Everyone knows that these days, with our enhanced technology, such as
CCTV and DNA evidence, being a successful criminal is almost
impossible. Because of the over-glamorous heists portrayed by Hollywood,
most people assume that, in reality, crimes are almost impossible to
get away with it. However lots of high-value robberies or burglaries
have been attempted in recent times, and many criminals do get away with
it. I have described, here, some cases in which people have been able
to successfully steal cash or objects of high value, without having to
suffer the consequences. It goes to show that, on occasion, crime does
pay.
10. French “Vacuum Gang”
Since 2006, in France, an unknown gang of thieves have been emptying
supermarket safes, using nothing more than a drill and a modified vacuum
cleaner. The innovative group of bandits found a weakness in French
supermarket Monoprix’s system of storing cash, and have been exploiting
it ever since. Envelopes of cash are funneled into the safe via
pneumatic suction tubes. Whereas breaching the safe itself might be
considerably difficult, requiring explosives or safecracking, the
thieves realized that if they just drilled into the delivery tubes near
the safe and hooked up a powerful vacuum, they could suck the money out
and get at it much more easily.
This mode of robbery is very unique as most thieves would resort to
safecracking methods, which leave more evidence. Techniques such as
using explosives, or tools like a thermal lance or plasma cutter, are
the common choice of career burglars. As of 2011, the vacuum gang have
successfully stolen almost $800,000, in fifteen night-time heists,
leaving only a few CCTV tapes of masked men for evidence.
9. 2010 Credit Lyonnais Paris Burglars
On March 30th, 2010, burglars got into a Credit Lyonnais bank, in
central Paris, and emptied over a hundred safety deposit boxes, getting
away with millions of Euros in cash and valuables. The gang tunneled
into the bank’s basement from a neighboring cellar, and entered the
vault through a small hole they cut using a thermal lance. The branch
itself was closed for renovations, however, a security guard who heard
noises from the basement confronted the robbers, who lashed him to a
chair and told him not to move. Meanwhile, the gang ransacked 125 safe
deposit boxes over the course of a few hours. They then set fire to the
premises to eliminate any evidence. The fire set off the sprinklers,
which alerted the tied-up guard, who assumed the robbers had left, so he
raised the alarm. The full operation took around nine hours. As of
2011, the thieves are still at large, and because of the lack of
evidence it is unlikely they will ever be brought to justice. This raid
bears similarities to the 1971 Baker Street burglary, and shows that
security hasn’t improved over time as much as it should have.
8. Carl Gugasian
This particular criminal was successful in baffling police during a
bank robbing career that spanned thirty years, and netted him over
$2million. The reason he isn’t higher in the list is because of his
eventual arrest. When Carl Gugasian was 15 years old, he was shot while
attempting to rob a candy store and was sent to a State Youth Facility.
After his release he took deliberate steps, not only to avoid a normal
life, but to excel in a life of crime. He graduated from the University
of Pennsylvania, earning a master’s degree in systems analysis. He also
went out of his way to receive military weapons training.
Immediately after his graduation, Gugasian began to plan out mock
robberies involving stolen cars. On eight separate occasions he was
planning to commit his first bank robbery; however he repeatedly backed
down before entering the bank. Eventually, he committed his first
offense, using a stolen car for his getaway.
It was after this that he began to develop his unique bank robbery
modus operandi, with such meticulous planning that police were powerless
to stop him. He would first look for banks in small towns, that provide
easy access to a freeway. He then narrowed the search further by
looking for a bank that had late closing times, in August or winter
months, so darkness could hide his escape. He only robbed banks on a
Friday, which earned him the nickname: Friday Night Robber. He then
created a cache to store any evidence that connected him to the crime
(including the money), immediately after the robbery. He would return
later to retrieve the stuff, when the heat had died down in the
following weeks.
As for the robbery itself, Gugasian would burst into the bank five
minutes before closing time, when customers weren’t likely to be there.
Donning a gruesome face mask from a horror movie (Freddy Krueger was a
favorite), he would vault the counter in a standing jump, landing with a
crash on the other side, which terrified staff. He then grabbed
everything he could from the cash tills, and left in less than two
minutes. Immediately afterwards he would disappear into the well-scouted
woods and run for several minutes to a dirt-bike. Then he would bike
for a further few miles through the woods to an anonymous looking panel
van, waiting on the other side, where he’d load the bike into the van
and drive away to complete his escape.
In the end, despite his meticulous planning and execution, it was a
simple case of bad luck that led to his arrest. Two young teenage boys
found one of his caches whilst playing in the woods. It was full of
weapons, ammunition and face masks which had his fingerprints. Only
enough evidence existed to convict Gugasian of 5 bank robberies,
resulting in a 17-year sentence, which he is currently still serving.
Despite this, he has still gotten away with over 45 armed bank
robberies; an amazing feat considering that, statistically, over 65% of
armed bank robbery cases in the US are solved.
7. Paris Modern Art Museum Burglar
In May, 2010, a lone thief broke into the Paris Museum of Modern Art
and stole masterpieces by artists such as Picasso and Matisse, valued at
just under £100million. Unbelievably, the museum didn’t have a
functioning burglar alarm, and the thief was able to simply smash a
window and remove the pictures from their frames, without incident. The
burglary was discovered at 7am the following morning. Although security
guards were in the building at the time of the heist, they didn’t hear
anyone enter, or notice the missing paintings or smashed window.
The crime was initially believed to be worth around £430million;
however, this figure soon came down to just under £100million. Police
have speculated that the paintings may have been “ordered” by a private
collector, as this has been the case with previous art thefts in the
city. As of 2011, no one has been arrested for the burglary and police
believe that the painting is no longer in the possession of the thief.
This theft is an example of very poor security around objects with
extremely high value.
6. Derek “Bertie” Smalls
Bertie Smalls was an English armed robber who was active in the 1960s
and 70s; a time considered the golden age of British armed robbery.
Smalls committed his first robbery when he was 15, and, after being
imprisoned for a short while, committed his life to crime. Before 1970,
Smalls already had a string of high-profile robberies to his name, and
was a respected figure in the London Underworld.
On the 9th February, 1970, Smalls led a gang from the Wembley Mob, in
the East End of London, to rob a Barclays Bank branch in Ilford. The
gang successfully got away with £237,736, a record at the time. Most of
the team left England on various routes. Smalls, himself, boarded a
train to Paris and from there went on to the Costa del Sol, where he
read English newspapers looking for police updates about the robbery.
The police made an early breakthrough, with an informant naming Smalls
as the leader of the gang.
Smalls returned to England and gave himself up in Northampton, where
he spent the Christmas period in jail. On June 2nd, Smalls asked for a
meeting with the chief inspector. Smalls had been informed by his
solicitor that he would be spending at least 25 years in prison. In an
attempt to reduce his lengthy sentence, he offered the police a deal to
turn over every person connected with any criminal activity he had ever
been involved with.
Smalls was given immunity from prosecution in return for his help. At
the Old Bailey, the trial of the Barclays Bank raid commenced, and
Smalls testified against every one of his co-conspirators. As he
finished giving evidence against his former friends, they reportedly
sang to him: “We’ll meet again” by Vera Lynn. The trial ended with a
jail time for the gang totaling over 100 years in prison. In the months
after the trial, Smalls helped convict 21 more associates, for a total
of over 300 years in prison. As a result, Bertie Smalls received no
jail-time for his part in the Barclays raid, although there was rumored
to be a £1million bounty on his head, instigated by powerful underworld
figures such as the Kray twins. Despite this, he lived under police
protection for the rest of his life. Even today, criminals who grass on
their friends are said to be a “Bertie Smalls”. Pictured above is John
Coyne portraying Bertie Smalls).
5. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Robbers
On the night of March 18th, 1990, two men, disguised as Boston police
officers, entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and stole an
estimated $500,000,000 worth of artworks, including works by Rembrandt,
Vermeer, Manet and Degas. They gained entry by impersonating Boston
Police officers, and telling guards that they were responding to a call.
Once inside, they rounded up the guards and handcuffed them, placing
them in the basement whilst they raided the second floor of the museum.
The next morning security arrived to relieve the guards, but instead
found the museum ransacked.
The museum still has the empty frames hanging in place (see picture),
as an homage to the stolen art, and to show their hope that they may
one day see them returned to their rightful place. The criminals have
never demanded a ransom, and they will never serve any time, even if
they are caught, as the statute of limitations has run out. The museum
has offered a $5million reward for information leading to the recovery
of the artwork, and has also said they will: “ensure complete
confidentiality”, implying they are willing to pay a ransom.
4. The School of Turin
At approximately 7pm local time, on Friday the 14th of February,
2003, the School of Turin were about to perform the largest diamond
heist the world has ever seen. Leonardo Notarbartolo, the leader of the
gang, had reportedly remained in the vault that Friday night when the
security doors closed automatically, at 7:00 pm. Several hours later,
the elevator leading down to the vault was purportedly used by three
other members of the School. The motion detector at the foot of the
elevator had already been disabled by an application of spray silicone,
and the vault’s light detector had been rendered useless with a simple
piece of tape. With all of the prep work done, the School of Turin found
themselves alone with the vault of the Antwerp Diamond Center.
Gaining access to the vault was not the same, however, as gaining
entrance. The vault itself was protected by a dual lock system: a
combination and a key lock, and two feet of reinforced steel. The key
part was easy, as duplicates of the key had been made in advance. The
combination lock was a bit more difficult, and the police have yet to
release information pertaining to exactly how this was cracked.
Buried behind those two locks was something else; a fail-safe alarm
that consisted of magnets that would notify the police as soon as the
vault was opened, and the magnets were no longer touching. The alarm was
automatic and could not be turned off. The fail safe was defeated with
the most minimalist of moves. The crack team of burglars snipped the
magnets out of their resting places and taped them together, allowing
the vault door to be opened without ever separating the magnets.
The taping of the magnets was the final step. There, in the vault,
the School of Turin pried open that heavy door, knowing that they would
be undisturbed as they gazed upon their jackpot, the largest diamond
heist in history. For the remainder of the weekend, they set to breaking
into safety deposit boxes. Out of the 160 security boxes, the highly
skilled crew worked through 123, popping the locks with a tool they
created specifically for the job. But these professionals didn’t merely
grab diamonds, of which the trade is much more restricted than most
would have you believe, no, they grabbed the paperwork necessary to sell
the diamonds as legitimate. That which couldn’t easily be resold, and
even currency, items with combined values totaling in the millions of
dollars, were left carelessly on vault floor.
By the time the heist had been discovered the thieves were long gone.
However, the alleged leader of the gang, Leonardo Notarbartolo, was
convicted on the basis of DNA found on a half-eaten sandwich found near
the crime-scene. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The other
School members were never apprehended and it is unlikely they will be,
as the statute of limitations has, or will soon, run out.
3. Baker Street Burglary
The Baker Street burglary took place in London, in 1971, when a team
of well-equipped thieves tunneled into the Lloyds Baker Street Bank
Vault and stole £3million (2011: £31.7million) worth of cash and
valuables from safety deposit boxes. The criminals used a combination of
metal cutting tools, such as a thermal lance and explosives, to tunnel
into the vault from a nearby shop, and even had a lookout positioned on a
rooftop. Near the end of the heist, a ham radio operator overheard some
of the lookout’s walkie-talkie radio transmissions and contacted the
police, who frantically searched over seven hundred banks within the
area, in hopes of honing in on the location of the transmission.
Policemen even searched the bank whilst the burglars were inside the
vault, however, since no damage was visible on the vault door, police
assumed they had the wrong bank and left. They were unable to catch the
robbers at the time, but nearly two years later a number of men were
charged in connection with the burglary. However, the true mastermind
was a London car dealer, who was never apprehended. The story of the
burglary has been immortalized in the semi-fictional movie “The Bank
Job” starring Jason Statham.
2. The Pink Panthers
The Pink Panthers are a Serbian gang of jewel thieves, who Interpol
believe are responsible for some of the most glamorous armed robberies
in history. Their bold style and intricate planning is thought of as
artistry, even by criminologists. They have targeted many different
countries, and have Japan’s most successful robbery among their thefts.
In 1993, the gang came to attention with their first robbery, when
they stole a £500,000 diamond from a jeweler in London. The thieves hid
the diamond in a jar of face cream resembling an act from the film:
“Return of the Pink Panther” which earned them their nickname. Since
then, the group have successfully robbed over one hundred and twenty
different stores, in twenty different countries. Their attention to
detail is the reason behind their high success rate. For example, before
a heist in Biarritz, the gang coated a bench adjacent to the jewelry
store in fresh paint to deter people sitting on it and seeing them in
action.
The Pink Panthers are also known for their daring escapes and
creative break-ins. In St Tropez, they robbed a store dressed in flowery
shirts and then escaped on a speed boat. In another high-profile heist,
the gang drove a pair of stolen limousines through a window into a
Dubai mall, taking watches and other valuables worth over £8million. In
yet another robbery, they dressed up as women and stole over $100million
(£60million) worth of jewelry from a Harry Winston store in Paris,
using Mission Impossible-style prosthetic make-up as a disguise.
Several gang members have been imprisoned. However, their group is
thought to consist of over two hundred members, therefore, most have
simply gotten away with their crimes. Their total haul is now believed
to be in the billions of dollars. The alleged leader of the gang, Dragan
Mikic, escaped from prison using a rope ladder, in 2005, whilst Pink
Panthers fired machine guns at the prison wall. He has been on the run
ever since.
1. Albert Spaggiari
Albert Spaggiari was a French career criminal who is best known for
masterminding the Societe Generale bank robbery in France, 1976. As a
young man he committed his first robbery in order to impress his
girlfriend, but was soon captured and imprisoned. After his release and
having served in the French military, Spaggiari became the owner of a
photographic studio and was making a reasonable living as a law-abiding
citizen. However, he apparently became bored with his middle-class life
and sought to return to a life of crime.
He began to plan a break-in at the Societe Generale Bank, in Nice. He
decided that, since the bank vault was located in the basement, the
break-in would best be achieved by digging underneath from a nearby
sewer system. He opened a box for himself and placed a loud alarm clock
inside, setting it to go off at midnight in order to check for the
existence any acoustic or seismic detectors that might foil his plan. In
fact, the bank vault had no interior alarm or security systems, as it
was considered utterly impenetrable.
Spaggiari then recruited a group of professional gangsters from
Marseille to help him dig the tunnel. He instructed them to never drink
coffee or alcohol, and always to get at least 10 hours sleep every day
to avoid danger to the mission. After two months of digging, the tunnel
was finished, and, during a Bastille Day festival when the bank was
closed for a long weekend, the gang broke into the vault, itself. They
opened up over 400 safety deposit boxes, stealing over 60million francs
worth of money, securities and other valuables.
When the robbery was discovered, the following message was found on
the vault wall: “sans armes, ni maine, ni violence” which is translated
as: “without weapons, nor hatred, nor violence”. At first police were
baffled, however, in the following months they arrested one suspect on a
tip from a former girlfriend. The man later admitted being a part of
the robbery and ratted out the entire gang, including Spaggiari. During
his trial, however, Spaggiari managed to escape by distracting the
judge, by handing him a fake piece of encoded evidence. He jumped out of
the window, where a motorcycle was waiting for him and made his
getaway.
He was never caught and the loot from the heist was never found. He
died at the age of 52 of throat cancer, and his body was found dumped
outside his mother’s house, presumably by unknown friends.
source : http://listverse.com/2011/07/27/10-truly-successful-thieves/
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