The ringleader of a wig-wearing robbing crew admitted his involvement in a two-year string of bank heists.
Ali Isiah Cole pleaded guilty Wednesday to 10 counts of federal armed robbery charges and one federal gun possession charge in the 13 capers linked to him, court officials said.
“Today’s conviction of their ringleader, Ali Cole, means that their two-year spree of armed robberies, carjackings, and thefts is over, and the seven defendants responsible for these crimes are all convicted and in prison,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Tuesday in a statement.
Cole's trial began Tuesday with opening statements, followed by testimony from an individual whom court officials called a "cooperator" linking Cole to several carjackings.
Then a teller from one of the banks Cole robbed testified about how he had the laser sight on his gun pointed in her face during that particular caper, authorities said.
The heists made a splash in the media as witnesses and surveillance video depicted men wearing flamboyant wigs to conceal their faces and flashing pistols or sub-machine guns as they pillaged banks, crisscrossing the metro area from Gwinnett and Fulton counties to Rockdale and DeKalb counties.
Five of six men accused of being Craig’s accomplices in the string of robberies have admitted to their involvement, according to court records.
Prosecutors said Cole was the organizer and lookout, scouting the banks his crew would hit and keeping watch while two armed men entered the targeted banks to pillage cash and another waited outside in a stolen getaway vehicle.
Cole even led the armed thefts of some of the escape cars, prosecutors said.
When one crew was caught after six robberies, Cole evaded capture and recruited three more co-conspirators, authorities said.
Cole was arrested after three more bank heists, according to court documents.
Two members of his second crew continued robbing banks and eventually were arrested, authorities said.
Wednesday morning, about 30 minutes into the second day of his trial, Cole had negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to court records.
He faces a life sentence in federal prison for the gun charge and 25 years for each bank robbery charge, according to federal court documents.
All six of Cole’s accomplices await sentencing, court officials said Wednesday.
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