Y2K Payday for ATM Bandits 6.52 a.m. ET (1152 GMT) January 8, 2000 By Al Guart http://www.foxnews.com/etcetera/010800/dollars.sml NEW YORK  Daring thieves capitalized on New Year's Eve hoopla and Y2K fears of banking chaos to rip off $300,000 from a set of Manhattan ATMs.

As 2 million revelers gathered in Times Square and thousands of cops kept their eyes peeled for any potential terrorist attacks, the burglars broke through the floor of a vacant East 68th Street apartment and dropped into a Citibank ATM vestibule.

The nine ATMs inside were filled to capacity with $10 bills to meet an expected run fueled by fears that bank computers would malfunction.

The first bank heist of the new year  and the largest ATM haul to date  started about 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, when the thieves jammed a nail into the card reader outside the vestibule to keep customers out.

After pounding their way through two layers of plywood flooring in the apartment above the ATMs, the thieves dropped down into the area where the machines are serviced. They tried to break into six machines between 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. They hit paydirt on three ATMs before they fled.

The FBI urged anyone with information about the heist to call 212-384-1000.

-- Jennifer Bunker (Salt Lake City, Utah) (Jen@bunkergroup.com), January 08, 2000