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

I keep buying this book to gift to people, it's that good. I live just south of Norco and the depth of research that went into this book is to be commended. It's very thorough and reads like thriller fiction, the photo pages are a fantastic addition.

I almost stopped reading this book before the author gets into the description of the robbery. Initially the writing is kind of weak and uninteresting. However, once the story kicks in this author steps up his game considerably and the story really takes off like a rocket. Riveting and exciting description on this insane robbery and chase then an excellent play by play of the trial. The bravery of the cops involved is amazing.

“Norco ‘80” is proof that you can’t beat a well-researched and written story. Houlahan may get accused of using a few unnecessary profanities, but the story and dialogue ring as true as it could possibly get in what had to be a harrowing experience for the hundreds of civilians caught in the middle of a bank heist, parking lot shootout and chase, much less those directly involved with the law enforcement agencies. It is clearly a page-turner — and that often means flipping back and forth from the opening chapters all the way to the end of a year-long trial and it’s aftermath.It is interesting to get the story and then see the story viewed differently by witnesses directly involved, and that makes the court case seem shocking and yet not so surprising after all. It is no wonder cases like this get expected results as well as impossible to explain outcomes at the same time. We do now probably have too much firepower in the hands of law enforcement because of the case, but at the same time it is clear the Riverside officers didn’t have enough resources to deal with a mini army force of misguided young men.“Norco ‘80” doesn’t have all the answers, but it certainly has the story down well enough to be entertaining, informative and educational. Fasten you seatbelts for a wild ride.

The true-life story is told in a straightforward manner, relaying the facts without embellishment. The facts are staggering; I binge read in one day.The story is important as it describes an important motivator for militarizing the police force. The motivation for the crime is also very interesting.Meticulously researched.Well organized and paced. Provides background of time and place, and background for each character as needed but then quickly moves the story forward.Deftly handles conflicting testimony by making it clear who was saying what. Does not offer opinions but simply reports the opinions of the persons involved.Highly recommend.

This doesn't read like a true story, more like the screenplay for a Hollywood action movie. I didn't know anything about this robbery (was 10 and living on the East Coast when this happened) and saw it as a "Best of Month" on Amazon where the description convinced me this was worth a read.I'll confess to not expecting as much of a thrill ride as this book packed. I didn't put down this book until I had read about half of it in one sitting through the robbery, chase and capture. I'll commend the author for meticulous research and detail that enhanced the story. There were a few times that the precision of the chase, particularly in the San Gabriel mountains was a little hard to follow, but ultimately added to the notion of a confusing situation, ensuring the reader understood what law enforcement was up against and how this was unlike anything they ever encountered.The eventual post crime investigation and courtroom shenanigans and drama was fascinating, albeit a little less of an adrenaline rush than the first part of the book. If you enjoy fast paced, quick reads, this is definitely worth your time.

The profanity did not help an otherwise interesting account of what happened. Frankly I do not enjoy profane discussions,

The end was kind of disappointing. The criminals really should have gone to the gas chamber. But that wasn't the author's fault. There was a pretty good description of the characters involved; the chase scene was a page turner. The courtroom stuff was not. It is very hard to get into the mind of any of those losers, but he tried. One character that we might want to understand but could not was the paralegal.

Back in 1980 when these events occurred I was a young women with two little kids living in the neighboring city of Corona., and I wasn’t much into reading the local newspaper at that time. I of course remember hearing about the infamous Norco robbery and subsequent trial, but only gave cursory attention to it so when I saw that this book had been written I ordered it immediately, and was not disappointed. The author goes into great detail in telling the story, from minute background descriptions of the characters, to the planning of the heist, its execution, police chase and the resulting trial and aftermath. I also appreciated the author including details of what happened to everyone, and their present circumstances. It was not an easy read, especially the details about how inadequately equipped and prepared the police were , but the one good thing that came out of the whole mess is that now (hopefully) law enforcement has the fire power, supplies and training they so desperately needed that day. I was appalled to learn that the neighboring county and city police, sheriff and CHP had inadequate/non-existent means of communicating with each other. That alone may have prevented loss of life, injuries and destruction of police property occurring that horrible day. Details of the trial were uncomfortable reading mainly because I don’t have a high regard for our justice system. It seems lumbering, tedious and a real drain on resources. Lastly, I was really happy to learn that the law enforcement personnel involved finally received recognition for their devotion to duty in all aspects of this case. (And more awareness of PTSD) I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the details of the Norco ‘80 bank robbery.

Cinematic in scope and breezy in readability. Covers every possible phase of this terrible crime spree that would become the inciting incident that led to police forces in metro centres to re-think their tactics and weaponry forevermore.It is a cliche to term this book 'impossible to put down', but the writer weaves such a memorable and fascinating series of events featuring human beings the reader comes to know and root for (and against), that it must be said in this case. Highly recommend.

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.