Austria’s most wanted criminal

One of Austria’s most wanted criminals was Johann Kastenberger, better known as Pumpgun Ronnie, who robbed several banks wearing a Ronald Reagan mask and carrying a pump-action shotgun, making off with 6 million schillings, approximately 800,000 euros. Thanks to his unique staging with the likeness of then-US President Ronald Reagan and the pump-action shotgun, a type of firearm otherwise only seen in Hollywood action films, Johann Kastenberger became the first media-known serious criminal for whom the special unit of the criminal investigation department offered a reward of 370,000 schillings for information leading to his arrest. The search was on for a dark-haired man between 1.65 and 1.73 meters tall, approximately 30 years old, weighing between 70 and 80 kilograms, and always quite nimble on his feet. But who was Johann Kastenberger, who fled unrecognized in stolen cars or on foot and was described by all witnesses as a fast runner? Johann Kastenberger was born on October 1, 1958, in St. Leonhard am Forst, Lower Austria, the first of seven children of a railway worker. But his father doubted his paternity and had a paternity test carried out. After the results came back, he refused to let Johann take his family name, which is why he was given his mother’s maiden name, née Kastenberger. At the age of 12, his father left the family. From then on, Johann Kastenberger devoted himself to caring for his siblings. He neglected his schoolwork so that he could take on odd jobs to put food on the table for his family. Although Johann Kastenberger was a poor student who was held back in secondary school, he was all the more successful as an athlete. Early on, an Austrian Bundesliga club expressed interest in recruiting Johann for its youth team. But Johann’s passion was running. Since 1988, he had been the record holder for the Kainacher Mountain Marathon with a winning time of 3 hours, 16 minutes, and 7 seconds, which still stands as the record today. Unlike in sports, he was unable to achieve success in his professional life. He dropped out of an apprenticeship at a technical college. As a result, he went off the rails at an early age. In 1976, he robbed a Viennese taxi driver and a supermarket. This was followed by a robbery at a Volksbank branch in Pressbaum on January 25, 1977, where he stole 70,000 schillings. However, he was caught shortly afterwards while sitting on a train at Vienna’s Westbahnhof station, as the bank branch employees were able to provide an accurate description of the perpetrator. Perhaps this was the moment when he decided to wear a mask during robberies. Johann was sentenced to seven years in prison for the robbery. He served his sentence in the Stein prison, from which he made four escape attempts, which is why he was denied early release. After his release, he met a woman named Veronika Junek in 1984, with whom he moved into an apartment in Vienna’s 11th district, Simmering. After only one year of freedom, he resumed his criminal career. But this time as a murderer. On August 13, 1985, shortly before midnight, Johann rang the doorbell of 28-year-old unemployed auto mechanic Ewald Pollhammer, with whom he was attending a vocational retraining course. When Pollhammer opened the door, Johann shot him with his pump-action shotgun. The next morning, his 24-year-old wife and 6-year-old son found Ewald dead. Just eight hours after the murder, Johann stormed the Raiffeisenkasse bank in Hafnerbach. But passers-by warned the bank employees that the masked man looked suspicious. They pressed the alarm button and Johann fled in a stolen car. Johann quickly came under the scrutiny of investigators, but his girlfriend Veronika gave him a false alibi. Two years passed before Johann robbed the Raiffeisenkasse bank in Groß Sierning on November 20, 1987, making off with 100,000 schillings. Johann fled in a stolen car, which he parked on a forest road and then ran through the Dunkelsteinerwald forest on foot. Less than six months later, on February 19, 1988, Johann robbed three banks in a row. At around 8 a.m., he robbed the Creditanstalt Simmeringer Hauptstraße in Vienna, making off with 1.2 million schillings, and was filmed by surveillance cameras. He fled in a stolen car and robbed the Volksbank Kirchstetten at around 4:30 p.m., stealing 330,000 schillings. He then drove the stolen car along the Westautobahn past St. Pölten to Markersdorf, where he robbed the Sparkasse bank and made off with 300,000 schillings. Although a major alarm was triggered, all roads were blocked, and a helicopter was deployed, Johann managed to escape. A year after the spectacular series of robberies, all evidence pointed to Johann Kastenberger as the perpetrator. He was arrested on November 11, 1988, on the basis of clear evidence. Johann, who had a criminal record, matched the description of the perpetrator, and his clothing also matched that seen on the surveillance cameras. In addition, Johann, who was unemployed, had considerable amounts of money at his disposal. Where did this money come from? Johann was interrogated and his apartment was searched. Two safe deposit box keys were found there, containing 5.5 million schillings from the robberies. There were also securities managed by Johann’s girlfriend, Veronika Junek. Over time, she had discovered that the money did not come from lottery winnings, but from robberies. She became Johann’s accomplice, managing the accounts and securities across 12 banks. The evidence was overwhelming, which is why Johann confessed to the eight bank robberies and the murder of Ewald Pollhammer. The motive for Pollhammer’s murder was that he had smoked during a Wi-Fi retraining course, which had bothered Johann so much that he decided to simply shoot him with his pump-action shotgun. One day after his arrest and confession, this was to be recorded at the Rennweg barracks in Vienna. During the interrogation on the first floor, Johann simply jumped out of the window and managed to go into hiding for two days. When he was caught by two police officers, he snatched one of their service weapons and was able to flee on foot again. Johann then attempted to kidnap a female driver, but failed. A day later, Johann overpowered a male driver, tied him up, and stole his car. This stolen car led to a movie-like chase involving 450 police officers, 34 service dogs, and three helicopters. But even during this chase, Johann managed to switch cars along the Westautobahn. When Johann panicked and drove through a roadblock, the police opened fire. He was hit by a bullet in the back. Johann then stopped the car and committed suicide with the stolen service weapon of the police officer. This ended not only Johann Kastenberger’s career as Pumpgun Ronnie, but also one of the most expensive manhunts of all time. Incidentally, Johann’s pump-action shotgun and mask were never found. After Johann Kastenberger’s death, the police tried to link him to other crimes. However, there was simply not enough evidence to convict him. But Johann Kastenberger, alias Pumpgun Ronnie, had long since immortalized himself in Austrian criminal history with his sensational series of robberies.