Hungary's gentleman bandit

Tue, 17 Aug 1999 08:10:00 +0000

He's the folk hero whose exploits have captivated all of Hungary: a
Transylvanian-born ice hockey player turned bank robber who slugged back a shot
of whiskey before each of his 28 heists, and who, after finally being arrested, escaped last month from a high-security prison by tying together a string of bedsheets.

A team of Hollywood scriptwriters couldn't have done a better job putting this
story line together. This, however, is a real-life story of armed robberies and
dramatic escapes by a dashing robber who gave flowers to the female bank tellers
he robbed, then escaped by hailing a taxi and hurtling through the
back streets of Budapest, or by swimming across the Danube.

Attila Ambrus, "the Whiskey Robber," is Hungary's latest folk-hero fugitive,
admired across the generations for his daring criminal exploits. Celebrated on
commemorative T-shirts and buttons, and the talk of the country's bars and cafes,
Ambrus -- who reportedly once even disguised himself as a policeman while robbing a
bank -- now has his own Hungarian
fan club on the Internet, which offers a Whiskey Robber screensaver, news
archive and details of a look-alike contest. (Law-abiding citizens concerned that
crime is being glorified have set up a rival href="http://www.nexus.hu/antiwhiskey">anti-whiskey site.)

Salon.com > Adam LeBor

Hungary's gentleman bandit