The $100 Million Diamond Heist That Was Foiled By A Receipt
Wikimedia CommonsAntwerp, Belgium’s diamond district sells roughly 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds every year.
Of all the modern heists on this list, the Antwerp diamond heist of 2003 may be the one that most closely resembles the plot of a Hollywood thriller.
Masterminded by professional thief Leonardo Notarbartolo, the target was nothing less than the biggest diamond district in the world, where the vast majority of the world’s rough diamonds were and still are traded. Before Notarbartolo and his gang pulled off their heist, its security was thought to be impregnable.
Notarbartolo set the plan in motion in 2000, when he rented the largest office building in the Diamond Center and used his legitimate trade as a jeweler there as his cover.
He memorized every detail of the building’s security and assembled a team of thieves who’d perfected their art in robberies throughout Europe: electronics and alarms expert Elio D’Onorio, mechanic and lockpicker Ferdinando Finotto, and childhood friend Pietro Tavano. The final member of the gang was a mysterious key forger known only as “The King of Keys.”
On the night of Feb. 16, 2003, the gang penetrated 10 layers of state-of-the-art security with an assortment of basic materials including hairspray, a broomstick, and electrical tape. Once inside the vault, they swiped jewels worth anywhere from $100 million to over $400 million. They then made a smooth escape, splitting up to make their way back to Italy.
TwitterNotarbartolo nearly got away with one of the most lucrative heists in the world — but was foiled by his best friend.
All that was left to do was burn the trash from their heist, including receipts and emptied jewelry bags. Notarbartolo entrusted this task to his friend Tavano, but Tavano’s natural nervousness got the better of him and he simply dumped the refuse in a forest.
A local caretaker found the trash and, noticing the diamond bags, called the police, who used a receipt from a shopping trip to track down Notarbartolo.
Notarbartolo got ten years for the robbery, while Tavano, D’Onorio, and Finotto got five years each. But neither the mysterious fifth thief nor any of the stolen jewels were ever found.
