Count this as two mysteries solved in one shot.
The suspected androgynous bank robber who scored more than $112,000 in a New Jersey heist last month is in custody — and she’s indeed a woman.
Federal agents busted Michelle Cantatore on Thursday at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, two weeks after she allegedly knocked over the Glen Rock Savings Bank at gunpoint, officials said.
The gender-bending bandit strolled into the bank just before 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 18, dolled up in a flame-haired wig and women’s shades, while flashing the distinct, long-barreled piece, cops said.
She grabbed what she could from the tellers, then ordered the workers to empty out the vault when she wasn’t satisfied with the take, according to a criminal complaint released Friday.
Cantatore stuffed $112,900 into her Louis Vuitton handbag and sped off in her father’s Porsche Cayenne, the complaint alleges.
Later that day, the complaint says, Cantatore was caught on surveillance camera forking over two wads of cash from the bag to a cashier at the Borgata, where she was busted Thursday by the FBI.
Despite the crook’s decidedly feminine attire and verbal orders to the workers, investigators were initially stumped as to the robber’s gender. “We are trying to determine if it was a man or a female,” Glen Rock police Detective James Calaski said at the time. “I can’t tell just from the picture.”
With the verdict in on her gender, Cantatore was hauled before a judge Friday at Newark federal court. She was held without bail.