The Trenchcoat Robbers

William Kirkpatrick – Big Trenchcoat Robber This is the story of the trenchcoat robbers, one of the most successful bank robbery teams in all history. In the 1970s, William Kirkpatrick was often followed by the KC Police Intelligence Unit because he was a well-known booster or shoplifter connected to the Mob. I remember we once got information from a small town in Illinois where he had been caught by a random patrol car as he was trying to steal a car. He was on foot and the cops found he was dressed in black, had a pistol in a shoulder holster, and was carrying a mask in his pocket. We never figured out what he was doing at that time. We will learn later that he was stealing a car to use in a bank robbery. During the 1970s-1980s Kirkpatrick was well known for stealing record albums and fencing them with a Kansas City mob guy named Tiger Cardarella. Tiger had Tiger’s Records and it was the most popular record store in KC because he had all the newest releases and they were always discounted to about 75% of the sticker price. One time an ATF agent and myself noticed his car, a large 1975 Thunderbird was parked at a Ford dealership. We had heard he had special air shocks so when he filled his truck with record albums, the car would not sink to an unnatural level. So, we approached the service manager and asked for his help. He gave us the keys and we checked the trunk and found it filled to the brim with record albums and looking underneath, we saw the air shocks. Over the next few years, our friend Billie Kirkpatrick will graduate from boosting trips to a more dangerous yet more lucrative criminal activity. Bank Robbery! William Kirkpatrick was kind of a good old boy who grew up around mob members and other professional criminals in northeast Kansas City. Ray Bowman – Small Trenchcoat Robber Ray Bowman became the second man in the Trenchcoat Robbers team. During these years, he met another record booster named Ray Bowman. Both Kirkpatrick and Bowman sold all their record albums to a Kansas City mafia member named Tiger Cardarella. Tiger gave these men and a whole stable of other boosters shopping lists of record albums, tennis rackets, watches, leather coats, and other goods he would buy. Tiger had a famous record store named Tiger’s Records. Every booster in the city wanted to get Ray Bowman as a partner because he was very close-mouthed, He maintained good practices and procedures like he always scoped out the record stores and looked for the lazy and indifferent clerks before he boosted. Ray Bowman and William Kirkpatrick had known each other for many years and they started working together. During this time, Ray Bowman lived a big-spending fast lifestyle. He spent all his money on cocaine for club girls, rented limos, owned a Corvette, dressed in expensive clothes, and splurged on thousand-dollar dinners with his friends. A girlfriend at the time remembered that he was very antigovernment and was a survivalist. He purchased guns and ammo that he kept in a special locked room in his house. These guys made boosting outfits consisting of oversize pants and shirts with special pockets and long trench coats with booster sleeves or hidden pockets in the lining where they would conceal the albums. Bank Robberies After a series of successful bank robberies, this team perfected their disguises by always wearing trenchcoats. The FBI codenamed them the Trenchcoat Robbers. In 1997, they made a big score. In January both men met in suburban Tacoma Washington. They checked into a local hotel, ate out in the best restaurants, and even attended a piano concert. They staked out the Seafirst bank of Lakeland Washington. For one month they surveilled the bank and its activities. They figured out they always had a large amount of cash when it was payday at a nearby Army base. They noticed this bank took in excess cash from other branches and cash from an Indian casino. On Feb 10,