7 ms·

The Bicycle Thief (2019)

115 points by herbertl 5y ago

jascii 5y ago
Note to self: Report my bike stolen, just in case I'd ever want to rob some banks in the future...
quacked 5y ago
Wow, great article. Poor guy. Some people's minds are constructed in a way that simply doesn't mesh with modern life. If only he'd discovered extreme sports; he's got the exact personality profile of a champion hang glider pilot/kiteboarder/BASE jumper. Edit: I wrote that earlier bit about 40% of the way through the article. Now, at 75% of the way through the article, I don't think extreme sports would have scratched the itch for him, either. The level of novelty and adrenaline he trained himself to need could only be satisfied by the professions of drug addict or ancient raiding warrior.
- bloodyplonker22 5y ago
  To him, robbing banks was an extreme sport.
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  Why ancient raiding warrior? The military hasn't gone anywhere, if he's that dedicated I'm sure he could get into units that see more action than normal on top of it
  - dandotway 5y ago
    Military would be too bureaucratic and disciplined for his sort, but being a mercenary might be a fit.
    - buescher 5y ago
      He tried the Légion Étrangère but it didn't work out.
      - ericmay 5y ago
        > Légion Étrangère French Foreign Legion for those of us who don’t know French
- Theodores 5y ago
  With extreme sports you can tell people what you did, and it ain't subversive! With a well executed, audacious bank robbery you can't tell a soul and every day there is that fear that they will catch you. Even if you ditched that small thing that uniquely connects you to the crime into the uninhabited wilds of Siberia, someone will have seen you go there. Plus you have to explain where the money is from. Even if that is just to your mum. The thrill is two fold, in the immediate aftermath, getting away with it. And secondly of deception. You have secrets you can't tell. It is human nature to always tell, so this requires mental agility. What makes this bank robbing special is the bike. It is the perfect getaway vehicle in a society where the police can only follow things up if they have car things to work on.
- anemoiac 5y ago
  Sounds like he may have had ADHD. I wonder how being medicated with stimulants might have impacted him.
hirundo 5y ago
I can't recall many stories about an actual Robin Hood. I'd expect a jury to be much more likely to cut him a break than a typical bank robber. I don't think I could vote to acquit, but I might be tempted to convict on a lesser charge if available. But I wonder if what he did with the money would even reach the jury before they decided.
- ehnto 5y ago
  Commendable for being non-violent I'll give him that, but I think it would be a leap to call him a Robin Hood. He was stealing for a narcissistic rush and he ditched the cash out of pragmatism. I doubt even he believed it was for any kind of altruism. As soon as it could get him an even bigger fix, through drugs and lifestyle, he kept the money. I'm trying not to be cruel, he served his sentence and I don't exactly care that banks lost a few thousand here and there, I hope he's found some kind of peace now. It's just not quite the feel good story that Robin Hood was, this was more a story about unchecked narcissism and substance abuse.
  - greggman3 5y ago
    Banks didn't lose money, their customers did. Mom, kids, families
    - jascii 5y ago
      You realize that banking is a highly regulated industry and that their customers are insured for these events?
      - toast0 5y ago
        Customers don't lose money from theft directly (assuming it's theft of bank cash, not theft of deposit boxes), because the theft is replaced from bank capital or insurance or whatever. But it increases the cost of operating the bank, either directly or through higher insurance premiums, which eventually gets passed to customers in lower interest on deposits and higher interest on loans, or higher fees.
mherdeg 5y ago
Owen Ashworth's "Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended at Ace Hardware" is great for this.
mynameishue 5y ago
Wow, Tom is a bad guy. His MO is fascinating, his story is capturing (the first story I am reading on this site to the very end), it's a mixture of intrigue, suspense, humor, care for Tom's well-being. I love that he cried for relief from the loop he was in, he felt relieved from the matrix of problem-solving thoughts natural to anyone doing something illegal and morally wrong (especially those who know that they are doing this in their hearts). I admire the guy, not the crime. He is really a great bad guy.
adwi 5y ago
Great first-person account of this story from equally great podcast: https://loveandradio.org/2014/08/choir-boy/ https://loveandradio.org/2014/08/choir-boy/
jascii 5y ago
While anecdotal, this article seems to confirm my suspicion that motivation for crime is seldomly rational. It seems more often to be driven by some form of mental or emotional trauma. Makes you wonder if treatment rather than punishment wouldn't be a more effective remedy...
- blowski 5y ago
  In my school A-levels, I did a study on this. It was pretty obvious then that the main requirement of the law is to make people feel like retribution has been handed out, that the criminal has been made to suffer justly for their crimes. As you say, if the aim were to reduce crime, then alleviating poverty and providing better mental healthcare would be far more effective solutions.
  - MomoXenosaga 5y ago
    Nope in my country you can get basic assistance which is €1100 per month. But when you see drug dealers driving around in BMWs...
    - kevingadd 5y ago
      Is that enough for food and rent?
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    > main requirement of the law is to make people feel like retribution has been handed out To call such idea of supporting low emotions "medieval" would be inappropriate towards the Middle Ages.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  "It seems more often to be driven by some form of mental or emotional trauma." Maybe we are the ones with emotional trauma, staring at a screen 11 hours a day, obeying authority and aging without scratching the surface of life...
  - 5y ago
bryanrasmussen 5y ago
About the time I came back to Denmark about 20 years ago there was a bank robbery in Nørrebro (IIRC) and from what I remember of the description it was at the time of day that everyone was heading home from work and the robber escaped on bike - which of course at that time of day there are hundreds and hundreds of people biking in the same direction. I thought that was a pretty good plan that guy had.
- bink 5y ago
  Sounds a lot like the guy who placed an ad on Craigslist to be his cover: https://www.cnet.com/news/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigslist-fools-cops/ https://www.cnet.com/news/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigs...
latchkey 5y ago
Woah, I was likely at the olympic training center (for cycling as well) at the same time he was.
RankingMember 5y ago
> Every morning at the YMCA, Tom worked through the Olympic strength-training regimen to build muscle mass. Within a month, he was squatting 500 pounds. I know he was already a category 1 cyclist and thus in great shape (particularly his cardiac health), but going from not squatting to squatting 500 lbs is not something that happens in a month no matter who you are or what you're on. Something was very likely lost/garbled between the source and writer on this point.
- leblancfg 5y ago
  A sprint cyclist Olympic hopeful would have been squatting for years at this point. Maybe rusty, but > after finally graduating in 1994, Tom moved to Los Angeles to train alongside the U.S. Olympic team
drooby 5y ago
Damn that was entertaining. Can’t wait for the movie.
AtlasBarfed 5y ago
Basically unless the police are actively chasing you, you could have a hundred warrants out for your arrest and if you didn't drive a car you'd never be found. If you want to escape a state, get on a bike with cash and start riding on trails and back roads. The police depend so much on car stops to catch people. Well, until the surveillance state is fully set up
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I suspect swapping plates with another that match the car would get you pretty far. You might have to do it every week or so, or just steal a front plate and mount it on the rear, but it seems like you’d get a lot farther this way than on a bike and not immediately trip automated license plate readers.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
kevinmchugh 5y ago
Appropriate long drink to match the long read: https://imbibemagazine.com/recipe/the-bicycle-thief-cocktail/ https://imbibemagazine.com/recipe/the-bicycle-thief-cocktail...

115 points by herbertl 5y ago

Note to self: Report my bike stolen, just in case I'd ever want to rob some banks in the future...

Wow, great article. Poor guy. Some people's minds are constructed in a way that simply doesn't mesh with modern life. If only he'd discovered extreme sports; he's got the exact personality profile of a champion hang glider pilot/kiteboarder/BASE jumper. Edit: I wrote that earlier bit about 40% of the way through the article. Now, at 75% of the way through the article, I don't think extreme sports would have scratched the itch for him, either. The level of novelty and adrenaline he trained himself to need could only be satisfied by the professions of drug addict or ancient raiding warrior.

bloodyplonker22 5y ago
To him, robbing banks was an extreme sport.
thatguy0900 5y ago
Why ancient raiding warrior? The military hasn't gone anywhere, if he's that dedicated I'm sure he could get into units that see more action than normal on top of it
- dandotway 5y ago
  Military would be too bureaucratic and disciplined for his sort, but being a mercenary might be a fit.
  - buescher 5y ago
    He tried the Légion Étrangère but it didn't work out.
    - ericmay 5y ago
      > Légion Étrangère French Foreign Legion for those of us who don’t know French
Theodores 5y ago
With extreme sports you can tell people what you did, and it ain't subversive! With a well executed, audacious bank robbery you can't tell a soul and every day there is that fear that they will catch you. Even if you ditched that small thing that uniquely connects you to the crime into the uninhabited wilds of Siberia, someone will have seen you go there. Plus you have to explain where the money is from. Even if that is just to your mum. The thrill is two fold, in the immediate aftermath, getting away with it. And secondly of deception. You have secrets you can't tell. It is human nature to always tell, so this requires mental agility. What makes this bank robbing special is the bike. It is the perfect getaway vehicle in a society where the police can only follow things up if they have car things to work on.
anemoiac 5y ago
Sounds like he may have had ADHD. I wonder how being medicated with stimulants might have impacted him.

hirundo 5y ago

I can't recall many stories about an actual Robin Hood. I'd expect a jury to be much more likely to cut him a break than a typical bank robber. I don't think I could vote to acquit, but I might be tempted to convict on a lesser charge if available. But I wonder if what he did with the money would even reach the jury before they decided.

ehnto 5y ago
Commendable for being non-violent I'll give him that, but I think it would be a leap to call him a Robin Hood. He was stealing for a narcissistic rush and he ditched the cash out of pragmatism. I doubt even he believed it was for any kind of altruism. As soon as it could get him an even bigger fix, through drugs and lifestyle, he kept the money. I'm trying not to be cruel, he served his sentence and I don't exactly care that banks lost a few thousand here and there, I hope he's found some kind of peace now. It's just not quite the feel good story that Robin Hood was, this was more a story about unchecked narcissism and substance abuse.
- greggman3 5y ago
  Banks didn't lose money, their customers did. Mom, kids, families
  - jascii 5y ago
    You realize that banking is a highly regulated industry and that their customers are insured for these events?
    - toast0 5y ago
      Customers don't lose money from theft directly (assuming it's theft of bank cash, not theft of deposit boxes), because the theft is replaced from bank capital or insurance or whatever. But it increases the cost of operating the bank, either directly or through higher insurance premiums, which eventually gets passed to customers in lower interest on deposits and higher interest on loans, or higher fees.

mherdeg 5y ago

Owen Ashworth's "Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended at Ace Hardware" is great for this.

mynameishue 5y ago

Wow, Tom is a bad guy. His MO is fascinating, his story is capturing (the first story I am reading on this site to the very end), it's a mixture of intrigue, suspense, humor, care for Tom's well-being. I love that he cried for relief from the loop he was in, he felt relieved from the matrix of problem-solving thoughts natural to anyone doing something illegal and morally wrong (especially those who know that they are doing this in their hearts). I admire the guy, not the crime. He is really a great bad guy.

adwi 5y ago

Great first-person account of this story from equally great podcast: https://loveandradio.org/2014/08/choir-boy/ https://loveandradio.org/2014/08/choir-boy/

jascii 5y ago

While anecdotal, this article seems to confirm my suspicion that motivation for crime is seldomly rational. It seems more often to be driven by some form of mental or emotional trauma. Makes you wonder if treatment rather than punishment wouldn't be a more effective remedy...

blowski 5y ago
In my school A-levels, I did a study on this. It was pretty obvious then that the main requirement of the law is to make people feel like retribution has been handed out, that the criminal has been made to suffer justly for their crimes. As you say, if the aim were to reduce crime, then alleviating poverty and providing better mental healthcare would be far more effective solutions.
- MomoXenosaga 5y ago
  Nope in my country you can get basic assistance which is €1100 per month. But when you see drug dealers driving around in BMWs...
  - kevingadd 5y ago
    Is that enough for food and rent?
- mdp2021 5y ago
  > main requirement of the law is to make people feel like retribution has been handed out To call such idea of supporting low emotions "medieval" would be inappropriate towards the Middle Ages.
ClumsyPilot 5y ago
"It seems more often to be driven by some form of mental or emotional trauma." Maybe we are the ones with emotional trauma, staring at a screen 11 hours a day, obeying authority and aging without scratching the surface of life...
- 5y ago

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

About the time I came back to Denmark about 20 years ago there was a bank robbery in Nørrebro (IIRC) and from what I remember of the description it was at the time of day that everyone was heading home from work and the robber escaped on bike - which of course at that time of day there are hundreds and hundreds of people biking in the same direction. I thought that was a pretty good plan that guy had.

bink 5y ago
Sounds a lot like the guy who placed an ad on Craigslist to be his cover: https://www.cnet.com/news/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigslist-fools-cops/ https://www.cnet.com/news/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigs...

latchkey 5y ago

Woah, I was likely at the olympic training center (for cycling as well) at the same time he was.

RankingMember 5y ago

> Every morning at the YMCA, Tom worked through the Olympic strength-training regimen to build muscle mass. Within a month, he was squatting 500 pounds. I know he was already a category 1 cyclist and thus in great shape (particularly his cardiac health), but going from not squatting to squatting 500 lbs is not something that happens in a month no matter who you are or what you're on. Something was very likely lost/garbled between the source and writer on this point.

leblancfg 5y ago
A sprint cyclist Olympic hopeful would have been squatting for years at this point. Maybe rusty, but > after finally graduating in 1994, Tom moved to Los Angeles to train alongside the U.S. Olympic team

drooby 5y ago

Damn that was entertaining. Can’t wait for the movie.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

Basically unless the police are actively chasing you, you could have a hundred warrants out for your arrest and if you didn't drive a car you'd never be found. If you want to escape a state, get on a bike with cash and start riding on trails and back roads. The police depend so much on car stops to catch people. Well, until the surveillance state is fully set up

sokoloff 5y ago
I suspect swapping plates with another that match the car would get you pretty far. You might have to do it every week or so, or just steal a front plate and mount it on the rear, but it seems like you’d get a lot farther this way than on a bike and not immediately trip automated license plate readers.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

kevinmchugh 5y ago

Appropriate long drink to match the long read: https://imbibemagazine.com/recipe/the-bicycle-thief-cocktail/ https://imbibemagazine.com/recipe/the-bicycle-thief-cocktail...