09x07 - Cloak of Deceit

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Narrator: for seven years, a group of bank robbers flaunted

Their expertise in front of security cameras, and law

Enforcement could do little more than watch and marvel.

They left no forensic evidence behind and always got away

Before police arrived.

But how they stood, what they said, and the clothes they wore

All told a story -- one that could be deciphered by forensic

Science.

Calabash, north carolina, is a quiet fishing town located just

Over the state line from myrtle beach, south carolina.

To sum it up, it's a perfect place to live, quiet, the best

Seafood in the world, and that's how calabash was known.

Narrator: in september of , in broad daylight, two

Masked men with handguns walked into one of the local banks.

A teller pushed the silent alarm.

The robbers got away with $, before police arrived.

And the closest police station was our county complex,

Which is about to miles away.

Narrator: the bank was equipped with surveillance

Cameras that used -millimeter film.

In most instances, we have bank surveillance video tapes,

Which don't give us a lot of quality and don't allow us the

Opportunity to enhance the photos.

Narrator: the pictures showed a well-organized crime.

Some individuals go in banks with no gloves, no mask, and no

Plan.

Those are the easiest ones to catch.

The folks that are well-planned, well-orchestrated prove to be

The most difficult challenged in law enforcement.

Narrator: the men entered the bank just after an armored truck

Made its daily delivery of cash from the federal reserve bank.

They didn't walk around the bank like nervous, and they had

A getaway car waiting, and they were watching the getaway car

The whole time.

They could see it through the door.

Narrator: the high-resolution pictures gave investigators a

Good look at the getaway car, driven most likely by a third

Accomplice.

We were able to determine it was a camaro.

We were able to determine the year of the vehicle -- certain

Packages that came with the vehicle, that were not standard.

Narrator: but without the license-plate number, it would

Be difficult to find the car.

With so few clues, the robbery went unsolved until one year

Later.

It all began at the very same bank.

Bank robbery in progress.

It was turning our quiet town, known for its seafood,

Into a quiet town known for its bank robberies.

Narrator: a bank employee recognized them.

She recognized a voice, the way they stood, the same

Directives.

She was positive the same people were robbing her over and

Over again.

In fact, the statement she made was "déjà vu."

One of the robbers is about '" and nearly pounds.

It was fairly distinct.

They got identified that way as being the same people.

Narrator: the robbers warned the tellers not to throw dye

Packs in the moneybags.

Dye packs are rigged to explode later, leaving a permanent dye

On the bills.

One of the news crews had come down.

It sort of made me mad.

That reporter stood in the middle of the street in calabash

And made the comment, "if you want to rob a bank, calabash is

The place to come and do it.

Narrator: over the next several years, these same men

Robbed other banks in the area.

The getaway cars were stolen and abandoned miles away.

They were not making a lot of mistakes.

They were going in, they were getting what they needed to get,

And they got out of the bank.

We had no hairs, we had no fibers, we had no confessions,

We had no money, we had very few bits of real physical evidence.

Narrator: over a -year period, there were bank

Robberies stretching from calabash, north carolina, down

To myrtle beach, across the state line.

Each robbery lasted between and minutes, and none of the

Branches had armed security personnel.

Very meticulous, very structured, very organized --

In, out, and gone.

And you're in a rural area.

I think you have to be both lucky and good.

Narrator: and the crimes were becoming increasingly violent.

Aah!

Get your head down!

The one -- usually the obese robber, in this case -- went

Behind the tellers' counter and threatened to k*ll them.

And the other one rounded up any customers or other bank

Employees, sometimes forced them into one office or forced them

Onto the ground.

In one particular bank robbery, a warning sh*t was

Fired at a bank manager.

We had several instances where tellers were struck, were

Dragged, were beaten, were threatened.

Narrator: in one instance, when an employee hesitated in

Opening the bank vault, it almost cost her her life.

She was shaking so badly, she couldn't do the combination.

That individual cocked the w*apon against her head and

Said, "this is your last chance.

You open the vault, or you're dead."

Narrator: investigators tried to predict where and when the

Robbers would strike again, but they they never imagined what

Would happen next.

The robbers returned to calabash and hit the same bank for the

Third time.

It turned out to be their biggest heist to date.

They walked out of the bank with $,.

But this time, there was a witness outside.

I had to kind of take a double take to make sure I was

Seeing what I thought I saw, and then I realized it was a bank

Robbery in progress.

Narrator: king saw two men run from the bank and get into a

Green car driven by a third man.

King wrote down the license-plate number, then did

Something law-enforcement officers discourage.

He followed them.

The chase reached speeds of miles per hour.

At one point, the robbers stopped their car, turned

Around, and confronted him.

They were sitting in the intersection and stopped and

Aimed back in my direction.

And one of the guys was out of the car with a g*n.

And so I just laid over in the seat and just kicked it --

Kicked the gas and just sh*t by him as fast as I could.

Narrator: he still had the license-plate number, which

Identified the car as stolen.

It was later found abandoned in the same area as the other

Getaway cars, along a deserted road in south carolina.

We told him how brave and how <span tts:fontstyle="italic">not</span>brave it was.

We were tickled that he helped us, but we didn't want him to

Get hurt, and luckily, he didn't.

I don't think what I did was anything close to heroic.

I think it was just a -- it was a civic duty almost to try to

Help catch these guys.

Narrator: the robbers didn't strike again until almost a year

Later -- this time, in myrtle beach, about miles

Away.

They always seemed to be one step ahead of law enforcement.

And investigators were beginning to understand why.

It was something they saw in a surveillance picture.

For prosecutors and cops that work in bank robberies, not many

Robbers wear holsters.

And this guy wore a police-type holster on his belt to carry his

g*n, which was quite distinct.

Narrator: and it was clear that the two men inside the bank

Knew how to handle a w*apon.

This wasn't the first time this individual had ever picked

Up a g*n, and we felt like there was some training involved and

Planning involved in these robberies.

Narrator: there was also something strange about the way

One of the robbers stood.

The old weaver stance, which was a type of a stance that you

Were trained to do in police work back in the late 's and

'S.

And he just had a manner in which he held his g*n in his

Hand that was unusual.

It's hard to describe.

We thought there was a high possibility that it was somebody

That had maybe gone to through some kind of law-enforcement

Training or even m*llitary training.

Narrator: investigators now knew how the robbers were

Getting away with the crimes.

Narrator: police now believed that the men robbing banks

Throughout north and south carolina were somehow involved

In law enforcement.

Over a -year period, they had gotten away with close to

$,.

Their favorite target was the small town of calabash.

At the time, the nearest police station was a -minute drive

Away.

They robbed the same bank three times.

[ g*nshots ] I think that they had nerve

To go into these banks on more than one occasion, but also to

Stay inside the banks as long as they stayed in.

Why the individuals chose north carolina national bank

Three times, we do not know, but we do know that apparently they

Did this because they had been successful.

And I think, with each robbery, it became easier and easier, and

They became more confident.

Narrator: the robbers' next target was a bank right up the

Street.

A customer at the drive-through window witnessed the robbery.

He also noticed a third man in the pickup truck, who appeared

To be the lookout, and he wrote down the license-plate number.

[ Tires screech ] when the robbers drove away in a

Red suv, the customer followed them.

That individual followed both of those vehicles along a route

That, in one of the previous bank robberies, another witness

Had followed the getaway vehicle, and they both took

Exactly the same route.

Narrator: the bank customer eventually lost the robbers, but

The license-plate number turned out to be an enormous break.

The truck belonged to alvin bellamy, a landscaper who

Lived in rural south carolina.

The fbi went to the bellamys' home.

Neither alvin nor the truck were there, but alvin's wife was.

She proceeded to tell us where he was, that he was with

His brothers -- claude bellamy and larry bellamy.

So that is the first time we come up with three names.

Narrator: around : a.m., A car approached the bellamy home,

But it wasn't alvin.

It was alvin's brother larry, who was a lieutenant with the

Myrtle beach police department.

They gave me the name of lieutenant larry bellamy, and my

Initial reaction was, "they've made a bad mistake.

There's no possible way that they've got the right person or

That they should even be looking at this particular person."

Narrator: larry vehemently denied any involvement in the

Robberies.

Alvin came home a short time later in the truck identified as

The lookout vehicle.

The fbi found $ in brand-new bills in alvin's wallet.

Fresh, crisp s and s.

I started writing down the serial numbers to the - and

-Dollar bills.

That was basically one of those ploys that you use.

I told him that I was going to take them back to the bank

And compare it with the stolen money from the bank.

He got very agitated.

He got very upset, demanding he'd never seen that money

Before.

Narrator: the next morning, investigators went to the third

Brother's home nearby.

Claude bellamy was a heavyset man with a similar build to the

Man in the security pictures.

He was also a former policeman.

He also denied any involvement in the robberies, and

Investigators found no large sums of money in his home.

But in his bedroom closet, investigators found a

Black-and-white checked jacket.

It happened to be the only garment hanging in that closet,

Which was interesting to me why he would have this coat hanging

Separately in a room he didn't use, in a closet he didn't

Appear to use.

Narrator: the jacket was sent to fbi expert david davies.

He's a photographic technologist with years' experience in

Garment identification.

At first glance, davies knew he was dealing with a mass-produced

Product.

You could have million jackets that look like that.

Narrator: davies used computer-enhancement software to

Improve the quality of the bank's security photos.

He then photographed a model wearing the jacket, standing the

Same way as the robber.

Shirts and jackets are manufactured differently,

Depending on the price and quality of the garment.

For example, in more expensive shirts, the manufacturer lines

Up the breast pockets to match the overall pattern on the

Garment.

Anytime you have a pattern that has to be aligned, it's

Got to be done by a human, and it costs the company money.

Therefore, the more alignment you have in the pattern, the

More expensive your shirt is going to be.

Narrator: in an inexpensive shirt, the manufacturer -- in

This case, the arrow company -- doesn't even attempt a match.

By going to arrow, we asked the people who were there,

"Okay, exactly what are you trying to line up here?

Exactly what are you doing when you make this shirt?"

Narrator: the manufacturer aligned the breast pocket at a

-Degree angle.

Because of the pattern, all points of alignment at the seams

Happen at random.

The more seams I can see, and the more uniqueness that I can

Determine -- in this case, the bank robber stood at the same

Place and basically turned around a couple times, and I had

Some outstanding views of various seams.

Narrator: and davies discovered, the alignment of the

Pattern at all of those random points was identical.

In the surveillance pictures, davies noticed another

Distinctive mark -- a discoloration in the fabric on

The left sleeve.

I saw a little light mark in what should have been a gray

Square.

You're seeing the white threads that below the dyed gray.

Narrator: he found the same anomaly -- a tear in the

Material -- in the exact same spot on bellamy's jacket.

I was absolutely sure that it was that jacket.

So there's no doubt whatsoever?

No doubt.

The examination of the plaid shirt by the fbi was

Exceptional.

We've never seen or heard of this before.

This was a new process to us.

What I couldn't tell was who the bank robber was, but what I

Could tell was, the jacket robbed the bank.

Narrator: investigators now had to prove that one of the

Bellamy brothers wore the jacket.

And they also wanted to find the money.

Narrator: the fbi's photographic analyst determined

That the jacket found in claude bellamy's home had been

Worn by one of the bank robbers.

From the surveillance pictures, it appeared to be larry bellamy.

Larry was a lieutenant in the myrtle beach police department.

His supervisor, warren gall, recognized him in the pictures

By the way he held his g*n.

I have been on the range numerous times with larry when

We were qualifying for the police department.

And I knew his stance, I knew his pose, and it was exact.

Narrator: larry's sh**ting stance was unique.

It was a combination of two different styles taught at the

Police academy.

Larry had never really adjusted to the new stance and

sh*t with a hybrid sort of stance -- in between the old

Square-shouldered stance and the newer weaver stance -- that was

Quite distinctive.

A number of these witnesses had been on the sh**ting range,

Practicing with him for years, and recognized that sh**ting

Stance.

Narrator: larry knew a great deal about bank robbery because

He was a crime-scene specialist.

He worked bank robberies as a crime-scene officer.

He took fingerprints, photographs.

He communicated with bank tellers and employees and the

Fbi in the incidents that occurred in myrtle beach.

He was aware of evidence.

He was aware of what is looked for, in terms of evidence,

At a crime scene.

Narrator: incredibly, larry bellamy helped investigate

One of his own crimes.

Hindsight being /, looking back at the day that we

Located a stolen car, I remember larry bellamy showing up on the

Scene, offering his assistance to us, because he was a

Crime-scene officer with the myrtle beach police department.

Narrator: larry's time sheets indicated he was not working

When the robberies occurred.

Investigators also discovered an interesting clue in the way the

Getaway vehicles were abandoned.

They were so successful for so many years that they just got

Sloppy.

And towards the end, they started using their own cars to

Carry out the robberies.

Narrator: investigators found the red suv used at their

Last robbery at a safe house the brothers rented about

Miles away, in aberdeen, north carolina.

By the time the fbi found it, everything else was gone.

We never recovered the money from these bank robberies.

And there was a total take of approximately $,.

When you break down that amount of money over that

Time frame, split maybe three ways, we felt that it would be

Easy to spend that type of money without a great deal of notice

Or even if they put it away, which to this day, we don't

Know.

Narrator: ironically, the bellamy brothers lived just

Across the highway from the robbers roost golf club.

In , they were arrested and charged with numerous counts of

Bank robbery.

They pleaded not guilty.

But the forensic garment analysis was more than enough

To satisfy the jury.

Most of the evidence they had was circumstantial, and this was

The only forensic evidence that was basically a fingerprint that

Was very unique that pointed to one of the bank robbers.

Narrator: all three were convicted.

Larry and claude were each sentenced to years in the

Federal penitentiary.

They were the men who had taken an oath to protect these

People from violent criminal activity, and they're the very

People preying upon them.

And so we felt that there was a certain amount of culpability

That went to those two that didn't go to alvin.

Narrator: alvin was sentenced to years.

And I think it was the shirt that an fbi investigator at

The lab was able to identify that "this is the exact shirt

That was worn in this robbery, and it matches identical to

The surveillance film inside the bank."

I think that that became the straw that broke the camel's

Back and broke the case.