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The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the "heist of the century",[1][2] was the largest ever diamond heist and one of the largest robberies in history. Thieves stole loose diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry valued at more than $100 million.[3][4] It took place in Antwerp, Belgium, during the weekend of 15–16 February 2003. Though arrests were made and time was served, the stolen diamonds remain unrecovered.[2][5]
 The Antwerp Diamond Center | |
| Date | February 15–16, 2003 |
|---|---|
| Location | Antwerp, Belgium |
| Coordinates | 51.2162°N 4.4177°E |
| Type | Heist |
| Participants | Leonardo Notarbartolo, Ferdinando Finotto, Elio D’Onorio, Pietro Tavano, and 'The King of Keys' |
| Outcome | More than $100 million of property stolen |
| Missing | Diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry |
| Sentence | 10 years imprisonment for Leonardo Notarbartolo, 5 years for the other participants |
The vault that housed the diamonds is situated two floors below the main floor. It was protected by multiple security mechanisms, including a lock with 100 million possible combinations, infrared heat detectors, a seismic sensor, Doppler radar, and a magnetic field. The building itself had a private security force[1] and was located in the heavily guarded and monitored Antwerp diamond district.
Leonardo Notarbartolo rented an office in the Antwerp World Diamond Center building on Schupstraat in the Antwerp Diamond District.[1] This office provided him access to a safe deposit box in the vault beneath the building. It took him over two years to prepare for the robbery.[2]
To circumvent the security systems of the vault, the group employed a series of sophisticated techniques. Notarbartolo conducted detailed surveillance of the Diamond Center. He alleged that the group installed a small camera above the vault door to monitor the guards and record the vault's combination, transmitting footage to a storage device concealed in a fire extinguisher.[1]
Before the robbery, Notarbartolo visited the vault under the guise of a routine trip and sprayed hair spray on the thermal-motion sensor to temporarily disable it.[1] The vault’s magnetic lock, which relied on a magnetic field between two plates to trigger an alarm if broken, was bypassed by carefully removing the bottom portion of the screws securing the plates while the magnetic field was inactive earlier that week and using adhesive tape to keep them in place. During the heist, they use a custom aluminum plate to keep the plates together, and so maintain the magnetic field, when opening the vault door.[2]
The thieves used a long two-part, three-dimensional key to open the vault door along with its combination.[1] Before opening the vault, they turned off the lights.[2]
To avoid detection by the infrared sensor in the vault, a thief used a polystyrene shield to block his thermal signature and secured the shield in front of the sensor.[1] The group also covered the light sensor with tape and then turned on the lights inside the vault to work undetected.[2]
Once inside, the thieves used a custom-made, hand-cranked device to break open 109 of the 189 safe deposit boxes, each equipped with both a unique key lock and a three-letter combination lock.[2] After the robbery, the group returned to Notarbartolo’s apartment in Antwerp.[1] Later, Notarbartolo and an accomplice disposed of evidence near the E19 motorway between Antwerp and Brussels by mingling it with household trash.[1]
The next morning, the landowner discovered the discarded items and notified the police.[6] Among the debris were items linked directly to Notarbartolo, providing investigators with a critical lead, as his own safe deposit box remained unopened.[2]
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The theft was carried out by a five-man team led by Leonardo Notarbartolo, a professional thief from Turin, Italy, who was skilled in social manipulation.[1] Notarbartolo was arrested when he returned to the Antwerp World Diamond Center building the Friday after the heist.[7][8][1]
They were members of a loose affiliation of Italian thieves called "La Scuola di Torino" (The School of Turin).[1][4][5][9]
In addition to Notarbartolo, the team consisted of at least four other members, whom Notarbartolo gave aliases during interviews, though he refused to specify whom each alias referred to:[1]
- Speedy - described as an anxious and paranoid man, he was a long-time friend of Notarbartolo and was the one responsible for scattering the rubbish in the woods. Most likely the alias of Pietro Tavano.
- The Monster - described as a tall, muscular man, he was apparently an expert lock picker, electrician, mechanic and driver and was very strong. Most likely the alias of Ferdinando Finotto.
- The Genius - a specialist in alarm systems. Most likely the alias of Elio D’Onório,[10] an electronics expert known to be linked to series of robberies.
- The King of Keys - an older man, he was described as one of the best key forgers in the world. His true identity is unknown and he remains the only member of the crew to escape apprehension by the police.
Notarbartolo was found guilty of orchestrating the heist. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the court of appeal of Antwerp in 2005,[1] but was released on parole in 2009.[11] In 2011, a European Arrest Warrant was issued against him after he was found to have violated his parole conditions. One of these conditions was that he needed to compensate the victims of the heist, which he never made any attempt to do. As a consequence, he was arrested again in 2013 at the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris during a layover from the United States to Turin, and was made to serve the remainder of his prison sentence until 2017.[12]
Tavano, D’Onorio and Finotto each got five years in prison.[13][14]
Notarbartolo's wife, Adriana Crudo,[15] and Antonino Falletti were also tried, and Falletti's Dutch wife Judith Zwiep was arrested.[16][6][9]
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Notarbartolo claimed in an interview with Wired magazine that a diamond merchant hired them for the heist.[1] He claims that they actually stole approximately €18 million ($20 million) worth of loot, and that the robbery was part of an insurance fraud.[1] Someone knowing the incumbent robbery could have taken the diamonds and then claimed the insurance on them, hence gaining from the insurance fraud.[17]
Due to the fact that the vault itself was uninsured, as the insurance company realised the security flaws and would have never given it an insurance policy, there was actually very little insurance money involved, which casts doubt on his story.[18]
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The heist is the subject of the book Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History[19] by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell.[18]
The first episode of the Audible Original Audio Series "HEIST with Michael Caine" gives an overview of the theft, largely taken from the book "Flawless".
The story of this diamond heist was featured on The Travel Channel's “Mysteries At The Museum” Season 16/Episode 4 titled “Project Vortex, Diamond Heist and Tinseltown, NJ”, narrated by series host Don Wildman.
The story was also featured on TV Series "History's Greatest Heists" Season 1 / Episode 1: titled "The Antwerp Diamond Heist", narrated by Pierce Brosnan.
Paramount Pictures optioned the rights to create a film about the heist, which have since expired. It was to be produced by J. J. Abrams.[11][20][21][22]
BBC World Service podcast show, The Outlook, produced an audio episode, The detective and the diamond heist, describing the incident and aftermath.[23]
Amazon released "Everybody Loves Diamonds", a series based on the Antwerp Diamond Center heist on October 13th, 2023 starring Kim Rossi Stuart. [24]
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