Hollywood makes financial crimes look glamorous, but most felonies would not make very interesting movies at all. If any state can be the site of crimes interesting enough to inspire exciting popcorn flicks, though, it is Texas. In the early 1990s, Peggy Jo Tallas perpetrated a series of bank robberies that will form the plot of Michael Showalter’s upcoming movie, The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob. Taciturn enough, in her Cowboy Bob persona, to make Anton Chigurh look like a motor-mouth, Tallas’ deception was so convincing that Verbal Kint himself would have been proud to walk in her boots. For those who do not mind spoilers, this is the story of the rise and fall of Cowboy Bob.
How Peggy Jo Tallas Became Cowboy Bob
According to a now famous article in Texas Monthly, Peggy Jo Tallas was a mild-mannered woman, but her closest friends knew that she had an adventuresome, rebellious side to her personality. In her youth, she was known to dress to be seen and to laugh boisterously, and her only serious romantic relationship ended when she discovered that her boyfriend was already married, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. Even in middle age, when much of her daily routine revolved around looking after her elderly mother, Tallas still sought solace in rock music and impromptu road trips, but still nothing about her would have attracted the attention of law enforcement. No one would have expected that she would rob a number of banks across the Dallas area, and even if they did, no one would have guessed that she would have done it in the guise of a chubby, gray-bearded cowboy.
Peggy Jo Tallas, as Cowboy Bob, eluded the FBI for years. When she was finally arrested and convicted, she received a 33-month prison sentence. After her release, she went back to working legitimate jobs and caring for her mother. After her mother’s death, Tallas bought an RV and spent most of her time traveling around Texas, and before long, she began robbing banks again. Her modus operandi was the same, wordlessly showing a note demanding money and asking not to be given dye packs. At one bank robbery in 2004, though, the money the teller gave her contained dye packs, and it marked the beginning of the end for Peggy Jo Tallas and her bank-robbing alter egos. She died in a shoot-out with police as they surrounded her RV.
What We Know About the Cowboy Bob Movie
Michael Showalter says that The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob will contain both humor and pathos, much like the true story on which it is based. The influence of the Coen brothers will be noticeable, since the true story of Peggy Jo Tallas sounds like it could have been a fictional quirky criminal story that came from the Coen brothers’ imagination.
Contact Madrid Law About Financial Crimes
Mario Madrid is a criminal defense lawyer in Houston with experience representing defendants charged with financial crimes. Contact Madrid Law in Houston for a consultation about your case involving fraud or other financial crimes.
