Editing 1966 CEC Palace massacre (section)

== Massacre and robbery ==
At 12:15{{nbsp}}p.m. on Wednesday, 15 June 1966, Vlădescu entered the CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei through its main entrance, visibly armed, and immediately opened fire. He wore no disguise and used no false credentials. The operational vault required both the bank director and vault custodian to open it, so he kept them alive until they had completed the procedure. Once the vault was open, he killed them. The two men were among sixteen employees killed in the massacre. The other victims were nine customers and three guards.<ref name="cec-massacre"/>

The palace held approximately 50 million lei, of which 12.4 million lei was in the operational vault. Deeper reserve compartments remained locked. Vlădescu took all the money from the opened vault and commandeered a CEC TV-51 cash van. He loaded the money into its secured rear compartment and drove away alone.<ref name="cec-massacre"/>