Antwerp diamond heist

Last updated
Antwerp diamond heist
Antwerpen Hoveniersstraat.JPG
The Antwerp Diamond Centre
DateFebruary 15–16, 2003 (2003-02-15 – 2003-02-16)
Location Antwerp, Belgium
Coordinates 51°12′58″N4°25′04″E / 51.2162°N 4.4177°E / 51.2162; 4.4177
Type Heist
Participants Leonardo Notarbartolo
OutcomeMore than $100 million of property stolen
Missing Diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry
Sentence10 years imprisonment

The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the "heist of the century", [1] was the largest ever diamond heist and one of the largest robberies in history. Thieves stole loose diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry valued at more than $100 million. [2] [3] It took place in Antwerp, Belgium, during the weekend of 15–16 February 2003. Though arrests were made and time was served, most of the diamonds stolen remain unrecovered. [4]

Contents

Site

The vault that housed the diamonds is situated two floors below the main floor. It was protected by multiple security mechanisms, including a lock with 100 million possible combinations, infrared heat detectors, a seismic sensor, Doppler radar, and a magnetic field. The building itself had a private security force [1] and was located in the heavily guarded and monitored Antwerp diamond district.

Robbery

Leonardo Notarbartolo had rented a sparsely furnished office for approximately 25,000 Belgian francs ($700) per month in the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. This was a technique pioneered by New York City-based criminal authority "Mr. Stan", Vojislav Stanimirović. It was first accomplished in New York's diamond center many years prior to this robbery. It included creating access to the safe deposit box located in the vault beneath the building. The method provided a tenant ID card offering 24-hour access to the building. [5] There, he posed as an Italian diamond merchant to gain credibility. The robbery required eighteen months of preparation. [4] The group used a variety of methods to overcome the security systems and left investigators confused as to how they had managed to successfully gain entry without triggering the security systems: [1]

The group was caught after Notarbartolo and “Speedy” went to dispose of the evidence of their plans, planning to burn it in France. Speedy was overcome with panic at the prospect of transporting such incriminating evidence and insisted they dispose of it in a nearby forest. However, “Speedy” suffered a panic-attack and disposed of the evidence poorly, hurling it into the bushes and mud rather than burning it. Notarbartolo was busy burning his own evidence and when he discovered what “Speedy” had done, he decided it would take too long to gather everything up and they needed to leave, confident that nobody would find their rubbish. A local hunter owned the land and called the police when he found the rubbish the next day (believing it to be caused by local teenagers he had previously had disputes with). When he mentioned that some of the rubbish consisted of envelopes from the Antwerp Diamond Centre, the police immediately investigated. The evidence from the rubbish was enough to allow the police to gain a lead and they were eventually able to identify Notarbartolo from security footage from a nearby grocery store where he had purchased a sandwich (a receipt for the sandwich was amongst the rubbish). [1]

After the robbery, Notarbartolo and his team stole the security footage to conceal their identities. [6] More than 123 out of 160 [2] [3] [7] safe deposit boxes were forced open, each of which was made of steel and copper and had both a key lock and combination lock. [1] [8]

Perpetrators

The theft was carried out by a five-man team led by Leonardo Notarbartolo, a professional thief who was skilled in social manipulation. [1] Notarbartolo had rented space in the diamond district, and was arrested after being connected to the crime by DNA evidence from a partially eaten salami sandwich found near the crime scene. [9] [10]

In addition to Notarbartolo, the team consisted of at least four other members, whom Notarbartolo gave aliases during interviews, though he refused to specify whom each alias referred to: [1]

Notarbartolo was found guilty of orchestrating the heist. He is considered to be the leader of a ring of Italian thieves called "La Scuola di Torino" (The School of Turin), [3] [12] who carried out the crime. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the court of appeal of Antwerp in 2005, [1] but had since been released on parole in 2009. [13] In 2011 a European Arrest Warrant was issued against him after he was found to have violated his parole conditions. One of these conditions was that he needed to compensate the victims of the heist, which he never made any attempt to do. As a consequence, he was arrested again in 2013 at the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris during a layover from the United States to Turin, and was made to serve the remainder of his prison sentence until 2017. [14]

Tavano, D’Onorio, and Finotto, each, got five years in prison. [15] [16]

Notarbartolo's wife, Adriana Crudo, [17] and Antonino Falletti were tried, and Falletti's Dutch wife Judith Zwiep was arrested. [18] [19] [20]

Insurance fraud

Notarbartolo claimed in an interview with Wired magazine that a diamond merchant hired them for the heist. He claims that they actually stole approximately €18 million ($20 million) worth of loot, and that the robbery was part of an insurance fraud. Someone knowing the incumbent robbery could have taken the diamonds and then claimed the insurance on them, hence gaining from the insurance fraud. [6]

Due to the fact that the vault itself was uninsured, as the insurance company realised the security flaws and would have never given it an insurance policy, there was actually very little insurance money involved, which casts doubt on his story. [21]

Legacy

The heist is the subject of the book Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History [22] by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell. [21]

The first episode of the Audible Original Audio Series "HEIST with Michael Caine" gives an overview of the theft, largely taken from the book.

The story of this diamond heist was featured on The Travel Channel's “Mysteries At The Museum” Season 16/Episode 4 titled “Project Vortex, Diamond Heist and Tinseltown, NJ”, narrated by series host Don Wildman.

The story was also featured on TV Series "History's Greatest Heists" Season 1 / Episode 1 : titled "The Antwerp Diamond Heist", narrated by Pierce Brosnan.

Paramount Pictures optioned the rights to create a film about the heist, which have since expired. It was to be produced by J. J. Abrams. [13] [23] [24] [25]

BBC World Service podcast show, The Outlook, produced an audio episode, The detective and the diamond heist, describing the incident and aftermath. [26]

Amazon released "Everybody Loves Diamonds", a series based on the Antwerp Diamond Center heist on October 13th, 2023 starring Kim Rossi Stuart. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank robbery</span> Crime of stealing from a bank using violence

Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank-owned property, such as a train, armored car, or (historically) stagecoach. It is a federal crime in the United States.

<i>Sexy Beast</i> 2000 comedy crime film by Jonathan Glazer

Sexy Beast is a 2000 black comedy crime film directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto. It stars Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, and Ian McShane. It follows Gary "Gal" Dove (Winstone), a retired criminal visited by a sociopathic gangster (Kingsley) who demands that he take part in a bank robbery in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank vault</span> Secure space where valuable items are stored

A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults are an integral part of the building within which they are built, using armored walls and a tightly fashioned door closed with a complex lock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas DeSimone</span> American mobster

Thomas DeSimone was an American criminal associated with New York City's Lucchese crime family who is alleged to have participated in both the Air France robbery and the Lufthansa heist. He also committed numerous murders, including killing William Bentvena in 1970. DeSimone went missing in 1979 and is believed to have been murdered.

On September 12, 1997, six men robbed the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo St. in Downtown Los Angeles, California of US$18.9 million. The robbery was orchestrated by Allen Pace III, of Compton, with childhood friends Erik Damon Boyd, of Buena Park; Eugene Lamar Hill Jr., of Bellflower; Freddie Lynn McCrary Jr., of Arleta; Terry Wayne Brown Sr., of Los Angeles; and Thomas Lee Johnson, of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the largest cash robbery to have occurred in the United States.

The Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza was the theft of about R$160 million from the vault of the Banco Central branch located in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceará, Brazil, on August 6, 2005. It is one of the world's largest heists. In the aftermath of the burglary, of the 25 people thought to be involved, only 8 had been arrested, and R$20 million recovered, up to the end of 2005. In addition, several of the gang are thought to have been victims of kidnapping, and one member, Luis Fernando Ribeiro, thought to have been the mastermind of the operation, was killed by kidnappers after a ransom was paid. Arrests and recovery of the money, as well as kidnapping and murder of the perpetrators, have been ongoing. One hundred and twenty nine arrests were made, and 32 million Reais were recovered. The Brazilian Federal Police were also able to prevent other burglaries, as shown in the Netflix documentary "3 Tonelada$: Assalto ao Banco Central".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Vault</span> Art museum in Dresden, Germany

The Green Vault is a museum located in Dresden, Germany, which contains the largest treasure collection in Europe. The museum was founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong of Poland and Saxony, and it features a variety of exhibits in styles from Baroque to Classicism. The Green Vault is named after the formerly malachite green painted column bases and capitals of the initial rooms. It has some claim to be the oldest museum in the world; it is older than the British Museum, opened in 1759, but the Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg, Russia was opened in 1714 and the Vatican Museums date their foundation to the public display of the newly excavated Laocoön group in 1506.

The Pierre hotel robbery was a January 2, 1972 robbery at The Pierre in New York City. The robbery netted $3 million, and was organized by Samuel Nalo; Robert "Bobby" Comfort, an associate of the Rochester Crime Family; and Christie "the Tic" Furnari, an associate of the Lucchese Crime Family. The heist was carried out by several of Furnari's gang burglars. This robbery would later be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest, most successful hotel robbery in history.

George Leonidas Leslie, who sometimes used the names George Howard and George Herbert, was an American bank robber and architect. He was involved in 80% of the bank robberies in the United States from 1869 to 1878, and was known as "The King of Bank Robbers".

<i>Flawless</i> (2007 film) 2007 British film

Flawless is a 2007 British fictional heist crime film directed by Michael Radford, written by Edward Anderson, and starring Michael Caine and Demi Moore. It premiered 11 February 2007 in Germany. The film had a limited release in the United States on 28 March 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker Street robbery</span> 1971 burglary of a bank in London, England

The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safety deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, on the night of 11 September 1971. A gang tunnelled 40 feet (12 m) from a rented shop two doors away to come up through the floor of the vault. The value of the property stolen is unknown, but is likely to have been between £1.25 million and £3 million; only £231,000 was recovered by the police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millennium Dome raid</span> Attempted robbery of diamond exhibition

The Millennium Dome raid was an attempted robbery of the Millennium Dome's diamond exhibition in Greenwich, South East London occurring on 7 November 2000. A local gang planned to ram-raid the De Beers diamond exhibition which was being held in the riverside Dome at the time. The gang had then planned to escape via the Thames in a speedboat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Graff Diamonds robbery</span>

The Graff Diamonds robbery took place on 6 August 2009 when two men posing as customers entered the premises of Graff Diamonds in New Bond Street, London and stole jewellery worth nearly £40 million. It was believed to be the largest ever gems heist in Britain at the time, and the second largest British robbery after the £53 million raid on a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006. The robbers' haul totalled 43 items of jewellery, consisting of rings, bracelets, necklaces and wristwatches. One necklace alone has been reported as being worth more than £3.5m. Britain's previous largest jewellery robbery also took place at Graff's, in 2003.

Graff is a British multinational jeweller based in London. It was founded by British jeweller Laurence Graff in 1960. A vertically integrated company, Graff operations comprise the design, manufacture and retail distribution of jewellery and watches.

Greg Campbell is an American journalist, documentary filmmaker and nonfiction author who lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antwerp diamond district</span> Area within the city of Antwerp, Belgium

Antwerp's diamond district, also known as the Diamond Quarter (Diamantkwartier), and dubbed the Square Mile, is an area within the city of Antwerp, Belgium. It consists of several square blocks covering an area of about one square mile. While as of 2012, much of the gem cutting and polishing work historically done in the neighborhood had moved to low wage centers elsewhere, about 84% of the world's rough diamonds passed through the district, making it the largest diamond district in the world with a turnover of 54 billion dollars. Each year, approximately 50% of the rough diamonds return to Antwerp for cutting and polishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brussels Airport diamond heist</span> 2013 diamond heist

On 18 February 2013, eight masked gunmen in two cars with police markings stole approximately €38,000,000 worth of diamonds from a Swiss-bound Fokker 100 operated by Helvetic Airways on the apron at Brussels Airport, Belgium, just before 20:00 CET. The heist was accomplished without a single shot being fired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary</span> 2015 theft from an underground vault in Holborn, London

In April 2015, an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, owned by Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd., was burgled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dresden Green Vault burglary</span> Burglary of jewellery

On 25 November 2019, royal jewellery was stolen from the Green Vault museum within Dresden Castle in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. The stolen items include the 49-carat Dresden White Diamond, the diamond-laden breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle which belonged to the King of Poland, a hat clasp with a 16-carat diamond, a diamond epaulette, and a diamond-studded hilt containing nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, along with a matching scabbard. The missing items were of great cultural value to the State of Saxony and were described as priceless; other sources estimate the total value at about €1 billion. However, in the years following the burglary, more accurate estimates place the total value of the stolen items at around €113 million.

In June 1869, the Ocean National Bank in Manhattan, New York City was robbed of $768,879.94 in cash, securities, and jewelry by the gang of George Leonidas Leslie. It was the largest heist in New York City history at the time. Planning for the heist took three months, and was funded by Fredericka Mandelbaum, who received a 10% cut of the earnings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist, Wired Magazine, 03.12.09
  2. 1 2 The Antwerp Diamond Heist, Belgium – The Greatest Heists of All Time – Photo Gallery [ permanent dead link ]. LIFE. Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  3. 1 2 3 "10 Impressive Heists that Shocked the World". Criminal Justice Degrees Guide. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  4. 1 2 Selby, Scott; Campbell, Greg (2010). Flawless : Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History. Sterling. ISBN   978-1402797552. OCLC   762246212.
  5. ↑ Joseph Cummins (1 February 2011). Heists: Gripping Exposés of the World's Most Notorious Robberies. Pier 9. pp. 138–. ISBN   978-1-74196-805-7 . Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  6. 1 2 10 Largest Robberies in History. Listverse.com (2009-12-01). Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  7. ↑ Business | Antwerp counts cost of gem heist. BBC News (2003-02-20). Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  8. ↑ Antwerp Suffers Huge Diamond Heist. Professionaljeweler.com (2003-02-19). Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  9. ↑ "The Antwerp Diamond Heist : Top 10 Heists". Investigation Discovery. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  10. ↑ "Het blijft vijf jaar cel voor D'Onorio en Finotto". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  11. ↑ Tadáguila, Cristina (15 February 2013). "Livro conta as minúcias do maior roubo de diamantes da História". O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  12. ↑ Page 2: Stolen Antwerp Diamonds Still Missing – ABC News. Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  13. 1 2 Antwerp diamond heist on film < Belgian news | Expatica Belgium. Expatica.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  14. ↑ Peeters, Steven (18 February 2013). "Brein achter 'diamantkraak van de eeuw' zit opnieuw in Belgische cel" [Brain behind 'diamond heist of the century' jailed again in Belgium]. Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  15. ↑ Dunn, Morgan (14 November 2020). "History's 7 Craziest Heists, From The Delivery Guy Who Robbed A Bank To The Theft Of The Mona Lisa". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "CAMBRIOLAGE De 5 à 10 ans pour le casse du siècle à Anvers". La Dernière Heure (in French). May 19, 2005. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  17. ↑ "Diamond Center: 10 ans requis". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  18. ↑ Osborn, Andrew (1 March 2003). "Perfect crime loses its sparkle as bin bag yields vital clues". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  19. ↑ Casert, Raf (March 4, 2003). "4 held in 'incredible' diamond heist". Seattle Times . Associated Press . Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  20. ↑ "Beklaagde diamantkraak Antwerpen "niet correct gedagvaard"". Het Belang van Limburg (in Flemish). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  21. 1 2 Selby, Scott; Campbell, Greg (2010). Flawless : Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History. Sterling. ISBN   978-1402797552.
  22. ↑ "Flawless True Story of the Antwerp Diamond Heist and Leonardo Notarbartolo". Scott Andrew Selby. Retrieved Mar 9, 2023.
  23. ↑ Chronicling a grand diamond heist – Boston.com. Articles.boston.com (2010-02-06). Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  24. ↑ Hollywood Presents Antwerp's Untold Diamond Heist. Diamonds.net. Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  25. ↑ J. J. Abrams Snags Writer For Antwerp Heist Movie. Screen Rant (2010-05-20). Retrieved on 2011-06-09.
  26. ↑ "The detective and the diamond money heist" . Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  27. ↑ National Jeweler:SEP 07, 2023:Amazon's Antwerp Diamond heist series to debut in October
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.