THE Assault 88 the true story is almost as wild as the actions shown in the Showtime film directed by Mehnaz Huda. Assault 88 is a 2023 crime drama starring Courtney B. Vance (ADA Ron Carver in Law and Order: Criminal Intent) as a criminal mastermind named Jeremy Horne. He can convince anyone around him to do anything he asks and decides he wants to do one last job before going to prison. This latest job is a robbery to steal almost 80 million dollars from the US banking system.
The entire scheme seems almost hard to believe in a society now protected by state-of-the-art cybersecurity, but this was before all of these measures were implemented. It was also based on a true story from a robbery in Chicago in 1988. While the shares in Assault 88 seem hard to believe, even for a movie, they are all based on factand it was a robbery that was almost the perfect crime. However, changes had to be made to the film, mainly to make it more understandable to the public.
What happened in real heist 88?
Armand Moore staged a “perfect” heist
Courtney B. Vance plays Jeremy Horne in Assault 88. He is a master criminal who can make people around him do whatever he wants. to achieve their criminal goals. In this film, it’s about carrying out one last robbery on the master before he ends up going to jail. However, in the real story the film is based on, Jeremy Horne did not exist. The character was based on a man named Armand Moore. As in the film, Moore managed to convince even law-abiding people to do his bidding (via The Chicago Sun-Times).
Known as “The President,” he almost pulled off the perfect heist in 1988, but greed ruined everything. Moore was already a convicted check forger who had devised a plan to transfer $70 million from First National Bank of Chicago accounts to fake overseas bank accounts. While a “financial assistant“, he also enlisted the help of some low-level bank employees. The money was transferred in just over an hour from a Chicago bank on May 13, 1988.
However, although the plan worked perfectly and the money went into three accounts in Austrian institutions, things went wrong when the people involved tried to start spending it. Moore and the others tried to spend some of the money stolen in Chicago on a Jaguar, a Cadillac and other luxury goods. The bank became aware of the lack of funds and the money was returned.
What did Heist 88 change from the true story?
The film is inspired only by true crime
The main change was using only Armand Moore to inspire the main Assault 88 character. Renamed Jeremy Horne, the filmmakers wanted to create a morally gray character that the audience could support in some way. “It’s the duality of good and evil – someone who truly believed he was doing the right thing by seducing these young bank employees,” said executive producer Lynnette Ramirez. “So his character was very gray, very morally complex, very complicated” (through The Chicago Sun-Times).
Armond Moore was unhappy that no one asked him for his side of the story when making Assault 88. “These people never had the decency to offer to take me to McDonald’s and buy me a Big Mac and an order of fries, even though they were about to make millions,” Moore said. However, director Huda said that nothing Moore had to say would matter when it came to the film:
“Since Courtney B. Vance was already signed on as the lead actor, I had to focus on creating that role and the dynamic between him and the younger actors.”
The ending of the film was also different from the real-life story. In Assault 88one of Jeremy’s associates, Danny, wanted to get back to his pregnant wife and agreed to work with the authorities to stop Jeremy. The authorities told Danny to go through with the robbery and call them when he was done, and his betrayal is what helped bring Jeremy down. In real life, greed brought the authorities, and Armand Moore claimed he was tricked into committing the crimes despite being the brains behind them.
What did the public think of the changes?
Critics and audiences criticized the film
Neither the public nor the critics cared much about Assault 88. The critic score on Rotten Tomatoes is low at 33% rotten, and the audience score is only slightly higher at 43%. An audience reviewer in Rotten tomatoes he wrote, “It seemed very poorly put together, one character’s backstory was super stretched. Overall, the entire film feels clumsy and never moves at a consistent pace.“
Richard Roeper, who writes for Chicago Sun Times and is aware of the crime that occurred in his city, he wrote: “Heist 88 is loosely based on the true story of Armand Moore and the audacious but failed bank robbery he masterminded in Chicago in 1988… This is some interesting source material… Unfortunately, this sunny outlook soon becomes clouded when As “Heist 88″ goes about its business in a clumsy and tense manner, all the while feeling like a made-for-TV movie from 20 years ago.”
Where is Armand Moore now?
Armand Moore spent 30 years in prison but is now free
What hurt Armand Moore was that he chose to testify at his trial. He claims he was “deceived” and was a victim. The judge didn’t believe it and even said he was shocked by the audacity of how much money the man tried to steal. “What he witnessed was quite unbelievable. He was trying to claim he was tricked,” said U.S. District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber. U.S. District Court Judge James B. Zagel reprimanded Moore during his case (via Chicago Sun-Times).
“I don’t think you are a criminal genius. I think you used your skills and abilities not like a genius, but stupidly. You essentially wasted opportunities and inflicted significant harm on yourself and other people.”
The jury convicted Moore and sentenced him to 10 years. Moore tried to escape from prison to carry out another robbery, but was caught and sentenced to another 25 years. Moore spent 30 years in prison and has been on the run and released for four years. He continues to act like a big shot and even has a Facebook page that shows him promoting a book about Assault 88 real life story – from his point of view. When questioned, he said that the people who called him a criminal said: “the same thing about Jesus Christ.“