"Diamonds are forever," Sean Connery said as he played James Bond in the 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever. But when it comes to real life, a diamond’s lifespan may not, but Antwerp's diamond theft memory, the biggest ever may linger for life.
Antwerp is a port city on Belgium’s River
Scheldt, Belgium’s largest city by area, and is one of the biggest
marketplaces for diamonds in the world. The Antwerp diamond heist, the biggest
diamond theft even got mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as the Diamond
Heist of the Century!
The vault of the Antwerp Diamond Centre was
at that time, considered one of the most secure vaults in the world. How
could anyone break in, without being caught?!
It took place in Antwerp, Belgium, during the
weekend of 15–16 February 2003 when thieves broke into the Antwerp World Diamond
Centre (AWDC), a diamond vault located in the Belgian port city of Antwerp.
They made off with $100 million worth of diamonds, gold, and jewelry—and then
vanished without a trace.
The AWDC had been referred to as "Fort
Knox" for its state-of-the-art security; how did the thieves do it? How
were they able to get away with such precious cargo? Let's take a closer look
at this audacious heist.
It was the heist of the century
The heist
was done by a team of criminals who stole $108 million worth of diamonds, one
of the largest diamond thefts in history. It took place in Antwerp, the diamond
capital of the world. The exact amount stolen has never been confirmed, but it
is believed to be between $100-$200 million worth of diamonds that went missing
from a vault in 2003.
The mega-thief
The thief
was a former diamond cutter, dealer, and merchant who had ties to the Antwerp
underworld. The thief was known by various aliases but was most commonly called
"The Mega-Thief" because of his large stature and tendency to steal
from other criminals in addition to stealing from legitimate businesses.
The Mega-Thief's name would have been known
throughout Antwerp and all over Belgium because he had been arrested multiple
times for theft before he became infamous for robbing vaults full of diamonds.
This heist definitely shows that it was a
well-planned robbery. From finding out about the security system to scoping out
the neighborhood, every detail had to be thought through in order for them to
get away with stealing so many diamonds.
The preparation
The
preparation for this heist began a year before the actual robbery took place. A
team of five men meticulously planned out their strategy from beginning to end,
down to the last detail. They even went as far as to rent an apartment across from
the Antwerp Diamond Centre where they could monitor security guards and
employees entering and leaving work each day. They also rented another
apartment close by so that they could hide their getaway vehicles once the
heist was done.
The heist
The thieves
cut the security cameras, and the alarm system and even disabled a fire
extinguisher. After breaking into the vault room where all the diamonds were
stored, they used a circular saw to cut open some of the cases containing
diamonds worth up to $1 billion (844 million euros).
The robbers
then loaded these into bags or suitcases which they took with them when
escaping through an emergency exit at 2am after disabling an alarm using power
tools.
The diamond
heist was noticed on Monday morning but actually had taken place the
weekend before. In the Antwerp Diamond Centre, diamonds change hands from
Monday to Friday. Friday late afternoon, everything goes nicely in the vault, and the vault stays locked until the new work week.
Officials discovered that all cameras were
covered by black bin bags and attached with fine rope.
The vault was opened by its key and code, so
no drilling or cutting, or any other Medieval tool. Nice and quiet the usual
way. It was clear to them that the robbers were pros and that they knew their
way to the vault as their back garden. The thieves got access to the vault,
without alarming the alarm system. They managed to fool sensors that detect
movement, heat, vibration, and cameras!
Covering their tracks
The theft
was the handiwork of a five-man team led by none other than Leonardo
Notarbartolo, a seasoned thief who had a knack for manipulating people.
Leonardo Notarbartolo
had even rented a space in the diamond district to pull off the heist. But his
downfall came when DNA evidence from a partially eaten salami sandwich found
near the crime scene pointed straight to him, leading to his arrest.
The rest of
the team, included Speedy, a jittery and paranoid accomplice who was
responsible for disposing of the rubbish in the woods. Most likely, his real
name was Pietro Tavano.
Then there
was The Monster, a towering and brawny fellow who had mad skills in
lockpicking, electronics, mechanics, and driving. He was probably Ferdinando
Finotto.
The Genius
was a specialist in alarm systems, likely going by the name Elio D'Onorio,
known to be linked to other heists.
And finally,
there was The King of Keys, an elusive older man who was renowned for forging
keys like no other but managed to evade capture by the police, and whose true
identity remains a mystery.
Notarbartolo
was found guilty of masterminding the heist and was considered the leader of a
group of Italian thieves known as "La Scuola di Torino" or "The
School of Turin," who carried out the crime.
He was sentenced to a decade in prison by the
Antwerp Court of Appeal in 2005 but was released on parole in 2009. However, in
2011, he violated his parole conditions, which included compensating the
victims of the heist, but made no effort to do so. As a result, he was arrested
again in 2013 at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris during a layover from the
United States to Turin and served the remaining term of his sentence until
2017.
Tavano,
D'Onorio, and Finotto each received five-year prison sentences. Notarbartolo's
wife, Adriana Crudo, and Antonino Falletti faced trial, and Falletti's Dutch
wife Judith Zwiep was also arrested in connection with the crime.
Their capture
The group's
capture came about when Notarbartolo and Speedy attempted to dispose of the
incriminating evidence of their plans in France.
They had
this idea of burning it all in France, but Speedy freaked out at the thought of
transporting such incriminating stuff. He insisted they dump it in a nearby
forest instead. But here's where it gets messy – Speedy had a panic attack and
ended up chucking the evidence into the bushes and mud instead of burning it
like they planned.
Notarbartolo
was busy with his own fiery disposal when he found out what Speedy did. He
figured it would take too long to clean up the mess and they needed to bail,
thinking nobody would find their rubbish.
But a local
hunter who owned the land stumbled upon the discarded evidence the next day. He
thought it was left by some local teenagers he had a beef with, so he called
the cops.
When he
mentioned that he found envelopes from the Antwerp Diamond Centre among the
rubbish, the police sprung into action. The evidence from the discarded stuff
was enough for them to start tracking down leads. Eventually, they were able to
identify Notarbartolo from security footage at a nearby grocery store where he
bought a sandwich – and get this, they found the receipt for the sandwich among
the rubbish. Talk about leaving a trail!
The Antwerp diamond heist has been the
subject of numerous books, documentaries, and movies, and it continues to
capture public imagination due to its audacity and scale. The mystery
surrounding the missing diamonds and the identities of all the individuals
involved remains unsolved to this day, adding to the intrigue of the heist
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