Charles and Joseph Rodriguez
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| “ | In the late 1990's, one criminal terrorised an entire community. Witnesses refused to speak out. They knew the consequences could be deadly. As the violence escalated, the FBI worked with local law enforcement to launch a complex sting operation. Thier mission: to lure this vicious fugitive out of hiding with the promise of a big score and to get him off the streets for good. | „ |
| ~ Retired FBI Agent Jim Kallstrom about Charles Rodriguez. |
| “ | The Rodriguez Brothers were violent criminals. I mean, they had killed before and they would kill again and the only solution to that is to lock 'em up forever which is the ultimate... ultimately what happened here. | „ |
| ~ FBI Agent John Tam regarding the Rodriguez Brothers. |
Charles "Crazy Charlie" Rodriguez and Joseph "Joey" Rodriguez are two extremely violent armoured car and bank robbers operating in Camden, New Jersey between 1984 and 1998. In 1994, Crazy Charlie was put on the Top 10 Most Wanted Criminals in New Jersey list.
History edit
Little is known of the Rodriguez Brother's early life but they grew up in Camden, New Jersey; an economically poor city well known for its high murder rate where they grew up as petty criminals. Between 1984 and 1989, Charlie was arrested for multiple crimes ranging from drugs possession to making terrorist threats and gained a reputation for being incredibly violent and willing to kill anyone that got in his way.
The Rodriguez Brothers first came to widespread attention on February 12th 1997 when they and Jose Biez (who they blackmailed into helping them) stormed the house of a local man to rob him. They were unable to after he forced them to retreat in a gun battle so fled in a Ford Taurus only to be pulled over by Officer Stephen Leoniy who heard the gunfire and noticed thier car speeding away. Before he could even exit his car, Charlie opened fire with a machine gun; non-fatally wounding Leoniy in the face before they sped away. Charlie and Joey then went into hiding whilst his girlfriend and Biez were arrested. The latter's testimony getting an arrest warrant put out on him but Charlie remained at large so the FBI were contacted as they learned that he was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After several months of hiding in a slum dubbed "The Badlands", on July 19th 1997, the Rodriguez Brothers and thier associate Jose Soto robbed the Woodland Bank in Philadelphia. On May 23rd 1998, the Brothers and Soto robbed a bank in Moorstown, New Jersey but made little money due to having to shoot the door open and losing time before fleeing in a teller's stolen car.
Soon after, Joseph Rodriguez was contacted by an old friend who was a former police officer fired for a weapons infraction that wanted to join thier robberies. After some time, the cop gained Joey's trust and Charlie agreed to work with him without either realising that the former cop was an FBI informant. The cop then gave them the plan of robbing an armoured car in the New Jersey Turnpike since it was less well guarded than a bank and would have more to steal. Charlie agreed and they enlisted Soto's help without realising that it was an FBI trap. On September 1st 1998, the Brothers, Soto and the cop drove to the Turnpike but Charlie grew nervous when the armoured car failed to arrive so he forced the officer to leave. Before they could, a tow truck deliberately slammed the escape car and an FBI SWAT team stormed the car and arrested Charlie, Joey and Soto without further incident. Inside the car, agents found an illegally modified AR-15 assault riffle, a silenced machine pistol, a Norinco Type-56 assault riffle (a Chinese version of the AK-47), over 1000 rounds of assorted ammunition and Charlie claimed that he also had hand grenades that he could have bought.
On March 30th 2000, the Rodriguez Brothers were sentenced to a life sentence each with no possibility of parole for two bank robberies, the attempted robbery of an armoured car, the attempted murder of a police officer and weapons violations. Charlie tried to appeal for parole in 2002 but was denied due to his violent crimes. They remain in prison.
Quotes edit
| “ | Something's wrong here. This is a set-up. Let's get outta here. | „ |
| ~ Charlie Rodriguez when he realised that the Turnpike Robbery was a trap. |
| “ | If I had known this would happen, I would have bought my hand grenades. | „ |
| ~ Charlie Rodriguez to the arresting officers. |