Bank Robbers Take $430,000; Holdups at Pace to Set Record : Crime: Tarzana heist is the biggest in the L.A. area this year. Amount stolen so far in 1991 is close to total for all of last year.

Four gun-wielding bandits--elaborately disguised in big noses, bushy eyebrows, hats and white gloves--stormed a Wells Fargo Bank in Tarzana and escaped with about $430,000 in the largest bank robbery in Los Angeles so far this year, police said Friday.

The heist Thursday resembled others in the San Fernando Valley and highlights a steadily rising number of bank robberies occuring throughout Southern California, already considered the bank-robbery capital of the country, city police and FBI officials said.

“We’re on a record pace,” said FBI spokesman John Hoos.

Last year, a record 1,652 bank robberies occurred in the FBI’s 7-county Los Angeles district, which stretches from San Clemente to the Monterey County line. As of Wednesday, Hoos said, 1,460 bank robberies had been recorded. The approaching holiday season, a traditionally busy time for bank robbers, promises to make this year’s total even higher than last year.

“It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to figure out where we’re headed,” Hoos said.

The same trend is occurring within the city of Los Angeles, where the number of bank robberies so far this year--464--is rapidly approaching the 515 recorded during all of last year, said LAPD Lt. Gabe Ornelas.

Last year, a total of $1.3 million was stolen from banks within Los Angeles, Ornelas said. So far this year, about $2 million has been stolen, including the take from Thursday’s robbery.

On Friday afternoon--as investigations continued into the Tarzana robbery and another bank robbery in South-Central Los Angeles in which a 66-year-old bank guard was fatally shot Aug. 29--four more bank robberies occurred within a single hour throughout the city, Ornelas said.

Karen Gardner, another FBI spokesperson, said more bank robberies occurred in Southern California last week than in the rest of the country.

Police and bankers attribute the region’s dubious distinction to its high number of banks and suburban bank branches, probably the highest in the country; its freeways, which make escapes easier; and its thriving drug culture. Hoos said at least 80% of bank robbers are feeding expensive drug habits.

Ed Pistey, senior vice president and director of security for First Interstate Bank of California, speculated that the recession may account for some bank robberies. Hoos said the FBI has no supporting statistics.

“I think it’s a logical connection that when you have economic problems and a high rate of unemployment you’re probably going to have some people driven to desperation to commit crimes, including bank robbery,” said Pistey, who serves as security committee chairman for the California Bankers Assn.

In the Tarzana bank robbery, the armed thieves entered the Wells Fargo branch on Ventura Boulevard about 3:30 p.m. and ordered everyone against a wall, according to police and branch manager Scott Riley. Three carried revolvers, and the fourth wielded what appeared to be a machine gun, Gardner said.

They worked efficiently, like experienced professionals, and are believed to be connected with as many as four similar “takeover” bank robberies in the Valley, Ornelas said.

Three of the bandits controlled the lobby while the fourth, clad in a green, military-style jumpsuit, hopped over the counter and forced employees at gunpoint to empty cash drawers and the bank vault, police and Riley said.

One bandit may have been a woman, they said. One carried a bright blue duffel bag, and another carried a green backpack, said Gardner. Two wore white painter’s caps, and one a green, military-style hat, she said.

They escaped through a back door, where a fifth person waited in an older-model Cadillac, Riley said.

“They didn’t threaten anybody,” he said, “just sort of controlled everything.”

No one was hurt during the robbery, which was over in two to three minutes. “They were in and out,” said Riley.