What did the guys do when they were arrested with there AK, what crime did they commit?

I wish I could find it, but there was an old Rolling Stone article (Sandra Bullock on the cover) that had a detailed account of their lives before the robbery.  This wasnt their first either.  They had pulled some substantial jobs before this without getting caught.

Both were killed, not arrested.

He's talking about a previous arrest.  They were pulled over on a traffic stop and a large quantity of guns, ammunition and body armor were siezed and later returned by a judge.  This all happened before the robbery they were killed in.

Got the article:

[b]OCT. 23, 1993. A Glendale, Calif., police officer pulled over a speeding maroon T-Bird at the juncture of Pacific Street and the 134 freeway and asked the driver for identification. The man wouldn't say who he was. The officer patted the driver down, found a loaded Glock 9 mm semiautomatic pistol in his waistband and called for backup.

In the passenger seat, Emil Matasareanu leaned his bulky frame forward and put something under his seat. A second loaded Glock was discovered there. Later, at the Glendale police station, Larry Phillips Jr. produced a driver's license with the name Dennis Franks on it.

Collaring two muscled young men with Glocks on a road stop would have been a big enough score for the Glendale Police Department on any night. But the Glocks were window dressing compared with the arsenal that the police found on the back seat of the T-Bird and in its trunk. Belonging to Larry: a MAC-go rifle, a Springfield .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, holsters, two zoo-channel programmable scanners, miscellaneous hairpieces, black ski masks, a stopwatch, a gas mask, nine button-down shirts and nine pullover T-shirts, plus various pairs of shoes, jackets and pairs of glasses. Belonging to Emil: an assault rifle with folding stock, a fully loaded Colt semiauto pistol and two bulletproof vests. Between them, Larry and Emil had enough ammunition for a prolonged firefight: 967 rounds of 9 mm, 357 rounds of .45 caliber and 1,649 rounds of 7.62 by 39 mm. Also discovered in the T-Bird were three different California license plates, a spray can of gray hair coloring and six smoke grenades.

This constituted what any police officer knows to be a classic bank-robbery kit.

Charged with conspiracy and weapons violations, Larry and Emil appeared two weeks later at a preliminary hearing, where Larry's lawyer offered an explanation for the disguises in the car. The night that Larry and Emil were stopped was just a week before Halloween. As for the guns and vests, well, the pair was simply heading off to the Angeles National Forest, in the San Gabriel Mountains. People put on all sorts of get-ups for target practice there.

The district attorney dropped the conspiracy charge in a plea deal; bankrobbery kit or not, the thinking was that it would be difficult to prove precisely what or whom Larry and Emil were conspiring to rob. Larry pleaded no contest to a felony charge of false impersonation and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed firearm, and served 66 days in jail. Emil pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and served 47 days. At their sentencing, Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Stoever warned both men not to own or possess any weapons.

If they had been on the verge of their first bank heist, Larry and Emil put that plan on hold. Probation officers detected nothing unusual about the two men during the months they were on probation. Each reported on time and maintained stable addresses. Federico gave birth to a son. If there are people who know what prompted Larry, who had no history of violence, and Emil, who'd never committed a felony, to make the major leap to bank takeovers, they have kept mum.

On Jan. 28, 1994, Judge Stoever ordered the Glendale Police Department to return various items seized from the T-Bird to Emil and to Larry's mother, Dorothy, who died of lymphatic cancer a short while later. Except for his Glock, Larry got everything back - all the ammunition and disguises and scanners. All of Emil's gear, excluding his Glock and assault rifle, was returned to him. Larry and Emil were down to one assault rifle, but they would soon find replacements.[/b]

They were also both already convicted felons at the time of that arrest. They should have been charged at the state and/or federal level for that. They should have NEVER gotten their weapons back and should have been in prison, where they couldn't have robbed any more banks.

For me, even if their weapons were confiscated, I'm sure they would've manage to get more. These guys were pretty smart and resourceful CRIMINALs, and so what is they broke a couple of petty laws designed to the keep the honest guy out.

The article is actually a fascinating read.  Shoot me an email at [email protected] if you want word format copy.

The weapons returned to the assholes weren't the weapons used in the shoot out. The shootout weapons were full auto.

From my above post

[b]Except for his Glock, Larry got everything back - all the ammunition and disguises and scanners. All of Emil's gear, excluding his Glock and assault rifle, was returned to him. Larry and Emil were down to one assault rifle, but they would soon find replacements.
[/b]

incoming

Oh, the humanity!!!!!!!!!!!  What about the laws?????????  Don't we have laws to protect us from people like this???????????

Oh yeah, criminals DON'T CARE about the laws- that's what makes them CRIMINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheesh.

What gun did Al Pacino carry in the movie about this incident?

So what does that asshole lawyer have to say about this now?

The movie you are referring to, [i]Heat[/i], came out in 1995.  The LA robbery and shootout didn't take place until 1997.

Ditto