These criminals became real celebrities in the times of the Polish People's Republic. All of Poland was alive with their actions, publicized by the media. Their extraordinary adventures and spectacular escapes were followed with bated breath. Songs were sung about them, movies were made ... and even the most serious crimes were forgiven. Who exactly are we talking about?
Jerzy Paramonow came to Warsaw in 1955. He had already had one time in his office then. He went to jail for stealing a navy. This six-year primary school graduate has always liked to look good… His short but deadly career in the capital began when he managed to deprive the district official of his job. With a weapon in his hand, he began to terrorize the vicinity of Warsaw. He raided and robbed mainly small shops and restaurants.
Since Jerzy was not a loner, he quickly found an "assistant". It was Kazimierz Gaszczyński. The partners used the stolen money mainly for drunkenness and young ladies. It quickly brought misfortune on them. A policeman patrolling the streets of the capital on a bicycle, caught Paramonov with a prostitute in the back seat of a taxi . He released the woman, but he decided to take the unlucky client with him on command. The matter became serious when the magazine with cartridges fell out of the detainee's pocket while getting out of the car. The criminal reacted quickly. He stated that there was no turning back for him, shot the sergeant and escaped.
Jerzy Paramonow's criminal career in Warsaw began with gaining a militia tetera. Illustrative illustration (photo:KEN; license CC BY-SA 3.0).
The murder of the policeman drew on Paramonov's neck all the forces at the disposal of the capital's law enforcement officers. Under such conditions, the fact that he managed to hide the entire ten days can be considered a success. Eventually, however, he and his partner were arrested. They were caught by the militia while sleeping in a haystack! In a three-day show trial, both criminals were sentenced to death. The sentence in Paramonowo was carried out in the same year. Gaszczyński was more fortunate:he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Paramonov's fame far surpassed his crimes. Armed robbery and the murder of a policeman in those days were completely unheard of. The killer quickly became a true urban legend . Ballads were sung about him and his companion for a long time in Warsaw's Praga: They rob the shops, so they have money / By Nocami whores are waiting for them / Gorzałka leje się Kolorowa / Bawi się banda Paramonowa .
Ali Baba from Wołów
This robbery was the work of an organized crime group, most likely from Western Europe - such opinions prevailed among Polish investigators after a bank robbery in Wołów, a sleepy town near Wrocław. The policemen investigating the case emphasized how professionally the entire operation was carried out. Meanwhile, behind the Polish leap of the century there was a ... group of friends from Wołów. The head of the whole group was Mieczysław F., a modest middle-aged gentleman, handyman who repairs televisions and radio sets.
He and his friends came up with the idea of a bank robbery, during a nice evening at the card table. One of the poker players then shared the information that the poorly secured bank receives revenues from all nearby retail outlets, as well as salaries of employees from the entire county. Interestingly, none of the lovable, mustachioed robbers had a criminal past. They drew all their knowledge of the technique of robbing banks from several foreign films. After all, it was quite rare art in the People's Republic of Poland.
The robbers got to the vault through a hole in the ceiling. They struck her with a car jack. Their loot was over twelve million zlotys! The value of this amount was comparable to what a similar amount would have today. To avoid being caught, all participants returned to the gray reality after a successful jump. They pledged to extinguish greater financial activity for five years. According to the plan, during this period they wanted to avoid any ostentation, give up buying new cars or houses. They would only allow themselves to spend a small amount of money, and only on used banknotes.
If they had stuck to this decision, perhaps they would have remained unpunished until today ... They did, however, and this was due to Mieczysław's wife, who wanted to pay a new 500 for the bedspread on the sofa. When the cashier looked at the banknote suspiciously, the woman panicked to pick it up and tear it up. This alerted the shop staff. The arrested would-be client instantly sang the whole truth to the policemen. And so, just two months after the jump, the entire gang was imprisoned. Women - long hair, short mind - Mieczysław concluded with resignation. However, he did not hold a grudge against his wife.
It was in this building that the bank in Wołów was located in 1962 (photo:mar; license CC BY-SA 3.0).
The five main perpetrators were sentenced to life imprisonment. In total, more than twenty people were sent to prison in connection with the case! However, all of them left the prisons ahead of schedule. The leader of the group himself was released after several years. None of the robbers ever came into conflict with the law again.
Polish Robin Hood
Zdzisław Najmrodzki has fled the Polish militia and the prosecutor's office 29 times. As a result, he gained immortal glory and the title of master of steering in criminal circles. However, it also gained popularity in wider circles. Undoubtedly, the surrounding legend of the "Polish Robin Hood" contributed to this. After all, he only plundered the communist state, he never used violence, and in addition he looked a bit like… Lech Wałęsa.
His criminal portfolio includes numerous attacks on Pewexes, hated by the dollar society. The militia accused Najmrodzki of looting 70 shops, which was over a dozen percent of all points! He also stole industrial quantities of polonaises. And with all this, he remained elusive for the policemen. They had no chance with him - he was an excellent driver and he usually drove cars with an engine power many times higher than those in the big official Fiats or Polonaises.
During his thieving career, Zdzisław Najmrodzki specialized in stealing polonaises (photo:Goldrs; license CC BY-SA 4.0).
Sometimes, however, an unhappy fantasy lost him. This was the case, for example, in Kraków. Najmrodzki was recognized in a restaurant, and he, having 2.1 percent of alcohol in his blood, started a daring escape. It ended, however, when the Fiat 132 driven by him (stolen, of course) landed on a street lamp ...
Polish Robin Hood, even when he was arrested, tried to escape quickly. The first time he managed to escape from the train from Gliwice to Warsaw. He paid the accompanying policemen for alcohol and made them unconscious drunk. Another time, in Opole, he jumped out of a police car, swam across the canal and hid in the bushes on the Bolko Island. He didn't leave them until the next day, when the policemen grew tired of searching.
He also managed to escape from justice in July 1980. He was then tried together with his wife in Gliwice. He got out through the toilet hatch. He broke the bars and then lowered himself down the line onto the street. Abandoned in court and convicted spouse, she was so furious she filed for divorce.
However, another escape from Najmrodzki gained legendary fame. One day the thief adored by Poles literally sank underground and disappeared from the yard of the Gliwice prison . He quickly got outside the prison walls with a trench made from the outside. After exiting the tunnel, he jumped on the parked motorcycle and disappeared before anyone knew what was going on.
Najmrodzki was a real master of steering and an expert in escaping from prison. The illustration shows a drawing from the book "Snatch. The greatest crooks of the People's Republic of Poland and the Third Republic of Poland "(Znak Horyzont 2017).
This is how Patryk Pleskot summarizes his criminal career in his book "Przekręt. The greatest crooks of the Polish People's Republic and the Third Republic of Poland ":
The Fugitive has become, in today's language, a celebrity. Hardly anyone could not recognize his face. He evoked genuine admiration - unfortunately, because the simple truth that he was a notorious criminal has disappeared somewhere in all of this.
Consul… from his own leave
The most brilliant fraudster in the history of Poland was born to Jewish parents as Icek Silber. Adopted during the war by a Polish family friend, he was raised as Czesław Śliwa. Most likely, it was only thanks to this that he survived. The mental price for the saved life, however, was high. As Patryk Pleskot writes in his book "Przekręt. The greatest crooks of the Polish People's Republic and the Third Republic of Poland ":
W more lives, more scams and w he was looking for more and more improbable lies, he wanted his identity lost during the war, in a twisted way to recreate the world of childhood.
Icek / Czesław gained fame under another name. He became famous as Jack Silberstein - the self-proclaimed consul of the Republic of Austria in Poland. Initially, the game was designed to seduce a naive 18-year-old girl. But it quickly turned into a farce into which hundreds of people were drawn . The "consul", who did not speak German, maintained that he was waiting for the establishment of a permanent consulate. And he started recruiting staff.
He even persuaded a few Wrocław taxi drivers to convert their cars into a corps diplomatique fleet ! He organized his temporary office at the Monopol Hotel. He organized lavish banquets and dealt with difficult matters in Polish offices on behalf of Vienna.
Of course, he paid for all the entertainment expenses with the money of his admirers and admirers. He was willingly granted "small" loans to account for large foreign exchange profits in the future. For several dozen days, as Patryk Pleskot states, he lived more than many of us in a lifetime .
Czesław Śliwa's "consular" career lasted only two months. He had lost his overconfidence. The illustration shows a drawing from the book "Snatch. The greatest crooks of the People's Republic of Poland and the Third Republic of Poland "(Znak Horyzont 2017).
However, the crazy epic lasted only two months. All because Śliwa charged absolutely without any moderation. For the sake of the beauty of the game, he opted for completely absurd numbers. For example, he submitted credentials to the chairman of the Polish Council of State…
The bogus consul was arrested and sentenced to 7 years in prison. He did not live to see the end of his sentence. He died in hospital after serving only a year. His premature, mysterious death raises well-founded doubts to this day. A man with such unimaginable abilities to deceive others and create false identities would be an invaluable asset for the secret services of each country ...