Anecdote: my mother worked at a bank in Montgomery, AL, in the 1950s. At one point it was necessary to transport several hundred thousand dollars in bearer bonds from the bank where she worked to another bank a few blocks away; I honestly don’t remember why or the amount, but it would have been the equivalent of millions today.
However, per her, to the bank managers it seemed stupid and overly conspicuous to hire an armored truck to take a couple of manila envelopes full of bearer bonds about 6 blocks, but at the same time, while the transfer wasn’t common knowledge or in newspapers, it was known to several people at the bank and the powers-that-be were worried that the wrong person might get wind of it and try to pull a heist. Therefore, they let it be confidentially known within the bank and within the bank alone that the transfer would take place at 2:00 p.m. with the armed bank guard carrying the bonds in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.
The guard really did leave at that time, trench coat and briefcase and handcuff and all, and got to the other bank unmolested. However, by that time the bonds had already been taken by my mother and another teller and two young private detectives. My mother and the other she-teller carried big purses with the bonds, and the two detectives were armed (concealed side holsters), and they were paired off to look like they were two couples going to lunch. Per my mother, she and the other teller were not allowed to tell anybody at the bank what they had done in case the bank decided to use a similar stunt again (I’m guessing everybody she worked with knew by lunch the next day), but they were allowed to keep the purses (and she did for many years).
I’m wondering if more often than not the handcuffed briefcase was a dummy.
I’ve seen it in the real world, back in the 1970s. But I don’t know if the thing was truly real, or if the guy was just a wanna-be. The latter was more likely.
Seems more a thing the Mafia would do “You bring that right here, or without a limb.”
Fascinating story, Sampiro. Thank you for sharing it.
I have often thought that having more than one courier with only one the real one makes more sense than merely sending a single courier. Two could be obvious with a third one acting more covertly (as in the above example with your mother). It wouldn’t cost that much more and would definitely make the job of intercepting it considerably more difficult.
There are plenty of cases of false couriers sent to be decoys. When they shipped the Cullinan Diamond (the largest discovered) to the UK, a package was sent by boat with two detectives guarding it at all times.
The real diamond was sent in a plain box via parcel post.
You can cut off a person’s hand at the wrist joint with a bone saw in about 15-20 seconds; probably less with a recip saw. A machete or hatchet is problematic given the probability of missing the joint and hitting the bone, resulting in a messy compound fracture with loose skin remaining rather than a clean severance. Cutting through-hardened high-tensile steel with bolt cutters is surprisingly difficult if you don’t have a fixed surface and good leverage. (The quality of steel handcuffs varies widely; cheap ones that are standard law enforcement issue are typically cheap chromed or nickel plated steel, but for the purpose of this exercise we’ll assume the courier shelled out for quality restraints.) However, standard handcuffs are almost trivially easy to pick as they use simple warded locks of a few common keyway designs, so they are easy to bypass. There are a few high security restraints, however, which use barrel locks that require more time and skill (and special tools) to bypass.
However, it is probably most easy to just cut through the case handle. I don’t know of any commercially available cases with a rigid, high strength handle or other secure hardpoint. Nearly all have a simple pinned handle that can be easily cut or broken. As a last resort, the attackers could use a small cutting charge or pyro-actuated cutter to cut the chain or handle. A cutter of sufficient cutting capacity would be about the size of a small flashlight.
As for the realty of the trope, I’ve known a number of couriers (both document couriers and precious gem couriers) and I’ve never heard of any of them using a handcuffed briefcase for transport. Aside from being patently obvious, it would also be very awkward, especially for commercial air transport or in any other situation in which they may need to remove a jacket. In such cases, discretion and awareness are better security than any physical safeguards. Most secure documents are actually either shipped via post or FedEx in special inside packaging but with just a standard external box or envelope, which is frankly probably more reliable than an individual courier for all but the most sensitive information.
sorry to bump an old thread, but what i have to say is relevant and unsaid so far in this thread.
i work for FedEx, and they do offer a special ultra high priority service that involves a courier flying first class on the first available flight (any airline possibly even a charter). I was told by my hiring manager (she was explaining the number of different positions i could potentially get into if I stay with FedEx long enough) that there are even the handcuffed briefcases. This is of course an elite service that is not publicly offered on their website for average people (because it costs thousands of dollars for just a small package).
But the briefcase handcuffed to the courier is definitely not a piece of fiction, and is not just a thing from the cold war with governments and spies moving high value documents. If you have 10 grand to throw down and have something that cannot be trusted to e-mail, fax, or regular priority mail, and it is something of high value/importance, FedEx can for sure have it sent handcuffed to a specially trained courier.
some of you talk about sawing off the couriers arm with a bone saw, good luck, these are highly trained couriers, with speical training in self defense, spotting suspicious people, how to ensure safe and fast delivery, etc. Good luck walking up to one with a bonesaw hahaha, they will have you tagged from a mile away and their plainclothes guard will take you down first.
How do you get it thru security? The courier tells the TSA agent: “Trust me, there’s nothing bad in the briefcase.” or what?
Unlocking the handcuffs at that point is sort of problematic. It’s out of sight for a bit and stuff gets stolen going thru security all the time. (The TSA agents are remarkably anti-helpful in preventing this.)
Of course, in the real trope, the courier can’t unlock the handcuffs themselves. The person at the other end has the key.
Not to mention the airline requirement for all carry-on items to be stowed in the overhead compartment or under the seat in front of you for take-off and landing. Problematic if it is handcuffed to your wrist.
It’s sad (and somewhat creepy) that he was posthumously awarded the rank of Major after the operation succeeded. Here’s a guy who’s alone, homeless, and mentally ill, and he died never knowing about the service he (well, his body) performed for his country.
The movie To Live and Die in L.A. did a twist on this trope [minor spoiler]:
The briefcase was empty – the courier wore the cash in a money belt.
Apropos of nothing other than my obsession with the dialog of David Mamet:
Sam: What’s in the case? Deirdre: That isn’t necessary. Sam: Is it heavy, is it explosive, is it chained to some unlucky bloke’s wrist? Are we gonna have to chop it off? Deirdre: All right. But I am not under any obligation to let you know… Sam: If not, the price has gotta go up. I’ll get you the case, but the price has gotta go up. If it’s gonna be a amateur night, I want a hundred thousand dollars. I want it upfront. I want it in a bank account. I want another $100,000 when you get
thing is, the TSA is only for the average joes. Airline personnel do not go through TSA. VIPs do not go through TSA. The couriers who have the briefcase handcuffed can’t take ANY airline, i meant just the interline partners (all the airlines that have special deals with FedEx and vica versa, there’s quite a few of them). Couriers can also jumpseat on a FedEx airplane. Also high value high importance couriers can take charter planes which also completely avoid the TSA. The TSA is just for average nobodies
I don’t think that’s true. In the airports I’ve used recently, there is a separate queue at the security checkpoint for airline personnel so they don’t avoid the TSA entirely.
Back in the 90’s my mother worked for a jewelry company that made championship rings for sports teams. They had contracts with teams in the MLB, NBA, MLS, etc.
Once she had to deliver a briefcase full of championship rings for the Chicago Fire MLS team to a jewelry company in Chicago, where I was living, so I picked her up at the airport. Sure enough, she was traveling with a metal briefcase of diamond rings handcuffed to her wrist. That was in 1998 I think.
I asked her about getting through security, and she said that she would tell security what was in the case and ask for a private screening. They would take her into a closed room and open/inspect the case there, then pass her through to her gate. This was pre-9/11 but I suppose the process today would be similar.
So the trope is still valid; or at least it was not too long ago.
Google books only has 2 references to handcuffs and briefcases between 1900 and 1960. The 1934 example was a false positive - the two words just happened to be close to one another. The earliest example was from 1957:
Infinity Science Fiction - Volume 3, Issues 1-6 - Page 24
“This time there was no doubt it came from the brief case chained to his handcuff.”
I couldn’t find any references from the 19th century.
Attache case and handcuff:
Nothing valid from 19th c.
Nothing valid between 1900 and 1960.
ETA: That was an awesome bearer bond tale by Sampiro upthread.
I recall either a movie or a TV show where the hero was being forced to disable a bomb in one of those by the bad guy. Unable to do so, he simply transposed the colored indicator lamps (red for green) creating the impression that he had done so. So, if I’m ever in that situation…
You know, if I’m one of those highly-trained couriers chained to a briefcase chock full of papers or gems or whatever, then, sure, maybe I spot a suspicious guy in time, and maybe I use my training or maybe my guard saves the day, but if not then I maybe get gunned down and it’d be kind of a big undertaking to get that chained briefcase away from my dead body – and so maybe my killer runs away and gets nothing, right?
So, okay, fair enough. But like somebody mentioned upthread, what if I’m the guy who’s chained to the nuclear football? Isn’t my whole job description “stand near the man that lots of people want to send bullets in the general direction of, eh?”
So what’s the plan if I’m gunned down? I mean, yeah, shots have been fired, so rush the president to safety – but now there’s a heavy pile of meaty dead weight chained to the item that kinda sorta needsta be near the president, right?
Do they rush my corpse to the president? Do they keep bonesaws and bolt-cutters at the ready? Do spare keys abound? Do we know?