I love caper movies. You know, the ones with the intricate plot about a gang of likeable criminals that have a plan to rip off a bank or institution, not really for the money but because the owner is a complete jerk?
Films likeOcean’s ElevenorThe Thomas Crown Affair,starring suave urbane gentlemen-thieves such as Cary Grant or Pierce Brosnan.
Those capers always seem to happen in exotic locations such as Paris and Las Vegas. They certainly wouldn’t happen in a sleepy part of Canada, would they?
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Well, in the 1960s and 1970s Canada had its own dashing rogue of a robber, someone who captured the imagination of the public with feats of derring-do.
Ken Leishman was a criminal, no doubt. He liked banks. A lot. In particular, he liked the money in banks, and liked to take it home with him even if it didn’t belong to him.
Leishman was a Canadian bank robber who became popular. Many Canadians hoped he would avoid capture.
Not surprisingly in peaceful Canada, his popularity was based largely on the fact that he planned his bank robberies so that they did not turn violent.
While he liked robbing banks, he did not appear to have any desire to hurt anyone.
Born in Manitoba in 1931, he was known as The Flying Bandit because he loved planes and knew how to fly light aircraft.
Some papers also called him the Gentleman Bandit. Balding but with dashing good looks and a pencil-thin mustache, even his victims and the police said they liked him.
Following a series of small crimes, he robbed his first bank in 1957. He met a manager for a loan, produced a gun and forced the manager give him a $10,000 cheque.
He then quizzed the manager for personal information and chatted up the teller, using this data to appear as the manager’s friend. She gladly gave this charmer the money.
Leishman left with the manager to buy him a drink, let him go and slipped away.
One of his most famous heists was in 1966 involving a gold bullion shipment coming through Winnipeg. A friend from Red Lake, Ont., would tell him when the shipment was arriving.
Leishman recruited accomplices and arranged for them to be dressed like Air Canada freight department workers. He also stole an Air Canada truck, just for extra authenticity.
No one thought twice about the legitimate-looking freight workers who showed up at the plane saying there was a change in plan and then loaded crates into a legitimate truck.
The only problem was that the crates were full of gold bars worth more than $600,000.
The gang initially got away and planned to stow the gold at a friend’s house before it could be moved to a safer place.
However, (and how Canadian is this?) a blizzard stopped them from doing so. They hid the gold in the backyard, where it was discovered by police.
Leishman was arrested, tried and sent to prison, from where he promptly escaped, leading what was at the time the biggest jail break in Canadian history.
He stole an airplane in Steinbach Man., and fled to the United States. Police caught up with him in Indiana where, after a shootout, he was arrested.
After Leishman got out of prison he moved back to Red Lake, where he ran a clothing store and managed a small airline.
He enjoyed huge popularity, serving as a deputy mayor and even as head of the local chamber of commerce. He was often interviewed and would joke around.
In one interview, he described himself as underqualified and overambitious when describing his criminal exploits.
Many of these interviews can be seen and heard on the internet, and when I watch him I just can’t help liking the guy.
He was a family man, married for more than 25 years ( “I was a sucker for red hair”), with seven children.
In 1979 he flew on a mercy mission, but his aircraft disappeared.
His plane was found and while he was declared officially dead the next year, many people believed he lived on. A documentary was made about his life in 2005, but who knows what really happened to the Flying Bandit?
Rick Danyliuk is a lawyer with McDougall Gauley LLP in Saskatoon.
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