Stealing $800,000 in Jewels - Chapter 4: Episode 5 | Larry Lawton: Jewel Thief | 6 |

this is Larry Lawton and he's an ex jewel thief Larry's a former career criminal once considered the biggest jewel thief in the United States and I'm sitting there thinking man I can rob these guys I can bribe he's only one guy you know it was crazy back then I was a really nut job I'll never forget I'd come out of there and I tell the guys that go man hey guys I think we can rob these guys and his butt and then think I'm crazy I go no you're psycho we're gonna get killed well I hope everybody's liking these summarize chapters now that's what we're doing it I go through the book a little bit I take some notes to summarizing and telling stories bringing back memories some good some bad I'm not proud of what I'm doing I know people will say that all you could talk to it so freely it is Who I am we all who we are you can't change that you have to accept who you are and if they don't you know what I say it can't help that this next chapter was chapter four which is called the Daytona 800,000 and I'll tell you why this is when I start my hustling career this is when I start understanding about hustling and the first thing is I'm always wanted a concealed weapon permit in Florida is pretty easy so what do I do I get private investigators license and I do get a concealed weapon permit and I actually have that that's pretty cool and I had it of course I don't have it now I'm a convicted felon but anyway so I get that and I go to work for a company out of talking to a guy and he goes I need somebody and he knew I was on this fringes you knew I had a lot of balls I can do things and a guy's name was Paul Uyghur so he owned a place called you know University security and I go work for university security and I I run the whole place I had a hundred guards working for me and it was all about the scam I mean we were billing places that shouldn't have been billed we had a contract with the School Board of Broward County and every time a school alarm systems not working or a window gets broken they have to bring in security guards so he would call me a guy guy I had a school board at that time school board security was guy named Russ Cochran ended up becoming sheriff but I was paying Russ Cochran 500 a week every week and what would he do he would sign off on hours that I didn't do of course he would put guards in places we didn't need him I even had sometimes hired kids to go break a window so I'd have that that place covered even if I had to put a guard there I'd pay to guard four or five bucks an hour it was 325 I think was minimum wage then and I'm getting eight or ten bucks an hour from the school board so it was it was a hell of a scam and that's how I learned I started doing home scams and making money and and that's what you did I mean I paid Ross and did all that kind of stuff I'll tell you another little scam I had I remember when I robbed wedding dresses it was funny you know I was talking to a guy in New York and he had a wedding shop and I knew it there was a wedding shop where I work where I had my pizza reader and he says I said to him I said listen to me if I get you wedding dresses where you goes liar you get me wedding dresses I'll give you 300 a wedding dress I don't care you give me any wedding dress I'll give you 300 bucks I said deal and understanding the house I said this is the first lesson I learned and I learned it young don't ever rob anything you can't get rid of if I robbed wedding dresses and I couldn't get rid of him what good would that been I would have been stuck with a bunch of wedding dresses in a warehouse you know waiting to get caught or just eaten up warehouse money that you have to pay and you don't ever want to get caught going in something happens if they get ruined and then you got to get rid of them it's just the pain don't ever steal anything you can't get rid of case in point I had a guy in a who was work for the security university security company and he ends up believe and he goes to another company and they had the security for the Miami Convention Center and one time he calls me up he says hey Larry goes I'm guarding all these Picasso's Rembrandt's or all this stuff cuz you want them there you want him I I said hold on let me make some phone calls I call New York I couldn't I couldn't get five cents on the dollar seven cents to said three cents that means I robbed a million dollar picture I can't get 10 grand 15 grand it's not worth stealing you got to be crazy to steal something like that so I passed on that but I started learning so when the guy says to me yeah give me the thing I said man I'm gonna Rob this wedding place sure enough found out there were no alarms literally CRO board the back door rented a right a rented truck backed it right up to the store literally rolled racks of them right on they put everything into the thing went up to New York City got 25,000 I want a 30 grand yet 25 grand probably his hustle against me but put it this way we're all happy and that's just hustling you know learn the hustle don't steal what you can't get rid of you know then being a small criminal what do I do okay I need to learn about diamonds cuz I know I'm getting stole you know meaning the guys I'm dealing with know about diamonds are I Larry's got to say I got to learn about diamonds so what do I do I go to the G ia Institute under the table I paid a guy 10 grand and he had he actually had it I think there was six of us four or six of us in a room above one of the stores and they actually literally gave us the lesson on the four C's that cut clarity color all those things you need to know the four C's of a diamond and then watch the gate cut and know how to grade them and understand what the cut means and I don't mean a round cut or a marquee or square dive I mean they cut the geometric cut that actually brings light back so I started learning my trade and I know it's crazy but that's what you got to do and to be successful in anything you gotta do something like that you know and it just it's you know it's funny because after I go to the diamond school I'm Casey stores and when I go into these stores I'm learning that these diamond people are bigger crooks than I was and yeah you go what do you mean listen they start telling you about oh look at this beautiful diamond and I know already about diamonds and I know how they hide inclusions you know hide flaws in a diamond under the facets and stuff like that and I'm just saying nothing like I'm some ignorant guy that worked for FEMA or some more at that time because should company or whatever it was and I'll get into that and he's trying to rob me literally and I'm thinking in the back of my head I'm a robbed this guy this guy's really bad I know what he's doing to people and if he's doing that to me how many people is you really doing it to so it's kind of like I know it's like I'm not justifying robbing I know it sounds like that but just be careful you know I always tell people the biggest third biggest purchase you'll ever make is a diamond you're gonna buy a house you're gonna buy a car and probably at diamonds annex biggest purchase you'll ever make be careful do your research shop around don't go to one and let them sell you because they're bigger criminals probably and I was then you go to casing the store you know in this regard you have that's where you make your money that's when you know you're good when you case a store and I case the store the best and FBI says why didn't you ever quit well that's another whole story but I didn't quit because I the high was better than any drug ever done but when you case the store you got to know what's first of all your case the store backwards and when I say backwards this can I get away with it can I case it and get away with it without getting caught so what do you do you first I used to case stores they used to get a store that was in a Plaza like a shopping plaza Publix or a winn-dixie or Pathmark one of those stores that you might know from up north and what I would do is it's easy to sit in a car and watch that store when you're doing something like that because there's other people around and people come and going they don't know if you're waiting for your wife they don't know anything so it's a good place to rob plus people come and go and you'd be surprised how people are oblivious of what goes on around them like one of the big things I did was I made sure the glare of the window when I cased the store if the Sun was coming up the Sun comes up in the east and falls in the West so if the Sun is face if the store is facing the east the Sun is coming against that glass and the glare off that glass you can't see in unless you go right up to that window and look in so I would look for stores like that and the timing for the store to rob it when to rob it and also number employees who's coming who's gone when are they come when they go what cars a day using how many employees who opens who closes it the same people is it different even the routes they take on it coming up the same block so some of the times I'd even followed them to where they go especially the owner or the person who I had to make sure he's doing opening or closing so I would know when the mailman comes with a copter in the area at a certain time so you have to really case a story then you have to even case your getaway and that'll tell you at the end when my actual getaway who goes wild and on one of my stores and it's my last robbery and it's pretty crazy story but in this case I cased the store really good you know I used to see if the people had display cases in the window that you couldn't see in the window and did they have the buzzers on those doors those buzzers on those doors you know when you get buzzed into a jewelry store it's good for me cuz once you buzz it use a buzzer nobody's gonna come in behind me and surprise me I know who if somebody comes up to the door to try it again I'll buzz them in and then I know they're there I can go up to them say this is a robbery and that's what I did so chasing the store is really really important there's some just those are the kind of hate to say tips occasion but that's so important case in the stories you got to know what you're gonna Rob there's funny because I didn't rob stores that were national change like mayor's or Zales or something like that because if you rob them they don't have what they call the small box of diamonds I robbed wholesalers wholesalers or guys who would sell they have a store but they would sell to other jewelers they always have a box about this long and in that box there is diamonds and they're loose diamonds so when they know who you are when I come in as a businessman a construction worker who construction contractor who's got money now and he wants to buy his wife a nice I would come in and I'd have a diamond bracelet and I'd have gold Rolex and I'd have a pinky ring and all of that stuff and the guy wouldn't come in and he would know I have money so he's trying to sell me a diamond so what does he do he breaks out the loose box so let's say the box is this long and I asked for a carat diamond and he pulls it out from over here then I asked for a carat and half and he goes this way then I know all of these diamonds are big diamonds and probably nice diamonds loose ready to be set so if this diamond is a carat here and a Carinae of here I know all of these are big diamonds if he goes the other way I know it's all a bunch of garbage so I got to know how to pinpoint that box how much that box was worth every jeweler will have one they'll break it out for a customer and put it on the table say let me show your stone and it will show it to you under a microscope and with the tweezers and or what they call a loop and it's a magnifying glass and you'd look at it and you could see probably most people won't know what they're looking for I do but it was funny because I'd actually tasting that store while he's doing that I'm saying I could rob him there I know where he puts it most most jewelry store owners don't put that box back to me of the safe it usually goes into a back room maybe behind a floorboard or something like that and that's important to know as well because that's the box that I wanted I knew I would get that box and that box worth money for me oh boy here I go that's the money so that's know what you're doing where it is then you have to be you know I said it earlier a little bit you got to become someone okay funny story I would go into a store and I'd actually go into an area I would look around and in Florida like in Daytona what I did was I went to the beach condos and I would see which Beach condos the big buildings on the beach which one was boarded up you know with the the winter hurricane shutters they're wrong so I went into a building I saw that the second floor was all shuttered up and I knew what apartment it was cuz I look made sure I knew exactly which one it was and I looked on the directory and I got the name of that guy I looked up that guy's phone number in the telephone book and I kept calling the number making sure nobody answers the back then cell phones weren't as popular so I kept calling that number and nobody answered so I know he's not in town and I can use that guy I become that guy so what I did was I made myself that name I actually one time even made business cards from that but what I did was I ended up taking this guy's now name whole persona and I went to the jewelry store as that man I said I'm a contractor I have a condo over here right here gave me a dress here's my phone number the guy would always want to get my ring or something off me to clean that's a scam they use as well cuz once they take something off for you to clean it they then keep you there why are they talking to you about your piece or whatever it is so now the guys cleaning my piece and I would say hey listen can you clean that and I'll come back tomorrow the next day I just got a bunch of stuff though you can clean it we'll talk about the times that he's definitely thinking he's got a buddy's keep him here's my number when you're done give me a call if I'm not out though more about I'll call you later sure enough he'd take my number down my name he thinks he got me how does this guy think I'm gonna be a criminal he thinks nothing of it might even call that number I don't know if he did it's gonna go to nobody so it doesn't matter so anyway I go back and I got that guy and now the next time I come in just to pick it up he thinks he's got a great customer so I said yeah let me think about that let me talk about my partners in here to owe me I'll bring him in as well and he hit maybe he'll want but he knows a little bit more about this stuff than I do and maybe in a few days when we're slow on the job we'll come in sure enough when I do come in load time the next time I got total cases in my pants underneath them I got a sports jacket on so my tattoo I had a few tattoos not as many as I do now but I had a tattoo or two and I did be covered I usually had a dick either no goatee clean shaving maybe I had my hair different color then I had hair red I had glasses which I didn't wear back then so but they were just glass so you look like I had wore glasses and the guy thought he knew me and so now I'm coming in and actually I got my flex-cufs in pockets I got a pair of gloves had them I had the pillowcases I had flex cuffs I'm all ready to go I had a fake gun out a BB gun in my back of my small on my back so when I came in the guy thinks automatically oh this guy's a good customer okay matter of fact when I went into the Daytona job the owner of the plaza where this store was was actually in the store talking to the guy and I just was browsed and I say I don't forget the guys name it said his name sale a he did say my name I think I was Michael Roberts at that time because I Mike I'll be with Jesse yeah take your time take your time the I'll never forget the owner of Plaza goes let me go you got customers and sure enough we robbed them right there but that guy left anyway whence what's that guy left I make sure that the owner of the jewelry store is not near any counter where there's a buzzer where I could see his hands source they have buzzers that they can actually click a buzzer in the hand or if it's in their pocket it's like on a keychain so I would make sure he's between somewhere now the guy I brought in is supposedly looking around maybe talking to the other employee which that's they were going and now right when I go I pull out that gun and I come hard get down get down it's a robbery robbery and the guy gets down on the floors in the middle of no ways behind the counter so once he's down even somebody walking by can't see anything even if they looked in and couldn't see anything I quickly flex-cuf him put my gloves on tell him don't open his eyes and the other other person is down by this times as well now they're both neutralized now you take the pillowcases out start opening cabinets you're breaking everything out you know where the diamonds are and the safe you know where that box is you put everything into these whole entire there pillowcases full total poke is is full I would they were literally two three of them minor four of them and there would be near the door ready to go when I single the next guy to come around back with the car because it that's how you did it and I had a gun then in and out right away and when I say we had a flake fake plate I would rob a plate the night before just on a different car doesn't matter what car and I would rob a plate and just in case someone saw a car leaving you know fastly and took a plate number it would be a phony plate but the first thing I did when I stopped on highway I'd get straight to 95 I was up and down the East Coast a flaw of the United States and whatever wherever I was once I got on 95 I would get into a rest area and I would change the plate back to the legal plate totally nothing that would look the jewelry's in the trunk nobody you couldn't even no you wouldn't even know that this was a robbery especially if the robbery was done by two guys there might be three eyes now it would look like just three guys and we'd be like in our regular jeans and stuff like that would change that about clothes everything you'd be in the trunk so we would look like we're just like construction workers or something like that so we never got stopped on the way up we never sped never did anything stupid like that but that's what you did that's how quick you got out of the place it was you know you really had to do really do quick with that with the buzzers and everything else if you didn't you're gonna get you know you need court matter of fact in that Daytona robbery of a funny story we were waiting so I robbed the store and I got the jewelry ready to go and I go out to look out the front door to see you know the single guy to come around back in there was a cop waiting there was actually a cop in the spot right in front just sitting there it wasn't for us or anything of course he was just sitting there now I'm waiting I'm waiting I couldn't do anything cuz I didn't know how long these people would take to get out of that flex-cufs or anything like that and I said oh my god what do I gotta wait I ended up waiting about thirty minutes twenty thirty minutes in the store until those cops left they went on their way and wherever they went you know they're gone so at least I know even if I get in the car and these guys get out of there flex-cuf in three minutes I'm gone in three minutes they don't know what direction I went or anything like that and usually in a few minutes I'm up near 95 at the Daytona store the store was down towards the water right before the bridge going over the bridge and it was on a lot you come down International Drive that's where Daytona Raceway is you know everyone knows the Daytona 500 but that's the road it was on so at the end of that road is what they call a circle going up to go over the bridge to go to a beachside but it was right there right before that and it was so all I had to do was come out make a right and I was get right on International Drive straight up to 95 had 95 north and I was in in about 16 17 hours I was in New York City that's how I never stopped didn't stop to eat get gas and that was it and then it was payday time and you know when they paid me it was great because I used to get a bag of cash and at that store it was eight hundred thousand and I ended up getting about four hundred thousand three to four hundred thousand it was my end and I ended up having a bag of cash bag hundred dollar bills and I used to go always to Positano a little place in Little Italy New York and Rocky was the owner and he owned four telly for Telly's and Positano and I used to eat in positive that I used to have vodka rigatoni to this day I love vodka rigatoni and I would sit down with Peggy cash in it of course my pistol is in my bag and but I would sit there and love my food I would just love my food and it was funny because I used to go down underneath and down where they used to pay me down where they melt gold make gold fix diamonds it's down a real jewelry I call it the real diamond centers and Little Italy below Little Italy around Chinatown but below it and as a whole full block area that's you know there might have 50 merchants in one store but below it they have like security and have a safe cinema melter and they have everything and there's well a lot of shady things go on down there when I was down there once I sort of pay me with a box they took out a suitcase full of money it had to be Millions about a couple million dollars at least at least and they take it out of a floorboard and they put it in the machine to pay me in the machine then it pops up if it's a bad bill they don't want to give me a bad bill they don't even count if they can get caught or anything like that and I'm sitting there thinking man I can rob these guys I can rob these only one guy you know I was crazy back then I was a really nut job I'll never forget and come out of there and I tell the guys that go man hey guys I think we can rob these guys in and his money and they're thinking I'm crazy go no you're psycho we're gonna get killed obviously we would have got killed talk about being stupid you're probably being wanted by not only the police you want the bad guys you wanted to buy it forget it I mean I think back about that it was just a fleeting thought or being stupid and sure enough I didn't do it thank God never never thought about that after that so I end up casing a store in Sarasota Florida it's kind of a funny story a case is stored in Sarasota Florida if anybody knows anything about Sarasota Florida it's on a west coast of Florida it's going our best beaches in the world called Lido Beach the sand is pure white doesn't get hot just a beautiful are very wealthy area nice so I robbed a jewelry store and I'll never forget is right next to a dive shop so it's next to the dive shopping and I case it it looks good it's not a mega store for money but it's a pretty good score and I said okay and it's in a kind of busy Plaza like I said there was a dive next order meeting died of meaning in a scuba-diving so people coming going in there and and if it didn't bother me at never bother me I always look for the back and the front entrance had to do it so I go into the store I ended up doing I put the people down I got my partner in and we clear it out and we got a guy waiting in the car but while we're doing the robbery two old people come in they walk in and they you know buzz the buzzer and I let them in and I open my jacket and I have a gun there and I say you're in on a robbery and they go oh I said no no no no no you're not gonna I always worried about never gagged people I never wanted people to get hurt I never did and nobody ever did physically hurt they did get mentally hurt so that's just misnomer - I did to hurt people psychologically but anyway these two old people come in and they wanted to go down I said no no no I said you come over here put them in a chair I said just look at the wall just look at that wall over there so I want you to do don't move and when I leave you have to wait 10 minutes I'm gonna check but just don't move so they think okay Nick gag them didn't close them they tie them up didn't do a thing so I do the robbery and I tell my my one of my partner's I'd give them the single to come around back well The doesn't come or back right around right quick I don't know if he saw somebody what he didn't come around I go outside with a bag of jewelry and my partner to beg of jewelry and he's not there I turn around I'm standing I turn around quickly walk back in I look at the old pillow said I'm just checking you I'm Jay I'm so funny they go know what I'm moving never forget so go back give him the nod again come on you he comes around and picks me up we're gone boom on the road across the state back to 95 back up north well in the paper the next day it said they interviewed the old couple and the old couple said oh he was a nice man I get a kick out of that because I was nice to them I but but I'm not nice I just robbed the place for about five hundred thousand 600,000 and I'm like oh he's a nice guy now imma say this I noticed as people get mad at this the people who really hated me the most were the insurance companies the insurance companies hated me but they ended up having a payoff big even in one robbery he assured the FBI goes why you had a million - out of that store Larry I go oh oh I never got a million - out of that store I said that it was about 800,000 and then they go they started laughing he says well the owner put in 1.2 million and I laughed he laughed - because what am I gonna do Tom he's wrong but he every one made their money and it was funny because I got a kick out I said the only people really hated me with the insurance companies and I mean that so while we were doing that MIAC that Sarasota store is funny because we ended up whenever I go to a do an area I don't stay in a hotel and if I do it's a dive hotel we don't ever leave the hotel we stay in inside read the paper get bullcrap to eat at McDonald's sandwich every morning nobody leaves to go out to bars or anything we don't want to be known in that area so one time we go and here you gotta remember this three New Yorkers and we said let's go camping so we go to Myakka State Park in the Sarasota it's west of Sara east of Sarasota cuz we're on the west coast so it's inland it's a state park alligators the whole works so we got three New Yorkers we didn't even know how to open up the tent true story we did not open up the tent so we're in there and sure enough we tried to open the tent we don't do the open at Temple we had a grill so we had a grill and what happens and a raccoon steals my hamburger right off the grill I wasn't gonna stand for that and I ended up getting that raccoon we ended up finding out later there were rabid raccoons in the park literally so this thing could have been rabid because that's what they did they're not scared of humans they go right up to you you know I didn't even know about any of that kind of stuff but I ended up getting that raccoon with a 9-iron and ended up feeding it to their alligators kazuo 51 15 12 11 12 15 you know big huge alligators heads that size and it was right near a bridge in Myakka State Park huge alligators and I'll never forget that trip here we are New Yorkers trying to do that and I got a kick out at the whole time but you know III said it earlier but I'll say it again you know everybody likes diamonds and diamond is gonna be the third third largest purchase you will ever make just remember that when you go thinking about diamonds and you think about robbing Robby will you think about buying a diamond think about it you're gonna buy a house in your life you know buy a car of course and you know buy a diamond for your wife usually and diamonds it could be you know they give you all these ways and how much you should spend it's all BS sometimes you can get really really nice diamonds small very high quality in my opinion it better but don't be taken by these diamond guys ask for certain things always ask for a light refraction box a light reflection box which talks about the geometry of a diamond the cut clarity color and carat size that's that's your four C's and know about them but know about the cut and that's the geometry of a diam if they don't even tell you about that if a jewelry store does not have a ten powered microscope on the countertop walk out walk out I said I'm looking to show you under a ten powered microscope because that's the way only way to see real flaws in a diamond so I want you to understand that that's gonna conclude chapter four so I hope you're joined this way I'm doing it it seems pretty easier or a little bit more comfortable for me you can still listen to the whole chap that I think it's word by word on Spotify and also on iTunes and a link below I hope you're enjoying it accept your comments thanks for watching please pass the word and have a great day thank you you

Channel: Larry Lawton

Views: 866,591

Keywords: criminal eyes, criminal record, ex criminal, gangster redemption, gangster redemption movie, jewel heist, jewel robber, jewelry heist, jewelry robbery, jewelry store, larry lawton biggest heist, larry lawton brother, larry lawton how i got caught chapter 1, larry lawton jewel robbery, larry lawton maximum security, larry lawton robbery, larry lawton robbery story, larry lawton robbing, prison hacks, smart criminal, thief gang, top 10, what happens to pedophiles in prison

Id: Cw9KHqQR_Fg

Length: 30min 59sec (1859 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 15 2019