From stealing 80 million dollars worth of diamonds, to drilling a tunnel under a bank
vault, here are 8 of the craziest heists of all time!!
8.
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM HEIST
In the early morning hours of March 8, 1990, two men disguised as police officers approached
security guards at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, claiming
to be responding to a call.
The security guards made the grave mistake of buying the imposters’ story and were
attacked and tied up as soon as the men gained entry.
For the next hour, the thieves systematically gathered thirteen valuable pieces of artwork
amounting to around $500 million, in what became known as the largest-ever recorded
theft of private property.
The haul included masterpieces by historically renowned artists such as Degas, Manet, and
Rembrandt.
One of Vermeer’s 34 known works, The Concert, was also stolen.
In the early 2000s, the stolen paintings were offered for sale in Philadelphia, leading
authorities to believe that the thieves were members of a criminal organization with roots
in the Mid-Atlantic states or New England.
No arrests have been made and the paintings were never recovered, despite the efforts
of both the FBI and internationally-launched investigations.
Boston gangster Bobby Donati and a Hartford, Connecticut gangster named Robert Gentile
have both been suspected of involvement in the heist.
But these leads are unlikely to go anywhere, as Donati was murdered the year after the
heist and Gentile denies any knowledge about it.
The empty frames remain on the walls of the museum in honor of the stolen works and as
reminders of their hopeful return.
A reward of $5 million was offered by the museum for information leading to the recovery
of the artwork, and in 2017, this reward was doubled to $10 million.
So if you have any leads, call the FBI!!
7.
THE COLLAR BOMB BANK ROBBERY
One afternoon in August 2003, a pizza deliveryman named Brian Wells entered a PNC Bank in Erie,
Pennsylvania, and calmly handed a note to a teller as he pulled down his t-shirt to
reveal an explosive device around his neck.
The note demanded $250,000 or the place was going to blow!!
He left the bank minutes later with around $9,000 cash.
Right after, he was confronted and handcuffed by state troopers, and admitted to being the
PNC bank robber.
Wells claimed that he’d been attacked by a group of black men, who attached the bomb
to his body and forced him to rob the bank; and he repeatedly warned the troopers that
the bomb would soon explode.
Unsure of what else to do, law enforcement kept a safe distance.
The device began beeping.
Ten seconds later, it detonated, and Wells was killed.
In Wells’s car, investigators found detailed instructions for a macabre scavenger hunt
that would supposedly lead him to the keys and combination codes for unlocking the bomb.
It was later determined, however, that Wells would’ve never had enough time to follow
the instructions and release the device’s four locks before it exploded.
Investigators were baffled by the bizarre tragedy.
A month later, a local man named William Rothstein told police about a dead body in his freezer.
The body belonged to a man named James Roden, who Rothstein claimed was killed by his ex-fiance,
Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong.
When Diehl-Armstrong was arrested for the seemingly unrelated crime, she implicated
both herself and Rothstein in what became known as “the collar bomb” heist.
A fellow inmate later reported that Diehl-Armstrong had confessed to murdering Roden because he
knew about the collar bomb plot and threatened to turn her in.
She had also confessed that Rothstein had helped her build the bomb and that her motives
were purely financial.
On the day of the heist, Diehl-Armstrong and a group of co-conspirators lured Wells to
a remote location by ordering a pizza.
Wells tried to escape when he realized he was in danger but was outnumbered by the criminals
- and, well, we know what happened next.
It was later determined that Wells was likely involved in the initial planning stages of
the heist, but became an unwilling participant somewhere along the line.
His family adamantly denies this allegation.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this truly strange crime, but
I have more crazy heists to tell you about.
For a more in-depth look, check out the the Netflix docuseries “Evil Genius.”
And now for one of the biggest mysteries ever, but first if you are new here WELCOME!
And be sure to subscribe, we’d love to have you around here!!
6.
D.B.
COOPER
On November 24, 1971, a mysterious man in a business suit, identifying himself as Dan
Cooper, approached the Northwest Orient counter at Portland International Airport and paid
cash for a one-way flight ticket to Seattle.
Shortly after takeoff, he handed a note to flight attendant Florence Schaffner, who was
seated in a nearby jumpseat.
The note stated that the man had a bomb in his briefcase.
He opened his briefcase just wide enough for her to see eight red cylinders with some wires
attached to them.
Cooper then demanded $200,000 cash, four parachutes, and the immediate refueling of the aircraft
upon its arrival to Seattle.
Schaffner informed the cockpit crew of the ransom demands and pilot William Scott contacted
air traffic control at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, who then reached out to local and
federal authorities.
For the next two hours, while the 36 other passengers were told that the flight was delayed
due to a “minor mechanical difficulty,” police and FBI prepared the parachutes and
ransom money as the aircraft circled around Puget Sound.
Schaffner later described the hijacker’s demeanor as polite and calm.
Another flight attendant, Tina Mucklow, gave a similar report, stating: “He seemed rather
nice.
He was never cruel or nasty.
He was thoughtful and calm all the time.”
When the ransom and parachutes were finally delivered, the passengers and all but four
crew members were removed from the plane.
Cooper instructed the cockpit crew to fly to Mexico City at an altitude of 10,000 feet
and at the minimum possible speed of 185 miles per hour, and to keep the cabin unpressurized
and the landing gear deployed.
They agreed on Reno, Nevada as a refueling point.
At 7:40 PM, the plane took off with four employees aboard, who were instructed by Cooper to remain
in the cockpit.
Meanwhile, five military planes trailed the aircraft.
Shortly after 8:00 PM, as the plane was en route to Reno, Cooper opened the plane’s
rear entrance and jumped out.
His departure was not witnessed by anyone.
Subsequent ground and submarine searches repeatedly led to dead ends.
The serial numbers on the ransom money were published several times but turned up no useful
leads.
Numerous theories about Cooper’s identity and whereabouts emerged, but none were deemed
credible.
The FBI closed the case in 2016, and it will only be reopened if physical evidence related
to the case is produced.
Earlier this year, 84-year-old author Carl Laurin published a memoir about a longtime
friend whom he claims was the real D.B.
Cooper - a former military paratrooper and intelligence operative named Walter R. Reca.
But Reca died in 2014, and because the case is closed and Laurin failed to produce physical
evidence tied to it, the claim remains uninvestigated.
5.
VASTBERGA HELICOPTER ROBBERY
Swedish police were confronted with the country’s first-ever helicopter robbery in September
2009, when a stolen Bell 206, occupied by a crew of three or four bandits, landed atop
a cash depot building.
The thieves used sledgehammers to break through a reinforced glass window and used explosives
to blow through security doors.
They raided the cash vaults and loaded an unknown amount of money into the helicopter.
Police were on the scene shortly after the thieves arrived, but due to the suspected
use of submachine guns, they didn’t intervene.
Another ten minutes later, the helicopter left the scene with the robbers and loot aboard.
The sophistication of the Vastberga Helicopter Robbery isn’t limited to the use of a stolen
helicopter.
Before the robbery, the roads around the building were outfitted with caltrops - anti-personnel
devices containing sharp nails - to prevent police cars from accessing the vicinity; and
decoy bombs were placed at a nearby police helicopter base.
The abandoned helicopter was found hours later in a forest north of Stockholm.
Although the thieves executed the robbery with precision and skill that most criminals
are incapable of, they were apparently less crafty when it came to concealing their identities.
Seven men between the ages of 21 and 36 were quickly arrested in connection with the crime
and were given sentences ranging from one to seven years’ imprisonment.
4.
THE PINK PANTHER ROBBERIES
Meet the Pink Panthers, the most successful gang of jewelry thieves in history.
The international crime network contains somewhere between 200 and 250 members and has committed
at least 380 armed robberies since 1999.
Most of the Pink Panthers are from the Balkan states and their crimes span several countries,
including Japan, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, France, the United States, Australia - the
list goes on.
Over the years, they’ve stolen gold and diamonds to the suspected tune of at least
$500 million.
The gang is known for their meticulous planning and their creative disguises, having dressed
as Hawaiian tourists, laborers, and women.
They are very creative!
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, speedboats, and scooters
- just to name a few.
Which is good when you are robbing Harry Winston!
In 2008, the thieves took off with 80 million Euros worth of jewelry.
People tend to glamorize organized crime, and the Pink Panthers are no exception.
One criminologist even referred to their crimes as “artistry.”
One of the most famous heists by the Pink Panther was in 2007, when 2 stolen Audi A8’s
crashed through the glass facade of the Wafi Mall.
In all the chaos the member stole $4 million dollar’s worth of jewelry in minutes!
In a 2010 interview with The Guardian’s Havana Marking, a member known only as Novak
stated: "We scare people but we do not hurt them.
We only take expensive things from rich people.”
Why are they called the Pink Panthers you ask?
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!
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.
3.
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
In August 1963, under the leadership of an infamous burglar named Bruce Reynolds, a group
of 15 armed robbers wearing ski masks, helmets, and gloves brought the Glasgow-London Royal
Mail Train to a halt by tampering with a nearby train signal.
The train’s engineer suffered a blow to the head.
The fireman, who was also captured, was unharmed.
The bandits had received sensitive schedule and train cargo information from an insider,
leading to the theft of £2.6 million - the modern-day equivalent of £48m.
Normally the mail train was not carrying that much money, but this was right after a bank
holiday weekend.
The majority of the passengers never even knew what happened.
They loaded the money into trucks and transported it to a farm hideaway provided by another
anonymous accomplice.
The inside man who leaked the information was a mystery for many years, but recently
it was revealed that it was Patrick McKenna, a post office worker from Belfast.
Using the stolen cash, the thieves played a game of Monopoly.
Because, what else are you supposed to do when you are waiting for things to cool down??
Then, they hired six men to burn the farmhouse down, but the job was poorly done, and police
uncovered an abundance of fingerprints at the scene.
Thanks to the sloppy work of their hired help, twelve of the bandits were arrested and sent
to prison.
2.
FRENCH BANK VAULT TUNNELERS
In Paris in 2010, a gang of thieves broke into a vault of a Credit Lyonnais bank branch,
using pickaxes and flamethrowers to drill through the 32-inch-thick wall from a neighboring
cellar.
The bank’s security guard was held hostage for nine hours as they rummaged through 200
safe deposit boxes.
Before fleeing, the bandits freed the guard and set fire to the vault in an effort to
cover their tracks.
The total of the stolen cash and valuables was estimated at £22million, but the victims’
losses weren’t just monetary.
One customer, Christian Julien, had used his box to store his wife’s rare African jewels,
which possessed a great deal of sentimental value.
Another victim, Michel Barnich, had his two boxes emptied of his family’s prized gems.
He blamed the heist at least partially on the bank’s alleged “insufficient security.”
Although the incident bore uncanny resemblances to several similar robberies that occurred
throughout France that year, some of which were foiled by alarms, the criminals were
never caught.
1.
BANCO CENTRAL ROBBERY
This next heist sounds like something straight out of a movie and even earned a Guinness
Book of World Records title.
In 2005, a group of men posing as a landscaping company rented a property a few blocks from
the Banco Central in Fortaleza, Brazil.
They spent the next three months patiently digging a 256-foot-long underground tunnel
from their office to the bank.
Thanks to a tip from a bank employee, they broke through nearly four feet of steel-reinforced
concrete and into the bank’s vault without triggering any sensors or alarms.
They stole five containers, filled with over $70 million worth of reals and weighing over
7,000 pounds.
And they almost got away with it.
The discovery of a fingerprint at the scene, along with red flags raised by the cash purchase
of ten cars the next day by one of the men, led police to the suspects.
Around three dozen men were ultimately accused of being involved, and while a few escaped
unscathed, 26 of them ended up in jail.
However, only $8 million of the stolen funds were ever recovered.
Probably because they spent it so fast!!
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