<P> Bank robbery is commonly associated with the American Old West due to a few infamous examples and portrayal in fiction . In reality, bank robberies were relatively rare . </P> <P> On February 13, 1866, several men believed to be members of the James - Younger Gang robbed the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, shooting a 19 - year - old student and escaping with $60,000 . This is claimed to be the first successful peacetime bank robbery in US history . Previous robberies such as from the banks in St. Albans, Vermont more than a year earlier were perpetrated by Confederate soldiers, which some historians consider to be not robberies proper but acts of war . </P> <P> The August 29, 1909 edition of The Rich Hill Tribune contained a front - page news story entitled "Bank Robbers in Motor Car" where two robbers used a gun to rob the Valley bank of Santa Clara of $7,000 . They then used a hired automobile to escape and were chased by police and a posse of citizens also in automobiles, eventually leading to their capture . </P> <P> On December 21, 1911, two armed men of the Bonnot Gang intercepted a bank messenger outside a branch of Société Générale in Paris . They stole a satchel of money he was about to deliver to the bank containing roughly five thousand pounds and escaped in a stolen vehicle . This is described as the first successful use of a getaway car in a bank robbery . </P>

What is the sentence for armed bank robbery