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
Asking rent prices up 9.3% across Canada, Ontario sees only decline: report
A new report says the average asking rent for a home in Canada in April was up 9.3 per cent compared with a year ago, while a slight month-over-month increase was also recorded for the first time since January.
Prince William says wife Kate is 'doing well'
Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was 'doing well' in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
'I may have some nightmares:' Man survives being bitten by 2 sharks in Bahamas
A man who was bitten by two sharks in the Bahamas said Thursday he's 'thankful that I'm here' while sharing his story of survival.
Ontario coroner to investigate death of man who suffered cardiac arrest while waiting in ER
A provincial coroner will be investigating the death of 68-year-old David Lippert, who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a crowded emergency room in Kitchener, Ont.
Magnitude 4.2 earthquake reported off Vancouver Island's west coast
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
'Irate male' assaulted Newfoundland officers with block of cheese, police say
Police in Newfoundland say patrol officers were assaulted Thursday by a "very irate male" wielding a block of cheese.
Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
Canadian Blood Services apologizes to LGBTQ2S+ community for discriminatory blood donation policy
Canada's longstanding blood donation policy that prevented sexually active men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood and plasma was harmful and discriminatory, Canadian Blood Services acknowledged on Friday, in issuing an apology to the LGBTQ2S+ community.