That address does not exist today; the land parcel and those surrounding it were restructured sometime around 1956. A total of 32 customers and 10 employees were present in the bank when the two men entered it. Shortly after she turned herself in, she led authorities to a home that she and Larry shared in Anaheim Hills. Reason unknown. "I think it's like a movie," said store manager Eim Tang. Date of Birth: August 7, 1968 Yet within that reporting, and a lot of it was exceptional work, certain viewpoints and false information was allowed to exist. The gun battle lasted 44 minutes. Unable to start the Jeep however, he soon finds himself engaged in a fresh . Nothing was overlooked. He was driving down the road with his wife and John Chase, an accomplice, in the car, along with several weapons, when he passed a car of FBI agents going the other way. The media had a field day, so many people to interview, so many stories to tell, who was where, who did what, and who felt what. This is where the trail for us goes cold on this property, we can find no reference to any law enforcement visit, any search warrant. They hadn't spoken since July. . Officers found two bedrooms, one apparently belonging to each man. Before he left [in 1996], he said, I cant find [her]. The two were wearing full body armor and fired hundreds of shots from fully automatic assault weapons at police officers and innocent bystanders after the foiled bank robbery. Police in suburban Glendale said the robbers were the same men arrested there in 1993 in a car full of high-powered weapons, smoke bombs and disguises. Matasareanu tried to hijack a pickup, but he was unable to get it started and then began a 6-minute gunbattle with police, until he collapsed from his injuries. The last eight months had brought a rash of troubles to Emil. But in the time it took them to place the money on a cart and leave the building, the LAPD had surrounded the bank, and the SWAT team was on its way. Mayo who had been moved to the property at the beginning of February, had allegedly been left alone, locked in a single dark room within the property for at least the previous week during which time she had had no access to her medicines or food. The reason is society tells you you have to have a 9-to-5 job until you retire at 65. That wasnt for him. The next year the service was closed because of an allegation made. Something goes wrong in the robbery attempt and . They do know, however, that Matasareanu and Phillips had been acquaintances since at least Oct. 23, 1993, when police caught them with a carload of weapons and military gear, including AK-47s, 9-mm handguns, six smoke grenades, two homemade explosives and a gas mask. On a 1990 trip to Romania to bring back his grandmother, Matasareanu also brought back a Romanian wife, Christina. "I saw their faces. That piece of information? Everything he did was completely thought out. Larry was like a clone of me. Saturday gave way into Sunday and the newspaper columns were understandably still full of this story, as people unfolded the Times and the Daily news over their breakfast they would be greeted with vivid photographs taken by Gene Blevins, Mike Meadows, Carolyn Cole and various other photographers. It had been stolen from a vehicle on his drive around New Years and not been seen again until the morning of the robbery. It was in fact the name of Sharon Santos' brother, an old friend of Larry's and the person who had introduced Larry and Sharon at an ice rink in Denver back in the day. With Michael Madsen, Ron Livingston, Ray Baker, Douglas Spain. This was apparently done out of deference for her son being killed only five days previous. Silverman and Stampede's Lisa Zambri will produce. "He cannot handle it anymore," she said. A golden retriever was shot in the nose while on the way to his vet. After dropping her daughter off at school she had returned home and started cleaning the house. Investigative teams were now starting to peel back the lid on both men's lives, but more so on Matasareanu than Phillips. Let me explain. On Tuesday, officers found a mentally disabled woman, covered in urine and feces, locked in a dark room at a Pasadena business owned by Emil Matasareanu and his mother, Valerie Nicolescu. Real Name: Jeanette Theresa Federico The robbers had five fully automatic weapons: three Norico 7.62-by-39-millimeter Chinese Model 56S-1 assault rifles; a Heckler and Koch .308-caliber Model 91; and a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, Model XM15-ES2. The brother said Phillips was so secretive and so effectively compartmentalized his life that associates in his real estate scams probably were not even aware of his budding relationship with Matasareanu, a social misfit and fellow gun lover he met about 1989. Sunday's session would only be attended by two RHD detectives, and only one of those had been present on the Saturday session. Noubar Torossian, the gentleman whose need for a cigarette was cut short when Matasareanu decided to carjack Bill Marr outside his house got his opportunity to speak to the L.A Daily News. He came with his mother to Los Angeles. Ludlow St fell to investigating officers; the house was quiet and deserted. If the event was bigger and more complex then maybe there should be something about it here, but barring that then at most it should note he was one of the two involved. You must fight on. Wounded and bleeding, they sprinted toward the doorway of an upstairs dentist office, between a defunct Builders Emporium and Hughes Market, in what is now a Smart & Final and a Ralphs. With that both women parted ways, and to this day appear to have never crossed paths again. First came the news that Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had authorized the immediate deployment of AR15 rifles to all field supervisors. The two "bad guys" were Larry Phillips Jr, 26, and Emil Mtsreanu, aged 30. Based on a real event that took place in February 28th 1997 when two heavily armed men wearing body armor decided to rob the Bank of America in North Hollywood. Still, the father had noticed the flashy cars, once a big Lincoln, then a 12-cylinder Jaguar. Emil Matasareanu's DUNS report about his business was returned, and it gave investigators a subtle glimpse into the kind of man they were investigating. I've been shot," the dentist recalls Zboravan crying out atop the stairway. In short order the L.A Times and the L.A Daily News conducted interviews with Detective John Krulac (the officer that came under withering fire in the Hughes parking lot with Officer James Zboravan and ended up in the dentist's stairwell). Emil Decebal Mtsreanu era decis s lupte pn moare. He said Pop, Im just like you. He didnt give me a number. Nicknames: Jean Malta, Jeanette Phillips For 44 thunderous minutes, they marched through a neighborhood under siege, spraying stores, homes and cars with 1,100 armor-piercing bullets, wounding 11 police officers and six bystanders. The robbers, clad in cut-up Kevlar, emptied their clips, sending hot rounds through concrete walls, iron fences, dozens of cars and through the walls of a nearby ice cream parlor and pizza joint. The case went to trial in 2000 and resulted in a hung jury. They were both killed by shots to the head, left unprotected by the body armor. Valerie Nicolescu described her son as a socially maladjusted computer expert who was scarred by childhood bullying and grew increasingly despondent over financial and marital troubles. Map showing the location of the sites tied to Larry and Emil. The next year the service was closed because of an allegation made that Matasareanu abused one of the six residents. . Both women appear to have had motives to delay such a meeting, but we shall explore that more as the aftermath progresses. The final entry regarding Phillips autopsy is one I have wrestled with for a long time, a matter of writing it firmly enough to show what we can see and have been told, yet delicately enough to not appear accusatory. His first idol was his father, a Denver resident who authorities said has a long record of arrests. On paper he appeared to have an upwardly mobile business, allegedly with seven employees and retaining government contracts according to the paperwork Matasareanu filled out. When Emil had left DeVry University in 1987 with his electrical engineering degree in hand he had gone straight to building a business. Frequently fighting back tears, Phillips Sr., who said he is now unemployed and raising two young daughters alone in his cluttered apartment, painted a dreary picture of Phillips childhood. ", VIDEO: Sgt. He said, All you guys are alike, the system is all screwed up, Smith said. And in a case of life imitating Hollywood, 14 months after the bank-robbing movie "Heat," the shootout laid siege to North Hollywood. Currently, she is only wanted for questioning. Ben Smith, the agent who wrote him a new policy just a month before the North Hollywood robbery, was struck by his animosity toward what he called the system.. The gunmen in "Heat" had nothing on these two. He had brain surgery. They believe that she can clear up several important facts in this case, including: the number of robberies Larry and Emil committed; the location of the missing money; and the possibility of accomplices being involved. Details of the North Hollywood shootout belong in that article. Emil Matasareanu and Larry Phillips were scum, but the only difference between them and the cops is that the government pays the cops. Jeanette was reported as being in Los Angeles that day, but she could not be found when the police went looking for her. Photographs published with permission of homeowner. . As the officers call for backup, Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu begin firing automatic weapons. Date: February 28, 1997. Phillips address and Federico were still a thing of mystery to LAPD and FBI. Three of these were classified as fatal (the submental suicide shot and the subclavian arterial wound) or 'potentially fatal' (C-8 spinal nerve). Larry Eugene Phillips Sr., 48, who still lives in Denver, said in an interview with The Times on Sunday that Larry is the way he is because of my lifestyle. Twenty years later, the North Hollywood shootout is still vivid for those who suffered through it, and it has become part of the cultural lore of Los Angeles. B1, This story was reported by Times staff writers Doug Smith, Henry Weinstein and Nicholas Riccardi in Los Angeles and Louis Sahagun in Denver. Jeri, his son Matthew with his wife Adriana, and his daughter Jamie. Clare Carey as Frank's Wife. At 9:17 a.m., they pulled up to the North Hollywood bank and synchronized their watches to account for an anticipated 8-minute LAPD response time once they entered. The kiosk would take 150 rounds, some of which are visible today. View of the old Milosevic home in 2021 where the V100 bulldozed through. An in-depth discussion on this issue, which needs to be finally understood and eradicated from this event can be found on our 'Myths' page here. The centre of the chest of his T-shirt bore a ragged hole, a reminder to anyone who looked of just how close Officer Richard Zielinksi's shot could have come to ending Friday's chaos. Out back, their bullet-ridden getaway car, a destroyed LAPD black-and-white, and an armored car that helped rescue cops and civilians gathers crowds. West Harriet St and West Loma Alta Drive also in Altadena. The truth of it was that they were identified very quickly, from AFIS fingerprint matches taken at the scenes where both bodies lay. They hadnt spoken since July. Eleven officers and six civilians were wounded. Matasareanu's credit checks kicked back his mother's house as a last known residence (although he had resided at three other properties at least since moving out). Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasareanu shot at everything in their path - including police, bystanders, and a news helicopter - in an attempt to get away. Quite how they magically came up with this address is beyond our capability to dig out, and remains somewhat suspicious to us to this day. . The two men were later tied to two San Fernando Valley bank heists netting $1.67 million, as well as an armored truck robbery in which a guard was killed. . The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said today (Thursday) that Emil Matasareanu was downed by 29 bullets, including a deep wound to his thigh that caused him to bleed to death. Back in Los Angeles Detective Mitch Robbins was interviewed regarding how exactly his licence plate came to be affixed to the back of the bandit Chevrolet a week earlier. North of the bank across Archwood Street, bullets drilled through the stucco of Baskin-Robbins, piercing ice cream counters above the pistachio almond bucket, as well as an ice cream cake in a now patched-up freezer. LAPD spokesman Jason Lee said all three weapons resemble the AK-47 and that it is illegal to possess any of these rifles in California. Without body armor or automatic weapons, the police are completely outgunned. Although the brother said Phillips had a difficult childhood, the son still looked up to his father, and, on coming of age, changed his name back to Phillips. Despite having sustained some extraordinarily serious wounds during his final confrontation with the three SWAT officers his body appeared to be that of one in repose, except for the blood masking the right hand side of his face he genuinely looked like a person sleeping. So far, investigators have released few details about the pair. You fall back on your training - the best in the world," recalled Zboravan, an award-winning sergeant now serving as an assistant watch commander at Northeast Division. He said Phillips would take him on the drives to motivate him. A penultimate entry regarding the autopsy that should be here is that of his toxicology screen, what exactly had he ingested? It is curious to note that we have found no official communiqu naming Phillips and Matasareanu as the perpetrators; the media seem to be the first people to use their names, and the LAPD followed suit some time later. Military veterans quickly recognized the telltale "blat" of the Russian-designed AK-47 assault rifle. A lot of times youll run across people and there will be something about their expression or body language that will really trip you that says, Watch out for this guy, Carson said. Because the timing of all three robberies came just after large deliveries of cash, one source said, "It's obvious these guys did their homework.". "Forgetting my wallet was the luckiest thing I ever did," said Lemus, 59, who still works at Mountain View Tire. Emils mother, Valerie Nicolescu, said she hadnt spoken to him since Christmas. The large stellate wound under his chin from the suicide shot plainly visible to the room's occupants. A worker patches up bullet holes on the north side of the bank. 23 West Harriet St., Altadena, CA 244 West Loma, Altadena, CA In it they found both more and less than they ever expected. Tim McBride. Preceding . The M.O seemed to match, and so this became another 'maybe'. On Sunday, Los Angeles police added one new increment to the slowly emerging story, disclosing new details of the weaponry the two men carried in the North Hollywood holdup. Of their nearly 4,000 rounds of ammo, many were armor-piercing. The former Altadena residents had once served a brief stint in jail for possessing what Glendale police said was virtually a bank-robbery kit. On the morning of the robbery, officials believe they took phenobarbital to help control their nerves. "Our car started taking rounds. (213) 251-4554, 20 years after the North Hollywood shootout, echoes of the terror remain, Sgt. . Police Identify Suspected Widow of Slain Robber, With Wife of Slain Robber Missing, Probe of Bank Shootout Falters, Wife of Northern California Gunman Held in Colorado, Gunman's Widow Leads Police to Guns and Cash, Widow of Slain Robber Free After Leading Cops To Money. Hed say, Hey Pop, ever ride in a Jaguar? . Jeanette Federico, Larry's widow, had seen the shootout on the news. Midway between Pasadena and Phillips rental home in Anaheim Hills, Matasareanu had rented a 2,700 sq ft home on Pepperdale Drive in Rowland Heights perched on the side of the San Puente hills. He grows in America.. Phillips walked down Archwood Street, continuing his gunbattle with police. Torn by guilt about his inability to help his brother go straight, by fear for the future of the Burbank business he owns and by concern for his familys privacy and safety, the brother has resisted persistent offers to go on national TV, but he said he decided to tell his story to The Times to dispel misguided speculation. He knew that every time I came in contact with police something bad happened.. Note the bushes have been trimmed. At 9am the fully clothed body of Larry Eugene Phillips Jr was removed from the five hundred berth cold storage area and bought into the examination room. When the number on the pager was traced it was found that it had been purchased from Quality Auto Sound in Lakewood, no further leads were forthcoming apart from a curious piece that back in September 1996 Jr had conducted an IRSI search for two persons, paid up front and had returned two days later to collect the results. i aa s-a i ntmplat. When the robbers emerged, they were confronted by officers and tried to shoot their way clear with superior firepower. They had Kalashnikov rifles filled. When the shell casings stopped rolling, two bandits lay dead - one after shooting himself after sustaining 10 gunshot wounds - and the other after bleeding to death from 29 gunshots after telling police, "F--- you. The North Hollywood siege ended at 10:01 a.m. As the gunfire suddenly ceased in front of her Archwood home, Anna Kazanchyan crouched inside with her two young children watching it play out on TV. His actions were more of a suicide mission.". . Despite over 40 minutes of continuous gunfire they were the only two fatalities. That same night, bad dreams and the beginnings of. Police say Federico is either 28 or 29 and may be traveling with a 3- year-old and a 6-year-old. A comprehensive look at the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout detailing the lives and crimes of Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasareanu In 1991, Phillips was arrested by Orange police after a mortgage broker reported discovering that deeds of trust he bought from Phillips were forged. He also gave his father $500 in cash, and would later mail him an additional $400. This final number shall also be addressed in the Myths page, for the media and the public jumped on this number and it has been incorrectly written into lore that he had been shot twenty nine times, and this just isn't the case. The bank was expected to have more than $750,000 to accommodate a Friday payday. A sunny, scorching afternoon brought Marie Joseph and her neighbors to Lafayette Park -- four kids and a few . Comparison of the bank's exterior a couple days apart. Site of the previous business National Gun Sales 18518 Parthenia St., Northridge, CA. Walter Kennedy, Matasareanu's previous neighbour on Sinaloa Ave was interviewed by USA Today recounting the story of Matasareanu's graduation and how nobody had showed up. West Harriet was the address he had shared with his mother in the early 1990's, it was now devoid of all connection to the Phillips family. She may have dyed her hair blonde. He told Emil not to marry an American woman, the brother said. With a what-did-you-expect shrug, he added: "He grows (up) here. In the projected earnings for the business he estimated between $125,000 and $250,000. Not the image nor the actions of a serious business owner. Katrina Law as Kate. "Larry didn't like the way American women always. The bodies of Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mtsreanu, perpetrators of the North Hollywood shootout of 1997. LAPD Officer James Zboravan was two months and eight days out of the police academy when he faced a barrage of machine-gun fire, shot and wounded a bank robber and dove across unarmored officers to shield them with his bulletproof vest. The robbery occurred near the 900 block of Kings Road. Even Matasareanus choice of a wife fell under Phillips influence, he said. "The lesson is, very plainly: "Just because you're shot doesn't mean you're going to die. They said he was a serious bodybuilder who would never ingest a harmful substance. Records indicate that Matasareanu had occasional income as a computer software consultant but that his primary source of income was Dechebal Inc., the board-and-care home his mother operated in a Pasadena building they jointly owned. A darker tone to the conversation ensued though. 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