Pasquale Lanciana to be sentenced for infamous Richmond robbery

A guard cuffed and blindfolded in a $2.3 million Melbourne Armaguard robbery would wake screaming “don’t shoot” for years after the stick-up, his son says.

Pasquale Lanciana outside court. Picture: Sarah Matray

The man behind one of Australia’s most infamous armed robberies will be sentenced almost three decades – and two jury trials – after $2.3 million in cash was snatched from the back of an Armaguard van in plain sight.

Pasquale “Percy” Lanciana was earlier this year convicted of the 1994 “Richmond Road Gang” heist during which five robbers posed as road workers to block the money van carrying millions in cash from the Reserve Bank.

Shortly after 10am on June 22, two gun-wielding bandits used duplicated keys to storm the van, place garbage bags over the guards’ heads before cuffing them together, driving to a nearby side street and dumping the truck and hostages.

More than $2 million was stolen in a matter of minutes by five men posing as road workers.

All three victims have since passed away but the County Court of Victoria on Monday heard the impact of Lanciana’s crime had plagued the men and their families in the decades since.

Craig West said his father, Michael, who was driver of the truck, suffered constant night terrors and would wake up in a cold sweat screaming “don’t shoot” for years after the terrifying robbery.

Mr West said Lanciana and his accomplices not only robbed his father’s van that day, but robbed their entire family of the life they had deserved.

“(My father) became a shadow of his former self,” he said.

“He was constantly worried someone was watching … we didn’t trust anyone,” Mr West said.

The court heard his father had been targeted by Armaguard colleagues who believed the heist was an “inside job”.

Mr West said his dad received death threats and was beaten up by men demanding to know “where the money was”.

The stolen cash and the identity of the other robbers involved has never been found.

The movie-style hiest made headlines.

Pasquale ‘Percy’ Lanciana. Picture: Hamish Blair

In May, a jury found Lanciana guilty of armed robbery, false imprisonment and money laundering after agreeing with the Crown case the former champion kickboxer had either organised or participated in robbery – or both.

The damning verdict came almost two years after an earlier trial had ended in a hung jury.

In a pre-sentence hearing in Melbourne’s County Court on Monday, prosecutor Jim Shaw said while Lanciana’s precise role in the robbery was not known, it should be accepted it was significant, central and crucial.

“It’s clear this was very sophisticated and involved a very high degree of planning and was professionally carried out in a matter of minutes,” Mr Shaw said.

“The amount of money stolen was very large, even by today’s standards (and) not one dollar of it has been recovered,” he said.

A jury found Lanciana had laundered his cut of the stolen cash through dodgy bank transactions and property deals and had confessed to a female associate he was responsible for the robbery.

Covert recordings played to the court heard Lanciana tell the woman in 2014: “I didn’t do it, I just organised it”.

Defence lawyer Nola Karapanagiotidis submitted her client’s role in the robbery could not be deemed “crucial” because the exact nature of his involvement was unknown.

Judge Michael O’Connell disagreed, saying the inference Lanciana had played a significant role was “irresistible”.

Several personal character references were presented to the court from friends, family and even a former prison officer who praised Lanciana’s mentoring of disadvantaged youth both behind bars and in the boxing ring.

Judge O’Connell will deliver sentence at a later date.