Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. (born September 20, 1970) and the Romanian-born Decebal Ștefan Emilian "Emil" Mătăsăreanu (born July 19, 1966) first met at a Gold's Gym in Venice, Los Angeles, California, in 1989. They had a mutual interest in weightlifting, bodybuilding, and firearms. Before meeting, Phillips was a habitual offender, responsible for multiple real estate scams and counts of shoplifting. Matasareanu was a qualified electrical engineer and ran a relatively unsuccessful computer repair business.
Together they would embark on numerous amounts of armed robbery on banks and armored cars alike.