Attila Ambrus
| Attila Ambrus | |
|---|---|
Attila Ambrus in 2013
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| Born |
October 6, 1967 Fitod, Transylvania, Romania |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Other names | The Whiskey Robber, The Panther from Csík |
| Title | bank robber |
Attila Ambrus (born October 6, 1967), alias The Whiskey Robber is a Hungarian bank robber and professional ice hockey player. He became notorious during the 1990s for committing a string of undercover "gentleman robberies" in and around Budapest, Hungary, while working a day job as a goaltender. He became infamous in Hungary as a folk hero symbolic of the times in the decade after the introduction of capitalism to the former Communist state. Ambrus was eventually caught and imprisoned for about 12 years, released in 2012. His story was made into a book, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber (2004), by author Julian Rubinstein, which has been optioned by Johnny Depp for a possible film adaptation.
Ambrus was born in a Székely Hungarian family in Fitod, a small village in eastern Transylvania, Romania, right outside Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda).
Ambrus had trouble with the law from a young age for committing petty thefts. In 1988, Ambrus illegally crossed Romania's borders by riding underneath a freight train and applied for political asylum and citizenship in Hungary, the latter of which he obtained in 1994.
Ambrus made a living through a variety of odd jobs, including being a gravedigger and a pelt smuggler, after which he tried out for the professional hockey team Újpesti TE. Despite his abysmal performance, he was admitted to the roster as goaltender while doubling as the team's janitor. Ambrus' hockey teammates gave him the nickname "The Panther from Csík." Ambrus's income continued to be insecure as he worked a variety of side jobs, and he committed his first robbery of a post office in 1993. After this success, Ambrus continued a string of 27 robberies of banks, post offices, and travel agents that ended with his arrest in 1999, stealing in all about 100 million forints (about half a million US Dollars).
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Wikipedia