The ones who come to mind when you think of famous criminals, like bandits in the Old West or Depression-era gangsters, only became criminals because they lived at times in history when it was easy to be a criminal; in some cases it was probably even easier than it was not to be a criminal. And yet, you hardly ever hear of criminals who had really long careers, or successfuly retired to obscurity. There were no Old West outlaws who grew old and became Godfather-type gangsters in the 1920's. That would be an awesome movie though, as long as it didn't involve Kevin Costner in any way.

On TV and the movies, bank robbers are always flamboyant and super-brilliant military strategists with precision timing. In reality, from what I can tell, the use of a Halloween mask constitutes the entirety of the "planning stage" of their operation. You hardly ever hear about any of them getting away with it long enough to even spend any of the money they manage to get out the door.

Not only do bank robbers attract the attention of every law enforcement agency, but also the media. Bank robberies always seem to make the news, while no one ever really pays much mind to folks who rob convenience stores or pawn shops. And then every bank robber always gets a nickname, like "The Barber Bandit" or something that's either really cool or just innocuous. I think the media do a disservice to our society by this practice, and actually may encourage people to rob banks. Who wouldn't want to have a cool nick-name? Even if they get caught, they could get an awesome prison tattoo of it on their arm.

The solution to this is simple, really. We just have to start giving bank robbers nick-names that make them seem stupid or that make them targets in prison, like "The Nosepicker" or "The Cornhole Bandit".