Chris Potamitis was in real life the security guard who looked the other way, when the actual million dollar heist took place. He got 9 years in jail for his crime, but he is now a free man again. A short real life interview clip of him is featured during the end credits. It is suggested in that interview, that he is the only person who knows where the missing million dollars of the heist are. This convicted security guard now has financed (co-produced) this movie about his own heist.
It is based on a true life story.
The actual robbery took place in 1982.
The robbery portrayed in this film was the largest since the 1978 Lufthansa heist, which was depicted in Goodfellas (1990).