A thief skillfully picks the lock to a heavily guarded vault and carefully creeps inside. Before long, he’s gathered millions of dollars worth of priceless gems. Just as he starts to believe that he may have pulled it off, he hears voices from outside. He panics: no one should be here at this hour. But when the voices draw closer and the vault door clicks open, the thief is nowhere to be found.

This scene likely sounds familiar, and for good reason. Heist movies, despite their overall cliche storylines, have appealed to audiences worldwide for decades. The intriguing backstory, the enticing planning montage, the skillful execution with the inexorable plot twist, and finally the thrilling conclusion is a template for numerous movies. One popular example is Ocean’s Eleven, the first part of the Ocean’s trilogy, featuring the brilliant con artist Danny Ocean, and his rag-tag team of skilled criminals stealing money and jewelry with elaborate schemes. There’s also Inside Man, a 2006 American heist movie centered around the idea of the “perfect robbery.” In this movie, Clive Owen stars as Dalton Russell, the mastermind behind a robbery of a Manhattan Bank. A group of criminals, led by Dalton Russell, dress inconspicuously in painter’s overalls and all use variations of the name “Steve.” They take control of a bank, taking the entirety of the people within the bank hostage. The rest of the movie depicts how the crew anticipates classic police maneuvers, avoids detection, and escapes with the loot. However, this phenomenon is not limited to the silver screen. The wildly successful Six of Crows novels are also centered around a heist, and the author has mentioned that they were directly inspired by Ocean’s 11. But the inspiration for both of these came from real life, and these thrilling escapades have been happening for centuries. These heists vary from successful to not, and some remain to be unsolved, even to this day. 

Yet, for the heists that were solved, the real stories behind them sound impossible, and some of their mysteries were never solved. Take, for example, a heist from 1997, when a group of five men stole approximately $18.9 million dollars from Dunbar Armored by utilizing an unusual getaway car: a U-Haul truck. It all began with Allen Pace II, a safety officer at the Dunbar Armored facility. With his job came the knowledge of a path into the cash vault, floor plans, and locations of the security cameras. However, being fired on the 12th of September in 1997 came with a setback; a heist was supposed to occur the next day and now Pace would be the prime suspect in any ill campaigns against the company. Nevertheless, Pace and his four co-conspirators continued with their plan. 

First, an alibi was established, thanks to the occurrence of a party at Long Beach the Friday of that week. Attending the party in plain sight, and then slipping out shortly after midnight to drive to the Dunbar depot would allow them a solid alibi; after all, drunk people never make the best witnesses. They entered the depot through a side door with keys that Pace still possessed, and rounded up the overnight-duty employees. Clad in black clothing, with ski masks, pistols, a shotgun, and radio headsets, the crew made the perfect robbers straight from the silver screen of Hollywood. Tying up the workers facedown, the crew was able to neutralize everyone without firing a single shot. 

Using bolt cutters to break the padlocks on the metal cages that contained the cash, the crew took mostly $20 bills, which were originally destined for ATM’s through Los Angeles. They used a U-Haul truck to transport the money after stealing it, even if it wasn’t the most subtle choice. With the cash piles up to their thighs, the crew drove back to one of the guys’ apartments to change back into their party wear and return to the party. They left the depot with its security cameras smashed and videotapes seized. When the crime was discovered by the police, they downplayed the robbery in the news, due to the risk of the crew going incognito with the money, and thus $18.9 million dollars turned into “more than a million dollars”. 

Pace, already having been established as a suspect for the crime, was closely monitored by the federal investigators during this time for changes in his lifestyle (ones that indicated a recent high influx of money). However, there was no such change. Despite this, Detective Licata discovered a singular piece of physical evidence, left behind by the crew unknowingly, that managed to lead the detectives right to the criminals. That piece of evidence was a small amber-colored rectangle, one similar to that on the taillight from a vehicle. This was important because none of the vehicles owned by the company matched that small rectangle found. Through an FBI lab in Washington, the rectangle was matched to those on U-Haul trucks, specifically those 14-feet long. Now knowing the vehicle used to escape, the detectives turned their attention to the suspects; however, Pace and his crew kept a low profile and thus avoided capture…for now. 

By maintaining a low profile and buying relatively “normal” items with the money stolen, Pace and his crew managed to survive under close watch without getting caught. These normal items included cars and houses for their families. They did normal activities, such as gambling in the halls of Las Vegas. They even possessed a normal job, albeit one that laundered money illegally through a company called Rain Forest, which allegedly used an incinerator that burned trash without causing air pollution. By leading an average American life, Pace’s crew stayed under the radar. However, it was in an anticlimactic fashion that the case was solved; an informant pointed to Hill, a member of the crew, as the one who rented out a U-Haul. Hill, when arrested, also possessed a stack of bills wrapped in the same money wrappers as those stolen during the Dunbar robbery. Hill confessed to his crimes, and even pointed out the other members of the crew under police interrogation. Pace however, when arrested, pleaded not guilty, even going as far to say that he was being framed by another person of his crew. This, however, has not been supported by facts.

Pace was convicted of the crimes, and given a harsh sentence: 24 years and two months in prison, and the order to pay back the millions in which he and crew stole (of which only $5 million were recovered, the other $10 million still being unaccounted for). This sentence was given due to the fact that Pace pleaded not guilty and showed no remorse for his crimes, as per U.S. District Judge Loures Baird. With Pace and the rest of his crew being sentenced to prison, the only thing left is to find the money stolen, something which FBI Supervisory Special Agent McEachern has promised will continue. 

Perhaps, after reading about the Dunbar heist, you think that it would be easy to pull off one of your own, but security systems have evolved greatly since them. However, going forward in time reveals that the thieves’ skills have improved as well, and modern-day heists begin to feel even more ingenious, like this one that occurred in Belgium’s Antwerp Diamond District. Widely regarded to be the largest diamond heist in history, it took place in 2003, when Leonardo Notarbartolo and a group of thieves broke into the Antwerp Diamond Center in Belgium and stole millions worth of diamonds, gold, and jewelry from a vault that was thought to be impenetrable. When telling his story, Notarbartolo referred to his associates by their code names only: the Genius, who could disable any alarm system; the Monster, who was an expert lock picker, electrician, and mechanic; the King of Keys, who was one of the best forgers in the world; and Speedy, Notarbartolo’s childhood friend and getaway driver. Shockingly, Notarbartolo claims that it all started when they were recruited by an Antwerp diamond dealer himself.

After he was first approached, Notarbartolo discreetly took images of the vault (as he himself had a safe-deposit box there), which was protected by ten layers of security, to prove to the dealer that the vault was impossible to break into. He had believed that was the end of that, but five months later, he received another call from the dealer to set up a meeting, during which he found himself inside a full-size replica of the vault. This was also when Notarbartolo met the rest of his team, and they formulated their plan.

On the day before the heist, Notarbartolo went into the vault again, and covered the heat and motion sensor with hair spray, already disabling one layer of security. The entire team returned after midnight for the actual heist, and entered the Diamond Center through a terrace overlooking the private garden. The Genius used a polyester shield to neutralize the heat sensor and disabled the alarm systems, allowing them to sneak in. They made their way down to the vault, and covered the security cameras with black bags before turning on the lights. The Genius then used a sticky plate of aluminum to move the plates that regulated the magnetic field, so it did not set off any alarms, but was no longer in their way, allowing them to pass through.

The King of Keys, despite having a forged key, found that the original key had been inside a storage closet the entire time. The key was put in along with the combination gleaned from the images Notarbartolo initially took, and the Monster turned off the lights to avoid triggering the light sensor. They opened the main vault door, and King of Keys easily picked the lock on the antechamber grate. The Monster went inside first, and rerouted an electrical pulse to render the remaining sensors useless. This was so intricately planned out that police had never figured out some parts of it, until Notarbartolo revealed it. At last, they drilled the safe-deposit boxes open and gathered the loot into their duffel bags. After opening 109 of them, they finally left the vault and sped away to safety. However, according to Notarbartolo, when they opened the bags, they discovered that most of the safe deposit boxes were empty: the owners, already aware of the heist, had retrieved their gems before it could happen.

The next day, Notarbartolo and Speedy were heading back home with a garbage bag full of evidence that Notarbartolo intended to burn. However, anxiety was getting the better of Speedy, who pulled the car off onto a dirt road. Speedy dumped the garbage bag there, and they left: Notarbartolo knew that he should have gone back to burn the evidence, but he was more interested in meeting the dealer for an explanation as to why there were so few diamonds. He waited for hours, but the dealer never showed. The next day, police found the bag of evidence after it was reported by the owner of the land, and now knew very well who was responsible for the crime. However, by this time, Notarbartolo was already driving back to Antwerp: the plan was to remove any suspicion on him by being present during the investigation. The police had already arrived to search Notarbartolo’s home, where his son was at the time. He tried to call his father, but Notarbartolo’s granddaughter had accidentally turned off the ringer while playing with his phone. Notarbartolo was arrested as soon as he arrived, and the rest of his associates soon followed, except for one: the King of Keys was never found. 

The loot was never found either, but officials estimated that the missing goods equaled about $100 million. However, as Notarbartolo claims that many of the boxes were empty, he says it was worth only about $20 million, and that the heist was all part of an elaborate insurance scheme: some of the other dealers must have been made aware of the heist by the dealer that had recruited them, and had supposedly removed their jewels beforehand, but still alleged to have lost them so that they could claim the insurance money. Of course, it could be entirely possible that Notarbartolo made this up to hide the true worth of the steal, and there may have never been a diamond dealer that recruited them. It’s also entirely possible that the diamonds may still be waiting for the thieves when they are released from prison.

No matter the conclusion of these various escapades, one thing remains the same: elaborate schemes of thievery will always be an unfortunate part of American society. From the Dunbar heist of 1997 to the Antwerp diamond heist from 2003, thievery has been a fascinating part of American society. With all of the current movies featuring these complex plots, heists seem straight out of someone’s imagination, a fictional representation of the lengths humans are willing to go to satisfy their various needs, whether they be greed or necessity, among others. However, it is important to remember that despite their otherworldly qualities, heists do exist in real life. Criminals have been successful throughout the centuries in their goals to loot priceless goods, escaping with it in the dark of the night. However, no matter how bleak the situation may seem, it is important to remember that investigators are also getting better and brighter as well, sometimes even thwarting the crime before it even occurs; leading to the unending game of cat and mouse, that’s lasted from the beginning of time to the modern world today. 

 

written by Srinidhi Raghavan and Srisha Nannapaneni

edited by Saanvi Gutta and Keerthi Selvam

 

References:

 

Inside man. (2022, November 17). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 28, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Man

Nast, C. (2009, March 12). The untold story of the world’s biggest diamond heist. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/2009/03/ff-diamonds-2/

Ray, J. (2022, January 3). An infamous heist revisited: The story of a gigantic robbery in downtown L.A. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-01-03/dunbar-armed-robbery-essential-california

Ray, J. (2022, January 4). An infamous heist revisited: A crucial clue left behind. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-01-04/dunbar-armored-robbery-crucial-clue-left-behind-essential-california

Ray, J. (2022, January 5). An infamous heist revisited: How the crew got caught. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-01-05/dunbar-armored-heist-revisited-how-the-crew-got-caught-essential-california

Ray, J. (2022, January 6). An infamous heist revisited: One mystery that remains unsolved. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-01-06/dunbar-armored-robbery-mystery-unsolved-essential-california