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Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber: The True Story of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, One of the FBI's Most Elusive Criminals

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In two days, a breath of fresh air is hitting the true crime book shelves in the form of debut author Dane Batty's Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber: The True Story of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, One of the FBI's Most Elusive Criminals.

Batty has spent a great deal of time promoting his book and I'd been keeping a watch on other's reviews, thinking it was a story I was interested in. So when Batty offered to send me an advanced reader's copy for review, I willingly accepted.

But you never know what you're going to get with first time authors. Often they have an excellent story to tell, just not much of a knack for telling it.

That is NOT the case here.

Batty doesn't actually tell Leslie Rogge's story; he has an inside scoop since Rogge is his maternal uncle.

Rogge tells his own story with a few commentaries from Batty thrown in for a relative's point-of-view.

And, let me tell you, Rogge may be a guy who stole an estimated $2 million in his career as a bank robber, but the guy sure knows how to tell a story.

Rogge skips all the childhood memories and delves right into his days of ripping off banks in a very gentlemanly fashion.

He never used violence to get the cash. His crimes involved no high speed chases.

No, they were about as lax as you're going to see with this serious of a crime.

When Rogge wasn't "sticking it to the man," he was sailing the world with his wife, Judy - who at first was oblivious to Rogge's source of income.

Written by Rogge as if he was talking directly to you, readers are invited to hear about his travels, his misdeeds, and a view into life on the lam.

I can't think of another time that I've wanted so much for the bad guy to get a way; to have a happy ending.

Some people are just natural born story tellers with great stories to tell. Some people do bad things, but they're the nicest folks in the world; willing to give you the shirt off their back in your time of need.

Leslie Rogge is one of them, and Batty has done a SUPERB job of compiling these stories into a book that's difficult to put down!

This is the kind of true crime story that you seldom get to read since it is essentially written by the perp himself, and perps usually don't bother putting their tale to print because convicted felons by law can't benefit financially from their stories.

I say "essentially" since onetime top ten most wanted criminal, "gentleman" bank robber Leslie Ibsen Rogge's writings have been organized, edited and annotated by his--let's face it--adoring nephew Dane Batty. Batty writes an intro, and comes on page from time to time to give some information or to set a scene amidst the fascinating narrative written by Rogge. I read the book in two settings. More devoted true crime readers will stay up until two in the morning and do it in one setting!

So here we have a guy who has several gifts. Obviously he has the gift of gab and is really a first class con artist as he proves again and again by talking people into doing things they normally would never do. Rogge is especially good at negotiating "deals" with cars, boats, house trailers--anything that can be traded or resold. He talks one idiot into helping him escape for a promise of $50,000 that Rogge says he has buried in California and will send to him (right). He talks his way across borders and out of scrapes and into the hearts of strangers. But he saves his best spiel for bank managers--always female, by the way, since Rogge realized (correctly) that they are less likely to feel the urge to play hero and try to stop the robbery in progress. His MO was to call ahead and arrange a meeting with the bank manager. He would arrive in a nice neat suit and tie with a fancy briefcase, sit down, take out a robbery note and hand it to the manager. He would say something like "don't turn this into a homicide" and part his suit coat enough to show a gun handle. He would set a police scanner on the desk and advise against tripping any alarms under the threat of getting shot. Amazingly enough this worked almost thirty times to the tune of over $2-million.

Another of Rogge's gifts is that of the consummate handyman. He's the kind of guy who can figure out how to operate or fix just about anything mechanical or electrical. He taught himself how to hot wire cars and drive them when he was just a kid. Later apparently taught himself how to fly airplanes and sail sailboats. He managed to fix boat and car engines, even airplane and one helicopter engine with no formal training. Too bad he didn't just concentrate on using that one skill. Actually he does, near the end of the book, while on the run in Guatemala. He becomes "Mr. Fix It" in the ex-pat gringo community in Antigua, where he and his common law wife Judy are living an idyllic life. At this point one begins to feel real sympathy for Rogge. He has given up robbing banks and is ripping off no one because in such a tight knit ex-pat community everybody knows everybody and you can't afford to get a bad rep.

A third Rogge gift is just pure ballsyness. He literally has the nerves of a burglar. In a sense his bank robberies were more con jobs and burglaries than holdups. He conned his way inside, had what he wanted put in bags and he carried it out. The key was his very careful casing of the banks and his careful planning of how to get away. He always had at least two vehicles for the escape. One was the getaway car (usually stolen), which he and his sometimes accomplice would quickly abandon for the second vehicle which might be an SUV, a motor home, a boat or even an airplane. He would listen on the police scanner (which he had practiced listening to days before the robbery) to know just what the police were up too, when the alarm had sounded and where the police thought he was going.

Finally Rogge had great natural social skills. He knew how to make people like him and trust him. Nobody ever turned him in, not even for the $25,000 reward money. Friends sent him money when he was in need and helped him out when he was on the run, no questions asked. Les Rogge is the classic example of a criminal who could have been a great success in life pursuing any one of a number of other careers.

Another of the ironies of his life is that he often got into trouble for his generosity. Once he befriended an out-of-work hitchhiker who went on to steal his money and his car. And friends would sometimes inadvertently help the FBI reconnect to his trail. In the final insult, he helps a kid in Guatemala set up his computer connection only to have the kid spot him on the Internet as one of America's Most Wanted. The kid clicks on a site, the FBI is alerted and the kid tells all he knows and not long after Rogge (in order to save his beloved Judy from an aiding and abetting charge) turns himself in.

This is not your polished Ann Rule or Edward Humes true crime sort of tale, but for all that it is just as interesting as something from the masters of the genre. Dane Batty has done a great (if somewhat amateurish) job of allowing his uncle to present himself in a way that turns his first-person escapades into a rounded tale of human strength and weakness, of a life well and poorly spent, about a man part hero and part villain. The only weakness in the book is what is missing. Relying almost entirely on Rogge's recounting of events ensures that the deeper, darker side of his life reminds untold.

[Note: For more true crime reviews get "Dennis Littrell's True Crime Companion" now available at Amazon.]

Dennis Littrell's True Crime Companion: Reviews of Some of the Best True Crime Books Ever Penned With Updates

"Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber" carries a subtitle so long it almost announces that the book is self-published: "The True Story of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, One of the FBI's Most Elusive Criminals."

And while most of it is written by the bank robber himself, the nominal author is not a professional writer --- he's Dane Batty, Rogge's much younger, totally adoring nephew.

The book had, in short, all the ingredients for a self-serving adventure story that just happened to fudge the morality of a life story that has the protagonist robbing around 30 banks for a score of about $2 million.

Wrong. "Wanted" is, simply, a blast: funny, self-aware, amazingly informative about bank robbery, boats, cars, planes and --- far from least --- human nature.

Best of all, there's not an apologetic line in it. Oh, sure, Leslie Rogge might have taken his considerable talents and put them to a use that was of benefit to Society --- but the thing is, he was pretty much born for the life of crime.

"A job?" Hunter Thompson wrote. "But how would I make any money?"

That could have been Leslie Rogge's motto.

Want a deep psychological dive into his childhood? Forget it. Rogge stole his first car at 13. In high school, he swiped his father's credit cards and an under-aged girl. The judge said, "I'll give you four choices --- now pick a service." He chose the Navy. "For the boats."

Remember the '67 Cadillac Eldorado? Guys wanted them so badly they were willing to pay a premium. Rugge managed to find several. Soon, he says, he was making $30-35,000 a week. Okay, so he did some time for transporting stolen vehicles and his wife fled with the kids --- his second wife would have a better sense of humor.

A police scanner led him to bank robbery. As he analyzed the crime, the trick was to have two getaway cars. Rob the bank, be seen fleeing in one, ditch it, and roll on in the second car, all the while listening to the police go the wrong way.

The victims were mostly small banks, with women as managers. "Let's not turn this into a homicide," he'd say, and, being less inclined to heroics than men, the women complied. Later, in the getaway car, he'd set off "a can of WD-40 with a rubber band holding down the button." Why? To fog up the interior, removing all fingerprints. (Sometimes the getaway car was a small, stolen plane.) Good times!

Foolish? Not our Les. (His friends? Sometimes. "Wild Bill got caught at the Mexican border in a flame-red Cadillac Eldorado with the top down, a nineteen-year-old blonde hooker and a kilo of heroin in the A/C duct.") He was practical and thoughtful, and not really hooked on the thrill of crime: "It always seemed that when I ran out of plans, I'd start thinking of banks to rob. Then, with a case of money, things would seem to just come together."

His third wife liked boats, and cruising the Caribbean in a big sailboat, and lazy travel on the Mississippi in a houseboat, and she wasn't freaked out by Rogge's occupation. Which makes for good reading, because the centerpiece of the book is a life right out of a Jimmy Buffett song.

Minor inconvenience: Rogge is arrested, tried, convicted.

Solution: Just before he's about to be transferred to prison, he just....walks out the door.

By now, Rogge's in Butch Cassidy territory --- whatever his crimes, he's a lot more interesting than the straights who want to lock him up. You will not be thrilled when, in 1990, he makes the FBI's "Most Wanted" list. But he thinks fast, moves faster.

Run, Les, run!

Oops. The inevitable occurs. "My trial was bull---. Of course I was guilty, but they didn't play fair."

You can find Leslie Rogge now in a medium security prison in Beaumont, Texas. He's due to be released in 2047. If alive, he'll be 107.

There's no way to read this book and not think, as you close it, "What a waste of my tax dollars."

It's not often that you find a person so enthralled with an America's Most Wanted criminal that they write a novel commemorating their entire career as a bank robber. But that's just what Dane Batty has done in Wanted: Gentlemen Bank Robber, which tells the true life tale of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, a notorious bank robber who stole thousands of dollars from banks across the globe and lived a life of anxiety and paranoia, along with bouts of happiness here and there with the help of his wife. Batty, Rogge's nephew, has collected dialogues from Rogge which help tell the tale of his life of crime, harrowing escapes from authority, and subsequent final capture.

The most compelling aspect of Batty's book comes from the personality of Rogge himself. The narration is not literary; in fact, it feels mostly like basic dialogue from Rogge, which works to the book's advantage by forming a bond between reader and criminal. Rogge is described as a gentleman, and the narrative does little to dispel that idea. The prose is easy to read and personable, and it's almost too easy to be caught up in the ideas of Rogge, to relate to the struggles of a man who created some of his own problems. Yet it's difficult to dislike Rogge; for all of his wrong-doings and immoral actions, the man behind the perpetrations seems both intelligent and pure at heart.

Batty delivers a well-structured read, designing the narrative around the natural order of Rogge's criminal life. With the conversational tone, Wanted easily expresses the ways Rogge infiltrated bank security without giving too much detail. Rogge's hoists were intricate and full of minor details, but the book doesn't spend too much time giving minute facts and instead touches on the more interesting aspects of theft. The sheer number of bank robberies Rogge pulled off successfully boggles the mind.

Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber delivers the goods on Leslie Ibsen Rogge in a personal, almost fanatical, way. Written as dialogue from Rogge himself, there's no better way to get into the mind of an ingenious robber than Batty's novel. You'll find memories from others involved in the cases as well, and on finishing Wanted, the reader hits a moral that's hard to forget: living life on the run really is hard work, and stealing big bucks isn't all the luxury it seems.

Before I began reading Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber, I read what other reviewers were saying about it. Many of them were effusive about how they felt sympathy for Leslie after reading the book. After completing the book, I found that I couldn't feel the same way. I'll expound more about that, but first, let me do justice to the stories contained in the book.

It's not about the way the stories were told. In fact, the stories is highly entertaining and fascinating. It's not often you get to read of the techniques a robber use to rob a bank of thousands of dollars. And without even firing a single shot! That is quite a feat although I can't really believe that Leslie would not resort to violence if bank staff had alerted the police while he was in the midst of robbing. I can't buy his "I'd just walk away", not after reading his criminal exploits. The stories in Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber are some of the most interesting stories I've ever read in non-fiction books. Leslie gives a no holds barred look into the lifestyle of a serial bank robber. He details the tactics he used when robbing banks, and one thing I'm sure is that I hope that a wannabe robber doesn't pick up this book and improvise on the tactics for his own usage!

In Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber, all is done to ensure that readers will have a measure of sympathy towards Leslie. This and the "gentleman" title of the book is a strong negative point for me. I can never understand how Leslie can be considered a gentleman bank robber. He preyed on female bank officers. How does that make him gentlemanly? Women are more easily frightened than man, and I can just imagine the trauma his victims went through. I could also not feel a teeny bit of sympathy for him because he robbed to obtain easy money. There's nothing respectable about that. Disabled people beg by the roadside to earn honest money. Leslie, as a person who isn't disabled, should feel ashamed of himself for not wanting to work hard to provide for himself the good lifestyle he enjoyed.

At the conclusion of the book, I couldn't help but feel pity. I pitied Leslie that he isn't sorry for the atrocities of his so-called harmless crimes. How hard can a criminal be to defend himself on the basis that he did not use violence? I pitied his victims. The shock and fear they must have felt is enough to make a gentlemanly man feel sorry. I pitied his family. Up to now, I still cannot figure how they can be accepting of his acts. I know that condemnation from their part would lead him to nowhere, but how his wife could live with the fact that her husband hurt other women indirectly is beyond me.

I don't know much about the laws of United States, but I couldn't help wondering why those who knew what he was doing could not be brought to court for perverting the course of justice. I know things aren't that simple, but if you know your husband or family member or friend is robbing banks, and you intentionally keep that a secret, aren't you aiding and abetting him? What happened to their consciences? Did Leslie hold such sway and influence over them that they were willing to protect a criminal who was no. 7 on the FBI's Most Wanted List?

Do I regret reading Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber? No. Yet, reading it has left behind an unpleasant taste. If Leslie is released today, would he continue the criminal lifestyle? After reading the unrepentant overtones in the book, I'm not sure that he wouldn't. I hope and wish that no one is inspired to go on robbing sprees after reading this book. The book sure does make the criminal lifestyle sound thrilling and fun. I am willing to forgo reading a book glamorizing a robber's life since the last thing we need is more robbers because of one entertaining book written mostly by an ungentlemanly robber who used ingenuity.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Who says you can't be a nice guy and a criminal at the same time? "Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber, The True Story of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, One of the FBI's Most Elusive Criminals" is the story of Rogge, a man who by much speculation has knocked over more banks than many famed outlaws put together. Captured twice and escaping, but never harming anyone, "Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber" is certainly an engaging story of the other side of the law, highly recommended.

Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber is an unusual portrayal of a criminal fleeing from justice. Told through the eyes of the bank robber himself, this narrative presents what seems to be an ordinary, likeable individual who just happens to rob banks for a living.

A highly intelligent, appealing and confident man who made friends easily as he gradually learned the skills of successful bank robbing and techniques to keep from getting caught, he played cat-and-mouse with authorities for a period of over twenty years.

He chronicles with much detail his identity changes, his travel all over the world by bus, auto, plane, motorboat, and sailboat; traveling sometimes alone and much of the time with a woman and child--and sometimes a monkey. There were also peaceful and enjoyable interludes of living quietly as a family.

Leslie Ibsen Rogge could be anybody's uncle--as he is in real life to the author, Dane Batty.

Wanted: True story of a Gentleman Bank Robber (aka: How to rob a bank so no one gets hurt) is certainly a fast and enjoyable read. The book is written by Dane Batty, nephew of Les Rogge, who transcribed letters from his uncle who is serving a prison sentence in Texas for 20 years worth of bank robbery. The story is one that mingles vivid details of Les' robberies & adventures with the comedy/reality of life & love. Some of the most fun that I have had reading in a very long time.

I picked up an advance copy of Wanted and had a great time reading it! What an adventure Les made out of his life. The writing was clear and easy to follow and felt almost as if I were having a conversation with the subject. I'm not saying that what Rogge did was right--but it was certainly a well lived life. I only wish the world were as large today as it was in Les' time. Great book!

This is a great book that I would recommend for anyone who wants to read a "can't put it down" true crime book. It's enthralling and entertaining. The book reads like a fictional tale, it holds more truth than most having been written in large part by the criminal himself.

Rogge may have robbed over 30 banks during his illustrious career but he never fired a gun or hurt anyone when committing his acts. He did use a partner or two throughout his career. They would rob two banks in close proximity of each other, robbing the first bank and then driving directly to the second bank knowing that authorities would be busy with the first one.

The author Dane Batty, is Rogge's nephew on his mother's side of the family. The stories in the book are part of a collection that Rogge sent to Batty's mother after Rogge was imprisoned in 1996.

Batty put the stories in a book adding his own comments throughout the book based on research through court documents, newspaper articles, television shows and testimonials.

Rogge had few distinct characteristics for robbing banks that should have helped authorities catch up with him but instead helped him elude the police. He liked to rob banks with only women working and he liked banks with drive-up windows because the bank would have more cash on hand. One of the most unique things he did was making an appointment in advance with the bank's manager. And, he would wear a suit and carry a brief case to the robbery, hence the tag name gentleman bank robber.

The reader gets the sense that Rogge is a criminal for the pure adventure versus for malaise or revenge. The book and the adventure is pure reading entertainment.