Some Of The Most Notorious Heists In Human History
It’s easy to think that bank heists, train robberies, and large-scale theft is something that only exists in movies. People plotting elaborate escapes for years, drilling through high-security vaults, and hi-jacking airplanes seem like nothing short of a James Bond film. Yet, believe it or not, things like this do happen.
And when they do happen, they go down in history as some of the most notorious heists. Some of these criminals were caught, and other mysteries remain unsolved to this day. Keep reading to find out more!
The Banco Central Burglary Case Is Still Open
On Saturday, August 6, 2005, a group of burglars tunneled 256 feet under the city into the vault of the Banco Central branch located in Fortazela, Brazil. Once reaching the vault, they removed five containers of uninsured 50-real notes, an amount estimated to be around $71.6 million and weighing 3.5 tons. The heist remained undiscovered and the bank was open for business the next day.
Banco Central is the central bank for Brazil and is responsible for the money supply for the country. Since the bills were not numbered subsequently, they were impossible to trace. After an investigation, there were 25 people believed to have been involved. Eight of the suspects were arrested but the accused leader of the heist, Luis Fernando Ribeiro, was killed by kidnappers. Arrests, recovery of the money, as well as kidnapping and murder of the perpetrators has been ongoing with more than $50 million of the money still unaccounted for.
The Baker Street Robbery
In 1971, a group of criminals rented a leather goods store in the vicinity of Lloyd’s Bank on Baker Street in London. On September 11, they broke into the bank after having tunneled 50 feet from the leather goods store into the vault. Inside of the vault, the burglars stole millions of dollars worth of jewelry, valuables and cold hard cash from the safety deposit boxes.
During the heist, a local radio officer caught the transmissions of the robbers from the vault going to the leather shop. When he notified the police, they scrambled to 750 banks in the area and failed to catch the thieves. Upon opening the vault, they found a message that said: “Let’s see how Sherlock Holmes solves this one.”
The Lufthansa Heist Kicked Off A 35-Year Investigation
The Lufthansa Heist occurred at the John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. The heist was planned by Jimmy Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime family and was executed by a small group of men. The gang was tipped off by an airport employee that was in debt about a shipment of untraceable money coming into the airport via Lufthansa Airlines.
Using inside information, the group studied the airport layout, guard names, and protocols to carry out the robbery. All in all, they stole $5.875 million ($22 million today) of jewelry and cash. This led to an investigation lasting 35 years with various gang members being killed by one another and a series of arrests, the latest being in 2014. Above, alleged Bonanno crime family captain, Vincent Asaro, leaves a Brooklyn courthouse with his lawyers after he was found not guilty on counts of racketeering. He was charged in connection with the Lufthansa heist prior.
The Great Train Robbery
The Great Train Robbery was the heist of £2.6 million from a Royal Mail train that was heading from Glasgow to London on the morning of August 8, 1963. With careful planning based on inside information from a man known as “The Ulsterman,” the group tampered with the line signals in order to stop the train at Bridego Bridge.
Led by Bruce Reynold, a group of 15 men attacked the train using assault force where they raided the High-Value packages carriage. Here, they subdued the workers and removed all but eight of the 128 sacks from the carriage, filled up their getaway car, and hid at Leatherside Farm. After the police found this hideout, it led to the arrest of numerous members of the gang although the bulk of the money was never discovered.
Central Bank of Iraq
On March 18, 2003, the day before American missiles began to blast Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, with explosives, the world witnessed the biggest bank heist in history. Around 4 a.m., three trucks came to the Iraq Central Bank and began to load metal boxes out of the building and into the trucks. The boxes contained $900 million in U.S. $100 bills and $100 million in Euros.
The money was not taken by force but with a handwritten note that was written by Sadam Hussein’s son Qusay and signed by his father. Sadam planned to use the Central Bank for his personal money and the U.S. feared that he would use it to help in his own war effort. Out of the $1 billion, only around $650 million was ever discovered and Sadam had successfully stolen from his own citizens of Iraq.
The Harry Winston Heist
On December 4, 2008, four men, three of whom were dressed as women, committed one of the largest jewel robberies carried out in France. The group walked into the Marry Winston store in Paris, France tricking the guards with their disguises. Once inside, they took handguns from their jackets and corralled the people in the store into a corner while the others took almost every other piece of jewelry in the store including two storage cases.
In total, the robbers had stolen an estimated $105 million setting a record for jewelry theft in France. The robbery was believed to have been executed by a group that refers to themselves as “The Pink Panthers” and a $1 million reward was announced to anyone that had information about their whereabouts.
Antwerp Diamond Heist Was The Biggest Of The Century
Known as “the heist of the century,” the Antwerp diamond heist was one of the largest diamond heists in history when it was pulled off in 2003. During the weekend of February 15th and 16th, diamonds, gold, and other jewelry estimated to be worth more than $100 million were stolen from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre in Belgium. The theft is believed to have been committed by a five-man team led by Leonardo Notarbartolo.
Notarbartolo had rented a space inside of the AWDC to gain 24-hour access as a tenant as well as opened up a safety deposit box. During the heist, the group made their way down to where the safety deposit boxes were kept where they forced them open and stole the contents. The diamonds were never recovered and Notarbartolo was arrested and sentenced to 10 years but was released earlier on parole.
Dar Es Salaam Bank Robbery
On July 11, 2007, bank security guards made off with $282 million from the Dar Es Salaam private financial institution in Baghdad. Local police claimed that two guards masterminded the robbery but there was also a third accomplice. The money that was taken was in American dollars with officials believing the thieves must have had a connection to the militias because they were able to make it through the checkpoints throughout Baghdad.
It is still unclear today why there was so much cash on had or why it was so easy for the robbery to take place. The heist was the second largest in Iraqi history, right behind Sadam’s theft of $1 billion.
The Great Brink’s Robbery
On January 17, 1950, the Brink’s Building in Boston, Massachusetts was robbed. At the time, it was the largest robbery in the history of the United States with $2.775 million ($28.2 million today) stolen in cash, money orders, and other forms. Named “the crime of the century,” it consisted of an 11-member gang who managed to get copies of the keys of the Brink’s depot.
After six aborted attempts, the group finally decided the night of January 17. Upon entering the building, they tied up the guards and took almost everything. Eventually, all 11 men were caught and received various sentencings but were all free by 1971 with only $58,000 of the $2.7 million ever being discovered. The events inspired the 1969 comedy The Great Bank Robbery, shown above.
13 Pieces Of Art Were Stolen In The Boston Museum Heist
In the early morning ofMarch 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers arrived at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The two were admitted into the museum claiming that they were there due to a disturbance call. Once inside, the two men overpowered the security guards and over the following hour stole 13 extremely valuable works of art by artists such as Rembrandt, Degas, Manet and more.
The paintings were estimated to be worth a total of $500,000,000, the largest theft of private property in history. However, no arrests were ever made and the paintings were never found. To this day there is still an investigation by the FBI and a reward of $10 million for any information.
The Wilcox Train Robbery Was One Of The Most Iconic Heists Of The Old West
In the early morning of June 1, 1899, in the area near Wilcox, Wyoming, a Union Pacific train was stopped before it could cross a wooden bridge. Before the employees on the train could know what was going on, armed men known as Butch Cassidy’s “Wild Bunch” boarded the train and separated the train crew into different train carriages using force.
While some of the gang kept all of the workers in line, others went and used dynamite to blow up the train car with all of the valuables as well as the train tracks so that they couldn’t be pursued. The gang escaped on horseback with $50,000 ($7 million today) and the train robbery was one of the most iconic heists of the Old West.
Valerio Viccei’s Got Away With $98 Million
On July 12, 1987, Valerio Viccei and his company pulled off one of the biggest bank robberies in history in Cheval Palace, Knightsbridge, England. Before this, he had been wanted for more than 50 other bank robberies from his previous life in Italy.
On the day of the robbery, two men entered the Knightsbridge Security Deposit Center to rent a security deposit box. Once inside the vault, they drew weapons and subdued the managers and security guards. They proceeded to break open the safety deposit boxes and stole an estimated $98 million. Viccei almost got away, but when he returned to London to retrieve his Ferrari he was arrested. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and died in a fight during day release in 2000.
The Hatton Garden Was Robbed By A Group Of Elderly Men
In April 2015, seven men attempted to break into the London Hatton Garden security deposit vault with one of the boldest robberies in recent times. The ringleader of the bunch was Brian Reader, a 76-year-old career criminal who teamed up with other experienced London thieves in order to get the job done.
The men ended up burglarizing the garden on April 2, during a period in which the Easter Bank Holiday and Passover coincided. The men had entered through an elevator shaft and then drilled through the vault walls and stealing more than £200 million. However, by April 2016, all of the men had been apprehended and pleaded guilty to the crime.
Securitas Depot Robbery
On the evening of February 21, 2006, Britain experienced the largest cash robbery in British history. Around 8 p.m., the manager of the depot named Colin Dixon was abducted by a group of armed men. While this happened, Dixon’s wife and kids were also being held hostage at their home.
The entire family was then taken to the Securitas depot where 14 staff members were bound by heavily armed and masked robbers. As the hostages lay bound, the robbers got busy and stole as much money as they could from the cash cages. Although shaken, luckily none of the captives were actually harmed with numerous of the perpetrators going to prison.
