They say that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Whether or not you agree with that sentiment, there are certainly individuals whose exploits seem incredibly unrealistic. Let's take a look at...
- The robber who charmed a bank
- The phone-whistling hacker
- The man who built a "Killdozer"
- The pirate queen of China
- The tale-spinning hook-handed private eye
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| Phreakers would mimic the sounds used to control phone networks... (Alexas_Fotos) |
The Robber Who Charmed a Bank
Picture a bank robbery and you probably envision gun-toting criminals and skilled safe-crackers. You probably wouldn't expect the bank staff to simply hand over the keys to a friendly customer - but that's what exactly happened in 2007 Antwerp.
Claiming to be Carlos Hector Flomenbaum of Argentina, the robber frequented an ABN Amro bank until he got friendly with the staff. Posing as a successful businessman, he didn't seem like a risk - he even brought in chocolates. He became considered a "trusted trader" and the bank gave him an electronic access card to the vault. It wasn't until €21 million in diamonds went missing that they realized the magnitude of their mistake.
"Carlos Hector Flomenbaum" (or at least, the man who had his passport) bypassed a million euro security system and committed the biggest robbery by a solo criminal... using chocolates, a stolen passport and charm.
The Phone-Whistling Hacker
Before personal computers were a thing, there existed a community of hackers who targeted phone networks. The networks relied on sequences of tones to carry instructions - including where a call should connect to. Proto-hackers discovered that faking these tones ("phreaking") would let them direct their call - and if done properly, it was untraceable and unchargeable. This meant that a phreaker could make costly long-distance calls for free.
One such phreaker was Joe Engressia (later known as "Joybubbles") who was born blind... but also had perfect pitch. As a pre-teen, he discovered that whistling a certain way could cause a call to disconnect - and a helpful phone engineer told him that the frequency of his whistle matched the one used by the network to control their lines. Before long, the whistler was able to make free calls at will... or at least, he was until the FBI tracked him down.
Other phreakers had to use technology for their music. One such device was a "blue box" that produced a selection of tones used by the phone companies, like a miniature and highly specialized soundboard. The device was based on a leak of the tones used by AT&T, carelessly included in a technical journal.
If the blue box wasn't to a phreaker's taste, there was another method. Discovered and popularized by John Draper (who would later adopt the handle "Cap'n Crunch") it used the "Cap’n Crunch Bo’sun Whistle" available with packs of Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal as a key to the telecommunications kingdom.
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| It's easier to open a safe when they give you the keys... (Anonymous) |
The Man Who Built a Killdozer
In June 2004, Marvin Heemeyer got into a heavily modified bulldozer and demolished thirteen buildings in Granby, Colorado - the total damages coming to around $5 million. He only stopped when his machine became stuck in debris - Heemeyer took his own life rather than surrender to the SWAT team surrounding the vehicle.
Heemeyer had lost a property dispute with his neighbors and blamed the town as a whole for not taking his side. Deciding that he wanted revenge, the welder modified a bulldozer with two half-inch thick layers of steel plating, sandwiched around another layer of concrete. The vehicle was outfitted with assault rifles and video monitors, allowing the bitter pilot to view and fire on targets surrounding the improvised tank.
Now nearly invulnerable to anything short of an airstrike, Heemeyer rampaged through town, wrecking buildings owned by those he considered enemies. He was eventually boxed in by a civilian-operated construction vehicle - and his attempts to ram through a building to escape disabled the dozer.
The Pirate Queen of China
Normally one would associate pirates with the Caribbean, but the most successful pirate the world has ever known was Zheng Yi Sao (aka Shi Yang, Shi Xianggu, Shek Yeung and Ching Shih) of China.
Born into a sailing family, Shi Yang married into the pirate life. She was plying the boats and brothels when she met pirate (and future spouse) Zheng Yi in 1801. Zheng Yi had ships, but opportunity beckoned when his cousin (also a pirate with a fleet) was killed. The aspiring pirate queen negotiated a truce between the fragmented factions, organizing them into fleets identified by flag colour... that just so happened to put the "Red Flags" of her husband in a commanding position.
When Zheng Yi was killed a few years later, our protagonist became known as Ching Shih. She married her husband's ward Cheung Po Tsai - who was set to inherit command of the Red Flags. Richard Glasspoole (a member of the East India Company and prisoner of the fleet) estimated that they had a combined strength of around 1800 ships and 80000 pirates.
Unsurprisingly the Qing dynasty tried to bring an end to the pirate queen. She defeated a fleet of 35 ships, then another of 100 sent to take her down. Having called on their allies, a joint Chinese-Portuguese fleet trapped the Red Flags for three months. The conflict eventually ended with the pirates being pardoned and folded into the Chinese navy. Zheng Yi Sao herself was granted land and opened a gambling house!
The Tale-Spinning Hook-Handed Private Eye
He may not have been a criminal like the others on this list, but the exploits of Jay J. Armes certainly seem to skirt the law. He cut a unique figure thanks to a set of prosthetic hooks in place of his hands - the childhood legacy of playing with railway explosives. He didn't let that handicap inconvenience him though - he even had one hook fitted with a functioning revolver.
Realizing that his dreams of being a surgeon were probably unrealistic, Armes got involved in Hollywood. He played an assassin in an episode of Hawaii Five-O (and claimed to have been involved in dozens of other productions) before becoming a private-eye. There are questions about just how accurate some of his tales are - for example, he claimed to have glided into Cuba to recover $2 million for a client. On the other hand he was involved in the recovery of the kidnapped Christian Brando (son of Marlon Brando) and in another case was praised by prosecutors for eliciting a murder confession from Donald Weber.
Other exploits included claiming to have killed people in multiple fights, supposedly being been shot on multiple occasions, driving around El Paso in a black limousine with an armory on board and possessing a personal menagerie of exotic animals!
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