The Great Heist – The Story of the Biggest Bank Robbery in History: And Why All the Money Was Returned

As the country suffered under the twin sieges of The Great Depression and Prohibition-era crime, six men stormed the Lincoln National Bank and pulled off the largest bank heist in history, nabbing more than 2 and a half million dollars in cash. These men, their getaway car, and the money all then vanished. Who were these men? How did they do it? And most astonishingly, how did the people of Nebraska get their money back?

The Great Heist takes us behind the scenes of the robbery and the countrywide investigation that followed, introducing a cavalcade of curious characters, including unscrupulous lawmen, opportunistic prosecutors, criminal kingpins, innocent bystanders, and roguish ne’er-do-wells in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s like a Shakespeare comedy set in the Depression, with Tommy guns instead of swords. The real charm in McArthur’s chaotic retelling of events is the chaos itself. It’s a perfect example of how history is never as clean or as easily explained as we’re led to believe, and you’ll definitely be surprised by which side of the thin blue line some of these personalities end up on.

This is true crime writing at its most unexpected and truthful.