“Lightning” Lee Murray was not only a UFC veteran who is known for officially facing off against Anderson Silva and unofficially knocking out then champion Tito Ortiz (who claims it was just slippery dress shoes!). The British fighter is also infamous for his involvement in the largest cash heist in British history.

A Showtime documentary called “Catching Lightning” has since been made about the historic Securitas heist in 2006, which Murray allegedly masterminded. Bloody Elbow has earlier spoken to director Pat Kondelis about how the intriguing documentary shaped up, Murray’s pretty unique story, and various other topics.

In part two of our in-depth interview Bloody Elbow’s Victor Rodriguez spoke to Kondelis about the strange details involving the Securitas heist.

Strange details from Lee Murray’s Securitas heist

Victor Rodriguez: Were you surprised at just how incompetent the planners of the heist were after the fact? How sloppy they were? I mean, to do something of this magnitude. To do what frankly was a ballsy, ingenious plan, get away with it, and then have it unravel during the course of the investigation. How much did that surprise you?

Pat Kondelis: It was shocking to see how meticulously they had planned the robbery and all of their preparation, their surveillance, to figure out these prosthetics, and to do all of these things, to have an inside man… and to essentially take $92 million in cash? That’s remarkable. And the ambition that you have to have to pull something off like this is absolutely insane. That said, it was like they never had a single conversation about what they were gonna do afterwards.

Everybody seems to be doing things a little bit differently. Lee’s money got into the banking system somehow. The police don’t know how that happened. He got whatever his cash portion was, his share. That ended up into the banking system. That’s amazing. Like, within days. That’s amazing. I don’t know how he did that. Lee was clearly, I think, smarter than the rest of them but even he made some horrendous mistakes with phone conversations, with DNA being left behind. It was not well-planned out what they were gonna do after the fact. 

VR: Do you personally, Pat Kondelis, believe Lee Murray when he says he was not the person that orchestrated the heist? 

PK: I do. I do. I think the facts point to that. I think he’s orchestrating in the depot, yes. He’s the guy, inside the depot. Because I think he’s got a history of being cool under pressure and when it matters most, he’s going to perform. But we’re able to show that surveillance video that’s never been shown, and who’s surveilling the Dixon house? It’s not Lee Murray. Who lived in the city where the depot was? It’s not Lee Murray. Who is on the phone – this is something nobody seems to pick up on – but in episode 3, spoiler alert here, but you hear the conversation that Lee Murray accidentally records with Lea Ruschea…

Read the full interview for free over at our Substack, which has far more details on Murray and the heist that wasn’t discussed on the documentary.

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Victor Rodriguez

Victor Rodriguez has been a writer and podcaster for Bloody Elbow since 2015. He started his way as a lowly commenter and moderator to become the miscreant he is now. He often does weekly bits on fringe martial arts items across the globe, oddball street combat pieces, previews, analysis, and some behind-the-scenes support. He has trained in wrestling, Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and the occasional Muay Thai and Judo lesson here and there. Victor has also been involved with acting and audio editing projects. He lives in Pennsylvania where he plays way too many video games and is an S-rank dad.

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