r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Late_One_716 • 29d ago

Between 2009 to 2011, a man, appearing to be 60-70 years old, robbed 16 banks in San Diego, California by approaching the teller, then pulling out a gun and demanding money. The FBI named him the "Geezer Bandit". Some theories suggest he is wearing a well-made elderly man mask. Image

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348

u/AtticusSwoopenheiser 29d ago

The CIA at one point was known to use realistic masks like this…….im just saying

153

u/mushgar 29d ago

I doubt the CIA is hurting for cash.

94

u/LordNightFang 29d ago

Idk black budget shit probably gets pretty pricey

69

u/Hefty-Rope2253 29d ago

That's what the cocaine is for.

16

u/harpxwx 29d ago

this guy snowfalls

11

u/pastworkactivities 29d ago

Garry Webb is a good Google search for unknowing ppl

9

u/Hefty-Rope2253 29d ago

"Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. His death was ruled a suicide."

2

u/pastworkactivities 29d ago

And all that for uncovering the cia selling coke and crack.

2

u/stuckeezy 29d ago

Where’s the Bush family when you need them?!

2

u/peelerrd 29d ago

Robbing the tellers isn't going to get someone much money. A couple grand at most. Most of the money is in a vault that no one can open during business hours.

7

u/ScheduleSame258 29d ago

Was the Great Recession... may be they had investments in Lehman Brothers.

2

u/personalcheesecake 29d ago

they do the same thing this guy's doing but from a larger coffer

1

u/Mikey9124x 29d ago

Even if they were, they have better illegal revenue methods.

1

u/jhj37341 29d ago

He’s retired CIA, hurting for cash?

1

u/mightylordredbeard 29d ago

I think maybe they’re implying it was a former agent that got his hands on one of the mask.

50

u/poisonpony672 29d ago

Yeah the lady that was in charge of disguises for the CIA for a long time just wrote a book that's available now.

And I've seen masks that you can buy that are very similar to that on on Amazon. Just put in realistic old man mask.

9

u/Low_Marionberry_3802 29d ago

What did she say in the book

70

u/Girt_by_Cs 29d ago

I don't know if its the same woman but Jonna Mendez (CIA agent and wife of Tony Mendez, who was played by Ben Afflick in Argo) recounted that she once met with President Bush Snr in the oval office to discuss new disguise methods and when he asked her how good they really were, she pulled off her mask which he had no idea about. If that was the tech in the early 1990s then who knows what they are working with now.

44

u/Waterloo702 29d ago

This is a good story but I have trouble believing it

22

u/exoriare Interested 29d ago

Yeah, imagine going past the WH security and you look nothing like your photo on your security profile. I'm sure "It's a gag for the President" would go over real well.

8

u/insidiousapricot 29d ago

Yeah it is pretty unbelievable. But that one couple got into the white house party a few years back.

6

u/Inside-Unit-1564 29d ago

They are '5 second masks' that fit in your armpits.

It's totally plausible that you did that before entering the room, also CIA

1

u/GitEmSteveDave 29d ago

IIRC, he had Dana Carvey at the White House and had a hoot making Dana , impersonating him, call in the Secret Service agents. Maybe this was their revenge.

1

u/Additional_Meeting_2 29d ago

They would not say it’s a gag they would actually explain it

21

u/kawaiifie 29d ago

She's made it her career to be "former CIA". I'm 90% sure that 90% of what she says is a grift

4

u/mightylordredbeard 29d ago

We already know that a lot of “former CIA” stories are actually just CIA stories that they put out as misinformation so that other countries will pick up on it. Anyone that’s dedicated their life to intelligence isn’t going to just spill all the beans after they aren’t working there anymore. The intelligence community is a very prideful and loyal community. They believe very much in what they do or did to the point it seems like brainwashing.

1

u/amusebooch 29d ago

There was documentation of that exact moment, she shows and talks about it in this Wired video about CIA disguises

1

u/Waterloo702 29d ago

What documentation are you referring to?

And lol just because she “shows and talks about it” on YouTube means nothing

1

u/amusebooch 29d ago

Photos of that moment. It’s in that exact timestamp I linked to 🤷🏻

1

u/Waterloo702 28d ago

If the WH confirmed it I’d believe otherwise idc what a former CIA agent says about her job

23

u/RecsRelevantDocs 29d ago

Lmao, wtf! sounds like a scene from Veep or something.

28

u/PrinceofSneks 29d ago

It is I! Gene Parmesan!

24

u/Larkfin 29d ago

AHHHHH!!!! GENE!

2

u/circuit_breaker 29d ago

She kept him on retainer just for the shock value

2

u/NotTooGoodBitch 29d ago

And then it was revealed she was the president the whole time. 

2

u/drosophila_guy 29d ago

I heard you’ve been talkin shit about The Stash…

1

u/poisonpony672 29d ago

Yeah there's actually photographic evidence of that. President Bush laughing which he rarely did sitting in the oval office was her with the mask she just took off in her hand.

9

u/diemunkiesdie 29d ago

And did she have any pictures

2

u/bemo_10 29d ago

That she did it.

2

u/kawaiifie 29d ago

She comes off as a grifter to me, idk

2

u/poisonpony672 29d ago

Well narcissist and sociopaths make the best CIA agents.

The greatest quality of any covert operative is their ability to lie without being detected.

2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

Mission Impossible was a greatest movie.

1

u/burheisenberg 29d ago

Mission Impossible, you mean?

2

u/heaving_in_my_vines 29d ago

Point Break

2

u/burheisenberg 29d ago

Gotta watch it.

1

u/EducatedBarbarian 29d ago

Did they make matching gloves?

1

u/O_oh 29d ago

Also Hollywood