$17.3 million in cash was robbed from the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis, Fargo & Co. on the evening of October 4, 1997. Ghantt fled to Mexico immediately after the theft, only to be caught in March 1998 when one of his co-conspirators, Steve Chambers, sent a hit man to kill Ghantt in an effort to tie up loose ends. However, it's a Hollywood comedy. David Ghantt, a Gulf War veteran, was finishing his shift as a vault supervisor for Loomis Fargo when he loaded $17 million into a company van and drove away. $17 Million and Change. It was one of the first things they voted on. Loomis Fargo employees could not open the vault the next morning and called the police. I really shouldnt change anything. This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious Loomis Fargo heist. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Chambers had no intention of following those rules, believing the FBI would never connect him to Ghantt. Chambers would then occasionally wire Ghantt money and see to his basic financial needs; when "the heat was off," Ghantt was to re-enter the U.S. and the money would be split up among all of the co-conspirators. Drummer Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones with his wife Shirley and daughter Seraphina at the Grammy Awards at Kensington Roof gardens, London,. In November 1990, David married Margaret in San Diego, California. He was insecure. by Jeff Diamant (left) and Steven Chambers (left) and David Scott Ghantt leave federal court. A: When I first got in, I thought, "What in my life has led me to this?" There was no sign of forced entry into the building, but surveillance tapes and photographs showed a man believed by authorities to be Ghantt putting bags of money onto a cart in the vault at Loomis, Fargos offices in Charlotte, and then into the company van. Mrs. If you're trying to make yourself better today, that's all most people care about. Mary E. Ghantt, 38, died Tuesday in Scranton after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis. Then you end up in a eight by ten cube and youre going to share that cube with two other people. And, with the help of several others David made off with $17.3 million dollars, 11 million of which was in 20's. Eventually, the money had to run out. Michele Chambers' sentence was two months longer than that given to David Scott Ghantt, the Loomis employee who removed the money from the company vault on Oct. 4, 1997. Chambers never held Campbell hostage by locking her in a shed on his property. When it comes to crime news, few events have had the longevity or the notoriety of the Loomis Fargo heist, which occurred 25 years ago on Oct. 4, 1997. David Ghantt: Oh, yeah. LRM: You were a movie consultant on this project. How did it actually feel when the FBI took you in? The van was later found with $3 million in it, but the rest of the money is still missing. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kelly Campbell, the woman who helped plan the $17 million robbery of armored-car company Loomis, Fargo was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $4 million. In October of 1997, I was a vault supervisor for armored truck company Loomis Fargo, when I made off with $17.3 million. I gave him the short synopsis. Investigators also found Ghantt's pickup truck, abandoned at the warehouse. ", "If you're trying to make yourself better today, that's all most people care about.". Heist! David Scott Ghantt, 28, was arrested Sunday on an island off the Mexican coast, near the resort city of Cozumel, FBI spokesman William Perry said today. How many years did David Ghantt get? So the last third of the movie is almost entirely fiction. Investigators considered Ghantt to be the prime suspect almost from the beginning. Back then all I really wanted to do was just, I wanted to change my life. Chambers had broached the possibility of a robbery to Campbell earlier in the summer. After the robbery, Ghantt took off to Mexico. David Ghantt was portrayed by Zackary Hatfield. David Ghantt: Well, my compatriots did lock themselves out of the van. He made his own self miserable. They bought a huge diamond and paid with cash for it. Campbell used part of her share of the money to buy a Toyota Sienna minivan in two cash installments. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. To me, [all of this] was a business deal between the original three of us. A: People are very forgiving if you're open and honest right from the start. I learned that I was an a--hole. Masterminds - Zach Galifianakis 'David Ghantt' [On-Set Interview]SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://goo.gl/SrrTlTSUBSCRIBE MOVIE TRAILERS: http://goo.gl/8WxGeDA night gu. It was Ghantt, a 27-year-old Army veteran living in Kings Mountain at the time, who loaded up more than 2,000 pounds of cash in a company van and just drove away at the end of his shift as a supervisor at Loomis Fargo. SUBSCRIBE:Apple Podcasts||Spotify||Stitcher||TuneIn||Google Podcasts. I did do a lot of diving down in Mexico, which is a great diving spot. [citation needed], The defendants were the targets of many barbed jokes in Charlotte and across the country, in part because of their extravagant spending. He was angry a lot. We talked about the fiction and fact from the movie. Zach Galifianakis played David Scott Ghantt, with other roles played byOwen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. Ghantt was already married when he took part in the heist, to a woman named Tammy who author Diamant described as very nice. It is true, however, that she had no idea about the plot and that he fled to Mexico without telling her. When they painted the cars, they were the wrong shake. David Ghantt commits the second largest bank heist in US history. BOSTON (AP) A former eBay Inc. executive was sentenced on Thursday to almost five years in prison for leading a scheme to terrorize the creators of an . Everything changes when he meets Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig), a new employee at his bank, Loomis Fargo. Heres what happened on Sunday nights episode. An FBI criminal investigation ultimately resulted in the arrest and conviction of eight people directly involved in the heist, as well as sixteen others who had indirectly helped them, and the recovery of approximately 88% of the stolen money. FBI agents pulled stolen cash out of barrels they had stashed around their home. 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They also bought a BMW Z3 with cash and made several large purchases, including a $600 cigar store Indian. More than 20 people ended up in the FBI's dragnet. He is an uncomplicated man stuck in a monotonous life. Its gone! A version of this story originally appeared on CharlotteObserver.com. David Ghantt discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. I told them that this was the color regiment. The informant ``felt the timing of their sudden wealth certainly aroused suspicion in light of that theft, the affidavit said. followed by "Don't worry, it is not drug money," the bank filled out a suspicious activity report, which ultimately reached the FBI. LRM: You did serve time in Federal prison and it was a very well-known bank robbery. All David Ghantt ever really wanted was adventure, and he takes the audience along with him for an hour-and-a-half of side-splitting comedy in Masterminds. Were you really hailed as a hero? Did you really only go to Mexico with 50k? In Kukulcan Plaza in Cancun, Mexico, they had a small Internet caf. When I interviewed for this job about three years ago, I told (my boss) that I had some dirt in my background, and if he went digging for it, he would find it. It wasa painful process, but I learned to be happy with me and with what I've got. Answer: The painful one is getting caught. [1], This robbery was the second-largest cash robbery on U.S. soil at the time, as only seven months earlier, on March 29, 1997 in Jacksonville, Florida, Philip Noel Johnson stole $18.8 million from the Loomis Fargo armored vehicle he was driving.[2]. Officially retired Predators GM David Poile and his wife Elizabeth Poile poses for a portrait inside the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. He just never had the opportunity. Chambers did hire McKinney to kill Ghantt, but initially McKinney was making personal cash deliveries to Ghantt in Mexico on behalf of Chambers. MASTERMINDS is based on a true story about a Loomis Fargo robbery, in which a small group successfully stole $17 millionmaking it the second largest bank heist in history back in 1997. Chambers declines to comment on the events that made him notorious. As a die-hard fan of personal development books, I have to say - Ghantt hits the nail on the head with each and every chapter. If you were one of the much-smaller-than-expected group of people who caught Masterminds at the theater this weekend, and are looking for a fact-check of the events depicted on screen, here are some of the highlights of our chat with Diamant. Also famous for (at least with his friends and family) finally getting his first book . On the non-philosophical side, it probably be much better off if I done everything by myself. Some people screw up big like you, some people screw up small. My face popped up. Where ever it was, it is long gone now. David Ghantt: When I first met Zach and sat down to talk about it, he said, You realize Im going to be playing a dumber, clumsier version of you. Its all being part as a comedy and its Hollywood. His accomplices included coworker Kelly Campbell, as well as friends Steve and Michelle Chambers. Inside $3.3 million was located along with the two stolen surveillance tapes, apparently left due to the robber and his accomplices being sloppy, or in a hurry. He now has a wife, a construction job, and a child. Chambers, who made an ill-fated decision to buy a home in the gated Cramer Mountain community with his newfound wealth, now runsa gym on Lowell-Bethesda Road. David Ghantt : [voice-over] Steve was a petty thief, mostly known for stealing tiny wheelchairs from pediatric hospitals. Thats my standard answer these days. Fried chicken, cornbread and cake what brings you back to this Charlotte restaurant. Ghantt, in order to conserve this money, curtailed his spending. The only person not to plead guilty in the case, former Gastonia attorney Jeff Guller, ended up doing eight years for money laundering. Sign up now to get updates whenever we release new features! Lessons Not Learned From the Pentagon Papers, The US Navy is More Than Just Broken, Careerism is Tearing It Apart, Sensitivity Rewrites: The Cultural Purging of Roald Dahl, The Biden National Security Team Must Get SmarterSooner, Building Direct Democracy in an Atlanta Forest, Truth, No Matter What: Why Watering Down Palestinian Reality is a Crime, How Howard Schultz Made Starbucks the Poster Child of Corporate Abuse, Letter from London: Meeting at Maison Bertaux, Why Much of the Global South Isnt Automatically Supporting the West in Ukraine. David Ghantt: I would be really philosophical about this. My Proof: https://twitter.com/DavidGhantt/status/827476087596789760, My AMA time is up now, but thank you all for your participation in the Ask Me Anything session :-). With the plan in place, Ghantt sent a newly employed co-worker home early (reportedly at 6 p.m) who had been assigned to train with him. This book spotlights all of the topics that make up a well rounded life and is presented in a voice that is down-to-earth, authentic and downright like-able. Congratulations Dave - very well done. So what made you do it? On March 12, a Charlotte grand jury indicted the eight co-conspirators for bank larceny and money laundering; the latter offense was included because of how they spent the stolen money. No. The Army veteran and Hunter Huss High graduate was captured in Mexico five months later when one of the others involved in the theft, Steve Chambers, decided he needed to tie up loose ends by having Ghantt killed. Ghantt was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. Court documents said an informant who was not identified tipped off federal agents about the couples suspicious spending habits. He said he put that amount of money in a storage building. Dont come to me for a treasure map, Ill put it to you that way., Michael Sainatos writing has appeared in the Guardian, Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, Buffalo News, the Hill, Alternet, and several other publications . He then began loading $17 million in unmarked bills inside a company van before driving away. In real life: Yes and no. Could you talk a little more about that? Q: You say your time in federal prison changed you. Cathy Biles, who handled the purchase of the Chambers house in Cramerton, told WSOC-TV in Charlotte that the cash deal aroused her suspicions. Service 11 a.m. Saturday . All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty. In 1997, Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt robbed the armored car company of $17 million. David Ghantt discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. 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