The Tower Bridge Job was a crime perpetrated by Professor Ratigan at some point before 1897.
Description[]
The Movie[]
Ratigan mentions the “Tower Bridge Job” during the World's Greatest Criminal Mind musical number, though not going into much details:
- « From (…) the head that made headlines in every newspapers,
- And wondrous things like the Tower Bridge Job,
- This cunning display that made Londoners sob… »
The mention of the Londoners sobbing implies that the Tower Bridge Job was not only (if at all) a theft, and involved events dramatic enough to make Londoners sob. It should be noted that as he sings this part, Ratigan is gazing at a pile of man-sized riches that includes what appears to be the human Royal Crown; it is very likely that it is (at least in part) the loot of the Tower Bridge Job, which could thus have involved stealing the Crown Jewels (possibly replacing them by fakes).
Ratigan's minions also mention that Ratigan "drowned widows and orphans" at one point. It is known from the extended material (see beneath) that this is also a reference to events having occurred during the Tower Bridge Job.
Deleted Material[]
A longer version of the song contained, among other things, an additional verse in which Ratigan said more about what the Tower Bridge Job involved:
- « This cruel and unusual gift that's inside me
- Does wondrous things like the Tower Bridge Job,
- That cunning display that made Londoners sob…
- Picking them off one by one,
- Picking them off -- just for fun!
- Such privilege,
- My view from the Bridge,
- As all of them bogged and sank!… »
However that may fit with the theft of human riches, it appears that Ratigan and his minions, whilst making their escape, threw passerbies into the Thames (including widows and orphans) and shot those who did not drown on their own, with Ratigan watching in sadistic delight from atop the Tower Bridge. This would account for the "Londoners sobbing". It should be noted that the song does not specify whether the victims were rodents, humans, or a mix of both.