The Inside story of INSIDE MAN and the Sequel INSIDE MAN: MOST WANTED.

In INSIDE MAN Dalton Russell leads a crew and hijacks The Manhattan Trust Bank and holds the occupants hostage. In the very first scene we see Dalton Russell in a small cell, which we later find out is hidden behind a fake wall in the back of the storage closet inside the Bank. Dalton and his crew built the false wall and dug a hole in the floor for Dalton to use as a toilet. Dalton hid inside the secret “cell” in the storage room for a week after the robbery before he emerged from it. After rearranging the fake wall back in place, Dalton proceeded to walk out of the bank with the Nazi papers and the diamonds in a backpack. Just like he told Detective Frasier he would, in fact, he walks right past him, as he exits out the front door. As he does so, he slips a diamond into Detective Frasier’s pocket, which he finds later and gives to his girlfriend proposing marriage.

Dalton and his crew never touch any money in the bank, instead being interested in an undocumented safety deposit box, number 392. The undocumented safety deposit box has no records of it’s existence in the bank’s records. It belonged to Arthur Case, the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank. Arthur was keeping his dirty past in that safety deposit box. During WWII Arthur cooperated with the Nazi’s and ratted out fellow Jewish Bankers in exchange for money. He used that money to build the First Manhattan Trust Bank and the subsequent branches after the war in 1948. He hid the details and the evidence of his past indiscretions in the safety deposit box.

Arthur kept correspondence and papers from the Nazi’s detailing his actions in cooperating with the Nazi’s. His actions led to the deaths of many Jewish citizens, while the Nazi’s rewarded him handsomely with money and Diamonds. One of his friends at the time was a Jewish banker and instead of aiding him against the Nazis, Arthur chose to rat him out. Because of that, The Banker and his wife perished in the gas chambers. Arthur ended up with the wife’s Cartier Diamond ring in the original red box that you see when Dalton opened up the safety deposit box. The correspondence papers, the deceased Jewish Banker’s wife’s diamond ring and undocumented bags of diamonds were all in safety deposit box 392 that Dalton Russell accessed.

The Jewish Rabbi Chaim seen interviewed by the Detectives, and later, seen in the vehicle with the rest of Dalton’s gang waiting for him to walk out, hired Dalton to rob the bank. He is related to the Jewish couple that Arthur Case ratted out and had sent to the gas chambers, and the ring in box 392 is a family heirloom. Chaim appears dismayed when Dalton tells him he left the ring behind, but Dalton assures him that the ring will lead Detective Frasier to Arthur Case’s dark past. And they also have the correspondence papers and all the untraceable diamonds. Dalton left the Cartier Diamond ring and it’s original red box behind in box 392 with a note that said “Follow the ring”. And that is exactly what Detective Frasier did, and because of his search for the truth, Arthur Case is reported to the war crimes commission for his actions in aiding the Nazi’s.

In the next couple of years Arthur Case is held in prison awaiting trial for his crimes in WWII with the Nazis. He dies in prison before he gets to trial and his son Dietrich now has a grudge to bear. During WWII the allied forces find a pallet of wooden boxes containing Nazi gold bars in Italy. It finds it’s way to the United States and has been stored in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ever since. Arthur Case and his son Dietrich have ties to the Nazis in Germany, and Dietrich has discovered where the Nazi gold bars are being stored. Blaming Dalton Russell for his father Arthur’s death, he has kidnapped him and is holding him in a Nazi group’s hide out in Germany. Dalton Russell’s real name is Dalton Barash.

Dalton had been staying with his sister Ariella and Ava Barash in Germany since the robbery of The Manhattan Trust Bank. Dietrich found out Dalton’s whereabouts, kidnapped Dalton and told Ariella and Ava that he would kill Dalton unless they did what he said. He wants them to rob the Federal Reserve Bank in New York accompanied by men of his team, and retrieve the WWII Nazi Gold bars as retribution for Dalton stealing the diamonds from his father Arthur Case. Ariella leads the team inside the bank and takes hostages. They convince the Bank Manager to lead them to the gold storage and unlock the doors.

They find the Nazi Gold Bars from WWII and proceed to melt them down, molding them into objects you would find around the bank and coat them with a brass finish. They dig into the basement wall where an old forgotten subway tunnel lies underneath next to the Hudson River. Dietrich’s men think they are digging into it to escape but Ariella has something else up her sleeve. She tricks the FBI lead negotiator Brynn Stewart into coming onto the bank under the guise of letting her see the hostages, but instead kidnaps and holds her. Ariella confides in Brynn what is really going on and that she has a plan to help Brynn get credit for solving the robbery on the other side of events.

Ariella and her team set dynamite charges around the bank making it look like they are trying to blow open a vault. Before they do, they strew the disguised gold items around the bank like debris. When the charges blow, it looks like the gold is part of the debris the clean up crew will be cleaning up.   The charges also cause a breach and allow the Hudson River to flood the basement of the bank, killing Dietrich’s men. Ariella and her crew escape from the bank dressed up just like the hostages in the first movie. The crew comes back as the clean up crew and retrieve the gold along with the debris. Ariella had survived the flooding in the basement by retreating to a small chamber above the ceiling with an oxygen tank.

Ariella used Brynn to retrieve the gold from a van in nearby Newark, instructing Dietrich to meet Brynn there. What Dietrich doesn’t know is that she set him up with Brynn, as soon as Dietrich confirms they have the gold, the FBI rushes in and arrest him for the robbery of the bank. Dietrich calls his men holding Dalton and tells them to kill Dalton anyway. Ariella goes to Germany, barges into Dietrich’s Nazi friends hideout and exacts revenge for her brother’s death.

And that’s the story. I left out some details I didn’t think were necessary for conciseness. I just wanted to show how the two movies were connected in the storyline. Even that ended up longer than I anticipated. So there you have it, I hope you like it and find it useful. Have something to add, something I missed? Reach out in the comment section.

Inside Man

Inside Man: Most Wanted