Robbery gun tied to guard killings in Vegas armored truck heist

LAS VEGAS - Preliminary ballistic tests have tied a firearm used in a 1999 armored truck heist on the Strip to a Henderson robbery in which two security guards were slain, a prosecutor said.

The ballistic tests are the latest development in the cases of Oscar Cisneros, 23, and Jose Vigoa, 40. The two Las Vegans were jailed Thursday on 23 counts in connection with a series of armored truck and casino robberies in the past two years. The most recent was the holdup of the main cashier and a change booth at Bellagio that netted $160,000 in cash and casino chips on June 3.

They are also charged with robbing Brinks armored trucks outside Mandalay Bay in October, the Desert Inn in June 1999 and the MGM Grand in September 1998 as well as a cart of money from New York-New York in April.

Detectives have suspected that the series of holdups are related to a March 3 armored truck robbery outside a Ross Dress for Less store in Henderson. In that crime, Armored Transport guards Richard Sosa, 47, and Gary Prestidge, 23, were shot to death in an ambush by two masked gunmen.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Saturday in a copyrighted story that a prosecutor said a Las Vegas police ballistics expert has concluded the shell casings found in the parking lot after the Desert Inn robbery are identical to shell casings recovered in the parking lot of the Henderson store.

The prosecutor described the tests as preliminary.

Cisneros and Vigoa have not been charged in the Henderson killings.

District Attorney Stewart Bell said Friday that police in Las Vegas and Henderson are trying to determine whether ''a group'' of individuals is responsible for the crimes. He declined to elaborate.

''The police are continuing their investigation, which will undoubtedly take weeks and months,'' Bell said. ''We are working closely with them to determine who did what.''

Las Vegas police robbery Lt. John Alamshaw has said a third person participated in the Desert Inn, Bellagio and Ross Dress For Less heists. Alamshaw said investigators are unsure whether the third culprit is the same person in each crime.