Bandits, burglars, and thieves have always been a mainstay of society. From pickpockets to pirates, bank robbers to bushrangers, theft is one of the world’s oldest criminal professions. The Encyclopedia of Robberies, Heists, and Capers is a one-stop reference to this daring field of criminal endeavor.

More than 400 entries detail history’s most famous robberies from around the world, the thieves who executed them, and the lawmen who brought the perpetrators to justice. Topical entries are featured, such as art theft, bungled capers, highway robbery, robberies in film and fiction, social bandits, safecracking, and robbery as terrorism. The Encyclopedia of Robberies, Heists, and Capers also includes more than seventy photographs, a number of which are mugshots of top bank robbers.

Cases covered include:
Brink’s Robbery in Massachusetts, 1950
England’s "Great Train Robbery," 1963
The Lufthansa Airline Heist, 1978
The Sacking of Panama City by Pirates, 1671
The Wah Mee Club Massacre in San Francisco’s Chinatown, 1983.

Biographies include:
The Barker Gang
Anne Bonny
Butch Cassidy
D.B. Cooper
A.J. "Gentleman Jack" Davis
John Dillinger
J. Edgar Hoover
Eleanor Jarman, "The Blonde Tigress"
Whittemore Gang.