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Kenneth Leishman | |
|---|---|
| File:Kenneth leishman.jpg | |
| Born | June 20, 1931 |
| Died | December 14, 1979 (aged 48) |
| Occupation(s) | Mechanic, Door-to-door salesman, Thief |
Kenneth Leishman (June 20, 1931 - December 14, 1979), also known as the Flying Bandit or the Gentleman Bandit was a Canadian thief responsible for multiple robberies between 1957 and 1966. On his most famous heist, Leishman and four accomplices stole almost $385,000 (just over $2.5million 2009 dollars) in gold bullion being transported by TransAir to Winnipeg where it would be shipped via Air Canada to Ottawa. After being caught and arrested by the RCMP, Leishman managed to escape twice, before pleading guilty, and serving the remainder of his various sentances. In December of 1979, while flying a mercy flight to Thunder Bay, Ken's airplane crashed about 45 kilometers north of the city. A 2005 television documentary—entitled Ken Leishman: The Flying Bandit—follows the amazing story of this man.
Early life
editKen Leishman was born on June 20, 1931 in the town of Holland, Manitoba. Coming from a troubled home, he dropped out of school prior to graduation, and worked various jobs before marrying Eva Shields at the age of seventeen. Sometime in the summer of 1951 Leishman started working as a travelling mechanic for Machine Industries, repairing straw cutters in Southern Manitoba. In 1952, he was able to purchase an Aeronca aircraft, using it to fly to the farms he needed to work at, as well as making additional money selling short rides in the plane. At some point in the next five years, Machine Industries closed its doors, and Leishman started working for Queen Anne Cookware. He continued working with them until November 1957, when they went bankrupt.
Criminal Career
editFirst Theft
editOn December 17, 1957, Ken Leishman robbed the Toronto-Dominion Bank on the corner of Yonge Street and Albert, by posing as a friend of the manager, and got away with $10,000. This was accomplished by arranging to meet the manager to talk about a business loan. Once inside the manager's office, with the door closed for privacy, he produced a gun, and had the manager write him a check for $10,000. After recieving the check, and questioning the manager for personal information about himself, his family, and friends, he coerced the manager into taking him over to a bank teller, and having the check cashed. The knowledge gained from the questioning was used to appear as though he was a close friend of the manager. After getting the money, he took the manager with him under pretense of getting a drink, to the getaway car, then let him go[1].
Second Theft
editThree months later, on March 16, 1958, Leishman attempted to rob another bank on the corner of Yonge Street and Bloor. This time, he was not successful, as the manager was a military veteran, and did not aquiesce upon sight of the gun. As he attempted to escape the bank, he was tripped by a female customer, before being tackled by a teller less than a block from the bank, and was arrested. He was sentanced to twelve years in prison[1].
On December 21, 1961, Leishman was paroled, and for a time worked as a door-to-door salesman to support his family. However, by 1966, with his family having grown to seven children, the income provided by legitimate work was insufficient, and Leishman needed to find another means of supporting his family.
The Great Gold Heist
editLeishman was the mastermind behind the largest gold theft in Canadian history[2]. The basic plan was fairly straightforward. One accomplice would be stationed in Red Lake, to watch for shipments of gold leaving for Winnipeg. Once one had been spotted, he would call Leishman to inform him. Leishman, being too well known to the police would contact his two other accomplices to actually go get the gold. They would do this by masquerading as Air Canada staff, with a story about needing to ship the gold out sooner than planned.
Leishman would sometimes hang around the Winnipeg airport to watch the planes, as a form of inexpensive entertainment[3]. Occasionally, he would see gold shipments from Red Lake being flown into the airport for transport via Air Canada to the mint in Ottawa. During his incarceration in Stony Mountain Penitentiary he formed the the basics of the idea that would eventually result in Canada's largest-ever gold heist.
Leishman was able to recruit four people to be accomplices in the heist. Harry Backlin, a Winnipeg lawyer who had befriended Leishman in Stony Mountain was to provide financial backing. John Berry, and Rick (last name unknown) were recruited to be the ones to actually get the gold, as Leishman was too well known to the police to take the gold himself. Finally, the brother of either John or Rick was recruited to go to Red Lake in the guise of a salesman to watch for a large shipment to leave.
In addition to this preparation, Leishman had also prepared fake Air Canada coveralls by purchasing some winter coveralls, and stencilling the Air Canada logo onto them. Lastly, Leishman acquired some Air Canada waybills from the Air Canada desk at the airport by simply waiting until the desk was unmanned at lunch, and taking what he needed[1].
On March 1, 1966, the lookout called Leishman to report a large shipment of gold was being delivered. The team put their plan into action. Wearing the fake Air Canada coveralls, Rick and John stole one of the Air Canada trucks, and drove to the tarmac to meet the arriving TransAir plane carrying the gold shipment. Pretending to be Air Canada staff, they explained that there had been a change of plans, as there was a charter flight leaving in an hour, and Air Canada wanted to ship the gold out immediately, rather than waiting on the normal flight[1]. As the two were driving an Air Canada truck, had Air Canada uniforms, and had what appeared to be valid waybills for the shipment, their ruse worked, and the gold was loaded into their truck, and they drove off, taking the gold with them.
The gold was transferred into Leishman's car, and driven to the house of Harry Backlin, who was on vacation with his family, where it was loaded into his freezer. The plan was to leave the gold there overnight, prior to moving it to a farm belonging to Leishman's uncle in Treherne, however a blizzard on March 3 and March 4 prevented them from recovering it.
Leishman initially stored the gold in a freezer belonging to the lawyer, but as he had distanced himself from the heist, it could not stay there.
See Also
edithttp://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/leishman_k.shtml
http://www.campbellmarr.com/news/pdfs/04/11.25.04_ManitobasMostNotorious.pdf
http://www.noahc.org/about/people.html#kenleishman <<(dead link)
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d Schroeder, A. (1997). Cheats, Charlatans, and Chicanery. Toronto: McLelland & Stewart ISBN 0-7710-7953-2
- ^ "Northwestern Ontario Aviation Heritage Center". Retrieved 2009-05-06.
- ^ Barnes, M. (2008). Red Lake. General Store Publishing House ISBN 1-8971-1395-1