Ronnie Biggs has risen to national hero status, despite his criminal history and illegal activities. He lived a “playboy” life in Rio for nearly 30 years, even recording a song: Run to Rio; he finally, in 2001, turned himself over to British authorities. And he?or his experiences in Brazil , unfortunately, has become a beacon to subsequent criminals and gangsters looking to elude authorities. US fugitive Jesse James Hollywood indicated just that to Interpol officers who detained him last week: “That’s what [he] explicitly told us when we got him, that he was inspired by the Biggs’ case.” Scotland Yard attempted to extradite Biggs from Brazil after his 1963 train heist in the UK, but their effort was denied by the military junta because Biggs had fathered a child in Brazil.

Hollywood lived in Copacabana and Saquarema (near Rio) for at least three?possibly five–years and was only found when US authorities tipped of Brazilian federal police. He thought the same statute would apply to him. However, because he had fathered a child before committing his crimes?the August 2000 murder and kidnapping of Nick Markowitz (then 15) in California?extradition applies to him: “Jesse James had no chance,” according to an Interpol investigator. He was expelled, as he entered Brazil illegally, one day after being apprehended in a shopping mall.