Fullerton : ‘Marx Brothers’ in Red After Aborted Bank Job

A pair of bank robbers, dubbed the “Marx Brothers Bandits” because of the bizarre disguises they have worn during a series of Southern California holdups, should be red-faced over their most recent effort, police said Tuesday.

The two men had just robbed the Fullerton branch of Quaker Federal Savings on Monday morning, investigators said, when a booby-trapped packet of money they had been given exploded, dousing them and their car with a bright red, indelible dye.

About 9:30 a.m., the robbers had brandished weapons at a teller in the bank on North Euclid Street before herding four employees and eight customers into a small office, Police Sgt. Bud Lathrop said.

Just as the men reached a car in the parking lot, Lathrop said, the dye packet exploded. They abandoned the money and fled.

Both of the robbers are described as being in their 50s. On Monday, one of them wore a dark wig, a Kansas City Royals jacket and baseball cap and carried a revolver. The other, Lathrop said, also wore a wig, a blue pin-striped suit and was armed with an automatic weapon. Both had been heavily made up.

Frank Calley of the FBI’s Santa Ana office said the pair are suspected of 10 bank robberies in Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and Riverside counties during the past two years.