Title: The Santa Claus Bank Robbery (A.C. Greene Series, No 1)
First published: September 1999
Description: Master storyteller A.C. Greene re-creates one of America's most bizarre holdups-one that began as a lark. On Christmas Eve 1927, four men set off to rob the First National Back of Cisco, Texas. Soon the lark turned into a tragedy-and at times a comedy-of errors. The robbers did not realize the car they had stolen for their getaway was running on empty. The leader did not anticipate the attention his disguise would draw, even though it was a bright red Santa Claus suit. And they could not have known that all of Cisco would have guns at hand because the Bankers Association had offered a reward of $5000 for any dead bank robber, no questions asked. The Santa Claus bank robbery set of a chain of events that would lead to violence and death of six men and launch the largest manhunt Texas had ever seen. A.C. Greene's factual account of the unusual crime reads like a novel-fast paced, full of unexpected turns, and rich with the flavor of life in Texas at the beginning of the end of the Old West.
Subjects: Bank robberies, Crime, united states