The Victory Street Trolley Station robbery occurred in 1899 when the Van der Linde Gang - acting on a tip from Mafia boss Angelo Bronte - robbed the Victory Street Trolley Station in New Orleans, Louisiana. On a sunny afternoon, Dutch van der Linde, Arthur Morgan, and Lenny Summers robbed a mere $16.86 from the station; they expected a large profit as promised to them by Bronte, only to find that Bronte had lured them into a trap as scores of policemen emerged from the alleyways to ambush them. The trio engaged in a citywide shootout with the police as they escaped on a streetcar, which then crashed at a barrier; they then shot their way through several alleyways before escaping on a police wagon. They were nearly caught at a police barricade on the main bridge out of town, but Summers threw a dynamite stick at the barricade, and Morgan shot it while it was still in mid-air, blowing up the barricade and allowing for the three outlaws to escape almost unharmed. The trolley station robbery placed the city on high alert, and it marked the renewal of the open rivalry between the Van der Linde Gang and the Bronte crime family.
Gallery[]
