On this day in 1980 the notorious American bank robber Willie Sutton died. Sutton was a bright-eyed, 5ft 7-inch gentleman who was always chain-smoking, and always talking. He had a wise head on his shoulders and was considered the best bank robber that has ever lived. He would carry a pistol or a Tommy Gun on him at all times stating that…

“You can’t rob a bank on charm and personality”

Willie Sutton rose to prominence during Prohibition era America and spent 40 years in the game, earning nearly $2 million. A fellow mobster of the era claimed that Sutton made Jesse James and John Dillinger look like amateurs.

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Many will foremost link Sutton to the Arnold Schuster incident in which the 24 year old clothing salesman tipped the police which led to the arrest of Sutton in 1952. Under Albert Anastasia’s orders Schuster was shot twice in the groin and once in each eye after attending a television interview, on a street just outside his home.

Sutton died at the age of 79 in 1980 after suffering from ill health and emphysema.

On this day in 1980, one of America's most celebrated and cunning criminals drew his last breath. Willie Sutton, the notorious bank robber whose career spanned four extraordinary decades, died aged 79 from emphysema, leaving behind a legacy that continues to fascinate crime historians to this day. A bright-eyed, sharply dressed man standing just 5ft 7 inches tall, Sutton was rarely without a cigarette between his fingers or a scheme turning over in his mind. He was always talking, always thinking, and those who knew him considered him one of the sharpest operators of his generation.

Sutton rose to notoriety during the Prohibition era, a period that simultaneously gave birth to the great American crime syndicates and produced figures such as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and the architects of the Five Families. While Sutton operated somewhat outside the formal structures of organised crime, he moved through the same underworld and earned the deep respect of those within it. Over the course of his career he accumulated nearly $2 million in stolen funds, a staggering sum across those years, and a fellow criminal of the era reportedly claimed that Sutton made Jesse James and John Dillinger look like rank amateurs. He was considered by many to be simply the finest bank robber who ever lived.

Sutton was renowned for his meticulous planning, his use of disguises, and his cool composure under pressure. He famously carried a pistol or a Tommy Gun and was candid about the necessity of it, stating plainly, "You can't rob a bank on charm and personality." Yet paradoxically, charm and personality were precisely the tools he used to scout locations, win the confidence of those around him, and execute his operations with a smoothness that left investigators baffled time and again.

Many will forever associate Sutton's name with the Arnold Schuster incident. In 1952, a 24-year-old clothing salesman named Arnold Schuster spotted Sutton on a New York subway and tipped off the police, leading directly to his arrest. When Schuster appeared on television to recount his civic deed, it proved a fatal mistake. Albert Anastasia, the fearsome boss of the Gambino crime family, reportedly flew into a rage upon seeing the young man on screen and ordered his murder. Schuster was shot twice in the groin and once in each eye on a street just outside his home, a brutal killing that sent a chilling message to would-be informants across the city.

Willie Sutton's name endures not merely as that of a criminal, but as a symbol of a particular kind of audacious American outlaw whose intelligence and daring set him apart from every thief who came before or since.