Leonardo Notarbartolo: The World’s Biggest Diamond Heist
Leonardo Notarbartolo: The World’s Biggest Diamond Heist
Click Here for ABC News Primetime Antwerp Diamond Heist
Click Here for G Manifesto: The Complete Guide to Burglary
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Excellent story of the Heist of the Antwerp Diamond Center:
It was February 16, 2003 — a clear, frozen Sunday evening in Belgium. Notarbartolo took the E19 motorway out of Antwerp. In the passenger seat, a man known as Speedy fidgeted nervously, damp with sweat. Notarbartolo punched it, and his rented Peugeot 307 sped south toward Brussels. They hadn’t slept in two days.
Speedy scanned the traffic behind them in the side-view mirror and maintained a tense silence. Notarbartolo had worked with him for 30 years—they were childhood buddies—but he knew that his friend had a habit of coming apart at the end of a job. The others on the team hadn’t wanted Speedy in on this one—they said he was a liability. Notarbartolo could see their point, but out of loyalty, he defended his friend. Speedy could handle it, he said.
Click Here for ABC News Primetime Antwerp Diamond Heist
And he had. They had executed the plan perfectly: no alarms, no police, no problems. The heist wouldn’t be discovered until guards checked the vault on Monday morning. The rest of the team was already driving back to Italy with the gems. They’d rendezvous outside Milan to divvy it all up. There was no reason to worry. Notarbartolo and Speedy just had to burn the incriminating evidence sitting in a garbage bag in the backseat.Notarbartolo pulled off the highway and turned onto a dirt road that led into a dense thicket. The spot wasn’t visible from the highway, though the headlights of passing cars fractured through the trees. Notarbartolo told Speedy to stay put and got out to scout the area.
He passed a rusty, dilapidated gate that looked like it hadn’t been touched since the Second World War. It was hard to see in the dark, but the spot seemed abandoned. He decided to burn the stuff near a shed beside a small pond and headed back to the car.
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When he got there, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Speedy had lost it. The contents of the garbage bag was strewn amongst the trees. Speedy was stomping through the mud, hurling paper into the underbrush. Spools of videotape clung to the branches like streamers on a Christmas tree. Israeli and Indian currency skittered past a half-eaten salami sandwich. The mud around the car was flecked with dozens of tiny, glittering diamonds. It would take hours to gather everything up and burn it.
Click Here for ABC News Primetime Antwerp Diamond Heist
“I think someone’s coming,” Speedy said, looking panicked.
Notarbartolo glared at him. The forest was quiet except for the occasional sound of a car or truck on the highway. It was even possible to hear the faint gurgling of a small stream. Speedy was breathing fast and shallow—the man was clearly in the midst of a full-blown panic attack.
“Get back in the car,” Notarbartolo ordered. They were leaving. Nobody would ever find the stuff here.
The job was done.
Click Here for ABC News Primetime Antwerp Diamond Heist
Thanks to Glengarry Glenpoon, Ryan, and everyone else who sent this to me.
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It’s All Right by The Impressions
17/03/2009 at 5:55 pm Permalink
According to today’s news, they’re planning to make this story into a movie. G film of the year contender?
30/03/2009 at 8:46 pm Permalink
What happened to the diamond dealer who never showed up in Turin? Did he exist? If so what happened to him?
03/04/2009 at 1:23 pm Permalink
wow….am just watching it on discovery and they were caught by the help of a grocery shop reciept that had a timestamp on it. they were eating italian cheese and dumped the reciept with the garbage…. WOWWO simply amazing.
03/04/2009 at 6:13 pm Permalink
I’ve sent you a much better story!
27/04/2009 at 12:32 pm Permalink
My wife loves her new necklace.
16/06/2009 at 10:52 am Permalink
I think JJ Abrahms is in the making of the movie..
Anyone can tell me where to watch the discovery channel documentary about this heist Online?
Thanks
28/12/2009 at 5:26 am Permalink
If you are interested in the Antwerp Diamond Center heist, a book on the subject is coming out in February called “Flawless: Inside the World’s Largest Diamond Heist.”
FlawlessBook