Winnipegger cracks 75-year-old bookstore safe
A Winnipeg Transit driver with a knack for safe-cracking is being celebrated after unlocking a mysterious old safe in a Baltimore book store last week.
The safe, believed to be at least 75 years old, was already in the building when Red Emma's Bookstore took over the space last year. The store issued a challenge online a few weeks ago, asking people to come down and try to open the safe.
Winnipegger Rick Ammazzini took up cracking safes as a hobby 12 years ago. He heard about the challenge through an online group of fellow safe-cracking enthusiasts.
"As a joke they put it in the group, saying 'you should go and do this!' As a rebuttal I said if you guys pay for it, I’ll go do it."
Ammazzini started a crowdfunding campaign to raise the $1,300 needed for airfare. Within four days, he hit his goal.
He flew to Baltimore last Wednesday. Upon arrival, he immediately headed to the bookstore.
"Usually this lock should only take an hour or an hour and a half," he said. "I was met with some trouble, the lock wasn’t performing the way it should have been."
Ammazzini spent five hours on that first day trying to crack the safe, with no success. After the store closed for the day, he checked in with his online group for help.
"These guys have way more knowledge about the type of locks, the brand of the locks, how old the locks are, how they’re manufactured and which safes have this certain kind of locks," Ammazzini said.
The discussion helped him find out what kind of lock he was dealing with, and how it was constructed.
"The next day, with that knowledge, I was able to sort of discern what the lock was doing and what failures I was feeling," said Ammazzini.
He showed up when the store opened, and spent all day Thursday turning the safe's dial and listening for imperfections in the gears.
"I was touching the dial for ten hours," he said. "My hands were actually black from the brass, I was touching it so long."
Finally, with ten minutes left until closing time, Ammazzini unlocked the safe. He tested the door to make sure it would open, but the store owner wanted to wait until the next morning to look inside.
Ammazzini didn't have his hopes up that there would be anything of value in the safe.
"I know from experience that there really never is anything in there," he said. "The store owner was very excited because he doesn’t have the letdowns that I've had, where I open up the safe an there's never anything in there … he thinks it's filled with gold and diamonds."
Ultimately, there was nothing of value in the safe. Just some empty wooden drawers, some paper clips and an old paystub. Ammazzini said it was still a great experience.
"Baltimore is not the city people make it out to be, it's a nice town, everybody was friendly."
He said anyone with an old safe they want opened should give him a call. "I’m not going to promise I’m going to get it open, but I can come and try."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Grayson Murray's parents say the two-time PGA Tour winner died of suicide
Grayson Murray's parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event.
Some birds may use 'mental time travel,' study finds
Real quick — what did you have for lunch yesterday? Were you with anyone? Where were you? Can you picture the scene? The ability to remember things that happened to you in the past, especially to go back and recall little incidental details, is a hallmark of what psychologists call episodic memory — and new research indicates that it’s an ability humans may share with birds called Eurasian jays.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Indianapolis 500 delayed as strong storm forces fans to evacuate Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The start of the Indianapolis 500 was delayed as a strong storm pushed through the area Sunday, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 fans who had already arrived for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Hamas rocket attack from Gaza sets off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza that set off air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday in a show of resilience more than seven months into Israel's massive air, sea and ground offensive.
At least 13 dead in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after severe weather roars across region
Powerful storms killed at least 13 people and left a wide trail of destruction Sunday across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a truck stop where dozens sought shelter in a restroom during the latest deadly weather to strike the central U.S.