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  The Flying Bandit

  Bringing Down Canada’s Most Daring Armed Robber

  Robert Knuckle

  with Ed Arnold

  GENERAL STORE PUBLISHING HOUSE INC.

  499 O’Brien Road, Renfrew, Ontario, Canada K7V 3Z3

  Telephone 1.613.599.2064 or 1.800.465.6072

  http://www.gsph.com

  ISBN 978-1-896182-60-7 (pbk.)

  978-1-77123-8274 (EPUB)

  978-1-77123-8281 (MOBI)

  978-1-77123-8298 (WEB).pdf

  Copyright © Robert Knuckle, Ed Arnold 2015

  Cover design by Taragraphics

  Layout by Derek McEwen

  Published in Canada.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.

  Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

  Knuckle, Robert, 1935; Arnold, Ed, 1952 - The flying bandit: bringing down Canada’s most daring armed robber

  ISBN 1-896182-60-7

  1. Galvan, Gilbert. 2. Criminals—Canada––Biography. 3. Jewel thieves––Canada—Biography. 4. Bank robberies—Canada. I. Title.

  HV6653.G34K58 1996 364.1’552’092 C96-990072-4

  Second Printing February 2003

  Third Printing December 2013

  For Cathy Harrison of Windsor

  CONTENTS

  Foreword

  Acknowledgements

  CHAPTER 1London

  CHAPTER 2Pembroke

  CHAPTER 3Crossing the Line

  CHAPTER 4Janice

  CHAPTER 5Commitment

  CHAPTER 6Ottawa

  CHAPTER 7The Playmate

  CHAPTER 8The Vicious Circle

  CHAPTER 9The Cops

  CHAPTER 10The Rough Rider

  CHAPTER 11Flying High

  CHAPTER 12The Big Vancouver

  CHAPTER 13Cafe

  CHAPTER 14Rolling Over

  CHAPTER 15Closing In

  CHAPTER 16The End of the Runway

  CHAPTER 17Negotiations

  CHAPTER 18Epilogue

  Update

  About the Author

  FOREWORD

  This book was written by Robert Knuckle, based in part on the research of Ed Arnold, the managing editor of the Peterborough Examiner.

  Arnold, who has won six Canadian Press awards, has been with the Examiner for twenty-five years. In 1988 he broke the story of Galvan’s exploits and capture and dubbed him the Flying Bandit. Intending to write a book, Arnold spent two years interviewing Galvan and many others involved in the story. He stopped work on the project in 1993.

  In 1995, after Robert Knuckle decided to write a book about the Flying Bandit, he was denied visiting rights to Galvan by the warden of the maximum security Oxford Correctional Institute in Wisconsin, and Arnold agreed to allow him to use his notes. Knuckle broadened the research base of the project by corresponding with Galvan and holding extensive interviews with most of the other principals.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Many thanks to the following who assisted in the research or aided in the production of this book: Gord Carruth and Nicole Gagnon of Hull; Phil and Roberta Drouillard of Ottawa; Cathy and Grant Harrison of Windsor; Elizabeth Knuckle of Dundas; John and Lorna Plunkett of Ennismore; Don and Carol Mahar of Ottawa; Bill and Doreen Mahoney of London; Rosemary Kenopic of Burnstown; The Honourable Mr. Justice Gordon Thomson and Carol Thomson of Windsor; Terry and Val Knuckle of Peterborough; Det. Sgt. Bob Whitsitt, Det. Paul Legault and Det. Sgt. Jeff Dupuis of the OPP; the Dundas Public Library; the Hamilton Public Library; McMaster University Library.

  Thanks to all of the principals in the story who shared their experiences so willingly and so honestly.

  Thanks also to Tim Gordon the publisher who assigned me the project and to Stephanie Walsh of the Peterborough Examiner for getting me started.

  Special thanks and sincere appreciation to my editor John Stevens for his insight, knowledge and skills. His help was invaluable.

  CHAPTER 1

  London

  It was just before noon. The Royal Bank was crowded. June Smith, a senior sales officer at the bank, looked up to see a man in a baseball cap stepping behind the service counter. June got up from her desk to tell him that customers were not allowed to be back there. There was no reason for her to be alarmed, she just figured he had made a mistake and didn’t know where he was going.

  As June stepped towards him he said, “Sit down and don’t move!”

  She was about to argue with him but when she saw the gun in his hand she sat down. Realizing a robbery was taking place, her heart began to pound. No one else seemed to be aware of what was happening. June didn’t know what to do. She was afraid to move and didn’t want to scream; if she screamed it might cause the gunman to panic and she didn’t know what he would do then. She sat motionless, watching helplessly as he walked directly to the door of the central cash cage.

  Three tellers were standing in front of the door waiting to make transactions. One of these women was Colleen Banks. She was an experienced bank teller and had seen the stranger coming but she didn’t quite know what to make of it. He simply walked around the west end of the counter and came directly towards the cage with a quick, steady step.

  “What’s he doing back here?” she thought to herself.

  “Stand back and don’t move!” he said to the three women outside the cage. They saw his gun right away.

  All of them were frightened. They moved closer together and cautiously backed away from the cage door. They tried to move in a calm, deliberate manner that would not upset him.

  “Open the door!” he said to twenty-six-year-old Debbie Cook who was working inside the cage. She stared into the face of the strange looking man in a red nylon jacket. His hair was reddish blond and stringy; it hung below his ears and over his collar. A heavy blond moustache spread to the corners of his mouth and hid his upper lip.

  “Hurry up and open the door!” he said again in a deep voice.

  When Debbie saw he had a gun in his left hand she let him in immediately. The man handed her a white canvas bag about two feet long with two small red maple leaf flags on it and two black straps at the top. He was standing so close to her she could see he had brown eyes and a ruddy complexion with freckles.

  “Put all the money in there!”

  While Debbie began emptying the money out of one of the cash trays into the bag other tellers became aware that an unfamiliar man was in the central cage. They could see that he wasn’t dressed like a banker and they couldn’t understand what he was doing in there. Debbie seemed to be working with him, handing him things. She would go away from him and then come back. Still, they knew that no one should be in there with her; that was definitely against bank policy. They looked at each other, unsure what to do.

  Clients in the lineups also saw the man go into the cage but thought little of it. An eighteen-year-old at the front of the line saw the man go into the cage. He wondered why but it didn’t cause him any great concern. Even when he saw the three tellers standing frozen outside the cage with fearful expressions on their faces, it didn’t faze him. However, when he watched Debbie Cook emptying money trays into the man’s canvas bag, he was astounded that a robbery was happening in front of his very eyes.

  Daina Brown, a clerk, was working at her desk west of the cage. She too saw the tellers frozen in fear outside the cage and Debbie emptying a money tray into the man’s sack. It was obvious that the man was robbing the bank. Suspecting he had a gun, she knew i
t was too dangerous to move so she began to jot down the robber’s description on the back of a withdrawal slip. She noted that he wore a black and white baseball cap, white denim pants and a red, lightweight jacket. He was white, in his early thirties, about 5’8” to 5’10”, medium build, approximately 160 pounds.

  “Set the time locks!” the gunman said to Debbie Cook.

  “They’re set at two minutes,” she replied.

  Colleen Banks knew it was important for everyone to stay calm. She quietly told Debbie to set the combination for the time locks so they would open. Seeing the faces of the two younger tellers beside her contorted in fright, Colleen told them, “It’s OK, just don’t move.” With fear in their eyes, the two women nodded carefully.

  Debbie set one of the time locks to open while the robber dumped the cash out of two unlocked drawers into his long white bag. While he was busy doing that, Fred Turner, a customer, was standing at the east end of the service counter. One of the tellers who stood frozen in front of the central cage caught Fred’s eye and mouthed the words, “It’s a hold up.” Fred immediately backed away from the counter and eased his way out the front door of the bank. Fighting the urge to run, he walked into the Kwik Kopy nearby. Without explaining anything to the manager he picked up the phone and, with shaking hands, dialed 911. He told the operator there was a holdup in progress at the Royal Bank, 380 Wellington Road. The operator relayed the information to the police department, noting the time of the call: 12:02 p.m.

  While Turner was phoning the police, the gunman was busy cleaning out the cash cage.

  “Open this,” he said to Debbie, pointing his weapon to another drawer. Debbie moved quickly to comply. As she did, he went to the other end of the cash cage and commanded, “Open these drawers!”

  As Debbie unlocked each cash drawer he took the money and dumped it into the bag.

  “Open that,” he said, motioning with his head to the safe. Debbie felt sick inside. She knew she couldn’t get the safe open and was afraid to tell him that because it might infuriate him. So she didn’t say anything but shrugged her shoulders and turned her palms up to indicate she couldn’t do it. When the thief saw her gestures and the desperate look on her face he didn’t get angry. He was well aware that the safe was on a much longer time lock and knew she was telling the truth.

  “Don’t worry, no one’s going to hurt you,” he assured her in an almost pleasant voice. Then he looked around and, in a whisper said, “Get out of the way!” He walked by Debbie, went out of the cage, past the tellers, around the counter and out the back door of the bank into the shopping mall that connected the bank with the Holiday Inn. Debbie saw him begin to remove his baseball cap as he went through the door. As soon as he was out of the bank Daina Brown rushed to the door and locked it shut behind him. There was an audible sigh of relief from almost everyone in the bank. Some of the tellers broke into tears.

  The robbery had taken ninety seconds. The police arrived in force thirty seconds after it was over. Thousands of dollars had been stolen. Detectives and uniformed personnel began to scour the nearby shops, bars and businesses in an effort to find the fugitive. One of the first policemen to arrive on the scene was officer Rod Trevors of the London B & E squad. He spotted a twenty-five-year-old man crossing Wellington Road who fit the description of the bank robber. Trevors saw that he was carrying a red sweatshirt wrapped in a jean jacket so he stopped him. He asked for identification and determined the man’s name was Bradley Brown from London. When Trevors found that Bradley had a sizeable quantity of cash on him, he arrested him. The suspect explained that he had cashed two cheques at the Money Mart just an hour ago. Trevors told Brown they had to check him out. He took him back to the bank and put him in one of the police cruisers parked outside. Colleen Banks was brought to see if she could identify him. She peered into the back seat of the police car and immediately said that the young man was not the person who held up the bank. Although Brown was shaken by the experience he was happy to be released.

  While Bradley Brown’s little drama was unfolding, two other suspects wearing red jackets were stopped on King Street and questioned by police. When it was determined that they had no money on them of any significant quantity, they too were released.

  The gunman had disappeared. After the robbery, he walked calmly out of the Royal Bank, removing his moustache as soon as he stepped through the door. Out in the small shopping mall adjacent to the bank he melded with the lunchtime crowd. Without running or doing anything else that would draw attention to himself he threaded his way through the crowded mall. Within seconds he was in the lobby of the nearby Holiday Inn. According to plan, he proceeded directly to a doorway off the lobby that led to a stairwell to the parking garage. As he ran down the stairs, he discarded his jacket and pulled off his wig. Another few steps and he located the briefcase that he had stashed earlier in the stairwell. Into the briefcase he put his gun, his disguise and the thousands of dollars he had just stolen from the bank no more than 200 yards away.

  He removed his baggy pants and threw them in the corner. Underneath his loose clothing he wore a dress shirt and tie and a dark blue business suit. He picked up his attaché case and, looking for all the world like a successful executive, walked over to the Holiday Inn’s service elevator. Moments later he exited the elevator on the twentieth floor and went to room 2020, where he had slept the night before. Slightly over three minutes had elapsed since he first entered the bank.

  Once he was in his room he was confident the police would never find him. He was very shrewd. He had robbed a lot of banks and each time he planned the robbery in the most minute detail. Before every job, he cased the site carefully to make sure it was in a busy location and had a glaring lack of security. In this case, the Royal Bank at the corner of King Street and Wellington Road in London was perfect. It was adjacent to a mall, near a major hotel and had neither security cameras nor a security guard. Above all, he didn’t want his picture taken or someone shooting at him while he was working.

  Over the years he had honed his method of operation to a keen edge. He knew that speed was of the essence in a robbery. He believed that, from beginning to end, a holdup shouldn’t take any longer than ninety seconds. He liked to work on Fridays. The banks handled more money that day than any other day of the week. He preferred to work at lunch time when the malls and streets were crowded. After a hold up, he always walked into crowds of people, never away from them. He always wore a disguise – a wig, a moustache, sometimes fake skin, sometimes a beard. He always wore loose clothing over a shirt and tie and a good business suit. He always wore gloves. Once he finished the actual holdup he liked to discard his outer clothing as soon as possible, preferably in a nearby stairwell. He always took a room in a hotel as close as possible to the bank he intended to rob.

  This particular robbery was easier than most because it was the second time he had robbed this branch at Wellington and King. He had been here two years before, in 1985, but then he had only taken $4,900. This time, having learned from past experience, he came away with a lot more. Last time at this bank, he robbed a single teller at the service counter. This time, he knew a lot more about banks and went directly to the central cash cage where the big money was kept.

  Now safely in his room, he was elated by the knowledge that he had pulled it off again! The rush was exciting. His heart was pounding so fast it seemed like someone was squeezing his throat and choking him. It was as if the surge of adrenaline forced the blood to his neck. There was no pain, just pressure in the throat and a dry mouth. He loosened his tie but that didn’t help. He needed a cigarette but was afraid he would choke on the smoke. It was the same sensation after every robbery.

  He knew what to do to relieve it. He needed to walk. He paced back and forth in his room, over and over until he became aware of a new sensation. Now he had to urinate. That was always the same too but he always seemed to forget. He nipped into the bathroom and once he had relieved himself the tension was gone
.

  Standing at the sink, he splashed water on his face and studied himself in the mirror. He had put on about fifteen pounds in the last three years and now weighed in at 175. Some of that gain showed in his light brown pudgy cheeks. Most of the weight, which was the result of a couple of years of high living, had gathered above his belt in a small paunch. He wasn’t entirely happy about that because he liked to think of himself as trim. But even with the added weight he still looked young. Although he turned thirty-one last year, he figured he could still be taken for a teenager. Sucking in his stomach and holding his breath, he promised himself he would cut down on the pizzas and try to exercise more.

  That train of thought was broken by his desire to see how much money he had taken from the bank. He poured himself a drink of rye and opened his briefcase on the bed. It was full of bills in all denominations. Counting the money took much longer than doing the robbery. The total was $21,238. The size of the take sent a shiver of excitement through his body. He felt good that he had perfected his holdup method: forget the cash drawers at the service counter and go directly into the central teller’s cage. The risk was the same; the take was much greater.

  But it was time to go. His wife, Janice, was waiting for him at home. She knew he had some business to take care of in London but she had no idea what he was doing. At the same time, she had made it absolutely clear that she was tired of his being away from home. He had left yesterday morning, June 11, and she insisted that he be home in time for dinner today.

  Besides, he had an unwritten rule for himself: Never go back and stay in your hotel room unless you want to get caught. Get in and out of the bank fast then get out of your hotel room as quick as you can. Go somewhere away from the bank. Fast! That was his own special rule. He was not about to break it.

  With that in mind, he took out a bundle of cash from the briefcase and stuffed about $4,000 in the pockets of his shirt and pants. Next he took care of his guns. The one on the bed was a Browning automatic 9mm Special that held thirteen rounds. That’s the one he carried in his hand in the bank. The first chamber was always left empty because he didn’t ever want the gun to go off by mistake – either his or somebody else’s. He never knew when someone might play the hero and try to grab it inside a bank. The other gun was a .38 Smith and Wesson snub-nosed revolver that he kept inside the front of his pants. He put both guns in his shaving kit which he placed in a pocket of his fold-over suit bag. Then he gathered up the rest of his clothes and packed them in the bag.