L.A. Bandits Suspected In 2 Other Bank Heists Robbers Killed In Gunbattle Spent Years Building Up Arsenal

The two bandits killed in a gunbattle with police had been building an arsenal for at least three years and are suspected of pulling off at least two terrifying bank robberies that netted $1.5 million.

The men held off dozens of out-gunned officers with a fusillade of bullets for more than 20 minutes Friday before being brought down with head shots that bypassed their body armor.

One of the bandits, Emil Dechebal Matasareanu, had been upset because he and his wife had recently separated, and because he had been falsely accused of mistreating elderly and disabled people, his mother said Sunday.

“He says to me that he wants to die. His actions were more like suicide,” Valerie Nicolescu told The Associated Press Sunday.

“I’m sorry that he died this way but he exchanged his life for nothing,” she said.

Police in suburban Glendale said the robbers were the same men arrested there in 1993 in a car full of high-powered weapons, smoke bombs and disguises.

In that case, Matasareanu and Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. served less than four months in jail after striking a plea bargain.

And the FBI, without identifying the two dead men, said they were suspected of being what some media call the “shoot ‘em up bandits,” a duo that held up at least two suburban banks last year while dressed for combat and terrorizing customers by firing shots into ceilings or a vault.

Matasareanu, 30, was born in Romania and grew up partly in Altadena. He turned to computers because he was teased for being chubby. After graduating from DeVry Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, he operated his own business, working as a computer technician and software designer, she said.

He started having trouble with the law after authorities shut down a care center for the mentally disabled he ran with his mother, Nicolescu said.

A few years ago, he went to Romania to get married and returned with his wife. She left with their son six months ago, the mother said.

Adding to his woes: brain surgery in July for epilepsy brought on by a blocked artery and the failure of his computer business.

The FBI said the two dead men were suspected in two May 1996 robberies.

On May 31, two big, heavily armed men in ski masks, dark jackets and gloves opened fire inside a Bank of America branch in Van Nuys, injuring a pregnant employee.

On May 2, two similarly dressed men with similar weapons entered another San Fernando Valley Bank of America branch and fired automatic weapons at the door of the vault.

The Daily News quoted unidentified authorities as saying the robberies netted $1.5 million.

In the 1993 Glendale case, police who stopped Phillips and Matasareanu in a rented car confiscated two 9 mm pistols, two .45-caliber guns, two AK-47s, six smoke grenades, two homemade bombs, three machine guns, two bulletproof vests, one gas mask, six holsters, wigs, ski masks, two police radio scanners, a stopwatch and about 2,800 rounds of ammunition.

Phillips pleaded no-contest to felony false impersonation and misdemeanor weapons possession, served 99 days in jail and got three years probation.

Matasareanu pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor weapons charges, served 71 days in jail and got three years probation.