Smith and Harven did not want to change the world, they just wanted to survive it once the whole shithouse went up in flames. Part action thriller and part courtroom d “A time not all that different from today. In the first half of the 1970s, just after their graduation from high school, George Wayne Smith and Christopher Harven witnessed a constant parade of radical groups who not only believed they could overthrow a government, start a civil war, or collapse a society, but actively tried to do just that. Cover of “Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History.” “Bullets ricocheted off the pavement in front of him with a singing sound as they fragmented. There is no doubt that the “Jesus movement” had a positive impact on some young lives, especially considering the other counterculture alternatives available in the early 1970s. Smith was sent to Germany in the shadow of the Iron Curtain for two years as an artilleryman trained in the art of lofting battlefield nukes into enemy forces. The answer can vary from region to region, but I would argue that a good place to mark the beginning of the modern patrol rifle concept – in which a rifle is a normal part of the everyday kit – is the Norco bank robbery. A desperate band of Militia men attempts a daylight bank robbery in the sleepy semi-rural City of Norco, California, and leads the local Police on the longest, most violent running gun battle in Law Enforcement history. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. However, 30 police cars and one helicopter were torn apart by bullets. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint Press. (Courtesy of the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association) ... “You’re pretty quiet today, Andy,” Hille said. Communes turned into cults or business opportunities for predatory self-help gurus. It was not long before the 1960s idea that you could change society morphed into the belief that you must destroy it first. AND THE OTHER 3 WOULD BE SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE. As always, they boasted that cop swagger and thought themselves immune to any lasting effects from their experiences on the job. Back then they were more inclined to go outside the official department protocols with a suspect if they felt it was justified, whether that meant giving a car thief an extra whack with the baton after a particularly harrowing pursuit or giving a drunken driver a lift home if they thought he was just a good guy having a bad day. The helplessness of being completely outgunned or the terror of being shot. The idealism of Woodstock became the pure hedonism of Club 57. . in our final chapter, how we still feel the impact the norco bank robbery today. Deputy Jim Evans, who was killed in the 1980 Norco bank robbery. Courtesy Riverside County Sheriffs Department. You can even pull your car into the drive-through banking lanes at the Security Pacific Bank building, but no one will help you; it houses an architectural firm now. But they were not immune, of course, not then and not now. Harven, booted out of the army after only two months, still gained an insider’s understanding of the implications of the sharp ramping-up of tactical nukes that was underway. The motive for the 1980 robbery of the Security Pacific National Bank in Norco, California, may have been typical, but the reason the men who planned it wanted that money was not. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Directed by Kari Skogland. Copyright © 2019 by Peter Houlahan, from Norco ’80. In November 1978, just 18 months before the Norco robbery, more than nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple died in what cult leader Jim Jones labeled an act of “revolutionary suicide” but was, in fact, mass murder. Demolition continues on Thursday July 18, 2019 at the former Security Pacific National Bank building in Norco that was the site of the historic and infamous 1980 Norco Bank robbery. Remarkably, only three people died. As William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. Both George Smith and Christopher Harven were part of the first generation to live their entire lives under the threat of nuclear war. Story behind famous Norco bank robbery revealed in new podcast. Norco ’80 tells the story of how five heavily armed young men—led by an apocalyptic born–again Christian—attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in U.S. history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. While the men who robbed the bank might be products of their time, the men on the other side of the confrontation were not. Harven viewed signs of impending social collapse in the alignment of planets, predictions of cataclysmic overpopulation, ecological disaster, and an array of other doomsday scenarios that gained traction during the decade. Superb This is a thoroughly researched and well written true crime story about the infamous Norco bank robbery of 1980. Cities descended further into lawlessness, poverty, and bankruptcy while violent crime across the country escalated at a rate that would be almost unimaginable today. The more traditional idea of armed revolution was also particularly active in the 1970s. So together they made a plan. George Wayne Smith and Christopher Harven were certainly not the first people to conclude that humanity was headed for imminent disaster. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. On a spring afternoon in 1980, a gang of heavily armed men terrorized the town of Norco, California, This website stores cookies on your computer. They had both entered adulthood at the dawn of the 1970s, so whatever beliefs and world views they possessed were formed almost entirely by the peculiar zeitgeist of that decade. While Norco can in many ways be defined by the times in which it took place, it did not occur in an entirely bygone era. “The Norco bank robbery happened at a time of economic depression and global anxiety,” says host Cerejido. Pornography evolved from sexy girls in bunny tails into the explicit raunchiness of Larry Flynt’s Hustler. Norco ’80 tells the story of how five heavily-armed young men—led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian—attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in U.S. history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. As devastating as a single one of those tactical weapons would have been to the troops in the field, the greater danger they posed was their potential role as a “gateway” nuke to eventual strategic, intercontinental nuclear warfare. When the Norco Bank Robbery & Shootout was over, the toll was staggering. In May of 1980, the sleepy streets of Norco, California were turned into an all-out war zone in what was one of the most violent bank robberies in American history. What mattered was that for the first time in the country’s history, many, including George Smith and Christopher Harven, were looking at American society and seeing a house of cards teetering on collapse. They were part of a long line stretching back at least two thousand years to the time when an apocalyptic preacher known as Jesus of Nazareth roamed the Sinai Peninsula warning of the end of the world. The cops involved in the firefight that day were not so different from the cops who came before and after them: working-class guys, many from families with a long history in law enforcement, most of whom knew from an early age that they wanted to be in police work too. This is the story of the 1980 Norco bank robbery—one of the most violent bank heists in U.S. history. Dear Reader: We are proud to introduce today the first installment of “Norco ’80,” the incredible true story of a Southern California bank robbery that occurred 40 years ago this month. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our. Aesthetically speaking, its world looked much the same in 1980 as it does today. 40 Years Later, the Aftermath of a Deadly Bank Robbery Still Lingers... How L.A. Others saw their destiny as protectors, arming and preparing themselves to ride out the Apocalypse and the collapse of civil society they believed would precede it. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. Harven was not what you would call a follower, but George Smith was a particularly articulate and persuasive young man, adding his own extreme biblical interpretations to Harven’s hodgepodge of pseudoscientific beliefs. There were more than 2,500 bombings by radical groups in the United States over an eighteen-month period between 1971 and 1972 alone. 4 talking about this. The Clash in Norco. These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you. I was fortunate to attend the 2019 annual training conference of the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) in Orlando, Florida, and hear Peter Houlahan speak about the infamous Norco bank robbery that’s the subject of his book, Norco ’80. Off duty, they looked like regular blue-collar guys, reflecting the fashion, hairstyles, and trends of the time. Based on the true events. “Norco '80” is the true story of the 1980 Norco CA bank robbery & shootout, one of the most violent and spectacular events in law enforcement history The teenagers still wear their hair long and hang out in front of the 7-Eleven and the bowling alley in ripped jeans and ratty rock concert T-shirts. These cookies do not store any personal information. A less existential yet equally contributing factor to the evolution of the two men from weed-smoking, petty scofflaws to violent bank robbers was rooted as much in the “where” as it was in the “when.” When George Smith stepped off the transport plane from Germany, he returned home to Orange County, California, to find himself at ground zero of the biggest religious youth movement since the Children’s Crusade. The boulevards of Norco are still lined with the same fast-food restaurants, taco joints, gas stations, and convenience stores, many of which have the same names they did back then. It’s a story about people preparing for the collapse of society.” Listen to the first two episodes now, wherever you get your podcasts. They were none of those things. Norco ’80 tells the story of how five heavily armed young men—led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian—attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in U.S. history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. The thought that maybe you could have done something different that might have saved the life of a fellow cop. With David Cubitt, Kristin Lehman, Jessica Steen, Brendan Fletcher. Born-again ministries such as the Melodyland Christian Center and Calvary Chapel, from which the movement originated, employed Pentecostal-style fire-and-brimstone tactics to keep membership in a perpetual state of terror, afraid that when the Rapture came, Jesus would find them unworthy and leave them behind. Norco ’80 tells the story of how five heavily-armed young men—led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian—attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in U.S. history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. Leaders of 1960s sit-ins and protests went underground, made bombs, blew up others and sometimes themselves. The author recounts the events of the botched robbery and subsequent battle between the thieves and police in so much detail, that the narrative puts the reader squarely in the moment in a second-by-second way. Kevin Bash, Norco councilman and historian, stands at the site of the infamous May 1980 bank robbery in Norco on Friday, May 29, 2020. Houlahan appears for a reading on June 3, 6 p.m., at Norco Public Library, 3240 Hamner Ave Suite 101B, Norco; a reading and signing on June 5, 7 p.m., at Pages: a bookstore, 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach; and a reading and signing on June 6, 7 p.m., at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. 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