Baby Bandito tells an original story but is loosely inspired by the real-life heist of an armored car at a Santiago airport, which took place in 2014. The show follows the story of Kevin Tapia, a young skater who falls for the beautiful but well-off Genesis, a girl used to a better standard of living than Kevin can provide. With that in mind, he plans an outrageous heist to help his chances with the girl and the show follows the fallout after the event, using the bones of the true story as a launchpad for a mostly fictional narrative.
True Story Explained
The heist in Baby Bandito is inspired by a real-life event — a robbery that occurred at a Santiago airport in 2014. Eight perpetrators would disguise themselves as staff at the airport and set their sights on an armored car that was transporting huge amounts of cash to Northern Chile. A loophole would ensure that the guards in charge of the precious cargo were unarmed, and with what can only be considered as a minimum of fuss, the heist would go off as planned.
No shots were fired, nobody was hurt, and the haul, ten and a half million dollars would be one of the largest heists in history, launching an international hunt for the gang involved.
What happened after the robbery?
The robbery would send shockwaves across the country and led to the head of security at the airport being fired. Kevin Olguin was one of the gang members who would become notorious, going on the run and becoming an international person of interest.
Along with his girlfriend, whose name was never released to the authorities, Kevin would go on a two-year extended holiday through Europe, staying at hotels and living the high life. Eventually, though, the authorities would catch up with Kevin, and he would be arrested in Spain, extradited to Chile, and would be sentenced to four years in prison for the crime.
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The character of Kevin in the show is based on the real skater Kevin Olguín Sepulveda, who was also known as “niño de oro”.
What happened to Kevin Olguin Sepulveda after his arrest?
After his extradition, a Chilean court sentenced Kevin to four years in prison. However, he was released with non-custodial precautionary measures and used the opportunity to flee from the authorities. He was subsequently arrested in 2018, around two years after his initial extradition.
Kevin was arrested again in 2021, four months after leaving prison, for the alleged robbery of a tobacco truck. His current whereabouts are unknown and it is still unclear if he ever served his time for the airport robbery or if he managed to use his knowledge of document forgery to disappear, as per the ending of the Netflix series. Sources vary on this.
Who else was involved in the airport heist?
There were other individuals involved in the real-life heist including Marcelo Moya who received a three-year probation after the crime for supplying the vehicle that was used. Francisco Morales received 10 years for robbery with intimidation and illegal possession of ammunition. Mario Vasquez was sentenced to eight years for his part in the robbery while Roque Quintanilla was handed 10 years for his part, including robbery with intimidation and illegal possession of weapons.
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