Welcome back it is 642 on Daybreak
and this week's unknown story
actually comes from the pages of
a new novel released two weeks ago
by local author Stephen Niwano.
Yeah, it tells the story of one of
Buffalo's most notorious bank robbers,
and the double life he led in this
morning's unknown story of Western New York.
The tale of Al Nusbaum and
the daughter he left behind
the real life story of Al
Nusbaum reads like a book.
He was a Buffalo guy.
He grew up on the east side.
He went to East High School.
They always said he was the
smartest guy in the room.
But as author Stevie and Water will
estates in his new novel Rook,
he was a guy whose passion for
a challenge often led him to
the wrong side of the law. It
was the challenge of it and I
think it was the adrenaline rush.
He always said that robbing banks
was like chess with cash prizes.
After getting in trouble as
a teenager here in Buffalo,
he joined the army upon his
discharge he moved to California.
That's where he was caught with a
machine gun and sent to federal prison.
And he met Bobby Wilcoxson,
the man who would become his partner
in crime after they got out,
he came back to Buffalo to marry
his high school sweetheart, Alicia.
They had a daughter and Al
opened his store with Wilcoxson,
but that was just a front
for the real business
and occasionally he tell his wife that
he was going out of town for business.
But Ailes business was robbing banks.
It began in Buffalo then at least
seven more banks from 1960 to 1962,
hauling in at least $250,000.
Roughly the equivalent of two
and a half million. Today,
but things all fell apart in
December of 1961 when he robbed
the Lafayette National Bank.
And his partner Bobby killed a bank
guard and wounded a New York City
patrolman and that put the two
of them and the most wanted list.
AL's mother-in-law actually blew
him in and they worked with
his wife to set-up a sting.
When Al returned to pick
up Alicia and Allison,
he had it all figured out his
wife was going to take change cabs
and go to the central tournament
and then go to the the Statler
and she was there waiting.
But there's also.
30 FBI agents and 30 FBI
cars waiting for him too,
all escaped at the Statler,
but that led to a high speed
chase and ultimately ended
with AL's arrest on Mastin St.
He was sentenced to 40 years,
but paroled after 13,
and that's when his next life began.
Alison was 16 when she
finally met her father.
He was not only funny himself, but I found
that he brought out the funny and me.
She finally had a real person to put
with all the stories she had heard.
He had buried money somewhere in Nevada.
When he went back there was a.
You know it. It had been developed
and it was no longer empty.
Desert and and and that the
money was nowhere to be found.
And the mementos she had
collected like this suitcase,
that was the suitcase that he used for
a quote business trip and he returned
from this business trip and he opened
up his luggage and realized that he
had the wrong person's luggage was
just beside himself that that he had
somebody else's luggage and no one
could understand what's the problem.
You know why is?
Why are you so upset that you have
somebody else's luggage and years
later we found out that it was because
the his luggage was filled with money
during his time behind bars,
he became an avid writer.
Al started sending out short
stories to magazines and other
publishers using his own name,
as well as a number of pen names.
He got printed in many of them,
including Alfred Hitchcock's
Mystery magazine.
Once he was paroled in the mid 70s,
continued writing, he worked in Hollywood,
writing TV scripts he actually wanted.
Word from the mystery Writers of America.
For Allison, his success after prison
often makes her think about the path
her father could have taken. Doesn't
make you wonder what if. Every day.
Absolutely every day. I wonder,
you know what could have been.
Now Alison began an effort
about a decade ago to raise awareness
and put her father's writing back
into the public consciousness.
Those efforts, however,
were paused because of several health
and family issues along with COVID.
But now with the Allana's
book being released,
she says the timing might be
right to get things going again,
and this is one of your more recent
unknown stories of Western New York.
Typically, it's with people
you know from centuries ago,
but we're talking decades ago
who really still have a mission.
He was arrested. And 1962 so it predates
both of us, but still not centuries ago
fascinating. Alright you, thank you.