Latest / History Dark / ADDICTED TO THE LIFE _ Peggy Jo Tallas

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ADDICTED TO THE LIFE _ Peggy Jo Tallas · History Dark

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo Tallis yearns for the wildlife.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: She just did not feel a need to conform.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: But her wildest side only comes out when she puts
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: on a disguise.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: This idea came into her head. I'm going to rob
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: a bank.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: As a bearded bandit, she'll strike banks across the state
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of Texas.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Excuse my English, but I said son of a bitch.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: This bandit had struck us two times in the same day.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: But just how far will Peggy Jo go for easy
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: money and the thrill of the chase? Beachside, Mexico. A
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: tropical getaway surrounded by warm ocean waters. It's the life
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo Tallis has always dreamed of.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Peggy Jo would talk to her friends about just giving
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: up everything in the big city and going to Mexico
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: and living on the beach.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: She drinks in all this sun-drenched paradise has to offer.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: For now, Peggy Jo is living the dream. A dream
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: she's been chasing for over 20 years. Grand Prairie, Texas
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: is a small city just outside of Dallas. Peggy Jo
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Tallis is a teenager in a typical American family. Even so,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: there's something different about Peggy Jo.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Her brother was on a high school champion basketball team.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Her sister was a high school majorette. And Peggy wanted
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: to have nothing to do with any of that. She
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: just did not feel a need to conform.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Unlike her well-behaved siblings, Peggy Jo rebels against the conventions
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: of the straight-laced small town.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: She had a wild streak. Her best friend used to
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: call Peggy wild at heart.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, there's only so wild you can get in a
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: small city before someone shuts you down.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: What?
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: What?
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. Policemen one time pulled her over and gave
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: her a ticket for speeding. Sorry, ma'am, but that's the law, okay?
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Okay. Ticket.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: She was so irritated that she tore up the ticket
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: right in his face.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: She was an adventurer, a person who seemed to have
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: a strong need to have experiences that were out of
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: the mainstream.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo knows she's not going to get those experiences
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: living in Grand Prairie. So Peggy Jo quits high school
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: after the 10th grade, moves to downtown Dallas, and gets
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a 9-to-5 job as a hotel receptionist. It's not exactly
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: wild at heart, but at least it's a step in
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the right direction. Then she falls in love.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: There was one guy that in particular really appealed to her.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: According to the rumors from her friends, he worked as
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: a vice president of a bank.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: It's a whirlwind romance.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: She was really happy. He was the love of her life.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: And the feeling is mutual. Or so Peggy Jo thinks.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: One day she decided to surprise him. She comes to
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: his office. And she sees his car. And then she
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: sees another woman inside that car.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Katie.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. I thought this looks so much like
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Richard's car. This is Richard's car.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: He's inside.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I'm just waiting for him.
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: Who are you?
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: What are you doing in Richard's car? I'm his wife.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Who did you say you were again?
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: You're his wife?
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: She had been lied to.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Excuse me. The love of her life is a married man.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: And as high as Peggy Jo had flown in her
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: new romance, that's how far she falls.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Peggy was completely deflated.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Reeling from disappointment, Peggy Jo moves to an apartment in
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Irving to lick her wounds and tend to her ailing mother.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Her mother began to get sick and needed someone around
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: to help her around the house.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Do you have everything you need? I think so.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Okay, you'll call me if you wake.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Up, right?
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: This is not the way her life was supposed to go.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I think Peggy saw her life slipping away.
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: And if she didn't do something to radically alter her life,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: that she would never... fulfill some of the dreams that
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: she had for herself.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: The closest Peggy Jo gets to living an adventure is
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: watching it on TV. And old westerns thrill her every time.
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: Peggy Jo's favorite was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: It's about two men who basically went about the country
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: robbing banks.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: The bank robbers are living the life Peggy Jo Tallis
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: wishes she had. They march to the beat of a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: different drummer.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: She never forgot this impulse of who she really was.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: The wild at heart girl that wanted to buck what
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: society told her to do. And this idea came into
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: her head. I'm gonna rob a bank.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: And Peggy Jo knows exactly what she needs to do.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: If she's going to become a real life bank robber,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: she's got to dress the part. She'll have to cross
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: gender lines and the law. A bearded bandit is about
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: to step out of the shadows and into banks across
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: the state of Texas.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: A man walks into the American Federal Bank.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: With a bushy beard and Wild West attire. He looks
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: like a character cut from an old Western. When he
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: gets to the counter, he passes a note to the teller.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: It reads, this is a bank robbery. Give me all
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: of your money, no marked bills or dye packs. The
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: teller follows the instructions to the letter.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: He didn't brandish a gun. He didn't fidget. never spoke
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: and he was in and out in 60 seconds.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Before leaving he tips his hat in a classic cowboy
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: gesture the robber comes away with over twelve hundred dollars
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: and a new lease on life because the mysterious male
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: bank robber is actually peggy joe.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Talus Peggy got cash, but most importantly, she got a thrill.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: And it's a big one. So big that she can't
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: just leave it at that. The bearded cowboy bank robber
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: strikes again seven months later. And then again, one month
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: after that.
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: Basically, that became her life. She was a bank robber.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: The bold heists are making headlines. And law enforcement gets
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: serious about catching the cunning and elusive bank robber they've
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: now dubbed Cowboy Bob.
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: Cowboy Bob. He always wore gloves. We never had any fingerprints.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: He knew the bank tellers were trying to put in
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: dye packs. He would look through the money just in case.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Basically, we had zero evidence this bank robber was being us.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo Tallis thrives, leading a double life. As Peggy Jo,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: she follows the rules, takes care of her ailing mom,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and even uses the ill-gotten gains to buy her medication.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: As cowboy Bob, She's totally in her element.
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: I think that was a huge part of the incentive,
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: that she could do it, that she could be successful
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: at it, that she could continue to fool other people
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: and outsmart the authorities.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: It's like taking candy from a baby. And there's no
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: reason to quit now. Cowboy Bob hits the first Gibraltar
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: bank in Mesquite and walks out the door with almost $ 2, 000.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Several hours later, Cowboy Bob robs another bank and pulls
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: in the highest take yet, close to $ 14, 000.
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: Excuse my English, but I said, son of a bitch.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: I just couldn't believe that this bandit had struck us
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: two times in the same day.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: With her newfound wealth, Peggy's dream of a Mexican getaway
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: is almost within reach. But along with the rich rewards,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the heists come at a price. Inside Peggy Jo Tallis,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: a craving is growing to keep the rush of excitement
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: up and the money rolling in.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: She was increasing the risk factor. Her addiction was escalating
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: at that point in time.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Cowboy Bob is about to raise the stakes yet again.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: And it's Peggy Jo Tallis who'll have to pay the price.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: After pulling off two bank robberies in a single day,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo's appetite for larceny remains unfulfilled. She craves the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: easy money and the rush. In the guise of Cowboy Bob,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: she goes back for more and more and more. But
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: then Peggy Jo slips up.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: So can you think of anything else Did you see
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: anything outside, perhaps?
• 12:49
  Speaker 7: Yes, I did get the license plate number.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: A witness sees the getaway car license plate and notifies investigators.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: The FBI runs the plate, and they trace it to
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: a woman who lives in Garland, a city northeast of Dallas.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Agents stake out the house. Soon, a car pulls up.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Now, my first thought was, this is Cowboy Bob's girlfriend.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: It doesn't occur to anyone that Peggy Jo Tallis actually
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: is Cowboy Bob.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, ma'am. Agent Powell, FBI. I'd like to ask
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: you some questions, please.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay.
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: Can you tell us your name, please?
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo Tallis.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: I said, baby, this car was used in a bank
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: robbery today, and I want to know where he's at.
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: No, I'm the only one who drove the car.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I'm the only one.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Do you mind if we take a look around? Of course.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: We're going to.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Check the house.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: A search of the house quickly betrays the secrets of
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Cowboy Bob.
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: We found all the money from both robberies under the bed.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: And that's not all they find.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: There was a mannequin head, a styrofoam mannequin head up
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: in her closet.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: And the cowboy hat was on it.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: It's all there.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: What have you got?
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: Disguise, money.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: And then it clicks.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: I looked at her real close, and on her top lip,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: it's hard to describe, but.
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: It looked like gray glue.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Him is her.
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: And it hit me. I knew that she was my
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: bank robber.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: You're under arrest.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo Tallis' stint as Cowboy Bob is over.
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: I put the handcuffs on her.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's go.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: And she never spoke to me again.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Friends and family are stunned.
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: She might be one of the last people on earth...
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: that they would ever suspect of doing something like this.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: In November 1992, Peggy Jo Tallis pleads guilty to bank
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: robbery and is sentenced to 33 months in prison. She's
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: finally released in 1996.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: She clearly seemed ready to start a new life when
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: she got out of prison.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: For almost a decade, she stays on the straight and narrow.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: But in 2002, her mother dies, and the old desires
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: begin to call out again, and so do the old dreams.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: She still had the dream of going to Mexico, of
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: living on the beach, having that beach life that she
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: used to talk about in her early 20s.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: To make that dream come true, she needs money. And
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo knows exactly how to get it.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: She thought, let me just rob a bank or two,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: and I'll have the money that'll be sufficient to fade
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: off into Never Never Land, and I'll be happy the
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: rest of my life.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Will Peggy Jo pull off the heist and claim her
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: piece of paradise? Or will she die trying? Peggy Jo
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Tallis is gearing up for one last bank robbery. If
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: she can pull it off, she'll be able to make
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: her break for Mexico and spend the rest of her
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: days south of the border in sun-drenched paradise. But for
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: this final heist, there's a twist. Cowboy Bob isn't invited.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo is going as herself.
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: I think she was wanting to interject even more risk
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: and more daring. into carrying out the act.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo adds a mysterious flourish in her message to
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the bank teller, which says, I am sorry he made
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: me do this.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: No one knows why she said, I'm sorry he made
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: me do this. Was it because she was still thinking
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: about the man that betrayed her years ago? Was she
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: thinking about her old persona as Cowboy Bob? And that
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: that persona was calling to her?
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: The bank clerk hands over all the cash in his drawer.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: More than $ 11, 000. That's a big haul for Peggy Jo.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: That'd be enough to get her to Mexico.
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: She fled the area. in her getaway vehicle.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Within minutes, law enforcement is in hot pursuit. Finally, the
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: chase stops.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Don't move!
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Get out of the car. Out of the car.
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: Come out with your hands up.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo is surrounded.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Slow.
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: Get your hands up! Get your hands up!
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Hands behind your head.
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: She didn't say anything and it was as if she
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: was sizing everybody up.
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: Don't move.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Don't move. Don't move.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Don't move. Keep your hands up. Do not move.
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: Stay where you are. Drop the weapon.
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: The suspect displayed a handgun.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Drop your weapon. Drop the weapon.
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: The officers were telling her to put the gun down.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Drop the gun.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: Drop it. Drop it.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: Drop it.
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: Don't move.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Sit down.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo dies at the scene. from multiple gunshot wounds.
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: It's fake.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Gun's fake.
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: It's what you call suicide by cop.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: She lived out the life of Butch Cassidy and the
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Sundance Kid. They too weren't gonna go be taken away
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: by the cops. They were going to die their own way.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: They died in a blaze of glory, and so did she.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Peggy Jo yearned for a life of freedom and adventure,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: but found it only in dreams. She lived for them,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: and ultimately she died because of them. In the end,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: reality finally caught up with Peggy Jo Tallis.