LARGE ROBBERIES

LUFTHANSA HEIST

On December 11, 1978 Jimmy Burke, an Irish American gangster

who was part of the Luccese crime family in New York City got permission

from the Gambino crime family (who controlled most of JFK airport) to

carry out a heist. That morning, before the sun came up, gunmen from

both families entered building 261 and made off with $6 million. It was much

more money than anyone expected though, and led to a lot of infighting

after the robbery.

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

In August 1963, Bruce Reynolds and his gang boarded a train at

Bridego Railway Bridge in Buckinghamshire, England and made off with

£2.6 million or the equivalent of £40 million today. Although it was an

enormous lump of cash, and most of the robbers fled the country,

their luck eventually ran dry and they were all caught.

DUNBAR ARMORED FACILITY ROBBERY

The largest cash robbery to ever take place in the United States, this

inside job was orchestrated by Allen Pace, one of the employees, on 

September 12, 1997 at the Dunbar Armoured car facility in Los Angeles,

California. The thieves made off with about $18 million. They were

eventually caught and Allen received 20 years in prison.

DRUMLANRIG CASTLE ROBBERY

On August 27, 2003, four men acting as tourists stole a

Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, Madonna of the Yarnwinder, from the

Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland using nothing more than an axe.

Valued at around $40 million it was recovered not long ago.

NORTHERN BANK ROBBERY

Smart planning, some hostage-taking, and a lot of guts were needed in

order to pull off this heist in Belfast, Ireland that amounted to over $50

million. The night before the crime, two officials of the Northern Bank

were visited by the robbers acting as policemen who then proceeded to

hold both of their families hostage. The officials obviously gave the

thieves the access they wanted. The case still remains unsolved.

CELLINI SALT CELLAR ROBBERY

The Cellini Salt Cellar, part-enamelled gold table sculpture by

Benvenuto Cellini, was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in

Vienna in May 2003. Surprising enough, however, the work of art was

recovered in Zwettl, Austria buried in the ground not long after.

Eventually Robert Mang, a resident of Vienna, turned himself in.

THE GRAFF DIAMONDS ROBBERY

The Graff Diamonds robbery took place on 6 August 2009 when

two men posing as customers entered the premises of Graff Diamonds

in New Bond Street, London and stole jewellery worth nearly £40 million.

The robbers used the services of a professional make-up artist to alter

their hair by using wigs, their skin tones and their features using latex

prosthetics. The artist took four hours to apply the disguises, having been

told that it was for a music video. Although the robbers were all

eventually caught, as of yet none of the stolen jewels have been recovered.

BRINK’S-MAT ROBBERY

The Brink’s-MAT robbery occurred on 26 November 1983 when

six robbers broke into the Brink’s-MAT warehouse at Heathrow Airport,

London. At the time, it was described as “the crime of the century”.

The gang gained entry to the warehouse from security guard

Anthony Black. The robbers thought they were going to steal £3 million in

cash. However, when they arrived, they found three tonnes of gold

bullion and stole £26 million worth of gold, diamonds and cash. Once

inside, they poured petrol over staff and threatened them with a lit match

if they did not reveal the combination numbers of the vault. Most of

the three tonnes of stolen gold has never been recovered and four of the

robbers were never convicted. According to the BBC, some have claimed

that anyone wearing gold jewellery bought in the UK after 1983 is

probably wearing Brink’s-MAT.

THE SECURITAS DEPOT ROBBERY

The Securitas depot robbery was the largest cash robbery in British

history. It took place on the evening of 21 February 2006 from 18:30 GMT

until the early hours of 22 February 2006. Several men abducted and

threatened the family of the manager, tied up fourteen staff members and

stole £53,116,760 in bank notes from a Securitas Cash Management

Ltd depot in Vale Road, Tonbridge, Kent. All the robbers were

eventually caught and convicted.