The Backstory: Simplicity and the Greatest Jewel Heists

Watching TV shows or movies, you'd think big jewelry heists depend on all sorts of high-tech gadgets. But it turns out, some of the biggest thefts in history actually relied on one thing: simplicity. But a simple mistake, like a half-eaten sandwich, can foil the perfect plan.

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Speaker 1: So when you set out to do something great, i mean,

Speaker 1: really noteworthy, part of the goal is to get noticed,

Speaker 1: right well not. In these two cases, both involved multimillion

Speaker 1: dollar jewelry heists. The goal in the first was to

Speaker 1: make sure nobody paid attention, so one of the world's

Speaker 1: greatest jewel thefts went completely unnoticed until the culprits made

Speaker 1: one stupid mistake. And the second heist was a textbook

Speaker 1: lesson in the art of simplicity. I'm Patty Steele, covering

Speaker 1: all your bases. That's next on the backstory. We're back

Speaker 1: with a backstory. There's something about stories that center on

Speaker 1: really high end jewel thefts that are so intriguing. Not

Speaker 1: that we're rooting for the bad guys, but it's fascinating

Speaker 1: to see how these thieves plan a heist and what

Speaker 1: little details can lead to the whole nefarious plan working

Speaker 1: perfectly or falling apart. For centuries, Antwerp, Belgium, has been

Speaker 1: the diamond capital of the world. In fact, about eighty

Speaker 1: percent of the world's rough diamonds passed through the city's

Speaker 1: diamond district. Every single day. Billions of dollars in gems

Speaker 1: are traded in just a few square blocks, so you

Speaker 1: can imagine that security is world class, or at least

Speaker 1: it should be. In the middle of it all is

Speaker 1: the Antwerp Diamond Center. It's mid February now in two

Speaker 1: thousand and three, and the Antwerp Diamond heist is called

Speaker 1: by some the greatest jewel theft in history. Here's what

Speaker 1: makes it so fascinating. The Diamond Center's underground vault wasn't

Speaker 1: simply protected by one lock or one alarm. It was

Speaker 1: protected by layer upon layer of security, a massive steel door,

Speaker 1: electronic combination locks. It had infrared motion detectors and magnetic

Speaker 1: field sensors. There were heat and light sensors as well

Speaker 1: as vibration detectors, and of course there were closed circuit

Speaker 1: cameras everywhere and highly trained guards. It was designed with

Speaker 1: one philosophy. If one system failed, another would catch the intruder,

Speaker 1: sort of like the Titanic's multiple waterproof compartments. But we

Speaker 1: all know how that ended, right. The people who built

Speaker 1: this wall believed it was virtually impossible to rob, and

Speaker 1: somebody took that as a challenge. The mastermind is an

Speaker 1: Italian career criminal named Leonardo Notdre Bartolo, Unlike the thieves

Speaker 1: on TV or in the movies, Notar Bartolo isn't relying

Speaker 1: on gadgets or crazy stunts. He's all about patients, years

Speaker 1: of patients. He had rented office space inside the Diamond

Speaker 1: Center itself. He looked like a legitimate diamond merchant. He

Speaker 1: dressed professionally, built relationships, learned routines, watched security procedures. He

Speaker 1: became part of the building. The guards knew him, the

Speaker 1: employees recognized him. This guy wasn't breaking in, he was blend.

Speaker 1: At the same time, his team carefully studied every system

Speaker 1: meant to protect the vault. The infrared sensors. They learned

Speaker 1: how they worked. The magnetic alarms. They figured out how

Speaker 1: to neutralize them. They mapped the locations of the motion detectors.

Speaker 1: They even understood the weaknesses of the cameras. The thieves

Speaker 1: sprayed hairspray on some of the optical sensors, temporarily blurring

Speaker 1: their ability to detect movement without triggering an alarm. These

Speaker 1: guys made sure every move was rehearsed. They knew every

Speaker 1: detail mattered, because there would be no second chance. On

Speaker 1: the weekend of February fifteenth and sixteenth, two thousand and three.

Speaker 1: They made their move, entering the building after business hours.

Speaker 1: Working calmly and methodically, they defeat one security system after another.

Speaker 1: The vault holds around one hundred and ninety safety deposit

Speaker 1: boxes belonging to different diamond dealers, and the thieves opened

Speaker 1: well over one hundred of them. There are loose diamonds, gold, jewelry, gemstones, cash,

Speaker 1: and confidential documents. Estimates of the value of the hall

Speaker 1: ranged from one hundred million dollars on Up to this day,

Speaker 1: no one knows the true total. What makes the robbery

Speaker 1: remarkable isn't just what they stole, it's how quietly they left.

Speaker 1: The vault door was closed, nothing looked unusual. Business resumed

Speaker 1: as normal. It wasn't until later Monday morning, when dealers

Speaker 1: opened their deposit boxes that the truth emerged. Scores of

Speaker 1: boxes had been emptied. Panics spread through Antwerp's diamond district.

Speaker 1: Police were freaked out. How could thieves beat every security

Speaker 1: measure in the safest vault on earth? Was it an insider,

Speaker 1: had somebody from the security company been in on it?

Speaker 1: Or had the impossible happened. For a while, it looked

Speaker 1: as though the criminals had committed the perfect crime, so

Speaker 1: what happened? It was one careless mistake. After leaving Antwerp,

Speaker 1: somebody dump bags of trash in the nearby woods. Inside

Speaker 1: were sandwiches, plastic wrapping, tape, gloves, some light, security equipment,

Speaker 1: and other discarded materials from the robbery. The biggest fine

Speaker 1: was one half eaten sandwich. Investigators recovered DNA that ultimately

Speaker 1: led them back to Leonardo Notre Bartolo. He was arrested

Speaker 1: and several members of the gang simply disappeared, but most

Speaker 1: of the stolen fortune was never recovered. Even after its conviction,

Speaker 1: Notre Bartolo claimed the robbery was part of an insurance

Speaker 1: fraud arranged by diamond dealers themselves, but that claim was

Speaker 1: never substantiated. Whether true or false, it has another layer

Speaker 1: of mystery. He was released from prison after just six years.

Speaker 1: Notre Bartolo was nabbed by cops in two thousand and

Speaker 1: nine carrying five thousand carrots of cut and uncut diamonds,

Speaker 1: but he claimed they were industrial grade. They were confiscated,

Speaker 1: but he wasn't arrested. He now lives in on the

Speaker 1: countryside in northern Italy and sells wood pellets. For fireplaces.

Speaker 1: But the case is fascinating because it demonstrates an uncomfortable truth.

Speaker 1: The strongest security systems in the world can still be

Speaker 1: defeated with patience, observation, preparation, and human psychology. Then we

Speaker 1: have the Carlton Hotel Jewelry Highs that took place thirteen

Speaker 1: years ago this month, ironically in the same hotel and

Speaker 1: cann France, where the nineteen fifty five Hitchcock movie To

Speaker 1: Catch a Thief Woods film. It starred Grace Kelly and

Speaker 1: Carrie Grant, who played a high end jewel thief. Definitely

Speaker 1: a case of life imitating art. The Carlton Heis takes

Speaker 1: place on July twenty eighth, twenty thirteen, and its beauty

Speaker 1: is in its absolute simplicity. Days earlier, two separate prison

Speaker 1: breakouts freed three key members of the Pink Panthers gang,

Speaker 1: which had stolen more than four hundred million dollars in

Speaker 1: jewels over the past twenty years. Early in the morning

Speaker 1: before the hotel's jewelry s lawn opens to the public,

Speaker 1: a lone gunman wearing a baseball cap and a scarf

Speaker 1: enters the Carlton Hotel during a leveev diamond exhibition by

Speaker 1: Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. It's likely the thief got in

Speaker 1: through unlocked glass doors that opened onto the street. He

Speaker 1: immediately pulls a pistol and starts filling a briefcase with

Speaker 1: diamonds that are in bags sitting on the counter waiting

Speaker 1: to be placed in the display cases. There's no confrontation

Speaker 1: or gunfire. The guy just grabs the bags and escapes

Speaker 1: through a window. He does trip as he leaps out,

Speaker 1: scattering some diamonds onto the street, but he quickly recovers

Speaker 1: and vanishes through an exit that leads directly to a

Speaker 1: getaway route. The entire robbery is over in approximately thirty seconds.

Speaker 1: French authorities call the caper absolutely incredible. The Carlton heist

Speaker 1: has never been solved, and none of the diamonds recovered.

Speaker 1: The takeaway here professional thieves favors speed and simplicity. That

Speaker 1: thirty second heist netted the thief about one hundred and

Speaker 1: thirty six million dollars in jewels. Both of these cases

Speaker 1: rely on something pretty simple. The themes understood that every

Speaker 1: security system is ultimately designed, maintained and operated by people,

Speaker 1: and people are predictable and fallible that may have been

Speaker 1: the greatest weakness of all. More than two decades later,

Speaker 1: the Antwerp Diamond Heist and the Carlton Heist are among

Speaker 1: history's boldest unresolved thefts. Millions of dollars in gems vanished.

Speaker 1: Most have never resurfaced. It could be that somewhere may

Speaker 1: be tucked away in private collections, or even recut into

Speaker 1: unrecognizable stones. Pieces of those legendary treasures may still exist.

Speaker 1: And that's what makes this story so enduring, not just

Speaker 1: because of what was stolen, but because, for a few

Speaker 1: extraordinary moments, what should be among the world's most secure

Speaker 1: repositories rules were quietly emptied without confrontation, and either nobody

Speaker 1: noticed or they simply had no idea how the thief

Speaker 1: managed to vanish into thin air. Hope you're enjoying The

Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review and follow

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Speaker 1: Also feel free to DM me if you have a

Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty

Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.

Speaker 1: The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the

Speaker 1: Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is

Speaker 1: Mike Pieseglia. Our writer is Jake Kushner. New episodes are

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the back Story with Patty Steele,

Speaker 1: the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.