what-the-ten-greatest-thefts-in-history
Hands up! In this criminal ranking, almost 400 million dollars disappeared. And look, we only include robberies of banks and other places that keep cash. The politicians’ thefts were left out…
10. CHIC IN THE LAST
STOLEN VALUE – $9.8 million*
STOLEN LOCATION – Societé Générale Bank, in Nice (France)
WHEN – July 19, 1976
Led by Albert Spaggiari, a gang dug an 8-meter tunnel from the sewer and broke into the vaults of a bank branch considered inviolable. It was a holiday and the thieves would have stayed four days at the bank, with time for a picnic with wine and pâté! Before leaving, Spaggiari wrote on the walls: «No hate, no violence and no weapons».
CURIOSITY – The thief was captured, but fled from the police and would have lived in Argentina until his death, in 1989, from cancer.
9. AERO-THEFT
STOLEN VALUE – $12.1 million
STOLEN LOCATION – London Heathrow Airport (England)
WHEN – February 11, 2002
At the busiest airport in Europe, a gang robbed the driver of a British Airways van, which was transporting a sum of money coming on a jet from Bahrain to be loaded on a plane to New York. The bandits tied the driver’s wrists, dropped the guy to the ground and disappeared from the map.
CURIOSITY – The only clue the police had was the van, which the thieves abandoned and set on fire in a nearby town after fleeing.
8. CLOSED SIGN
STOLEN VALUE – $12.6 million
STOLEN LOCATION – Midland Bank, in Manchester (England)
WHEN – July 3, 1995
In the middle of Manchester traffic, the robbers stopped the Midland Bank armored car, overpowered the driver, threw him out of the van and fled. The police failed to catch the bandits and took the driver to jail, claiming that the guy had received money to facilitate the theft.
CURIOSITY – The driver was sentenced to 14 years in jail, but was released two years later due to lack of evidence.
7. GRANA à ITALIANA
STOLEN VALUE – 15 million dollars
STOLEN LOCATION – Banco Andalucía, in Marbella (Spain)
WHEN – December 24, 1982
In the quiet city of Marbella, on Spain’s Costa del Sol, the police were so used to the presence of foreign tourists that they didn’t suspect three Italians (two bambinos and a bambina) who arrived there, rented an apartment next to the bank branch, they broke a wall and boom: they pilfered 15 million dollars from around 200 bank vaults.
CURIOSITY – Of the ten biggest robberies in history, this was the most relaxed for the police. The three thieves were arrested shortly after the theft.
6. CHRISTMAS TALES
STOLEN VALUE – $30.3 million
STOLEN LOCATION – Banque de France, in Toulon (France)
WHEN – December 16, 1992
Taking advantage of the Christmas atmosphere, a heavily armed gang invaded the headquarters of the Bank of France, in Toulon. The gang threatened to blow up everything, with explosives that they placed on the body of a poor bank security agent, in case someone decided to disturb the action (yes, the branch was full of customers during the robbery).
CURIOSITY – The theft, which lasted about 20 minutes, became known in France as “The Case of the Century”.
5. SWISS DISMISSAL
STOLEN VALUE – $42.9 million
STOLEN LOCATION – Post Office, in Zurich (Switzerland)
WHEN – September 1, 1997
Using a van resembling a post office, five armed men broke into the Zurich post office, overpowered the employees and made off with several pouches of cash. Detail: the guys left 11 million behind because the money didn’t fit in the van…
CURIOSITY – In 1999, the Swiss police put in jail seven men accused of participating in the robbery.
4. FAMILY TERROR
STOLEN VALUE – 47.1 million dollars
STOLEN LOCATION – Bank of England, in Kent (England)
WHEN – February 22, 2006
To rob a British bank, a gang disguised as police kidnapped the head of bank security. Another part of the bandits kidnapped the rest of his family to force him to collaborate in the robbery. At the bank’s headquarters, the bandits defeated 15 employees, forced the head of security to open the money deposit and proceeded to steal money.
CURIOSITY – The police offered 3.75 million dollars for information about the robbery. So far, no one has taken the jackpot.
3. DOMINGÃO DO THIEF
STOLEN VALUE – $49.8 million
STOLEN LOCATION – Northern Bank, Belfast (Northern Ireland)
WHEN – December 20, 2004
One Sunday night, three men paid an unwanted visit to the home of a bank employee. Then they found out where the employee’s boss lived and also paid him a little visit. During the visits, the bandits took the families hostage and instructed the employees to help them with the theft the next day, when almost 50 million dollars were looted…
CURIOSITY – To this day, the police have no concrete clues about the bandits. Of the total cash, only $100,000 was found in the bathroom of a police club.
2. I AM BRAZILIAN…
STOLEN VALUE – 76.8 million dollars
STOLEN LOCATION – Central Bank of Fortaleza, in Fortaleza (Brazil)
WHEN – August 6, 2005
In the best «I’m Brazilian and I never give up» style, our country won the runner-up in banditry. Renting a house close to the headquarters of the Central Bank in Fortaleza, an unidentified number of malacos built an underground tunnel about 80 meters long to the bank’s vault. Most impressive was the infrastructure set up inside the tunnel. So that no one stole without comfort, electric light and ventilation systems were installed!
CURIOSITY – So far, 8.4 million dollars have been recovered. In September, the Federal Police began Operation Mole, which has already arrested more than 40 people suspected of involvement in the theft.
1. MILLION SHOW
STOLEN VALUE – $112.9 million
STOLEN LOCATION – Knightsbridge Depot, London (England)
WHEN – July 12, 1987
The biggest robbery in history was carried out by two men who entered a cash deposit with the excuse of renting a safe. Only no one noticed that they were armed with pistols. Then, it was easy for the guys to overpower the manager and the security guards and take home $112.9 million. So as not to be disturbed during the robbery, they hung signs saying that the warehouse was temporarily closed.
CURIOSITY – By fingerprinting, the police stapled the head of the crime: the Italian Valerio Viccei. After four years in prison, Viccei was transferred to Italy, where he served a semi-open prison until his death in 2000.
* VALUES CONVERTED TO DOLLARS ACCORDING TO THE CURRENT QUOTATION