Albert Frederick Nussbaum (April 9, 1934 – January 7, 1996) was a notorious bank robber and one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1960s. Born in Buffalo, New York, Nussbaum's criminal activities began in the late 1950s when he was arrested for possessing a Thompson Submachine gun and transporting unregistered weapons across state lines.
Sentenced to the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio, Nussbaum met fellow inmates Bobby Randell Wilcoxson from Duke, Oklahoma, and Peter Columbus Curry from Quitman, Georgia. Wilcoxson was serving time for using a bad check to buy a car and driving it across state lines. Nussbaum, known for his exceptional intelligence, competed in top-tier chess tournaments by correspondence from his prison cell and was a skilled photographer, locksmith, gunsmith, pilot, airplane mechanic, welder, and draftsman.
By the early 1960s, the days of infamous bank robbers like John Dillinger and “Baby Face” Nelson were long gone. However, Nussbaum and Wilcoxson emerged as dangerous, innovative criminals. Together, they would become as wanted as any of the notorious gangsters from the past. Their criminal exploits included robbing eight banks, accumulating a massive arsenal of weapons, murdering a bank guard, and setting off several bombs in Washington, D.C.
Upon his release from Chillicothe, Nussbaum and Wilcoxson reunited in Buffalo, New York, to execute their plans. Their first bank robbery occurred in December 1960 in Buffalo. In this heist, Wilcoxson used a sawed-off shotgun concealed by Nussbaum, who had cleverly hidden it under Wilcoxson’s winter coat.
Nussbaum and Wilcoxson's criminal partnership was marked by contrast: Nussbaum was the “brains,” quiet and clever, a student of crime with extensive knowledge of explosives, electronics, and firearms. He used his stolen money to set up several companies. Wilcoxson, in contrast, was the “brawn,” commanding during their robberies and wielding heavy weaponry.
Their criminal activities took a turn when Nussbaum's homemade bombs failed to detonate as planned in June 1961. Despite successfully using test bombs to distract police, the undetonated bomb revealed Nussbaum's fingerprints to the FBI, though they continued with their bank robbery plans.
The robbery on December 15, 1961, at the Lafayette National Bank in Brooklyn, New York, marked their fifth heist and placed them on the FBI's “Top Ten” fugitives list. Wilcoxson killed a bank guard with a Thompson submachine gun, and a subsequent gunfight with police led to their desperate flight. Within two months, Curry was arrested and provided information that led to the discovery of Nussbaum and Wilcoxson’s massive cache of weapons.
Nussbaum and Wilcoxson went into hiding, using aliases and disguises. Their crime spree continued with three more robberies. On November 4, 1962, Nussbaum was captured in Buffalo after a dramatic high-speed chase. Six days later, Wilcoxson and his partner, Jacqueline Ruth Rose, were arrested in Baltimore.
In the end, the partnership between Nussbaum and Wilcoxson dissolved, and both men were convicted. They pleaded guilty to their crimes, and in February 1964, they were sentenced to life in prison. Their criminal saga, which spanned various states and involved an extensive manhunt, concluded with their incarceration, ending a violent and dramatic chapter in American criminal history.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, liking, and sharing it with your friends.
Your support means the world to me!
If you'd like to support my work, you can buy me a coffee here.
Comments