I asked to see the weapons for the job I had in mind. I was shown a sawed off shot gun and a .22 caliber pistol that didn't even work. I told them that I wouldn't work with weapons like that. Then Tad spoke.
"I know where we can get some brand new weapons."
We drove past a sporting goods store in San Leandro.
Tad was dressed in a white shirt and tie. There were some pistols on display in a glass enclosed case in the sporting goods section. Tad went behind the counter, as if he worked there, and placed two .357 magnums and a 38 special in a briefcase. We left the store without anybody noticing us.
After buying ammunition, we went over the get away route of the score I had in mind. It was a bar in San Leandro that cashed payroll checks on Fridays, which my brother in law had pointed out to me weeks prior to that.
It was Friday, New Year's weekend of 1962, going into '63.
The bar was packed. I wore a hat, glasses, and a hankerchief over my face. I went into the bar, Mike and Manuel behind me. I handed the briefcase, the same one we used to get the pistols, to the bartender and ordered him to fill it with money. He opened the cash register and placed the currency in it into the brief case. But I knew where the money was that he used to cash checks. I leapt over the bar, gun in hand, and pulled out the drawer with the payroll cash. I pulled the entire drawer out and emptied it into the briefcase. Rather than leap back over the bar, I closed the briefcase, went all the way to the opposite end of the bar, then started for the front door.
The bar was full of partiers. Mike and Manuel were somewhere in the crowd. As I reached the halfway point, I was hit from behind and slammed to the floor. At that moment Mike and Manuel fired some shots into the ceiling. I somehow bounced back up and spun around to see who hit me. A guy about 6'6" was about 6 feet from me. I pointed my .357 at his head. He fell to his knees and began to pray. He weighed at least 300 pounds.
But I wasn't hurt, and though I was tempted to shoot him, he was praying to God to save him. I held back.
"You damn fool!" I said, "I should blow your brains out."
Instead I turned, left the bar and got into the get away car which Tad was driving. In a few moment Mike and Manuel exited the bar and got into the car. We got away from there.
We split the money 4 ways at a friend's apartment in Oakland. It was a sizable amount of cash.
The next day I went to a car lot and purchased a 2-door 1956 Oldsmobile, for about a thousand dollars. That was a lot of money in those days.