After a $200,000 robbery, police say they tracked down the masked robbers via email. INSIDE EDITION reports on the accused robbers using Hollywood masks to pull off the crime.
Who could have imagined that a robbery scene from a hit movie would inspire a real-life crime? The robbers in the 2010 Ben Affleck thriller The Town wear lifelike masks to hide their identities. How could such a mask fool anyone?
INSIDE EDITION’s Paul Boyd tried on a similar mask. He said, “This is how! An incredibly realistic Hollywood mask! It covers the whole head, ears and lips. It's incredibly lifelike! I can even see through the mask. But when you take it off, no one would ever suspect.”
Now, we're learning that the suspects in a real-life crime apparently used The Town as a model for their heist.
The Feds say three men spent two months plotting their $200,000 stick-up of a check-cashing store in Queens, New York, wearing lifelike Caucasian masks likes the ones in The Town.
We spoke with Diana Branton, whose company, Composite FX, created the masks for the alleged robbers, charging them $2,000 not realizing they would be used in a robbery.
Boyd asked, "How did you react when police told you your masks were used in this robbery?"
"Shocked!” said Branton. "We always have concerns that someone is going to use them in a unsavory mannor."
In The Town, the robbers douse the crime scene with bleach to destroy DNA traces, and provide evidence to a victim to prove they know where she lives.
The suspects in the real-life allegedly did the same things. They also wore cop uniforms, as the cast from The Town did for another crime.
One of the real-life suspects is even pictured wearing a shirt with a still frame from The Town.
The suspects got away with $200,000, but not for long. So how did the authorities crack the case?
Well, it seems one suspect was so pleased, he actually e-mailed a thank you to CFX, the mask company.
He allegedly wrote, "I'm sending you this message to say I’m extremely pleased by CFX work on the mask. The realism of the mask is unbelievable."
Cops traced the e-mail, and now the suspects are on trial in New York, proving that crime does not pay in the movies or in real life.
