Trio of Banks Robbed Without Incident

It's amazing that criminals still rob banks, given the current state of security technology and the fact that perpetrators rarely get away with it anymore. But these are desperate times and, as notorious bank robber Willie Sutton once said, "that's where the money is."

Enough said. And as long as banks are where the money is, criminals will do everything they can rob them, including a recent pair of bank robberies in suburban Chicago (Sun-Times) and another one downtown (Tribune).

Neither of the three robberies were particularly creative, just the old standby of a note demanding cash and threatening gun violence and/or a bomb. But apparently that method still gets results, although neither story said how much loot the thieves made off with.

The first robbery took place at an MB Financial Bank branch in Oak Brook. A teller received a note from a man saying he had not only a gun but also a bomb (which was probably a lie, but tellers don't make enough money to take any chances). He left behind a package but the bomb squad determined it was not an explosive device.

He left with an unspecified amount of cash.

Another man entered a Skokie branch of Chase Bank a little later and also handed the teller a note demanding cash, but this time without a bomb threat. He also left with an undisclosed sum of money.

Another robbery took place at the Traders Point Fifth Third Bank on 86th Street. He presented the teller a note and, well, you know the drill by now.

Maybe the robbers just wanted to recover what they considered to be their fair share of the taxpayer-backed bank bailouts. Everyone knows they're not really lending these days.

So while they're not nearly as colorful as the elaborate casino heist in "Ocean's 13" (or any of the films in the series, for that matter), bank robberies still happen quite often.