The Pennsylvania Pizza Bomber

The Bizarre Bank Heist of ‘03.

Brian Wells was a single, 46 year old high-school dropout and had been working as a pizza delivery man at Mama Mia’s Pizzeria for ten years in Erie, Pennsylvania. His spare time consisted of music, his three cats, and the TV show Survivor. You could say he was something of a loner, but he was pleasant and friendly with his neighbors and would never pass up an opportunity to play with a neighborhood dog.

On August 28th, 2003, a phone call was made to Mama Mia’s Pizzeria during the lunchtime rush. Tony Ditmo, the owner of Mama Mia’s began taking the order for two large sausage and pepperoni pizzas. Tony couldn’t understand the customer’s delivery address, so he handed the phone over to his employee, Brian Wells. Brian took down the address, and headed out south on Peach Street, on what seemed to be an ordinary delivery.

But, the next time we saw Brian, it was 2:28 pm, when he walked into a PNC Bank with a short cane in his right hand and a strange bulge under the collar of his T-shirt. Brian passed the teller a note that said. “Gather employees with access codes to vault and work fast to fill bag with $250,000. You have only 15 minutes.” Then he lifted his shirt to reveal a heavy, boxlike device hanging from his neck. According to the note, it was a bomb. The teller told Brian that there was…