Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History Kindle Edition

How accurate can the narrative be when he got details so wrong? Look, I get the author has never held a firearm, and probaby lives in a communist state, but the information is out there. An HK-93 is nothing like an AR-15. In fact, they are only similar in being semiautomatic, .22 caliber, magazine fed, and usually black. An HK-93 is a delayed roller action, an AR-15 is direct impingement. He never mentions the .223, or 5.56 x 45 mm NATO, as being a varmint round. The .308 isn’t as powerful as he makes it sound. It’s less powerful than the 30.06 used previously by the military, or any Magnum rifle cartridge.The author also makes statements about “militarising police departments.” These are also untrue, after all, police often had fully automatic Thompson SMG’s and Browing BAR’s that were fully automatic AND 30.06 at least fifty years before this.If he’s blatantly wrong on such simple facts, where else might he be wrong?It’s a good read, but shoddy research.

Ever wonder what it might be like to be a cop weakly armed against an armada of firepower? Or even better... step into the role of born-again-crazed and delusional bank robbers intent on making every possible mistake in an intense heist-gone-wrong followed by a chase from and to hell where you suddenly start shooting high powered auto weaponry at every living creature in sight. True Crime at its best always attempts a version of living inside the minds of the monsters, the mistreated and the correction-focused. With Norco 80 author Peter Houlahan takes the genre to a new level of engagement. You always read about books that you simply cannot put down once you start. Houlahan goes you one better providing a read that you literally read again and again AS YOU ARE READING. I literally pulled out an old Thomas Guide and assisted it with the map app on my iPhone in order to exact every location in this true tale masterfully telling the story of one of the most intense and gunbastic bank robberies of all time. Along the way you dive deep into the counterculture of Orange County in California, the shaky structure of police enforcement circa 1980 and the delicate nightmare of a legal system totally inept at times in dealing with the death penalty, courtroom mismanagement, friendship gone wrong and men and women on both sides of the law caught in the complex relationship of law and disorder. Read this book ASAP so you will have time to read it again nearly immediately.

Given the evidence available to you, I appreciate you being an impartial writer...WELL DONE.From one who lived it,Debbie RoseInvestigator Asst. to Jeanne Painter

I read this book in one 6 hour sitting. I simply couldn’t...and wouldn’t...put it down. The pace is mind boggling and the author does a great job of keeping the relevant but not getting bogged down during the trial portion (a la Errol Morris) and wraps it up tidily. There are a few slips from fact into opinion, especially in his attempt to defend Painter. Painter was fired appropriately and did do a great disservice to professional women. If we are demanding equality, then this author made the mistakes of spending time trying to defend her indefensible behavior. But as I understand this is a first-time author, it’s forgivable. Excellent job...I highly recommend!’

If you are looking for an Onion Field/Wambaugh read, this is not that. But that does not mean it isn’t a five star read.I come by my biases honestly. The main agency, the Riverside Co. Sheriff’s Department, is the Department I retired from. The NORCO robbery, and the murder of Deputy Jim Evans, occurred in 1980. I was hired in 1990 and spent more than 23 years there. Throughout my career I would hear about “NORCO;” always referred to as the single word, snippets of information here and there, and likely some retold beliefs or myths.This book really told me much more about the legend of NORCO and the courage of those involved than I ever knew before. It told me a lot about the generation that paved the way and mentored my generation of cop. And for that I am thankful.

What a great book! I was in IE law enforcement for decades, and personally knew many of the officers and DAs involved. While some are mis-characterized (DJ McCarty is NOT caveman-like, rather a decent, concerned man; Larry Malmberg is NOT gruff, but relaxed and smiling continuously; and Ross Dvorak will NEVER be mistaken for Burt Reynolds) this book is a masterpiece of sustained action and a great descriptor of how things can get out of hand so quickly. The description of how the small, local substations and PDs had a sad lack of weaponry and communications to combat these knuckleheads is right on the money--I know because we all lived with it. How the author culled all these details over 30 years after the fact is amazing. I've talked to many friends who were involved in the incident in various ways. They say the author captured the incident exactly, and they give this book a real thumbs-up. So do I.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes true life crime stories. The author lays out each character and their motivations very thoroughly. I was amazed that the author managed to describe the fast moving and chaotic firefight and chase in such a clear and concise way that I could follow the action and there was no way to put the book down until it was over. Not only is the narrative so well done but an important part of this book is the recognition given to all the law enforcement individuals and agencies involved. Agencies learned from this incident and our police officers are safer in the field because of the resulting changes made. Thank you to the author. I am looking forward to your next book.

In 1980, I was a young Police Officer serving in the Diplomatic Protection Group in Central London. The unit’s primary role was to provide a discreet armed presence outside foreign diplomatic premises and the homes of politicians. However, prior to the creation of the Armed Response Vehicles, it also provided a limited response to armed criminality within its patrol area. As a Police Officer who was always armed whilst on duty, I was interested in learning more about terrorism, armed crime and police firearms tactics and read as much about the subjects as I could find. Inevitably, the majority of this material originated in the United States. Although, no longer a police officer I still maintain this interest and still read widely on these subjects. For this reason, I was extremely surprised to come across “Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History” by Peter Houlahan, during a recent book search on Amazon. Here was an event that was pivotal in American policing history, that happened in 1980 and yet I had not become aware of it in the intervening 40 years!I was intrigued and pre-ordered a copy, which I read within 2 days of receipt. I was captivated from the outset. Having read the book I was amazed that, despite the fact a TV film loosely based on the incident had been made in 2006 (Rapid Fire), nobody had previously written a book about it. Through extensive and intensive research into the incident, Peter Houlahan has produced a remarkable insight into the world and psyche of the armed fanatic / criminal and of those tasked to confront them.“Norco 80” concerns the robbery, in May 1980, of a bank in the small town of Norco near Los Angeles in Southern California. The book covers the robbery, the ensuing running gun battle between perpetrators and police and the subsequent manhunt. The investigation into the events revealed some unexpected information about the robbery gang..The perpetrators of the robbery were not, despite how it might have appeared at the time, professional robbers; they were not even experienced criminals. George Wayne Smith, the apparent leader of the five man gang, was a highly intelligent and articulate ‘Born Again Christian’. A devotee of a fairly aggressive evangelical movement whose theology was based heavily on the Book of Revelations, Smith was convinced the Rapture prophesised in the Bible was imminent. For that reason he became a ‘survivalist’ and started to stockpile large quantities of weapons and ammunition in order to protect his family and friends when the inevitable breakdown of society occurred. He also planned to establish a remote retreat where he and selected people could “weather the coming storm”. Lacking the necessary means to finance his vision, he believed that the needs of society in general were subordinate to his own and that bank robbery would be an acceptable way of raising the necessary funds. He persuaded his housemate and three other acquaintances of the ‘legitimacy’ of this thinking and together they began to plan, train and equip themselves for the intended heist. Unfortunately, some of the ‘team’ were less committed than others!Believing that their overwhelming firepower would deter any intervention by the police, they set off, heavily armed, to rob a bank in Norco. However, their plan was over complicated, with too many ‘moving parts’ and began to fall apart from the outset. Instead of aborting the robbery and immediately leaving Norco, they continued and set off a train of events which resulted in three deaths and many injuries amongst the protagonists and innocent bystanders.The fire fight that ensued highlighted the predicament of police officers at that time. Increasingly, they were being put in a position where they were facing criminals with modern high powered rifles, armed only with the same weapons as their counterparts from a century earlier; six guns and shotguns! During the gunfight, one desperate police officer managed to requisition a .22 rifle from a member of the public. Another officer retrieved a confiscated M16 Rifle from the prisoner property store at the station. This was deployed late in the fight and rather than significantly improving the situation, it served to muddy the water during the subsequent investigation.Some commentators have highlighted the Norco incident as the point at which police in the US became ‘militarised’. Whilst it is true that many police departments, particularly rural ones, began issuing rifles to patrol officers, this was more a case of ‘up – arming’ to level out a manifestly ‘uneven playing field’. Overall, the situation was slow to change, as was illustrated by the 1997 Bank of America shootout in Los Angeles. Once again, police armed only with handguns and shotguns were battling robbers with significantly heavier firepower and were forced to requisition privately owned weapons and resources whilst awaiting the arrival of SWAT.The book highlights other shortcomings in the police response, including inter agency communications and working protocols, which negatively impacted on the incident’s final outcome. Most significantly, from my point of view, was how the police, individually, collectively and corporately, dealt with the aftermath of the incident. Every officer involved in the incident witnessed varying amounts of the action from different viewpoints and each created their own version of what had happened. Some of these versions were contaminated by the officers’ personal issues. Failure by the various police agencies to hold individual and group debriefs led to long term problems for many of the officers involved. The police departments failed to provide any meaningful support for these officers. Some of the departments did not even formally recognise their officers’ heroic actions until decades after the event! There was no acknowledgement at the time that officers might be suffering from PTSD and some of them only became aware they had been experiencing its effects many years later. As a consequence a number of these officers, bitter or disillusioned, ended up leaving law enforcement.The trial of the surviving robbers provides a fascinating insight into the machinations of the US legal system. Whilst reading the details of the protracted criminal proceedings, I was reminded of a similar trial resulting from the 1967 murder of an LAPD detective, related by Joseph Wambaugh in his book ‘The Onion Field’. In both cases the defendants and their lawyers, with the prospect of the death penalty looming, did their utmost to credit their erstwhile partners in crime with the actual killing, proving that there is no honour among thieves (or indeed any criminals). The book covers these proceedings in fascinating detail, together with a number of other bizarre twists in the already strange story.Peter Houlahan’s book is based on extensive interviews with many of the people involved. He presents them all in a fair and unbiased manner, in order that the reader may form their own opinions. I have read some reviews that criticise insignificant technical errors in the narrative. They are just that, insignificant, and should not distract the reader from the key issues raised by this remarkable book. There are important lessons to be learnt at all levels of law enforcement regarding the handling of critical incidents and their aftermath. Although, the book was written about events in the US, these lessons are likely to become increasingly relevant in the UK, particularly due to recent trends in terrorism worldwide.I recommend this book to any one with even a passing interest in the subject matter. It is engaging, insightful and thought provoking and the author thoroughly deserves all the plaudits he has received from critics, both professional and informal.

Was a bit of hard work at times. I feel like there was too much detail given about every character in the book.Interesting read.

Difficult to put this one down. An excellent snapshot of 70's California.