A bank robber in New York City is demanding cash with notes written on DVD cases of The Wire, the acclaimed Baltimore-set crime drama which ran for five seasons on HBO between 2002 and 2008.

NBC New York reported that police said the man had passed the notes, which contained increasingly violent threats, to tellers in three of four heists he is suspected of committing.

The New York police department said the man wore all-black clothing and sunglasses and threatened to bomb or gas the banks, all on the west side of Manhattan, if his demands were not met. It was not clear how much money he had stolen.

Detective Martin Speechley told NBC: “He’s hitting almost every other day. It concerns me because his notes are getting more and more violent.”

The suspect seems to have an interest in police work, Speechley said, given his use of the DVD cases. The detective added that he would be happy to show the man how real police do their jobs, by putting him behind bars.