- (React) This one is actually probably one of the most
heinous crimes that we've ever covered on React, so I just
wanted to give you a warning. - Oh god. Oh god!
- (React) This one gets a little bit brutal.
- Oh my go-- (beep)
- (narrator) December 10th, 1968... - Tokyo
- (narrator) ...the bank manager of the Nihon Trust Bank was on edge.
Someone had threatened his life and those around him.
Just four days prior, a letter, one of recent many,
was sent to his personal residence... - I definitely haven't heard of this.
- (narrator) ...300 million yen...
- That's a lot of yen. - (narrator) ...or his house
would be blown up with dynamite. - That sounds illegal.
- Police were notified. The bank manager went on
with his duties, sending four of his employees
to the nearby Toshiba factory to make a scheduled drop.
But not long after leaving the bank... - This is crazy.
- (narrator) ...the four heard police sirens approaching.
A police officer screeched to a halt in front of the car
and frantically got off his motorcycle to warn them.
- This is so much. - (narrator) The branch manager's home
had just been blown up. - What?!
- (narrator) ...was now a target, especially those
who had left the bank earlier... - Stop!
- (narrator) ...to carry out... - How scary!
- (narrator) ...in clearly marked company cars.
Their car needed to be searched. - Bro.
- (narrator) The officer got down underneath to check the car,
but before he could do a proper search...
- Oh my god. - (narrator) ...an employee
started noticing smoke and flames... - No.
- This is crazy. - (narrator) ...from the vehicle.
Everyone ran as fast as they could to safety.
They waited and waited... - Oh, no.
- (narrator) ...for the explosion. - Oh my god.
- (narrator) But there was no explosion.
- What the fuck was smoking? - (narrator) They looked back
and realized the company car... - Wait.
- (narrator) ...was gone. - Oh, the cop took it?!
- I knew it. - (narrator) The police officer
was gone. They called the Nihon Trust Bank...
- Was it the police officer? - (narrator) ...to find out
what was going on. - Took the car?
- (narrator) To their relief, the bank manager answered.
He was alive and well. In fact, everything was fine there.
The bank manager's home... - Whoa.
- (narrator) ...was never blown up. This was the moment the perpetrator
had been setting up the past few months.
- Wow. This was so smart. - (narrator) Disguised as a police
officer, he had now gotten away with what was to be the bonus payments
of 523 Toshiba employees. - That's so crazy!
- Oh. Don't steal from the employees, you nerd!
- (narrator) The stolen amount totaled to 300 million yen
or $6 million. - (gasps)
- (narrator) Half a century later, the case remains unsolved.
- Wow. - He just got away with it!
- That's some movie [censored] right there. (laughs)
- Steal from the big banks. Don't steal from the employees,
you ass! - I don't like to give criminals
any credit, but that's smart.
You know what? He can keep it.
- Antwerp diamond heist. - $100 million diamond heist?
- What? - (narrator) ...of the most heavily
secured places in the world. And it was there...
- Why do I feel like I've heard of this?
- (narrator) ...that one gang of thieves pulled off one
of the largest diamond heists in history.
- Wow. - (narrator) And even though most
of the gang, known as the School of Turin,
has since been arrested, the diamonds have never
been retrieved. - What?!
- (narrator) The robbery was led by Leonardo Notarbartolo.
- That's a last name. - You could've done better
on that name. - (narrator) ...before the heist
would take place, Notarbartolo began renting an office
inside of the diamond center to blend in and gain
everybody's trust there. Photography inside of the building
was strictly prohibited. But eventually, he managed
to create a miniature... - Oh, that's so smart.
- (narrator) ...camera that he fixed atop of a pen that poked
out of the top of his shirt pocket. - What?
- Ohh! - (narrator) This enabled him
to walk straight into the vault and take hundreds of photographs
of everything inside and outside... - What?!
- (narrator) ...without ever getting noticed.
He would go on to recruit a team of five, including himself.
And using these photographs, they were able to perfectly
recreate an exact replica of the vault in a warehouse...
- Wait, what? They did all that? Wait, really?!
- (narrator) ...2003, they decided that they were ready
to do it for real. - What is going on?
- Practice makes perfect. - (narrator) They helped themselves
in a frenzy to over $100 million... - The amount of planning.
- (narrator) ...diamonds, gold, jewelry, and various currencies.
While the heist itself was squeaky clean,
their runaway was not. - Oh my lord.
- (narrator) They had been wearing plastic gloves
during the whole heist... - All of that practice.
- (narrator) ...and they didn't leave any DNA evidence
inside of the vaults. - Bruh.
- (narrator) However, they needed... - Uh-oh.
- (narrator) ...to burn those gloves. And on their drive back to Italy,
Notarbartolo pulled off... - That's smart.
- (narrator) ...on the side of... - Uh-oh.
- (narrator) But his friend allegedly, according to him, got nervous
and began throwing stuff carelessly out of the window,
including a half-eaten salami sandwich.
- I'm nervous! - That's what they got them from?
The ham sandwich? - A sandwich did him dirty.
- (narrator) This sandwich was later discovered.
And it provided the DNA evidence that linked Notarbartolo to the crime.
So, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison
for his role in the heist. - That's it?
- (narrator) He has never given up the names of any of his fellow robbers
even to this day. - Wow.
- (narrator) And most of the $100 million that was stolen
is still missing out there somewhere. - I'm sorry, but the stock image
of the man in the jail just consistently rubbing
upon the bars distracted me a lot. It's just...
- He's lucky that was over in Europe, 'cause here, they would've locked
his ass up forever. - Isn't it so crazy
that we, as humans, find these little rocks,
and all of a sudden, they are worth $100 million?
And people are stealing them with year-long plans.
- I'm so blo-- I'm speechless at how smart these people are.
This is crazy, the amount of planning.
- Someone out there is walking around with one
of those diamonds on their hand, and they have no idea it's from
the 2003 Antwerp diamond heist. - (narrator) Meet the Pink Panthers,
the most successful gang of jewelry thieves in history.
The international crime network
contains somewhere between 200... - Another funny name.
(giggles) - (narrator) ...and 250 members
and has committed at least 380 armed robberies since 1999.
- What?! - (narrator) Most of the Pink Panthers
are from the Balkan states... - Of course.
- (narrator) ...crimes span several countries, including Japan,
United Arab Emirates... - Ooh.
- (narrator) ...Switzerland, France... - Wow.
- (narrator) the United States, Australia, the list goes on and on.
- Wow. - Wow.
- (narrator) They've stolen gold and diamonds to the suspected tune
of at least $500 million. The gang is known
for their meticulous planning... - Wow.
- (narrator) ...and their creative disguises...
- What? - (narrator) ...having dressed as
Hawaiian tourists, laborers, and women.
- And women! (laughs) - Wow, they dressed as women!
- Smart. - (narrator) They're also famous
for their ability to make off with millions of dollars' worth
of stolen jewelry in just a minute or two.
Their equally clever getaway methods include the use of bicycles...
- That fast? - (narrator) ...speedboats,
and scooters, just to name a few. - Hm.
- Bro! - (narrator) ...which is good when
you're robbing Harry Winston. - Yeah, good old Harry.
- (narrator) In 2008, the thieves took off
with 80 million euros' worth of jewelry.
- Ugh. - (narrator) One of the most famous
heists by the Pink Panthers was in 2007 when two stolen Audi A8s
crashed through the glass facade of the Wafi Mall.
In all the chaos, the members stole $4 million
worth of jewelry in minutes. - What?!
- Smart! Ugh. - (narrator) ...a member known
only as Novak stated, "We scare people,
but we do not hurt them. We only take expensive things
from rich people." - Right.
- Okay, Robin Hood.
- (narrator) Because in their early days,
they stole a diamond hidden in a jar of face cream,
inspired by the film the Return of the Pink Panther.
They get many of their ideas from movies and detective novels.
- Ahhhh. - (narrator) Although the gang
remains at large, the diligent efforts of law enforcement agencies
in various countries have led to numerous successful arrests
in recent years. - This is just a heist version
of the Scream movies. - It's just so much work
that these people really invest-- this is their career.
This is their 9-to-5. - (React) Mm-hmm.
- What a fun job. High stakes, but has to be fun.
Y'all hiring? I got some decent smarts.
Sierra, tell 'em, I'm smart. - (React) Izzy be nimble!
Izzy be quick! All right, I do wanna warn you,
we have one more. - Okay.
- (React) This one is actually probably one
of the most heinous crimes that we've ever covered on React.
- Oh god. - (React) So I just wanna give you
a warning. - Oh god.
- (React) This one gets a little bit brutal.
- Oh my god!
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
- (narrator) A diamond encrusted cheese slicer
that's worth $28,000 was stolen... - What?
- Not the cheese slicer. - (narrator) ....from the Cheese
Museum in Amsterdam. - Why?
- What? - (narrator) And the best part
of this whole thing is that if you... - Wait, that's a thing?
- (narrator) ...find the world's most expensive cheese slicer
and return it to the museum, your reward is the world's
largest fondue set. (record scratch)
- I gotta go. - (React laughs)
- Wow! - She's beautiful!
- (narrator) ...when it was unveiled in 2012.
- What? - (narrator) It's encrusted with...
- Who cares? - (narrator) It was on loan
to the Cheese Museum by Boska Holland, a housewares company.
- How does the Cheese Museum [censored] up that bad?
- (narrator) ...was on display in a glass showcase with a lock.
And one Saturday, it just went missing.
- Hmm. Interesting. - (narrator) ...too funny to be true,
a spokeswoman for the company actually told the newspaper, quote,
"This is not an April Fool's joke." - (React) This is devastating!
- Oh no! Not the cheese slicer! Oh noooo!
- This is really a thing. You're not joking, right?
- (React laughs) No. This is serious. This is real.
- My thing is, if it's a $28,000 thing,
then why did you just put it in a glass box with a lock?
That's so easy to break. (makes fart noises)
The cheese deserves better. - Someone's very rich grandmother
has that in her drawer right now. She's like, you gotta see this.
Don't tell anyone about it, though.
- (React) Now, according to my research, I was not able
to find out if this was ever actually found,
so according to me, this is still an unsolved case.
And if anyone has more information, please tell us in the comments,
so we can-- - Yeah, please inform us.
We're so desperate to hear about this cheese slicer.
- You want that fondue set?
- (React) Yeah, I really do. - Yeah.
- Thanks for watching this episode. - If you've seen the expensive
cheese slicer, let Sierra know at 412-89-- (laughs)
- Seriously, let's find this thing. - Bye, guys.
- Bye, guys. - Bye!
- Goodbye! - (React) Do you have
the cheese slicer? - Tell me where the cheese is!