Willie Sutton, one of the more notorious bank robbers in United States history, gave a simple answer when asked why he chose banks to knock off over his 40-year career: “Because that’s where the money is.”
Now, almost a century since Sutton’s criminal heyday, the same logic can be applied when trying to understand the motive behind people robbing casino cages at Las Vegas resorts, said Michael Green, a history professor at UNLV.
“Even with the increase in the use of credit cards, there’s still a lot of cash,” Green said. “And for someone who thinks they’re smart enough to pull it off — or is desperate enough to pull it off — it makes sense.”
