Just before 10am on a rainy June morning, a lone man wearing a black balaclava and a blue boiler suit approached the brass-plated entrance of the Park Lane Club in London. The man carried a dark bag up the marble and gold-fronted staircase inside and barged into the casino’s reception area. When a chauffeur who was waiting at the front desk began to shout at him, the intruder paused, making a silent but unmistakable gesture with his hand: he was armed, and this was a robbery.
Moments later, the gunman burst into the blinking lights of the gaming floor. Croupiers and waiters panicked and began to flee, running across the casino’s swirling green and red floral carpets. An employee sitting behind the cash desk glanced up from his computer at what he thought was a customer and saw the balaclava.
