They Made Heists a Family Affair
(“Cloak of Deceit,” Forensic Files)
A wave of North Carolina bank robberies got so big in the 1990s that the New York Times took notice.
The average haul was $11,722 per job, oftentimes the criminals were too high on drugs or too impulsive to take the necessary precautions, and authorities usually were able to catch them quickly, according to the NYT story by the late financial journalist David J. Morrow.
The Bellamy brothers, who created their own Carolinas bank-robbery spree during the same time period, accrued a much better record.
Elusive threesome. They averaged around $75,000 per job, carefully concealed their identities, got in and out of the banks in no more than five minutes, and didn’t leave any forensic evidence.
It took nine years and the FBI, but the law finally caught up with the masked brothers and put them behind razor wire.
For this week, I checked to see where the Bellamys are today and looked for any clues as to what made three gainfully employed middle-aged men suddenly turn into felons.
Trusty formula. But first, here’s a recap of “Cloak of Deceit,” the Forensic Files episode about the Bellamys, along with extra information drawn from internet research:
Beginning in 1991, a trio of robbers began hitting banks in and around Calabash, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In each robbery, two armed masked men would corral customers and employees, demand cash, and escape via a waiting car driven by a third accomplice.
Hot cars. After one robbery of $175,000, a good Samaritan wrote down the license plate number and chased the vehicle, but the robbers confronted him with a gun, and he fled.
The license plate number didn’t help because the getaway car was stolen and later abandoned. The mystery men never seemed to use their own vehicles.
Although the assailants never shot or killed any of the bank employees, one of them held a gun to a worker’s head and threatened to pull the trigger if she couldn’t remember the safe’s combination.
And Sandra Campbell, a teller at First Atlantic Bank, would later testify that one of the men had grabbed her by the throat, dragged her across the floor, and kicked her repeatedly, according to court papers.
Prospective giveaway. The band of brothers accumulated a total of $600,000 to $700,000 in the course of eight bank jobs. The threesome enjoyed holding up one particular branch of the North Carolina National Bank in Calabash so much that they did it three times, in 1991, 1992, and 1996.
Meanwhile, investigators struggled to identify the thieves. The fact that one of the robbers used a Weaver stance, commonly adopted by law officers when pointing their guns, made them wonder whether he was one of their own, according to Myrtle Beach Police Chief Warren Gall’s Forensic Files interview.
The authorities’ big break came in 1998.
Another good Samaritan, this one at Branch Banking and Trust in Calabash — where the brothers got away with $63,000 — scribbled down a getaway car’s license number and tried unsuccessfully to chase it.
Police traced the speeding 1997 Nissan pickup to a local landscaper.
Face to face at last. His name was Alvin Bellamy, age 41, and he had two strikes against him. First, in his wallet, he had $117 all in crisp new fives and ones, suspicious because $12,000 consisting of only fives and ones had been nabbed in a recent bank robbery, according to court papers.
And second, Alvin, who worked for Coastal Landscape and Maintenance, had two brothers in law enforcement.
Claude Wendell Bellamy, 44, was a former patrolman first class who worked for the Horry County Police Dept. in South Carolina for 12 years.
James Larry Bellamy, known as Larry, 48, was none other than a lieutenant with the Myrtle Beach Police Department who specialized in investigating crime scenes, including robbery sites. Larry had a good reputation and, at first, Police Chief Gall refused to believe he was involved, according to Gall’s Forensic Files interview.
Family of 14. The fact that the three Bellamys were modest probably made it harder for those who knew them to entertain the notion that they robbed banks. They “didn’t flash a lot of cash, buy fancy cars, or live in a rich neighborhood,” according to a Sun News article from August 18, 1999.
The trio came from a family of 12 siblings born to Lucille and Clifton Bellamy Sr. in Little River, South Carolina. The Sun News story noted Clifton Sr.’s occupation as “successful farmer.”
Clifton Sr. also taught Sunday school, was a deacon at the St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church, and served on the board of cable company HTC Inc., according to his Sun News obituary from 2008. He and Lucille were married for 59 years.
The Bellamys were well-respected in town and one of their children, Margie B. Livingston, was and still is a South Carolina judge-magistrate. In a statement to the Sun News, Livingston said:
"No family has control of what other family members may encounter or make decisions about today. [The family is] experiencing shock, disbelief, disappointment and concern. [Our parents] have taught strong moral values to each of the 12 of us, and lived by them in county and community."
Additional bad seed. So what made Alvin, Claude, and Larry Bellamy suddenly turn into Ma Barker’s boys? A case of profound mid-life crisis? Or maybe, as hard as their parents tried, some of those kids had an innate wayward streak.
Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but while Alvin, Claude, and Larry were perfecting post-robbery escape routes, a fourth Bellamy brother was already sitting in jail for a way more serious offense.
Clifton Bellamy Jr., a 36-year-old married North Myrtle Beach police officer, killed girlfriend Patricia Adams with a hammer and a pointed instrument on October 1, 1986. Adams worked at the Surf Golf and Beach Club’s snack bar and was pregnant. She and Clifton Bellamy had been fighting about child support, according to court papers.
Vanishing loot. Alvin, Claude, and Larry’s motivations were less clear. Police never figured out why they wanted the money badly enough to risk ruining their own lives and mortifying their parents. Authorities also never found out where the brothers stashed or spent the stolen cash.
But the prosecution had plenty of other evidence to work with, and the three Bellamys were arrested in 2000 and charged with bank robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and other related crimes.
Bank security footage showed a checkered jacket and leather holster used during a robbery that were later discovered in possession of the Bellamys. One bank used high-resolution cameras that allowed police to identify Claude’s browline and nose via an excessively large eye opening in his mask, according to court papers.
Rich case. Also to the Bellamys’ detriment, Alvin had changed his story a number of times under FBI questioning.
More bad publicity for the brothers: The FBI was investigating a group of unidentified men who had tried to stop a witness from testifying against the Bellamys by threatening to “cut his eyes out and kill his family.”
The intimidation didn’t work.
After two weeks and 70 witnesses, a jury convicted the brothers on February 22, 2000.
Little brother Alvin received 15 years. Larry and Claude got harsher sentences — 50 years each in a federal penitentiary — because they betrayed their badges.
Where are they now? So far, the only one who has gotten out on two feet is Alvin, who left USP Atlanta on July 3, 2008.
Claude died while incarcerated at the age of 61 in 2016. His daughter, Nissa Bellamy, described her dad as “the strongest man I know,” in a comment left at an obituary site for him. Ironically, the 300-pound Claude was regarded as the violent member of the trio, according to Forensic Files.
The third bank robber, Larry Bellamy, is 67 and resides in FCI McDowell in Welch, West Virginia, along with 1,300 prisoners mostly in medium security.
Courts rejected Larry’s appeal attempts in 2009 and 2011, and he is scheduled for release in 2042 at age 90.
Clifton Bellamy Jr., the aforementioned killer in the family, is serving his life sentence for homicide in Kershaw Correctional Institution, which lists him as having no escape attempts or disciplinary problems.
He has a shot at parole in 2020.
Two-thirds turned out fine. The Bellamys’ mother, Lucille, died in 2015 at the age of 81. Her obituary didn’t include any biographical information about her, but raising 12 kids probably took up the better part of her bandwidth.
Creating eight law-abiding children is not a bad record.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime
Listen to this blog post as a podcast
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These Bellamy brothers made bad music.
Here’s an additional follow-up … on one of the law enforcement officials interviewed from the episode:
‘Hollywood’ Hewett. The sheriff of Brunswick County, NC, who told viewers how tiny Calabash was world-famous for fried seafood before it became associated with armed robbery, later had his own tangles with the law — and later died in a local jail.
According to the StarNews of Wilmington, N.C., the sheriff became known around Brunswick County and beyond as “Hollywood Hewett” because he was seen so often in television newscasts and newspaper photos after a major crime or event. Filmmaker Daniel Kraus even made a documentary of Hewett called “Sheriff,” which premiered on PBS in 2006.
But, in June 2007, a federal grand jury in Raleigh issued subpoenas signaling an investigation of the sheriff and his department. Hewett kept doing his job, but slowly stopped responding to press interview requests and phone calls.
In spring 2008, Hewett’s former and current staff members signed affidavits accusing him of requiring them to campaign on county time and perform other duties, including construction and landscape work at his home. Hewett was suspended from office March 27, then indicted on state charges of embezzlement and obstructing justice. He resigned April 15.
Hewett was charged in May 2008 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with felony obstruction of justice, accused of trying to “influence, obstruct and impede” the almost yearlong federal grand jury investigation into his office.
Hewett pleaded guilty to the charge in federal court June 2.
In October 2008, Hewett was sentenced to 16 months in prison by a federal judge. He also pleaded guilty that month in Brunswick County Superior Court to three felony counts of embezzlement by a public official. At the same time, Hewett pleaded no contest to a state charge of obstructing justice.
Hewett severed his sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex from Nov. 2008 to Oct. 15, 2009, when he was transferred to a halfway house. He freed on Jan. 12, 2010.
In December 2010, Hewett was named salesperson of the month at a Ford dealership.
In June 2014, Hewett was arrested by agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and deputies of the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, who charged him with being a felon in possession of at least one firearm that had crossed a state line. Hewett was facing up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of probation.
A few days after making his first appearance in court, he died Saturday in the New Hanover County, NC, jail.
https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20140712/News/605043743/WM/
Thanks for the great scoop! I do wonder about law enforcement folks who enjoy being in the spotlight a little too much….
Officers of the law don’t come out of this story well…
It looks like Larry Bellamy died too, in 2009. I couldn’t locate him in the BOP database but did find an old obituary notice and the age and city are right so I’m pretty sure it’s him. Looks like bank robbery might just cost a few more “life longevity” bucks than it’s worth.
Hmmmm, that might be a different guy. The bank robber’s full name is James Larry Bellamy and he’s still listed as a long-term guest at beautiful FCI McDowell in Welch, West Virigina.
Just saw this for the first time on Court TV “Forensic Files”, and I am appalled and outraged by these thug brothers, especially the two in law enforcement. Absolutely disgusting. Physically and psychologically tormenting a bank teller, and putting a gun to someone’s head to open a vault. DISGUSTING.
They sure were *bold as brass* police badges.
The brothers are now prison shemales.
The post stated, that the Bellamy’s brothers, mother had 8 out of 12 children that turned out pretty fair. Well my mother had 14, out of 14, who turned out with careers and a love for God. Our dad was a proud preacher. So it is the strict boundaries you set up in the home that creates discipline. Teaching children about the love of God. So when they grow up, they won’t depart from it.
Really? She raised 8 good kids. She was also married to a pastor. Sometimes you can’t account for other human’s choices.
I HEAR ya!