Like everyone else who descended to the bottom floor of the Antwerp Diamond Center that day - Monday, FebruPeys needed some time to process the enormity of what he saw. Detective Patrick Peys thought that if he were to shovel it all up, pour it into any one of the empty and discarded containers scattered about, he would have enough wealth to finance a decadent retirement not only for himself but also for the five other detectives in his unit of specialized diamond-crime investigators. Loose stones rolled and bounced like marbles as the detectives picked through the debris, their low gasps and whistles of amazement echoing softly in the bright underground chamber. There were ancient heirlooms, gilded bond notes, a Rolex watch, and a brick of solid gold heavy enough to stub toes. Empty velvet-lined jewelry cases, cardboard cigar boxes, and tin-clasped metal containers lay amid sparkling gemstones of every imaginable cut, color, clarity, and carat.
The white-tiled floor of the vault was littered with diamonds, pearls, emeralds, rubies, gold, and silver. The result is a thrilling ride through the better-than-fiction heist of the century. They recreate this jewel heist and its aftermath - detailing how the thieves brilliantly neutralized each element of the security protecting the Diamond Center’s vault while inviting the readers into the secretive world of diamonds and diamond dealing. Tracking clues, sources, and documents throughout Europe - from seedy cafés in Turin, Italy to sleek diamond offices in Antwerp, Belgium - authors Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell retrace Leonardo Notarbartolo’s careful discovery of the building’s security flaws.
#Flawless 2007 movie
The bandits - members of a group of professional thieves known as "The School of Turin" - used cunning in lieu of violence, successfully evading security cameras, thwarting an array of electronic sensors, and penetrating a vault protected by a double-locked foot-thick steel door.Įven when the police zeroed in on who committed the crime, how it was done remained a mystery, like something out of a heist movie or TV show.įlawless is a fast-paced global scavenger hunt uncovering the truth behind Leonardo Notarbartolo and the Antwerp Diamond robbery. The robbers did it with stealth and smarts no one was hurt or even threatened during what was quickly labeled the largest diamond heist in history. They'd pulled off the biggest heist in history ("The Antwerp Diamond Heist")-as the saying goes, "everybody loves diamonds" and they now had more than any thief before them. Experts estimate they got away with nearly half a billion dollars in diamonds, jewelry, cash, and other valuables. Located in the heart of Belgium’s ultra-secure Antwerp Diamond District, it benefited from two police stations, armed patrols, extensive video surveillance, and vehicle barriers securing an area where 80 percent of the world’s diamonds traded hands.īut on February 15, 2003, a band of skilled Italian thieves - fronted by the charming Leonardo Notarbartolo, who spent over two years clandestinely casing the building - subverted every one of the Diamond Center's defenses and made off with a record amount of loot. With hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds stored in its subterranean vault, it had to be. The Antwerp Diamond Center was one of the most secure buildings in the world.
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