The man who robbed a Vegas casino and then moved in, and more stories about scammers and thieves

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? 

One early morning in December of 2010, Anthony "Tony" Carleo rolled up to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Dressed in a full motorcycle jumpsuit, gloves and helmet, he took out a pistol and stole $1.5 million worth of casino chips—before returning to that same hotel and living like a king, free of charge.

The podcast The High Roller Heist tells the story of how Carleo almost got away with it, and what went wrong. 

Also: Imagine the action of Ocean's 11 combined with the comedy of 30 Rock. Just add an unconventional heist plot involving bodily fluids and government bunkers, and you've got Hot White Heist. This fictional six-part series has a star-studded cast, including SNL's Bowen Yang, Cynthia Nixon, and Jane Lynch. 

Finally, we're talking all about scammers—but how do you avoid them? NPR's Life Kit is a podcast about the life advice you need to make being human a little bit easier. This episode shares a few red flags that you can look out for to protect yourself, your finances, and your information from all kinds of scams. 

All that and more, this week on Podcast Playlist.

The High Roller Heist: "Having decided that robbing a casino is the best, easy solution to freeing himself from his gambling debts, Carleo decides on a smaller, unglamorous casino on the outskirts of Sin City: The Suncoast. With everything in place, Carleo will ride to the Suncoast casino and rob it, becoming The Biker Bandit."

Hot White Heist: "The US government has been storing sperm samples from our best and brightest (and also some politicians) under the Space Needle."

Code Switch: "The Welfare Queen is a pernicious stereotype, but it was coined in reference to a real woman named Linda Taylor. But her misdeeds were far more numerous and darker than welfare fraud. This week: how politicians used one outlier's story to turn the public against government programs for the poor."

Chameleon: Scam Likely: "Dave and Kris, now with the help of fellow investigator Dylan, surveil the on-the-ground scammers in the U.S. and get closer to unraveling the conspiracy."

Life Kit: "Scams can happen to anyone. Experts explain how to safeguard your data and money from being exploited or stolen by fraudsters."

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