Northlake in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

The Northlake Bank Robbery

October 27, 1967

— 10:41 AM —

The Northlake Bank Robbery Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Sean Flynn, April 17, 2024

1. The Northlake Bank Robbery Marker

Inscription. On a cold snowy morning Sergeant John Nagle and Officer Anthony Perri were killed in the line of duty while courageously engaged in a ferocious gun battle.

These brave and heroic police officers were husbands, fathers and brothers on this somber day as they lost their lives while protecting others.

The Northlake Police Department will never forget.

Erected 2017 by Northlake Police Memorial Fund.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Law Enforcement. A significant historical date for this entry is October 27, 1967.

Location. 41° 54.38′ N, 87° 54.069′ W. Marker is in Northlake, Illinois, in Cook County. Marker can be reached from North Avenue (Illinois Route 64) east of Wolf Road. The memorial is located in front of the Northlake Police Department building. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 55 North Avenue, Melrose Park IL 60164, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. POW-MIA Memorial (approx. 0.4 miles away); Old Northlake Library site (approx. 0.6 miles away); Bohlander (approx. 1.3 miles away); Dedication (approx. 1.4 miles away); Cpl. Robert H. Corley and Pfc. Ronnie L. Russell (approx. 1.4 miles away); Pvt. Albert E. Fenhouse

Paid Advertisement

Click on the ad for more information.
Please report objectionable advertising to the Editor.

Click or scan to see
this page online

(approx. 1.7 miles away); Berkeley Veterans Memorial (approx. 1.8 miles away); Memorial Park (approx. 2.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Northlake.

More about this marker. The marker sits between busts of the two officers who were killed in 1967. A Northlake Police shield is affixed to the base of the memorial.

The robbery and killing of the two officers occurred at Northlake Bank, which was about ¼-mile west of here, just west of Wolf Road. The building still stands and is the site of a US Bank branch. A park named after the two officers, Nagle-Perri Park, is about a ½-mile northwest of the police station and includes a plaque and flagpole honoring the officers.

Regarding The Northlake Bank Robbery. The robbery of more than $80,000 from Northlake Bank occurred a short distance west of the location of this memorial, which is about 15 miles west of downtown Chicago. While the robbery lasted roughly five minutes, it captured national headlines for the brazen robbery and attack on police officers that harkened back to crime sprees of a long-ago era, and for the subsequent interstate manhunt for the two assailants who

The Northlake Bank Robbery Memorial image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Sean Flynn, April 17, 2024

2. The Northlake Bank Robbery Memorial

escaped.

The news reports of the time offer vivid details of the lead-up to the robbery, the harrowing scene at Northlake Bank and the manhunt. Police had been surveilling the bank for several weeks after receiving a tip about plans for a robbery, but the lookout was halted after no action had occurred. Then on the morning of the 27th, three men in ski masks brandishing several guns entered the bank and ordered more than 20 bystanders to lie on the ground; at this point, one of the employees pressed an alarm that alerted Northlake police to the robbery. Meanwhile, one of the assailants jumped over the counter, walked into the vault and stuffed his bag with money.

Just 70 seconds after the robbery had begun, the first police car pulled up, and the three robbers opened fire on the car. Patrolman Anthony Perri, 41, grabbed a shotgun and crawled out of the car when he was hit; one of the robbers ran up and shot Perri in the head at short range. Nagle arrived shortly in his car and stood up next to it until he was mortally wounded from gunshots to the head and abdomen.

One of the bandits, 36-year-old Ronald Del Ranie, was shot in the neck and back as they ran to their car; he did not make it to the car and was arrested at the scene. The other two robbers, 35-year-old Henry Gargano, who was badly injured in the shootout, and 29-year-old Clifton O. Daniels,

Northlake Police Department image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Sean Flynn, April 17, 2024

3. Northlake Police Department

jumped into their car and skidded out of the parking lot and headed north on Lavergne Avenue. The men hid in nearby Bellwood for the night, then fled to a cottage at the Fish Lake resort near La Porte, Indiana, with Gargano's sister and girlfriend. They surrendered to police there on October 31; according to the Chicago Tribune report the next day, Gargano's wounded shoulder was infected and could have been fatal if it had not treated within 24 hours.

The two men and their female companions were returned to Chicago; the three robbers faced federal charges for the murder. On July 16, 1968, the three men pleaded guilty to the charges—a surprise outcome to observers, yet also the culmination of a dramatic day. According to the next day's Tribune, the FBI was tipped off to plans by the robbers to shoot their way out of their lockup at the Federal Courthouse at 219 South Dearborn (now called the Dirksen Courthouse). FBI agents seized a gun—a "snub-nose Italian make," according to the Tribune—hidden in Gargano's waistband and, later, a sharpened table knife in Del Ranie's possession. Later that day, the three men pleaded guilty and the judge sentenced them to the maximum sentence of 199 years in jail.

Daniels died in prison. Gargano, who had been on parole for two prior offenses when he participated in this bank robbery, was imprisoned in Terre

Nagle-Perri Park plaque image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Sean Flynn, April 17, 2024

4. Nagle-Perri Park plaque

A park across North Avenue from the police station is dedicated to the two officers who were slain in the Northlake Bank robbery of 1967. The text of the plaque says: "Dedicated to the memory of Sergeant John Nagle and Patrolman Anthony Perri who, in the performance of their duties as Northlake police officers made the supreme sacrifice. October 27, 1967."

Haute, Indiana, in 2010 when he applied for parole. Although his sentence had been increased to 204 years due to his participation in a prison escape in 1975, he was identified as a likely candidate for release, tentatively set for September of 2010. However, when the Northlake Police Department learned of this, they objected and ordered a new hearing. In 2011, his release was denied, and he died in prison in November of that year.

Meanwhile, Del Ranie also sought release on parole in 2010 but was denied. Speaking at the parole hearing was Michael Cain, who had arrived with Patrolman Perri on the scene in 1967. Cain survived after being shot in the arm and becoming trapped in his patrol car amid the gunfire.

Also see . . .
1. Northlake resident's book explores infamous 1967 bank robbery. From the Chicago Tribune, a look at a 2016 book about the robbery by a Northlake native. (Submitted on April 18, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. U.S. Parole Commission Denies Gargano Application for Mandatory Parole. A news release from the U.S. Department of Justice about the United States Parole Commission denying parole to Henry Gargano, one of the three men convicted of robbing Northlake Bank in 1967. (Submitted on April 18, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on April 18, 2024. It was originally submitted on April 17, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 58 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 17, 2024, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.