Customer Reviews

Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip to the Tune of Five World-Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Millions of Dollars

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"IN MY WORLD, YOU ARE EITHER THE HUNTER OR THE PREY, AND I AM THE HUNTER. VEGAS WAS MY PREY. I TELL MY CREW: VEGAS MAKES IT, VIGOA TAKES IT!"
** JOSE VIGOA **

The first thing for potential readers to comprehend is that this entire story is absolutely true! This is not some phony, unbelievable, implausible, mockery of a Vegas caper like the "OCEANS ELEVEN" (THE REMAKE) "OCEANS TWELVE" AND "OCEANS THIRTEEN" Hollywood movies. For a period of TWENTY-FOUR MONTHS AND NINE DAYS, STARTING ON MAY 28, 1998 a "storming" of Las Vegas occurred when SIX (and nearly seven) world-class hotels were "hit"! The Desert Inn was involved in an attempted robbery which failed as it escalated into a bloody firefight. The other casinos, armored car companies, and businesses suffered losses exceeding three-million-dollars. This entire rampage was accomplished by a crew of merely three and possibly four men led by the violent and cunning Cuban born, former Russian/Cuban special force soldier Jose Vigoa.

This improbable string of successful robberies in the absolute heart of the world renowned Las Vegas, Sin City, is even harder to grasp when you take into account that the hotels employ thousands of security personnel in addition to the Metropolitan Sheriffs and police. The hotels also utilize thousands upon thousands of cameras. Jose planned and approached each heist like a military operation. Some of the "interesting" things he found out is that the new modern non-mafia controlled hotels had become in his own words: "A SOFT TARGET." Armored car guards cannot brandish their weapons on casino property no matter how much money they're transporting, according to hotel policy. "Security employees, long the backbone of Vegas protection, were disarmed and ordered not to engage criminals with deadly force on hotel property, much less provide backroom retaliation." The newer hotels had open cashier cages without bars or even bulletproof glass. The city was in the midst of runaway growth, and as a result, the police department was seriously undermanned. All the while Jose researched every variable imaginable during his pre-robbery scrutiny. He would follow armored cars on their routes for months at a time. He rightly believed that faulty "getaway" plans is what hindered many would-be casino robbers. To prevent this problem, during two nighttime raids the "audacious gang" stole seventeen vehicles from a Thrifty Car Rental lot. The stolen cars were then dispersed in crucial spots of each escape route, so they could quickly change cars so the "APB's" would have law enforcement searching for the wrong cars. This scheme worked so well that after a couple of heists, the cops and FBI lost the trail so quick that Jose would go back to the crime scene and laugh at the investigation that was just started at the most recently robbed hotel.

How did Jose's well planned heists turn out? Well, let's use the MGM Grand Hotel as an example. "The MGM, at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, is not only the grandest complex in Las Vegas with its 170,000 square foot casino, 6.6 acre pool complex, four thirty-story towers, nine signature restaurants, and 5,044 guest rooms. It is also the biggest hotel in the world. Jose and his boys stole more than $1.5 million in currency and checks from the main cashier's cage in TWENTY-EIGHT-SECONDS!! On April 22, 2000 shortly before dawn, Jose sat by the slot machines in the NEW YORK-NEW YORK HOTEL AND CASINO and waited for the hotels two armed guards to collect money from the gaming tables. He then jumped out of his seat in front of a slot machine and pulled his .357 magnum chrome revolver out, and said, "Don't move to one, and told the other one to "Get out of here!". "I guess the guards knew who I was. They froze." One of his crew appeared from the other side with his gun drawn, picked up the smaller cart, and placed it on top of the main dolly. Then they simply pushed the cart through the casino and out the door.

Think this sounds like fiction? Well, the introduction states that the prosecuting attorneys cooperated with the author, and Jose from prison cooperated fully and even signed a release, wrote detailed reports, with color sketches and blue prints. Vigoa also permitted the author to interview his former wife and three daughters, and authorized the author, without restrictions, to view his legal records. This is a meticulously researched book. What also enhances this whirlwind trip through the greatest crime spree in modern times are hospital pictures of armored car drivers, pictures of shot up armored cars, pictures of arrests, hand drawn robbery plans by the criminal himself. *NOTE* It's almost humorous to see in the lower corner of some of the exhibits: "COURTESY JOSE VIGOA." You will not be able to put this book down and you will be shaking your head from side to side as the share enormity of these crimes hit you. I don't think anyone would believe it as a movie.

To be fair, John Huddy had somewhat of a slam-dunk on his hands with this under-told story. Even so, his writing and thoughtfulness took it to a level it wouldn't have reached in less capable hands.

Huddy, a former police and crime beat reporter found an amazing story that had been downplayed by casinos and Las Vegas papers because of the potential for negative impact on their business. For a little longer than 24 months at the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, several Las Vegas armored cars and big-time casinos were robbed in a manner that was clearly planned by someone with a knowledge of weapons and tactics well beyond that of the average criminal. Furthermore, they were bold - done right on the strip in broad daylight.

Huddy tells the story of these heists and the law enforcement effort to solve them in a gripping, nearly fiction-like narrative style that keeps you almost frantic to find out what happens next. To achieve this effect, Huddy has spent an obviously huge amount of time researching the story first-hand, talking at length with those who were involved.

The finished product is the tale of a man born in Cuba and trained by the Soviet military who ends up in the United States under questionable circumstances and turns to his military training to earn an illicit living in Sin City. In this case, truth truly is stranger than fiction.

Huddy deserves credit for painting an even-handed portrait of the men who committed and solved the crimes, resisting the urge to just give in to stereotyping. Beyond that, Huddy finishes with a thoughtful analysis of who our Cuban anti-hero might truly be, and who he might not be. All in all, Huddy has found a great story and done it full justice with his treatment.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes non-fiction crime stories. An action-packed descendant of "In Cold Blood", by Truman Capote.

"Storming Las Vegas" tells the story of a Russian-trained Cuban commando (Vigoa) coming to America as part of the Mariel boatlift. Eventually Vigoa moves to Las Vegas, becomes part of the drug scene, and is imprisoned in 1988 for slightly over seven years.

Vigoa takes up construction work, does well, but loses his job after the parole officer informs Vigoa's employer of his background. Vigoa then begins a two-year run robbing armored cars and casinos - netting $3 million from six major hotels, and killing two armored truck guards in the process.

Author Grimes tells the story of each of the robberies, including three armored-car heists - each of which went sour due at least partly to errors committed by Vigoa's gang. (Two of the heists were also materially hampered by the guards' heroic and skillful actions. Coincidentally, two of the guards were involved in two of the foiled attempts.)

Vigoa has little respect for the LVPD and FBI, and it seems that at least one major error delayed ending Vigoa's career early. (Grimes' accounting on this point is somewhat muddled; in addition, his sequencing of Vigoa's robbery career is also confusing.)

Eventually Vigoa et al are caught - thanks to the Bellagio's extensive video system and alert operators.

1) The narrative about the crimes of Jose Vigoa is very good, but I give the book only one star because of the Cuba section and the previous history of Vigoa, there it does not pass the "s... test", as recommended by Ernest Hemingway in his famous interview with George Plimpton.
2) You see, I also came with the Mariel boatlift, and being a little older than Vigoa, can judge the narrative in the book even a little better. I am convinced that Vigoa took the author for a ride on his story up to 1980. This, given the intelligence and personality traits of the criminal, was to be expected, so I question whether Mr. Huddy allowed himself to be deceived on purpose or if there is a dishonest factor to make the book more marketable. This book is obviously written by an American for Americans, for how can it be otherwise when you often find mistakes even in the "Cuban dialect" phrases, for Christ's sake this is not Icelandic and there are many Cubans around for corroboration. Moreover, the Peruvian embassy asylum affair did not start right after the bus forced its entry into the embassy, but days later after Fidel could not get the Peruvians to return the asylum seekers and opened the gates in retaliation. The part of the Soviet Spetznats, the Angola sting followed by Afghanistan, the little time available for all that to happen given the age of Vigoa, the so-called disappearance of children aged 13 to 16 in Cuba at the time, even the way he left town, I assure you do not pass the smell test. I was not told, I was there all along.
3) Wouldn't you expect an author of caliber to try to corroborate these claims by a liar and criminal before putting them in black and white in a book? Norman Mailer was in Moscow for months researching the recently-opened KGB archives when writing "Oswald's Tales". Doesn't the public and reader deserve better?
4) Scumbag Jose Vigoa is not uncommon, unfortunately, in Cuba. He is really "The New Man" of the Che Guevara, the Boogie Man of Cubans. He represents most of what is wrong in there today mixed with several good traits of character, like Hitler, according to psychiatrist Jung, was the epitome of the dark shadow of the German nation's soul.

Credit must be given to the publisher of this book because the marketing of this book is superb. Cuban commando! Vegas robberies! Crime of a Lifetime! This kind of marketing would cause anyone interested in Vegas to be intrigued about this story - and candidly, it worked. I picked up the book on a Sunday morning in McCarran Airport in Vegas and was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, the actual story does not come remotely close to the promise of the cover.

For starters, the book is way too long (by at least 150 pages). I compliment the author for his passion but this story simply did not need the in-detail coverage of the life history of almost every person involved in the story (e.g. pages on the bio of a Brinks Security guard in one of those robbberies). This should have been a 200 page book at MOST (not 350 pgs).

Second, the actual robberies are not that exciting. The main villain essentially walks into casinos, pulls out guns and robs the cages...or robs the security guards transporting the money through the casinos. The raids are daring but they are not too complicated. The author also goes on way too long about each robbery and the writing is fairly chopppy, which makes it tough to always follow the story.

Finally, the main villain has interesting history but in the end, is simply a lunatic and a thug. He isn't some sort of brilliant criminal, which the author tries to suggest. In all, sadly, this is a typical Vegas book - lot of hype, little substance, and a post-reading feeling of "man, I wish that cover hadn't sucked me in."

Vigoa, the primary figure, is a compelling character, in spite of the sloppy writing style of Huddy. As a previous reviewer noted, the tense, present or past, switch seemingly at random in this book. The author should be embarrassed but the editor should be fired. In addition, in the middle of telling a story about a heist the author seems to be close to drawing conclusions...but still leaves the reader hanging with no closure of thought.

And like the reviewer who states he's from Cuba points out, there is more than a little to be questioned in the authenticity of Vigoa. Being familiar with the warrior class he claims to be from I can say that certain things play out well in his story. The accuracy of his shooting lends some credibility to his claims of military training. As do his rehearsals prior to the heists. However, his inability to pick companions who compliment his talents & add to his team, instead surrounding himself with dolts, leads to consideration that he's blowing a lot of smoke. A warrior would never put himself in the situations Vigoa does without thoroughly vetting his teammates. They are, after all, your life & blood when going into combat.

Still, even with all the flaws it's an interesting story and a decent read. I'm glad a friend gave me the book after he finished it as I would have felt more disappointed had I paid 20 bones for it.

Well researched and written. The author does a good job of not glorifying the bad guy, and gives the victims real faces. The only disappointment of the book- and the author certainly tried to uncover the truth, is what was Vigoa's actual military background? Perhaps one day we'll find out.

An excellent choice. This book does a great job of giving every side of the story, from each point of view. A relatively slow start following the first selection quickly gives way to non-stop action. I had trouble putting it down. A must-read for non-fiction enthusiasts.

Real life action. Awesome criminal mindset! Shows that you can come to this country and achieve the American dream"Even if it's Illegal"!!

What a story...one of my top picks from the non-fiction genre. Action, adventure, brutality, justice. Amazing story.