that signal, dump the loot in there and sit on it for a few months. Then after the heat is off, go there and get the money, bill by bill. Next, get the stuff out of the area and have a plan on how to launder the money. Become a farming family in southern Illinois or somewhere. Start a small business or something where you can bring in lots of cash that nobody notices. Wait a minute. If bad guys don’t have the patience to be smart, just forget the whole thing. Most bad guys are not of “To Catch a Thief” caliber.
Thank you. I had fun researching all this. Yes, it seemed odd that they went to a house but there had to have been a next step they never got to. I like your ideas of starting a new life as a farmer and starting a business. Like taking on a new identity. It would be a challenge to have such patience to sit on the money and handle it little by little but it makes sense. There would need to be other connections for laundering money I would think, and the more people involved, the riskier things can get.