Blunders lead the FBI to suspects in the theft of millions in armored truck robberies in the Chicago area

On November 19, 2024By Pranco

A gang of thieves who took $3.8 million during at least 15 armored truck and ATM raids in Chicago’s south suburbs were undone by a series of unfortunate mistakes, including crashing a car, failing to discover a tracking device in a pocket with money and keeping a wrapper. from a stolen roll of quarters, the FBI revealed last week in a report released in court.

The crew, known as the “Perry Avenue Boys” because they were located around 124th Street and Perry Avenue in West Pullman, are believed to have been targeting armored vehicles since 2016, according to the FBI. But they saw their luck run out during robberies between Halloween 2022 and November 2023.

Ten men now face federal robbery conspiracy charges, according to the FBI.

Their modus operandi involved driving around the southern suburbs in stolen Nissans and Infinitis, which they called “fin fins,” chosen because of how easy they were to steal, according to an FBI request last year for a search warrant for phone records. The FBI affidavit provides new details about how the case was solved.

The robberies occurred in Lansing, Country Club Hills, Orland Park, Chicago Heights, Homewood and Blue Island.

In a robbery on Halloween 2022, the crew allegedly ambushed a Brink courier in Lansing, forcing him to use a fingerprint scanner to unlock the truck’s cash safe, the FBI said. The robbers fled with more than $1 million, but failed in their escape.

Police chased the suspects onto Interstate 80, where their white Dodge Charger crashed. Corrie Singleton, now 23, tried to flee but was caught, according to the FBI.

His brother, Darrell Singleton, limped to an International House of Pancakes, borrowed a phone and called his mother for a ride, the FBI said. Despite the close call, he reportedly resumed robbing armored bank trucks.

In May 2023, an Apple AirTag hidden in stolen cash from a robbery outside a Homewood Jewel-Osco store further unraveled the gang’s plans. After $1.1 million was stolen from Brink’s truck, the GPS device led police to a home in Calumet Park. There, officers arrested Darrell Singleton, now 20, and accomplice Devonte Davis, now 28, and recovered the loot, the FBI said.

Another breakthrough came on September 21, 2023, when state probation agents searched a South Side home where Justin Cain, now 26, was living with his aunt after being released from prison last month in an unrelated case.

Probation officers found a Glock pistol that had been converted into a machine gun and was linked to an ATM robbery — along with a wrapper for a roll of quarters that Cain tied to a Loomis armored truck robbery in Chicago Heights on September 19, 2023, which cost $813.25. according to the FBI, money was among the items taken.

A robbery on October 2, 2023 resulted in a shooting in Hollywood.

Armed robbers used a stolen Nissan Maxima to ram a Loomis armored truck outside a Walmart in Country Club Hills, the FBI said. The robbers opened fire and a Walmart security officer and the armored truck guard returned fire. Cornered, the thieves took a Chevy Impala at gunpoint to escape.

According to the FBI, the Perry Avenue Boys left behind a trail of evidence, from fingerprints to DNA profiles and phone location data, all linked to the robberies. Investigators said they recovered 17 guns, some of which were related to robberies.

Cain awaits trial in federal court; Davis; William Cochran; Perry maple; Brian Snyder; brothers Anthony and Aveon Wilson; and brothers Corrie, Darrell and Elijah Singleton.

In 2021, an armored confidence robbery turned deadly when a GardaWorld employee, LaShonda Hearts, was fatally shot and her partner injured during an attempted robbery of an ATM at a Bank of America branch in the 200 block of West 83rd Street in Chatham.

The robbers then robbed a cell phone store at gunpoint, police said. Two of them, Antwon Montgomery and Deandre Jennings, then killed their accomplices, Naiqwon Harper and George Holmes, police said.

“There is no honor among thieves,” a prosecutor said at a hearing for Montgomery, 22, and Jennings, 23, who are awaiting trial in Cook County Criminal Court on murder charges in the three killings.