There is no such thing as a foolproof plan — especially in the underworld where there's
always some fool ready to ruin any plan. Take this for example. An inside man mapped out the
perfect scheme for a solid score — $284,866 in untraceable cash walked right
out of the door of a New York City racetrack at the end of the busiest betting day of the year
They look like pros. And they probably would have gotten away with it too if only they didn't make a
few stupid mistakes. The Mob Reporter here with the exclusive inside story of an ingenious gunpoint
heist that proves a red line can usually be drawn between the best laid plan and its execution
Let me tell you about it. "...And they're off in the Gotham and Mischievous Alex came away well and
is going out for the early lead..." This was a good day for Mischievous Alex, a three-year-old colt who
won the Gotham Stakes thoroughbred horse race at New York's Aqueduct Racetrack. The Gotham Stakes is
the track's busiest, most lucrative betting day, popular as a prep race for the Kentucky Derby
The track took in $536,567 in betting money that evening and three bandits made off with more
than half of it. Let's break it down. First, meet the crew: Lafayette Morrison, known as "Laf." He's
the "inside man," a trusted security guard at the racetrack and the brain who conjured a masterful
plan to rob his boss's blind. Lamel Miller, known as "Mel." Morrison's childhood friend is the muscle
and main gunman. And finally, Khaleel Williams, known as "Kha," the driver, backup gunman and gopher
Morrison knew everything about the place and how money was moved around the track and he laid it
all out for Miller. It went like this. Each night two employees accompanied by a security guard
walk around the track emptying cash from inside self-serve betting machines, placing the bundles
from each into a wheeled money bag. When they're done, they move it to the vault, where an armed
guard watches it. There's only one way to get to the vault. The collectors go into a restricted area
and cross a catwalk to a private elevator that only goes to the vault in the basement. Morrison
knew the catwalk was the perfect place for a stick-em-up; a choke point away from the public
and the armed guard at the vault. And it was where the money bag would be the fullest. Oh, and there's
no security cameras there. To pull it off, they needed a third man. Miller recruited Williams
The big race day was March 7, 2020. The day before, Williams took care of step one. He pulled up in a
silver Dodge outside of Metro PCS, a phone dealer in Queens. Here we see him arrive. Inside he picked
out two burner phones and an earpiece, registering them in a fake name and the address of a Chinese
restaurant. Here's the receipt. Then Williams picked up a getaway car, an old black Mercedes
On the day of the big race, Morrison started his shift at the track at 4 pm. At 5:42 the starting
bell rang for the final and biggest race of the day. That signaled the end of placing bets on
the Gotham Stakes. Mischievous Alex crossed the finish line a whisker over a minute and a half
later. At 8:54 pm, Miller and Williams pulled into the racetrack's rear parking lot in the Mercedes
Williams was at the wheel. A minute later Morrison came down the escalator into the main lobby of the
racetrack and stepped outside. He walked to the side of the building towards where the Mercedes
was parked. There Miller and Morrison talked on their burner phones, testing Morrison's earpiece
before Morrison returned to work inside. Inside the car, Miller pulled out a handgun and gave a
second gun to Williams as they waited. At 9:15 pm, Morrison called Miller on their burner phones. It
was time to move. Morrison didn't hang up though, leaving an open line for Miller to hear him as
he escorts two collectors on the last money run of the night. You see Morrison has an earpiece in
his left ear. Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Miller got out of the car and told Williams to count to
60 before following him inside. At 9:16 pm, Miller entered the track at a side entrance. Surveillance
cameras captured him walking casually, talking on the phone. He's wearing a black hat camo pants
and a black hoodie with uneven white drawstrings. Miller couldn't resist looking up at the camera
Yep, it's there buddy. Williams followed seconds later, but managed to keep his head down. Upstairs
at 9:17 pm, the first machine on the money run was emptied by the track staff. It was one
of the lightest loads, just $1,105 dollars. As the money run continued, from dozens and dozens of machines
Miller and Williams lifted a seat cushion where Morrison had hid a key. They needed that to get
into the restricted area. They hid in a storage area where Miller gave Williams a medical mask
to cover his face. At 10:01 pm, the last machine on the collection route was emptied. It was a heavy
one: $15,930. The two collectors, with Morrison, then
took the money cart upstairs and wheeled it down the catwalk towards the elevator. When Miller and
Williams heard them coming, they moved into a stairwell nearby and then stepped out to block
their path as the track workers approached. "Freeze," Miller said, "Don't move." The collectors stopped and
put their hands in the air. Now I don't have video of the stick up because there isn't any. That's
an advantage of having an inside man on a heist. Williams took the track workers' phones, including
Morrison's and Morrison's security walkie-talkie, and put them all in a bag. Miller told the workers
to turn around and walk back across the catwalk. One clerk said he feared he would be shot in the
back. Instead, they were pushed inside a storage closet and told to count to a thousand before
coming out. Williams wrapped the money cart in a black bag and gave it to Miller. So far, the heist
went like clockwork. But the job wasn't over. No longer able to talk to Morrison, the two bandits
took a wrong turn in the stairwell and emerged in the middle of this large public area, filled with
patrons and cashiers. They were stunned, looking for a way out before finding a door that led to
where they had first entered. At 10:06 pm, here they are coming out masked. Miller with the money bag
and Williams with the bag with the victim's phones. Williams dumped the bag of phones in a trash can on
the way out to the car. They dumped the Mercedes, split up, and met back up at Miller's hotel room
Miller's girlfriend was there. They opened the bag and dumped the bricks of money onto the
bed. They looked like this. There were 67 money bricks in all. On the bed they counted it five
times. It took hours. $284,866. Miller gave Williams a hundred thousand dollars
of it, kept a hundred thousand for himself, and put eighty four thousand dollars in a bag for
Morrison. Miller then gave his girlfriend the large messy pile of one dollar bills
Williams cradled his stash of cash like a baby. They felt on top of the world. Do you think
that feeling lasted? While Miller and Williams were counting their loot, Morrison was back at the track
pretending to be a victim. All three track workers were taken to a police station for interviews by
the Joint Robbery Taskforce. Investigators thought it was an inside job from the start. Morrison was
interviewed three times. He was a capable liar but then Morrison realized their big mistake
Remember those phones Williams dumped in the trash? Williams was supposed to just dump the
workers' personal phones and keep Morrison's burner phone from ever being found. That's the phone that
was connected to Miller's burner all through the robbery. When the victims reclaimed their phones
the burner phone remained. Cops pounced on it. They examined call logs and traced its movements based
on which cell tower it had been pinging off. They found the burner moved in tandem with Morrison's
personal phone — from around Morrison's house to the racetrack. Now, this crew made another
big mistake. The night before the robbery, when the three bandits were finalizing their plan, Miller
accidentally called Morrison's burner phone from his personal phone. It wasn't long before Miller's
mug shot from a past arrest was compared to security footage of the man on the phone walking
into the track and disappearing — until he marched back out with a large bag. Cops quickly learned
how close Miller and Morrison were. In fact, they had been arrested together as teenagers for a
different robbery. Tracing calls from the second burner phone, found Miller used his secret burner
the day before the heist — to call his ex-wife, to call his girlfriend, and to call his mother
Now while police were digging that up, Miller was spending his loot. He texted a jeweler asking to
see what Breitling watches he was selling. The jeweler sent him photos. Miller chose
the iced out one. He bought himself a BMW and his girlfriend an Acura. And an engagement
ring. Lucky girl. Police found one more nail for his coffin: on Miller's phone was a video selfie
Shockingly, he's wearing the same hat and the same hoodie he wore to the heist, right down to the
uneven white drawstrings. Miller and Morrison were both arrested on June 15, 2020. That's 14
weeks after their genius heist plan unraveled. The only unanswered question for the cops was:
Who was the third man? Williams, despite being the one who doomed them all by dumping the burner in
the trash, was still unidentified. Williams gave Morrison and Miller $40,000 — almost
half his share of the loot — to keep his name out of it, and the pair didn't rat him out
Williams was starting to think he got away clean — the last man standing — after a year
But investigators tracked the burner phones to the MetroPCS store and video from New York's broad
public surveillance system picked up Williams parking his Dodge when he went to buy them. On
March 30, 2021, Williams was arrested too. Now Williams eventually agreed to plead guilty to
robbery and brandishing a firearm and to testify against the others to get a break. In October 2022
Morrison and Miller faced a five-day trial. Oh, it didn't take the Brooklyn jury long. They reached
a verdict after lunch. Both were found guilty on Oct. 21, 2022. Their convictions mean
they face a minimum of seven years in prison and a maximum of life. The pair have not yet
been sentenced. Shortly before Christmas, Williams was. Taking his cooperation into account, Williams
was sentenced to time served and released with a hefty restitution order for the full amount
of the racetrack heist. So it turns out they weren't criminal masterminds after all. They sure
looked like pros, but in the end didn't have the parts. Please tap the "Thanks" button, or join me on
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