February 16th, 2003- a small red Peugeot 307
speeds down a frozen Belgium highway. Inside the car are two men, one is Leonardo
Notarbartolo, a jewel dealer from Italy with an office in Antwerp's Diamond District- where
80% of the world's diamonds are bought and sold. Next to Leonardo is his friend Speedy, a nervous
wreck that seems to be on the verge of a panic attack. In the back seat of the small car is a large
black trash bag, tied up but full to the point of bursting. The two pull off the highway and onto a lonely
dirt road, following it into a thick stand of trees. From this spot the highway is no more than
an echo of occasionally speeding cars. Miles from civilization, the grove of trees
is silent in between passing cars, and the duo inside the small Peugeot glance out into
the night, listening. Notarbartolo is calm and collected, Speedy
not so much. Getting out of the car Notarbartolo tells
Speedy to stay put, he's going to have a look around. He walks into the darkness and finds a small
pond with a shed beside it, yet no signs of civilization or any recent visitors. The spot seems perfect, nice and remote. Making up his mind, he heads back to his car. Stepping back into the grove of trees Notarbartolo
can't believe his eyes- Speedy is rushing back and forth, trash bag in hand, hurling
papers into the bushes and ripping out the videotape from cassette tapes. Israeli and Indian currency floats through
the air, scattered everywhere as Speedy rampages in a full-blown nervous breakdown. All around the muddy floor are the specks
of tiny, glittering diamonds. Speedy and Notarbartolo aren't really gem
dealers, they're gem thieves- some of the world's best, and the trashbag who's contents
are now scattered all over the forest is the only evidence left linking them to what would
be called the diamond heist of the century, with over $100 million dollars in diamonds
and jewelry stolen from the world's most secure vault. A year and a half earlier Notarbartolo is
sitting at a cafe, enjoying a break from his fake job as a gem dealer in Antwerp's diamond
district. This is the world's epicenter for the diamond
trade, and all around Notarbartolo are burly men armed with handguns wheeling away suitcases
full of gems, security personnel driving armored cars full of wealth, and diamond dealers with
black briefcases handcuffed to their wrists, imposing bodyguards watching their every move. Customers and sellers from all over the world
form a crowd around Notarbartolo, and like a wolf in sheep's clothing, no one has a clue
that the world's best thief is sitting in their midst, calmly sipping an espresso. Notarbartolo is in his early 50s, a professional
thief for life. Having pulled off dozens of successful heists,
he no longer steals because he has to, he does it because he was born to do it. His very first robbery was at age 6, his mother
had sent him out to buy milk, but Notarbartolo had found the milkman dozing. Reaching into the dozing milkman's pockets,
he fished out 5,000 lira- or about $8- and helped himself to a bottle of milk. When his mother found out she beat him, but
Notarbartolo knew he had found his life's calling. Growing up, he stole from his teachers in
elementary school, and when he became a teenager he started stealing cars and even learned
how to pick locks. With a growing reputation, Notarbartolo set
his sights on bigger fish, and in his 20s he started studying people so as to best learn
how to rob them. He followed jewelry salesmen around Italy
for weeks, observing their every move so he could understand their habits. Then once he knew his mark's routines better
than they did, he struck, making off with loads of precious gems and jewelry. As the master thief entered his thirties his
ambitions grew yet again, and he began assembling teams of professional thieves to tackle ever
more difficult, and lucrative targets. He would put together lock-picking experts,
alarm aces, safecrackers, tunnelers who could penetrate any vault from below, and even a
man who could scale the sleek exterior of an office building. Honing their arts and preparing for jobs in
Turin, Italy, the group of professional thieves came to be known as the School of Turin. Notarbartolo was the mastermind, and specialized
in charm. He'd play the part of a jeweller and befriend
his marks, often being invited into offices, workshops, or even vault rooms to inspect
merchandise. All the while his mind was furiously making
notes of his surroundings, keeping track of the exact number of steps he took so he could
figure out size and dimensions of a vault, spotting security devices and any special
features that would have to be defeated by his team. Then, a week or a month later, he and his
team struck, stealing the entire inventory in the course of a single night. Then, one day in his late forties as he sipped
his espresso in the midst of Antwerp's diamond district, a Jewish gem dealer approached him,
sitting down and making an offer- Notarbartolo would be paid 100,000 Euros to answer one
single question: could the vault in the Antwerp Diamond Center be robbed? The answer was an obvious no, Antwerp's Diamond
Center vault was the most secure in the world, and Notarbartolo himself kept part of his
stash locked up inside of it. The vault was two floors below the main floor,
with a lock that had 100 million possible combinations. Infrared detectors monitored for body heat
inside the vault, and heat detectors would trigger an alarm if they detected any rise
in ambient temperature- such as the fraction of a degree raise in temperature that a man's
warm breath might cause inside the temperature controlled vault. Doppler radar blasted the inside of the vault,
detecting even the most minute of vibrations or movements, and a magnetic field would trigger
an alarm if the vault door was opened. Upstairs a security force was on constant
alert, ready to descend with automatic weapons at the first alarm. But for 100,000 Euros, Notarbartolo was happy
to show his client jus thow impossible the task really was. And so he armed himself with a tiny pen camera
which he placed in his breast pocket, the small spy camera capable of taking 100 high-resolution
images. Because Notarbartolo rented an office in the
Diamond Center, and kept his own gems and jewelry in the main safe, he could gain access
into the building and even the vault itself, all the while snapping off hundreds of photos. The vault was guarded with a three ton steel
door with a combination wheel that needed a precise code to open. The door itself was impervious to drilling,
rated to withstand 12 hours of non-stop drilling, though the moment a drill touched the metal
a seismic sensor would be triggered and the security force upstairs would be on its way. On the interior lip of the door and on the
inside of the door frame were a pair of metal plates, and when alarmed a magnetic field
passed between the plates. Any movement of the door would break the field
and trigger an alarm. The only way of disarming the field was to
input a code in a nearby keypad. The main lock itself needed a nearly-impossible-to-duplicate
foot-long key to finally grant entry. Cameras covered every inch of the vault inside
and out, as well as all the exterior approaches to the building and even the sky above it. Five months after showing his client the photos
and telling him a heist was impossible, Notarbartolo received a call from a blocked number. On the other end of the line was a familiar
voice. “Meet me at this address.” was all the voice said, and moments later
a text with an address appeared on his phone. Later that day Notarbartolo arrives at an
abandoned warehouse well outside of Antwerp and any prying eyes. The small Jewish gem dealer greets him with
a curt nod, and wasting no time tells him that he wants to introduce him to some people. Inside the empty warehouse is a huge structure
covered with black plastic tarps. Curiously Notarbartolo approaches it and he
and the gem dealer duck under the plastic- and a stunned Notarbartolo finds himself standing
in the antechamber to the Diamond Center's vault... it's an exact replica, down to every
minute detail, carefully reconstructed from his photos. Inside the vault three Italian men are having
a quiet conversation and stop talking as soon as the daler and Notarbartolo approach. The men don't give their real names, instead
referring to each other only by nicknames- this way if one gets caught he's unable to
finger the rest. One of the men introduces himself, he's known
as the Genius and he specializes in alarm systems- any kind of alarm system. He tells Notarbartolo that he can disable
most of the vault's alarms remotely, but some he'll have to do himself. Next a tall, muscular man shakes Notarbartolo's
hand with a firm, almost overpowering grip. The others call him Monster, and tell Notarbartolo
that they call him that because “he's monstrously good at everything”, but also because of
his huge physical strength and intimidating demeanor. Behind the Genius and the Monster, a small,
unassuming older man quietly waits for his introduction, calling himself the King of
Keys. He has a kind, grandfatherly demeanor to him,
and his job will be to duplicate the foot-long vault key that's supposed to be impossible
to duplicate. He tells Notarbartolo that all he'll need
is clear video of the key and he'll handle the rest. Notarbartolo tells him that getting video
of the well-guarded key won't be easy, but the King simply shrugs his shoulders and tells
him that that's his problem. The team is in place, the target has been
chosen. And in a few weeks the monthly DeBeers shipment
of diamonds will be trucked in and stored inside the vault, up to $100 million in precious
stones ready to be plundered. The day is Friday, February 14th, one day
before the heist. Notarbartolo is buzzed into the vault alone,
and though a camera watches his every move, the security guard on the other end has become
accustomed to Notarbartolo’s comings and goings to access his safe-deposit boxes. As he approaches his deposit box though, Notarbartolo
takes one quick step to his left and pulls out a small aerosol can of women's hairspray,
covering the interior heat and motion sensor with a coat of transparent, oily mist. The oily film will block the sensor's ability
to read fluctuations in the room's temperature, and the alarm it was connected to would only
go off if it sensed both heat and motion. Yet nobody knew just how long the trick would
actually work, and it needed to last long enough for the Monster to later enter the
vault and install the sensor bypass. The crew thinks he may have five total minutes
before his body heat is detected, but nobody is really sure. Later that night the Diamond District is deserted,
save for the permanent police on-station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Notarbartolo drives a rented Peugeot 307 onto
a road that skirts the edge of the district, and pulling to the curb, the Monster, the
Genius, the King of Keys, and Speedy exit carrying large duffel bags. The rest of the team isn't happy about Speedy
being on the job, but Notarbartolo vouches for his life-long friend. Still, Speedy has a reputation for breaking
down towards the end of a job and getting far too nervous for his, or the team's own
good. Nevertheless, the team accepts him on Notarbartolo's
word, though the Monster keeps a very close eye on him. Picking the lock on a run-down office building,
the team slips inside undetected. At the rear of the building they exit out
onto a private garden that rests up against the back of the Diamond Center and is one
of the few places in, or near, the district that isn't under constant surveillance. Using a ladder that he'd previously hidden
there, the Genius climbs up to a small terrace on the second floor of the Diamond Center. There an infrared detector is alert for intruders,
but using a polyester shield, the Genius slowly moves his way to the sensor and finally puts
his shield directly in front of it, disabling the sensor. The rest of the team climbs up and the Genius
disable an alarm sensor on one of the balcony’s windows like it's child's play, opening the
window wide enough for the team to then drop into a stairwell. They're now inside the Diamond Center, with
a fully staffed security force just a floor above them. Descending the stairs the team enters the
vault's antechamber and cover the security cameras with black plastic bags before flipping
on the lights. For anyone watching, the lights would appear
to still be off. Approaching the massive vault door, the Genius
pulls out a custom-made slab of rigid aluminum and affixes heavy-duty double-sided tape to
one side of the slab, then sticks it to the two metal plates that regulate the magnetic
field on the right side of the vault door. Next, he unscrews the bolts that hold the
magnetic plates to the door and the door's frame, and with the sticky tape attached to
the aluminum slab holding the two plates together, he simply removes them from the door and tapes
them to the wall- the magnetic field still thrums between the two stuck-together plates,
but now the door is no longer protected. The King of Keys is up next, and he moves
to fish the copy of the vault key that he's made from Notarbartolo's videos- but then
he freezes, a thought striking him. In Notarbartolo's videos the guards almost
always visited a nearby utility room before opening the vault, and working off his hunch
the thieves break into and search the room- to reveal the original vault key hanging inside. Grabbing the original key, the King slides
it into place and the Genius dials in the lock's combination, also gleamed from watching
Notarbartolo's very detailed videos. The tumblers fall into place with a final
click and the team holds its breath- the door is unlocked. With a nod, the Genius motions to the Monster
who turns off the lights, a light detector in the vault could be triggered when the door
was opened if not. In the pitch dark, the King of Keys turns
the key and spins the handle, swinging open the giant metal door. As the door opens, Speedy rushes back up the
stairs so he can call Notarbartolo on his cell phone, saying simply “We're in.”
and hanging up. Sitting outside in the rented Peugeot, Notarbartolo
watches the front of the Diamond Center. The police scanner on his dash is quiet and
there is no sign of activity within or outside the district. Inside the vault's antechamber the King of
Keys picks the lock on the metal grate that is the last remaining barrier between the
team and the interior of the vault. The Monster grabs two paint cans from the
utility room and wedges them in place to hold the metal grate open. Then, the large man takes a deep breath, focuses
on his heart beat and his breathing, working to control both. The heat sensor that Notarbartolo had covered
with hair spray earlier in the day is still operational, and though heavily muted, it
will eventually pick up the Monster's body heat through the oily film. He has to control his heart beat and his breathing
both, his body is already projecting heat into the temperature controlled vault, and
if he doesn’t carefully control himself his body would generate even greater amounts
of heat. Having practiced the operation hundreds of
times in the warehouse, the Monster carefully enters the pitch black vault and moves exactly
eleven steps into the middle of the room, reaching for the ceiling and pushing back
a panel. Inside he feels the security system's main
inbound and outbound wires. Along these wires an electronic pulse shoots
constantly in and out of the vault, and if any of the sensors were tripped the circuit
would break. As the pulse came into the room, it expected
an answering pulse, and if it didn't get one it would activate the alarm. Reaching in the pitch black, the Monster uses
a tool to very carefully strip the plastic coating from the wires. He is working with his hands above his head,
the stress of maintaining this position causing his muscles to tremble- any slip of the knife
into the actual wiring would instantly break the circuit and trip the alarm. To make matters worse, the strain is causing
him to sweat, which is increasing his body temperature. The team thought the heat sensor could be
fooled for five minutes maximum, but nobody really knows for sure. With the copper wires exposed, the Monster
clips a new, precut piece of wire between the inbound and outbound cables, effectively
creating a bridge that rerouts the incoming electric pulse to the outbound wire before
it ever reaches the sensors. The Monster has done it, the room is now completely
cut off from the outside world. Taking no chances, the team immediately goes
to work, covering up the heat and motion detector with a Styrofoam box and the light detector
with tape. The King of Keys then takes a handmade, hand-cranked
drill out of his bag and gets to work on the locks to the individual storage boxes. A power tool would be faster, but it would
also make a great deal of noise. Three minutes later, the lock breaks and the
box snaps open, revealing the priceless gems and diamonds inside. The team has memorized every single detail
of the vault, and work in complete darkness not willing to even risk setting off the light
detector. They turn their flashlights on only for brief
moments as they reposition the drill on the next box, working in complete silence. Their bags meanwhile are filling with gold
bars, diamonds, gems, and millions in various foreign currencies. By 5:30 am the team has been inside the vault
for six hours, and their bags are filled to bursting. 109 boxes have been opened out of 160, and
yet even though the world has no idea the men are inside the vault, they need to leave-
now- before the streets start filling with people. Speedy rushes back up the stairwell to call
Notarbartolo, telling him that they're on the way out. Loaded with loot, it takes the team an hour
to carry the duffel bags up the stairs, bypass the infrared sensor, lower the bags down the
ladder, and make their way through the abandoned office building to Notarbartolo's car. Gathering in Notarbartolo's apartment the
team cheers- the heist is complete and nobody will have a clue until Monday morning when
the dealers return to work. The bags are filled with currency and smaller
stones, but the real loot is in the black leather satchels that the diamond dealers
keep their diamonds in. The Monster reaches inside a duffel bag and
whips out one of the satchels, unzipping it- to discover that it's empty. Bewildered, he takes out another satchel,
and another, but they are all empty. Rifling through the satchels in the other
duffel bags the team finds that most of them are empty- the diamonds which should have
been there are almost all gone! “We've been set up”, says Notarbartolo. The team makes salami sandwiches in the kitchen
and discuss their situation. The satchels should have been full of diamonds
from the DeBeers shipment, and they should have earned a total take of over $100 million
dollars. Now they were looking at only a fraction of
that, about $20 million. A thought struck Notarbartolo- maybe the dealer
had set them up. Perhaps he had planned this with the rest
of the dealers and pulled their inventories out of the vault just before the heist, so
that when the robbery was discovered they could claim the diamonds had been stolen and
collect insurance money for the stones they would then secretly sell later. For the team, it didn't matter. If they had been set up, they would never
find the dealer again, and at least there was still twenty million in loot to split. Two days later, the team had already gone
their separate ways, and Notarbartolo and Speedy were on the highway on their way back
to Turin in Italy. In the backseat of the car is the black plastic
bag full of the only evidence linking them to the crime. Next to him, Speedy is melting down. The set-up was more than he could take, and
the normally nervous Speedy is now in full-blown panic mode. He can't go any further with the bag of evidence
in the car with them, and he tells Notarbartoloto pull off onto a lonely country road. “It's perfect”, he says, and reluctantly
Notarbartolo agrees- this is where they will burn the trash, erasing all evidence linking
them to the crime. When Notarbartolo returns from inspecting
the burning location, he finds Speedy having a full-blown panic attack. There's trash and currency everywhere, and
small diamond stones glitter in the mud. Enraged, Notarbartolo orders Speedy to calm
down, and the two spend hours picking up any incriminating evidence, leaving the rest scattered
about the grove of trees looking like nothing more than trash. In the weeks that followed a local farmer
would discover the trash, and believing it was a bunch of kids dumping on his property,
notify the police. When he discovered even more bundles of trash
he grew incensed, and called the police back. This time they had him list the pieces of
trash he found, and when the farmer mentioned a Diamond Center envelope, the police immediately
took interest in this seemingly random pile of trash. An invoice for a low-light surveillance system
bearing Notarbartolo's name, as well as DNA evidence from a discarded bit of Salami sandwich
would go on to incriminate the professional jewel thief, who would be charged with leading
the team of thieves in the vault heist. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, he was let
off on parole early, and today is a free man- under very careful scrutiny. As far as the Jewish gem dealer who ordered
the heist, when the team went to meet up with him at their designated rendezvous point to
split their loot, he never showed. Notarbartolo claims that the team was played,
but police believe that the entire story of a Jewish gem dealer was a story made up to
cover the fact that the heist was actually orchestrated by the Italian mafia, given that
Notarbartolo's own cousin was at the time slated to become the head of the Italian crime
syndicate. The stolen gems however were never recovered,
and the identity of the alleged Jewish dealer who orchestrated the entire plan, or his motivations,
have never been discovered. Was the heist really a setup for insurance
fraud? What do you think really happened? Also, make sure you check out our other video,
Thief Who Hijacked A Plane and Stole A Million Dollars. See you next time!
