When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” I guess it ain’t so anymore.
Heck, in my town, banks were getting robbed about once a week for a while last year.
That’s probably an apocryphal story.
But beyond that what he meant was “Because that’s where the poorly guarded money is.”
A bunch of money is still there. The “poorly guarded” part is what’s changed.
Reminds me of this:
Bank robbers can only dream of the haul that was there for the taking in Iraq:
A lot of robberies target gas stations, because the criminals are broke and in nicotine withdrawal (“a carton of Malbro and all the cash in the drawer”). For some reason, these aren’t often counted as “drug related crimes”
The smart criminals who organise in groups and actually plan have entirely moved onto jewels. Much more lucrative, less security, not as easily traced and plenty of buyers overseas who don’t care where they came from.
The people behind the 2013 Carlton Cannes heist got away with over $100 million in jewels and have not been caught.
Anyone stupid enough to still try robbing a bank is probably a lone meth / heroin addict acting in desperation.