Bonded Vault robber Lanoue, 90, dies

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - One of Rhode Island's most infamous – and elderly – career criminals, Lawrence “Mitch” Lanoue, has died just one year after leaving federal prison. He was 90 years old.

Lanoue, formerly of Woonsocket, died of heart failure on Jan. 8, according to the Department of Health. He was staying with family members in Providence at the time of his death, relatives told Target 12.

Lanoue continued his life of crime well after he reached Social Security age. He was 72 years old when he was arrested in 1993 for a failed armored car holdup in Bellingham, Mass. Prosecutors said at the time the FBI was tipped off to the scheme and arrested Lanoue moments before the heist went down. He was wearing a ski mask and carrying a pistol.

Many believed the 20-year prison sentence Lanoue received for the crime was, practically speaking, a life sentence. But he lived in freedom for one final year, nearly to the day, after being released from a Boston halfway house in December 2010.

“When he was finally a free man, we were able to enjoy him for 10 months, celebrating his 90th birthday as well as holidays as a ‘law abiding citizen,’” a family member wrote Target 12 the day Lanoue died. “Mitch did keep us interested in his crazy robbing escapade stories. He will be missed.”

Stayed silent on Bonded Vault

The most famous and daring of those escapades was the 1975 Bonded Vault heist.

Lanoue was part of the eight-man team that busted into a fur storage warehouse in Providence that members and associates of the powerful Patriarca crime family were using as a secret "bank." Officials initially estimated the bandits made off with $4 million in cash, jewelry, gold bars and other valuables. But a Target 12 investigation has revealed the take was far greater – upwards of $30 million – and much of the money went back to notorious crime boss Raymond “L.S.” Patriarca.

• Learn more about the Bonded Vault Heist
• Click here to learn what happened to the accused Bonded Vault bandits

University of Connecticut journalism professor Wayne Worcester, who worked on the report along with writer and retired Providence Journal reporter Randall Richard, said that though Lanoue wasn’t the “main man” in the heist - he drove the van that hauled the men and loot - he was every bit as vital to its success.

“He got his share of [the money],” Worcester said. “He knew what everybody else knew.”

Even decades later, however, Lanoue remained reluctant to share details about the epic heist. Much about the robbery is still shrouded in mystery.

“He absolutely took it to the grave,” Worcester said. “I think he would shoot himself before he would allow himself to be seen as a snitch.”

In the email, the family member said Bonded Vault was a sensitive topic with Lanoue and that many of the details reported by WPRI were news to his relatives.

“There was plenty of that robbery that Mitch did not share, even with us, since it was connected to very powerful people,” the family member wrote.

Lanoue was far from alone in that despite the passage of 37 years, Worcester said. “This wasn’t any little mom-and-pop job; it had ramifications that went on and on,” he said. “There are still people out there who would prefer not to say anything.”

Served during World War II

Lanoue’s life of crime began in 1939 when he was arrested in New York as an 18-year-old on burglary and larceny charges. But World War II apparently put his criminal endeavors on hold.

In a letter he sent Worcester from prison in 2010, Lanoue said he was in the U.S. Air Force and deployed to the Pacific theater.

“I was with a B-29 outfit,” Lanoue wrote. “I was a radio operator (Morse code) and was only on five missions dropping bombs over Japan.”

Lanoue’s life in the armed forces clearly did little to discourage him from criminal behavior. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Rhode Island said Lanoue was arrested at least 32 times and was convicted about a dozen times.

“He was absolutely incorrigible,” Worcester said.

Riches never realized

At just a few inches taller than five feet, Lanoue was short and stocky. But he had a reputation for toughness and was trusted in the underworld. That was part of the reason he was picked for the Bonded Vault job, according to Worcester.

Known for a sharp sense of humor and bluntness, Lanoue famously reached out to a Providence Journal reporter to complain that he'd reported Lanoue's total number of convictions wrong in a story.

"No way in hell do I have 32 convictions - 32 arrests maybe," he wrote in a letter to the paper.

“Back when he was arrested for the Bonded Vault robbery he was the one who complained loudly that he couldn’t understand why everyone was so upset,” Worcester said. “He said, ‘We’re crooks, they’re crooks, what’s the big deal?’”

By all accounts, Lanoue’s take from the Bonded Vault heist was slim compared with what he hauled away from the warehouse in the van that day. He was handed a bag of cash filled with $64,000. The men agreed to have the rest of the valuables buried until things calmed down, but the riches never materialized for Lanoue and the rest of the crew.

The family member said despite Lanoue’s long career as a robber, he did not live an extravagant life.

“In a majority of the circumstances his earnings (although unacceptable and illegal) were given to a lot of people in need of money,” the relative wrote. “He always justified it as being a modern day Robin Hood.”

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim