To hear prosecutors talk, it’s one of the biggest bank robbery rings ever.
Not even John Dillinger did any as many robberies.
Twenty-five holdups, 12 different bank robbers and a ring leader who orchestrated each of the heists.
Those are the allegations the FBI makes in complaint charging Michael “Max" Mitchell with being at the center of a bank robbery spree that started in April and ended with his arrest in Buffalo this week.
“If the allegations are true, this would certainly represent one of largest bank robbery rings anywhere," U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said today.
Mitchell, 21, is accused of overseeing a loosely-formed organization of bank robbers, most of them young people, at least one of them a woman, who carried out most of the robberies.
The complaint says he instructed the others on what to write in their notes to bank tellers and sometimes waited in the getaway car outside.
It also claims Mitchell carried a chrome .45 caliber pistol and did three of the robberies alone.
“We believe he is a danger to the community, threatening innocent individuals and threatening to shoot others," Hochul said.
In at least one instance, during a holdup of a Bank of America in Niagara Falls, one of the bank robbers Mitchell recruited asked the teller to call police because he did not want to face Mitchell and the person waiting in a car outside, according to the complaint.
The FBI says 19 of the 22 robberies done by the others have been solved and that all charged in those robberies have a relationship with other defendants that directly or indirectly lead to Mitchell.
The investigation, by the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, also uncovered the notes used in the robberies and found they contain many similarities.
The notes often described a specific caliber of weapon in the robber’s possession, as well as instructions on how much money to hand over.
They also contained warnings advising the tellers not to activate bank security devices or hand out dye packs.
“There were similarities in how the bank robberies were committed," Hochul said Thursday.
Mitchell was arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and ordered held without bail.
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com
Not even John Dillinger did any as many robberies.
Twenty-five holdups, 12 different bank robbers and a ring leader who orchestrated each of the heists.
Those are the allegations the FBI makes in complaint charging Michael “Max" Mitchell with being at the center of a bank robbery spree that started in April and ended with his arrest in Buffalo this week.
“If the allegations are true, this would certainly represent one of largest bank robbery rings anywhere," U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said today.
Mitchell, 21, is accused of overseeing a loosely-formed organization of bank robbers, most of them young people, at least one of them a woman, who carried out most of the robberies.
The complaint says he instructed the others on what to write in their notes to bank tellers and sometimes waited in the getaway car outside.
It also claims Mitchell carried a chrome .45 caliber pistol and did three of the robberies alone.
“We believe he is a danger to the community, threatening innocent individuals and threatening to shoot others," Hochul said.
In at least one instance, during a holdup of a Bank of America in Niagara Falls, one of the bank robbers Mitchell recruited asked the teller to call police because he did not want to face Mitchell and the person waiting in a car outside, according to the complaint.
The FBI says 19 of the 22 robberies done by the others have been solved and that all charged in those robberies have a relationship with other defendants that directly or indirectly lead to Mitchell.
The investigation, by the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, also uncovered the notes used in the robberies and found they contain many similarities.
The notes often described a specific caliber of weapon in the robber’s possession, as well as instructions on how much money to hand over.
They also contained warnings advising the tellers not to activate bank security devices or hand out dye packs.
“There were similarities in how the bank robberies were committed," Hochul said Thursday.
Mitchell was arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and ordered held without bail.
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com