There is a part of me that loves reading about jewelry store robberies. As long as no one gets hurt I think they are one of the most interesting crimes and generally have the largest rewards. In London last week the two men pictured above managed to get about $65 Million in jewels in two minutes flat. The two men took 43 items and then fled the store. The store, which is called Graff Diamonds actually was robbed a few years ago and had about $35M in jewels stolen. You would think they would have learned after the first time.
This is what I don't understand and maybe someone could explain. A person goes into a bank and robs it and they rarely get more than a few thousand dollars and get an exploding dye pack for their troubles and are almost always caught right away. Jewelry stores on the other hand just leave this stuff out and every few months in Paris or London some thief or group of thieves walks away with multi millions in jewels. At some point if you are the jewelers wouldn't you think about putting the cheap stuff out front or having copies or having a book with photos and only bringing out one piece at a time.
It isn't like someone just walks in the store and says yes to something that costs a few million dollars. How much revenue does Graff Diamonds generate? In three years they have had about $100M in jewels stolen. That is like losing $30M a year. Yes they have insurance, but do you think anyone is going to give them insurance anymore?
insider job. for that amount? surely it had to be.
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to be an international jewel thief. (The "international" ones seem to be the sexiest of the bunch.)
ReplyDeleteThere's a Graf diamond here in NYC and they are not as open about showing you their wares if you are a person of color. However any caucasian comes in and Graff is showing them their whole collection.
ReplyDeleteServes them right, I say.
Plus, it seems like female international jewel thieves always end up sleeping with a James Bond at some point. :)
ReplyDeleteI DON'T THINK GRAFF DOES 'CHEAP' IT'S A VERY POSH STORE....
ReplyDeleteAND WHAT ABOUT THE 2 BIG ONES IN FRANCE, ONE IN PARIS AROUND CHRISTMAS AND THE OTHER IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE JUST THIS SUMMER....THE THIEVES KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED...THEY WERE IN AND OUT IN MINUTES...
THESE ARE WELL PLANNED...AMAZING WITH TODAYS SECURITY....ALSO THESE ARE LOCKED DOORS...YOU JUST DON'T WALK IN, NEED TO BE BUZZED IN.
AND I DON'T BELIEVE THE JEWELS EVER SHOWED UP FROM THE FIRST TWO....
THE EXPERTS SAID THEY HAD TO BE SENT TO EASTERN EUROPE WHERE NO ONE CARES IF THE GEMS ARE HOT...
I SMELL A GREAT CAPER FILM...
for every high tech security gadget, it only exists because of a prior act of theft.
ReplyDeleteI like hearing about jewel heists too, enty! I agree there is more money to make in the jewel robberies as opposed to the bank roberries however why arent more jewel theifs caught since they have to actually sell the jewels on the black market arent there red flags that go up when someone tries to sell a huge chunk of a jewel? For example when people try to steal works of art they say you can never sell them because if you tried to sell, say a Picasso, then you would be caught since that is such a red flag indicator. Hmmmm, just seems like in the end these to yutzes are stuck in a room with millions of jewels and have the task of always looking over your shoulder for police and constantly facing a hassel in selling the jewels. Waaayyyy too much of a headache for me, I guess thats why I have never been a jewel theif.
ReplyDeleteI like hearing about jewel heists too, enty! I agree there is more money to make in the jewel robberies as opposed to the bank roberries however why arent more jewel theifs caught since they have to actually sell the jewels on the black market arent there red flags that go up when someone tries to sell a huge chunk of a jewel? For example when people try to steal works of art they say you can never sell them because if you tried to sell, say a Picasso, then you would be caught since that is such a red flag indicator. Hmmmm, just seems like in the end these to yutzes are stuck in a room with millions of jewels and have the task of always looking over your shoulder for police and constantly facing a hassel in selling the jewels. Waaayyyy too much of a headache for me, I guess thats why I have never been a jewel theif.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Moosh...I wanna be an international jewel thief that sleeps with James Bond...
ReplyDeleteEspecially the current James Bond!!! Although, back in the day, I would totally have picked Connery over Craig.
ReplyDeleteMy very first job out of college was working for a jewelry importer/manufacturer. After being there for a year, and really enjoying my job, my alarm woke me with the news that they were robbed, & the owner was found tied up in the vault.
ReplyDeleteThere was no way to recover in time for the holiday season, and the company went out of business.
My second job was also for an importer/manufacturer, and about 2 years after I quit, they were robbed & went out of business.
These things happen more often than people realize.
But if they're on camera, can't they be identified and pretty easily found?
ReplyDeleteI always feel like there's no way to hide anymore.
And yeah, I fantasize about doing (non-violent) crimes too! But then giving the money back. Like, I'd like to try robbing a bank just to see what it feels like. But then I'd want to go back the next day and say "just kidding, here's your money back."
The two men wore really nice suits and robbed the store during the middle of the day, when surprisingly, security is the most lax. This is almost always the case when it comes to high end stores. Middle of the day is the best. Walk into an apple store at 1pm. Try it!
ReplyDeleteThere is no information to show that they had those jewels sitting out. Chances are they didn't. A good way to get the jewelry store to do that is to make an appointment in advance. Pretend you're a good client and they'll already have it sitting out waiting for you.
Out of 65 million in value, they'll be lucky to get about 6-8 million. All high end jewels are imbedded with micro-to-nano scale serial numbers. Primarily to stop the flow of 'blood diamonds' serial numbers also have the added effect of being reportable when stolen. So if you are rich enough to spend a million in cash on a diamond and decide later to have it reset, you have a good chance of getting caught. As a result, a lot less people are willing to buy your stolen stuff and at even a lesser price. So...you find a trusted fence and sell it to him for much less than half the value and then leave it up to him to sell it to his clients or people he knows. 6 million still ain't bad for 2 mins of work!
I disavow all knowledge of stealing, sellling, fencing stolen goods. I just read alot of comic books =)
lutefisk did it.
ReplyDeleteShakey, believe it or not, with the 2nd robbery Lloyd's of London called me & questioned me extensively about my former boss. I had keys to the office, all of the alarm codes, & the vault combinations...however my former boss was also involved with prostitiutes, drug dealers, & was having an affair with the person who replaced me when I left. His wife was sitting home with 5 kids, & called me asking me to please testify about everything Iknew about him, since she felt it was an inside job...he owed her parents hundreds of thousands of dollars, and she was filing for divorce. I played stupid, since I didn't want to be found later on in a swamp somewhere, head first.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever decide to write a book, I have excellent material.
Trogdor, you should write a heist script. It would undoubtedly be smarter than 99% of what is coming to your local theater this year.
ReplyDeletethis kind of thing scares the crap out of me. i could never work at a bank or a jewlery store.
ReplyDeletei don't get how so many jewels were out at once. when i got engaged we went to a place in the diamond district in SF where you had to have ID a fe days before and then only 3 customers in the store at all times; no children. as we looked at stones they would show is one and then lock it up while we looked at another.
a couple of years later we went back and were allowed to look at 2 stones at a time, lol.
still, my point is that i would think they would have to had presented some history of large gem purchases to get that much jewlery out at once.
They've already arrested one man over this robbery. That was two days ago, but wasn't reported for what the police say are 'operational reasons'. I have no idea what that means.
ReplyDeleteIs that Kobe?
ReplyDelete