Although these days high profile crimes tend to involve computers and networks more than
rifles and bags of cash, many of the biggest heists in history were pulled off without
any sophisticated technology. All that was required was a sufficient amount of planning
and of course...greed. I'm Mike with List25 and These are the 25 Biggest Robberies, Raids,
And Heists Ever.
25. Lufthansa Heist
On December 11, 1978, Jimmy Burke, an Irish American gangster who was part of the Lucchese
crime family in New York City got permission from the Gambino crime family (who controlled
most of JFK airport) to carry out a heist. That morning, before the sun came up, gunmen
from both families entered building 261 and made off with $6 million. It was much more
money than anyone expected, though, and led to a lot of infighting after the robbery.
24. The Great Train Robbery
In August 1963, Bruce Reynolds and his gang boarded a train at Bridego Railway Bridge
in Buckinghamshire, England, andÂ made off with Â£2.6 million or the equivalent ofÂ
Â£50 million today. Although it was an enormous lump of cash, and most of the robbers fled
the country, their luck eventually ran dry and they were all caught.
23. Dunbar Armored Facility Robbery
The largest cash robbery to ever take place in the United States, this inside job was
orchestrated by Allen Pace, one of the employees, onÂ September 12, 1997Â at the Dunbar Armored
car facility in Los Angeles, California. The thieves made of with about $18 million. They
were eventually caught and Allen received 20 years in prison.
22. Drumlanrig Castle Robbery
On August 27, 2003, four men acting as tourists stole a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, Madonna
of the Yarnwinder, from the Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland using nothing more than an axe.
Valued at around $40 million, it was recovered not long ago.
21. Northern Bank Robbery
Smart planning, some hostage-taking, and a lot of guts were needed in order to pull off
this heist in Belfast, Ireland, that amounted to over $50 million. The night before the
crime, two officials of the Northern Bank were visited by the robbers acting as policemen
who then proceeded to hold both of their families hostage. The officials obviously gave the
thieves the access they wanted. The case still remains unsolved.
20. Cellini Salt Cellar Robbery
The Cellini Salt Cellar, part-enamelled gold table sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini, was
stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in May 2003. Surprising enough, however,
the work of art was recovered in Zwettl, Austria buried in the ground not long after. Eventually,
Robert Mang, a resident of Vienna, turned himself in.
19. The Graff Diamonds Robbery
The Graff Diamonds robbery took place on August 6th, 2009, when two men posing as customers
entered the premises of Graff Diamonds in New Bond Street, London and stole jewelry
worth nearly Â£40 million (US$65 million). The robbers used the services of a professional
make-up artist to alter their hair by using wigs, their skin tones and their features
using latex prosthetics. The artist took four hours to apply the disguises, having been
told that it was for a music video. Although the robbers were all eventually caught, as
of yet none of the stolen jewels have been recovered.
18. Brinkâ€™s-MAT Robbery
The Brinkâ€™s-MAT robbery occurred on November 26th,Â 1983, when six robbers broke
into the Brinkâ€™s-MAT warehouse at Heathrow Airport, London. At the time, it was described
as â€œthe crime of the century." The gang gained entry to the warehouse from security
guard Anthony Black. The robbers thought they were going to steal Â£3 million in cash.
However, when they arrived, they found three tonnes of gold bullion and stole Â£26 million
worth of gold, diamonds,Â and cash. Once inside, they poured petrol over staff and
threatened them with a lit match if they did not reveal the combination numbers of the
vault. Most of the three tonnes of stolen gold has never been recovered, and four of
the robbers were never convicted. According to the BBC, some have claimed that anyone
wearing gold jewelry bought in the UK after 1983 is probably wearing Brinkâ€™s-MAT.
17. The Securitas Depot Robbery
The Securitas depot robbery was the largest cash robbery in British history. It took place
on the evening of February 21st, 2006, from 18:30 GMT until the early hours of February
22nd, 2006. Several men abducted and threatened the family of the manager, tied up fourteen
staff members and stole Â£53,116,760 in bank notes from a Securitas Cash Management
depot in Vale Road, Tonbridge, Kent. All the robbers were eventually caught and convicted.
16. Carlton Hotel Robbery
The Guinness Book of World Records says the worldâ€™s biggest jewelry robbery took
place in August 1994, when three thieves burst into the most famous Carlton Hotel in Cannes.
Firing machine guns, they robbed the Carltonâ€™s jewelry store just as it was being closed.
They made off with Â£30m in jewels. It was later discovered that the rounds they had
been firing were in fact blanks.
15. Banco Central Burglary at Fortaleza
A gang of robbers found their way inside the Banco Central vault, thanks to a rented house
that let them enter through a tunnel dug underground. As expected of a high-profile bank in Brazil,
the vault was equipped with alarms and various sensors, which were successfully disarmed.
Over five containers of 50 Real Notes were stolen, amounting to over an estimated $95
million.
14. Antwerp Diamond Heist
Leonardo Notarbartolo, along with several others, planned to rob the Antwerp Diamond
Center in Belgium on February 16, 2003. Since the center is known for having so many diamonds
within its walls, the thieves apparently started planning three years before their heist. They
rented an office building where Notarbartolo poised as a diamond merchant to establish
ties with the company and its employees. Known to be the â€œheist of the century,â€
the Italian thief and his crew were able to pull of a $100 million diamond heist in spite
of Doppler radar, a magnetic field, a seismic sensor, infrared sensors, and even layers
of security to thwart them. Even to this day, officials are still puzzled as to how they
did it.
13. Heist at Harryâ€™s
Back on December 5, 2008, a few hours before closing time, one man and three women came
into the Harry Winston Jewelers to look at some products. However, what seemed to be
simple window-shopping soon turned into a $108 million heist when the three â€œladiesâ€
ripped off their wigs and the four men proceeded with their robbery.
12. Schiphol Airport Robbery
Before the heist in February 25, 2005, four men disguised themselves as KLM Royal Dutch
Airline employees by stealing uniforms and a cargo truck to avoid suspicion. On the day
of the heist, they drove to a KLM truck that had just hauled in uncut diamonds due to be
delivered to Antwerp. With almost no hiccups whatsoever, they drove away with $118 million
and pulled of the largest diamond heist in history.
11. British Bank of the Middle East Raid
In January 1976, Â£25 million (an extortionate amount in those days) was stolen from the
Beirut branch of The British Bank of the Middle East by a group associated with the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO). To get to the loot stores in the bank, a PLO-affiliated
group blasted through the wall of a Catholic church next door to the bank. Over a two-day
period, the robbers loaded trucks with money, gold, jewels, and stocks and bonds. The thieves
were never caught.
10. E.G. BÃ¼hrle Art Museum Robbery
On February 11, 2008, three men in ski masks forced themselves into the E.G. BÃ¼hrle
Art Museum in Zurich and took with them four different paintings that were valued at nearly
$139 million. All of them were genuine 18th century art that included the works of Cezanne,
Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh. They were never recovered.
9. Knightsbridge Security Deposit Robbery
Known to be a famous criminal in Italy, Valerio Viccei moved from his homeland to the UK in
order to continue his devious activities along with one of his accomplices. Their target,
Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre was known to have famous and popular clients and patrons.
He planned on being a customer there so that he could rent a safe deposit box in order
to gain access. On July 27, 1987, Valerio and his companions subdued the manager and
employees. The bank was closed and Viccei called for backup to ransack as much cash
as he could, amounting to Â£60 million. He could have gotten away clean to Latin America
if he did not return to get his beloved Ferrari.
8. United California Bank Robbery
The United California Bank burglary took place on March 24th, 1972, when the safe deposit
vault at United California Bank in Laguna Niguel, California, was broken into and looted
by professional burglars led by Amil Dinsio. While the burglary itself was executed perfectly,
the thieves made the mistake of perpetrating a similar crime back in Ohio a few months
later which eventually led to their arrest.
7. Millennium Dome Raid
The Millennium Dome raid was an attempted robbery of the Millennium Domeâ€™s diamond
exhibition in Greenwich, South East London occurring on November 7, 2000. A local gang
including Lee Wenham, Raymond Betson, and William Cockram had planned to ram-raid the
De Beers diamond exhibition, which was being held in the dome at the time, and then escape
via the Thames in a speedboat. The attempted robbery was foiled by the Flying Squad of
the Metropolitan Police Service, who already had the gang members under surveillance for
their suspected roles in a number of unsuccessful armored vehicle robberies which had taken
place.
6. Dar Es Salaam Bank Robbery
On the morning of July 13, 2007, employees at the Dar Es Salaam Bank in Baghdad were
surprised to see that the bank had been ransacked and completely laid bare. Three security guards
made off with over $282 million from its vaults. Following the raid, officials were relatively
quiet and unwilling to answer questions so not much more is known about the heist except
that the guards must have had connections to local militias in order to get the loot
past so many checkpoints.
5. SMBC London Robbery
A network of offshore accounts had been prepared, passwords and matching account details secretly
intercepted. Using the stolen information, a team of foreign hackers smuggled into the
bank and dispatched payment orders to every corner of the globe. Had the international
gang succeeded in siphoning Â£229 million out of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
(SMBC), they would have pulled off the largest robbery in British criminal history. The elaborate
operation almost outwitted security systems on the Swift (Society For Worldwide Interbank
Financial Telecommunication) payments mechanism. But, unfortunately for the gang, some of the
electronic forms had been filled in incorrectly.
4. Gardner Museum Robbery
In the early morning hours of March 18th, 1990 â€“ as the city was preoccupied
with Saint Patrickâ€™s Day celebrations â€“ a pair of thieves disguised themselves
as Boston police officers, gained entry to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and stole
thirteen works of art. The stolen artworks have not yet been returned to the museum.
However, the investigation remains an open, active case and leads are investigated by
the museum and the FBI. An offer of a reward from the Gardner Museum of up to $5 million
for information leading to the recovery of the stolen artwork remains open.
3. City Bonds Robbery
At 9:30 am on 2 May 1990, John Goddard, a 58-year-old messenger with money broker SheppardsÂ
was mugged at knifepoint on a quiet side street in the City of London. Mr Goddard was taking
Bank of England Treasury bills and certificates of deposit from banks and building societies.
The bonds were in bearer form and as good as cash to anyone holding them. The mugger
escaped with 301 Treasury bills and certificates of deposit, mostly for Â£1 million each.
City of London police and the FBI infiltrated the gang involved in laundering the bonds.
The police recovered all but two of the 301 bonds thanks to an informant.
2. Central Bank of Iraq Robbery
On the day before the bombing of Iraq by coalition forces on March 19, 2003, Saddam Hussein sent
his son, Qusay, to make a withdrawal from the Central Bank of Iraq with the help of
a note, thinking that he owned the bank. The process was simple, and bank personnel consented
to the request because of fear. The 5-hour withdrawal period summed over $100 bills that
amounted to over $1 billion.
1. Stephane Breitwieser
Although for some time Saddamâ€™s scheme was one of the largest heists in history,
he was toppled by a waiter named Stephane Breitwieser, a certified art collector and
now thief. Although he is not known for any single heist (ok, so direct comparisons to
Saddam may not be so relevant), after he began stealing paintings and other works of art
in March 1995, he successfully made off with over 239 pieces from over 172 museums worldwide,
gaining a total of over $1.2 billion before being caught in November of 2011.
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