Based on Pierre Hotel Robbery?

There seem to be a lot of similarities to the 1972 Pierre Hotel robbery in New York. It was the biggest hotel robbery ever. They would handcuff the guests as they arrived and stash them in an alcove behind the registration area. By the time they were done they had 19 hotel guests and staff handcuffed. They "ran" the hotel from 3:50 am to 6:30 am. They got away with $11 million in goods.

And that was definitely Gabriel Byrne. I guess he owed somebody a favor and didn't want it on his resume.