The lawless West

Life in the Wild Wild West was never this exciting! 20 Phoenix-area banks have been robbed in the last 17 days.

The FBI and local police think that as many as a dozen of the robberies are connected, based on similarities in how they were carried out. Investigators suspect two men in their late teens or early 20s might be working together, crisscrossing the Valley to hold up banks in Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler and Peoria. The pair may be alternating roles as robber and getaway driver, police said. Sometimes, they have robbed several banks a day. Each time, a man waits in line and then thrusts a "threatening" hand-written note on white paper at a teller. The note says he has a weapon and demands money, according to the FBI.

The police aren't entirely sure how to proceed, either. Seems the usual trends don't apply:

The task is difficult though; many of the common bank robbery trends don't fit.

Some investigators say robberies become frequent when money is tight, especially around Christmas or the end of the month. They also sometimes see an increase in the summer, or on Friday evenings.

"They have the false belief that people are cashing paychecks so there's more money in the bank" on Fridays, the FBI's Leising said. But none of the potentially connected robberies has happened on a Friday, Leising pointed out. And it's not yet summer or Christmas, although some robberies did happen around the end of the month.

Yet their motive is clear: "Basically, it turns into easy money for these guys," Burgett said. "It gets addicting. But eventually we're able to catch up with them."

May need to git me a six-shooter just in case!