Allan J. Pinkerton was a Scottish-American cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the United States and his claim to have foiled a plot in 1861 to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, he provided the Union Army – specifically General George B. McClellan of the Army of the Potomac – with military intelligence, including extremely inaccurate enemy troop strength numbers. After the war, his agents played a significant role as strikebreakers – in particular during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 – a role that Pinkerton men would continue to play after the death of their founder.
Adam Worth was a crime boss and fraudster. His career in crime, stretching from the United States to Europe and southern Africa, included the infamous theft of Gainsborough's celebrated Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, which he retained for 25 years. In London, he lived as a respected member of high society under the alias Henry Judson Raymond. Scotland Yard Detective Robert Anderson nicknamed him "the Napoleon of the criminal world" based on his short stature. He is widely considered the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional criminal mastermind James Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes series.
The Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery took place on 12 July 1987 in Cheval Place, Knightsbridge, England, part of the City of Westminster in London. This robbery, the Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza, and the $900 million stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq in 2003 are said to be the largest bank robberies in history.
Lillo Brancato, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Calogero “C” Anello in Robert De Niro's 1993 directorial debut, A Bronx Tale. He also portrayed Matthew Bevilaqua, a young aspiring mobster on The Sopranos.
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.
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.
Sophie Lyons was an American criminal and one of the country's most notorious female thieves, pickpockets, shoplifters, and confidence women during the mid-to-late 19th century. She and her husbands Ned Lyons, Jim Brady and Billy Burke were among the most sought-after career criminals in the U.S. and Canada, being wanted in several major cities including New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit and Montreal from the 1860s until the turn of the 20th century.
James "Wild Jimmy" Haggerty was an American criminal and well-known underworld mob figure in Philadelphia and later in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. Jimmy Haggerty was the leader of the Schuylkill Rangers, a predominantly Irish-American street gang, which terrorized the South Philadelphia waterfront, specifically its local wharves and coal yards, for over 25 years.
Salvatore Antonio "Sal" Naturile, also known as Donald Matterson was an American bank robber whose attempted robbery of a Chase Manhattan bank branch in Brooklyn, along with John Wojtowicz, in August 1972, inspired the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon. In the film he is portrayed by actor John Cazale.
George Samuel Dougherty was an American law enforcement officer, private detective and writer. He was considered one of the leading detectives in the United States, first for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and then as a private investigator. Dougherty was responsible for the capture of many notorious criminals during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also introduced the modern-day fingerprinting to the police force.
Albert Lawrence Bates was an American bank robber and burglar during the 1920s and 1930s. He used a number of different aliases during his criminal career including George Davis, George Harris and J.B. King. He was the longtime partner of George "Machine Gun" Kelly. He also took part in the kidnapping of oil magnate Charles Urschel in July 1933.
Patrick Conway, commonly known by his alias Patsy or Patsy Conroy, was an American burglar and river pirate. He was the founder and leader of the Patsy Conroy Gang, a gang of river pirates active on the New York waterfront in the old Fourth Ward and Corlears' Hook districts during the post-American Civil War era.
The Patsey Conroy Gang or Patsy Conroys were a group of river pirates active along the New York City waterfront of the old Fourth Ward during the post-American Civil War era. For nearly twenty years the Patsy Conroys dominated the area of Corlears' Hook and were one of the last major waterfront gangs to remain in the district prior to the formation of the George Gastlin's Steamboat Squad of New York City Police Department. The Patsey Conroy Gang abruptly disappeared when their leaders Patsy Conroy, Larry Griffin and Denny Brady were imprisoned in 1874.
William O'Brien, better known as Billy Porter but also known by the alias William or Billy Morton, was an American burglar and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. He and partner Johnny Irving were longtime members of the Dutch Mob along with Little Freddie and Michael "Sheeny Mike" Kurtz. He was present during the 1883 gunfight at Shang Draper's saloon in which Irving was shot and killed by rival John "Johnny the Mick" Walsh. O'Brien then killed Walsh and was himself gunned down by Shang Draper. Although surviving his wounds, he was tried for, and acquitted of, Walsh's death.
James "Old Jimmy" Hope was a 19th-century American burglar, bank robber and underworld figure in Philadelphia and later New York City. He was considered one of the most successful and sought after bank burglars in the United States during his lifetime as well as a skilled escape artist for his repeated breakouts from Auburn State Prison in New York.
Michael Mahoney, better known as Wreck Donovan or simply The Wreck, was a nineteenth-century American sneak thief, river pirate and underworld figure in New York City. He was a well-known criminal for hire on the New York waterfront during the post-American Civil War era and later became a member of Patsy Conroy Gang.
The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the "heist of the century", 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. 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.
In April 2015, an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, owned by Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd., was burgled.
The Bonded Vault heist was the August 1975 robbery of the Bonded Vault Company, a commercial safe-deposit business occupying a vault inside Hudson Fur Storage in Providence, Rhode Island. It served as the unofficial "bank" used by the Patriarca crime family and associates. The stolen valuables were worth about $30 million. According to The Providence Journal, it was among the biggest heists in US history and resulted in the longest and costliest criminal trial in Rhode Island history.
King of Thieves is a 2018 British heist film directed by James Marsh. The film is based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of 2015, and stars Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Charlie Cox, Jim Broadbent, Paul Whitehouse and Ray Winstone.
