STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – It was a robbery to dye for.
Two gunmen wearing ski masks robbed the old Westerleigh Savings and Loan Association Bank in Grasmere on Feb. 15, 1983.
But the bandits, dubbed “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight” by cops, left a trail a mile wide that led to their capture just an hour after the heist.
‘I’LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF’
The two robbers entered the bank at 1100 Hylan Blvd. at around 12:15 p.m., one toting a 12-gague sawed-off shotgun, the other a .22-caliber revolver.
The man with the revolver vaulted over the bank counter and told the tellers to keep quiet or else.
“If you press the buttons, I’ll blow your head off,” he reportedly said.
As the second robber stood by the door and covered bank employees with his shotgun, the first crook rifled through the bank’s cash drawers and took bundles of money, totaling about $7,000. He leapt back across the counter and both bandits fled the bank.
That’s where their troubles started, cops said.
Within seconds, as the pair fled toward a getaway car that was parked around the block on Kensington Avenue, a dye-filled decoy money packet exploded.
The thieves and their ill-gotten loot were instantly covered by powered red dye and thousands of dollars in loose $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills blew into the air.
“There were witnesses all over the place,” Sgt. Richard Bracken of the Crimes Against Persons Squad told the Advance.
The comedy of errors didn’t end there.
‘THEY WERE HAVING A BAD DAY’
The crooks meant to flee to a brown Oldsmobile, but cops said that the getaway car failed to start.
With the two dropping bills as they fled on foot, police said they had little trouble following the trail of stained money to an apartment building at 121 Norway Ave., South Beach.
Before cops arrived, one of the crooks had stumbled while entering the building, spilling the money he was carrying, the Advance reported. As he stooped to pick up the errant cash, he accidentally discharged the shotgun he…
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