At 1:30 p.m. on Friday, November 29, 1983, a man the FBI called the Yankee Bandit walked into the lobby of a Bank of America in the Melrose district of Los Angeles and stood in line. When he got to the teller window, the well-dressed man politely informed the woman on the other side of the counter that he had a gun and would she please hand over the cash. After tucking $1,740 into a briefcase, he apologized for any trouble, thanked her, and left.
Thirty minutes later, The Yankee was sixteen blocks west at the City National Bank in the Fairfax district going through the exact same routine and walking out with $2,349. Still moving west, he hit a Security Pacific Bank in Century City 45 minutes later, but bailed out with no money when the teller starts freaking out on him. Undaunted, he walked one block over and cordially robbed the First Interstate Bank there for $2,505.