Bernard Banks was one of four owners of a string of night clubs in Hollywood, California. He attended Beverly Hills High School with Linus Simonson, James Oliphant, and Jimmy Fazio, and later perpetrated a robbery of two-million dollars from a movie set with them on 19 May 1999. During an attempt to kill Harry Bosch at his home, Banks was caught by Bosch who then slammed Banks' head into a steel support beam. Banks survived but was in a coma.