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'Norco '80' Is A Gripping Account Of One Of America's Most Notorious Bank Heists

Peter Houlahan's account of the violent robbery and its aftermath is based on interviews with civilians, officers and robbers involved; his prose reads like a crime novel in the best way possible.
<em>Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History</em> by Peter Houlahan

For several decades in the 20th century, the Los Angeles metropolitan area was known as the bank robbery capital of the world.

The area's abundance of freeways made it easy for robbers to quickly put distance between themselves and the banks they targeted, escaping into other jurisdictions before the police even knew what was happening.

Law enforcement officers in the region had abundant experience in responding to these crimes, but nothing prepared them for what happened in, a nonfiction account of one of the most violent bank robberies in U.S. history.

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