Victor Manuel Gerena

Infobox FBI Ten Most Wanted
name = Victor Manuel Gerena


crime = Bank Robbery; Unlawful flight to avoid prosecution - Armed robbery; Theft from interstate shipment
birth_date = birth date and age|1958|6|24
death_date =
death_place =
added_date = May 14 1984
caught_date =
remove_date =
number = 386
status =

Victor Manuel Gerena (born June 24, 1958) is an American linked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the armed robbery of a Wells Fargo armored car facility, in connection with the "Los Macheteros" group. On May 14, 1984, he became the 386th fugitive to be placed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He is still at large, and has spent the second longest time on the list since its inception in 1950 (surpassed only by Donald Eugene Webb). Gerena is believed to have lived in Cuba where his exact whereabouts and fate are unknown.

Early life

Gerena and his family, composed of his mother, four brothers and one sister, moved to Hartford, Connecticut, when Gerena was very young. He enjoyed wrestling, winning many tournaments; he also played american football. Gerena also proved popular among girls in his high school. He was a good student, serving on the student council and was recommended to Trinity College.

Gerena met Marion Delaney, then a clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives, who became his friend and tutor. Delaney inspired Gerena to attend her alma mater, the Annhurst College, a female-only college that had faced harsh economic times and was by then accepting male students. There were 200 women at Annhurst and only 25 men.

Gerena was met with hostility by the college's superiors, all Catholic nuns who accepted (but apparently disliked) male students. Gerena returned home and got together with an old friend and they had one daughter.

Gerena then became a security guard at a Wells Fargo armored car depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, the same facility he would later help rob.

Bank heist

In Puerto Rico, "Machetero" leaders Filiberto Ojeda Rios and Juan Segarra Palmer had heard of Gerena; Gerena's mother's background as a pro-independence advocate and his dislike of life in the army made him, in Ojeda Rios' and Segarra Palmer's eyes, a candidate to become a member of "Los Macheteros". They flew to Hartford and convinced the fame starved Gerena to help them with their cause by participating in the heist.

On September 12, 1983, Gerena dropped off his new girlfriend at City Hall, where she was to get a marriage license for the couple. He went to work, and spent the rest of the day with co-workers James McKeon and Timothy Girard. At some point, Gerena took off McKeon's gun, handcuffed and tied up his two co-workers, and then injected them with an unknown substance in order to further disable them. He put seven million dollars in the trunk of a car, then left with the money. At an unknown point, Gerena transferred to another vehicle and disappeared. Gerena may have been left with two million dollars for himself.

Fugitive trail

According to FBI investigations, Gerena was transported to Mexico, where he boarded a Cubana de Aviación jet at Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, arriving at José Martí International Airport in Havana.

Years later, a Gerena relative would accompany journalist Edmund Mahoney to Cuba to try to find his whereabouts, but they did not succeed in finding him. Mahoney published a story in 1999 named "Chasing Gerena".

Many theories abound about Gerena's fate, most of them revolve around Cuban President Fidel Castro. It is said that Gerena could be living in Cuba after fleeing the United States.

The reward for information leading to Gerena's capture is up to $1,000,000 USD. [ [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/gerena.htm Reward] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/gerena.htm FBI Victor Manuel Gerena's FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Alert]
* [http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=24432 Additional Information from America's Most Wanted]