'Motorcycle bandit 2' indicted for murder, robbery

Police believe Rishon Lezion native robbed 14 banks in Central Israel over the past year and a half.

By BEN HARTMAN
Bank Hapoalim 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
Bank Hapoalim 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
One afternoon last August, Gabi Korsanosky, 31, walked up to a bank in Be’er Ya’acov and put three bullets into the security guard, before cooly walking over the guard’s body and robbing the bank at gunpoint, according to an indictment issued by the Central District prosecutor’s office on Monday morning.
The indictment, which came after police worked for over 50 days to build the case against Korsanosky, lays out the modus operandi by which police believe the Rishon Lezion native known as “Motorcycle Bandit 2” robbed 14 banks in central Israel over the past year and a half.
According to the indictment, on 14 different occasions Korsanosky walked into banks in central Israel with a gun in his hand and his face covered. Upon entering the bank he would fire a single round into the ceiling and then demand everyone in the branch lay on the ground, before demanding the tellers hand over cash.
The most serious charge of the indictment comes from a single robbery at a Bank Hapoalim in Be’er Ya’acov last August, when police say Korsanosky was told by security guard Yaniv Engler that he could not enter the branch wearing his motorcycle helmet. Police believe Korsanosky then began fighting with Engler, before shooting him three times at point blank range and leaving him in critical condition on the sidewalk, where he later died of his wounds. Korsanosky then stole Engler’s pistol and walked into the bank and robbed it.
Korsanosky made off with only NIS 6,000 shekels in the robbery that cost Engler his life, according to police.
Police say that in six other robberies Korsanosky stole the bank guard’s pistol, but only one of these guns has been recovered.
The court on Monday approved the request to keep Korsanosky in detention until the end of his trial, which has its next hearing in April.