Heist Club

It's a beautiful morning off the coast of West Africa on June 4, 1944. There isn't a cloud in the sky nor harsh ocean waves. The crew of the USS Guandalcanal, led by Captain David Gallery, sails north to refuel after their failure of a Nazi submarine hunt. But ten minutes later, there's a ping on the sonar. It's a sub just 800 meters away and 60 feet below the surface. Captain Gallery knows this i...

It's Saturday night in Fortaleza, Brazil, and as usual the popular tourist destination is bustling with night life. That energy extends beneath the surface where a group of men crawl through a tunnel of their own making. Their destination? The vault underneath Brazil's Central Bank. In conveyor belt fashion, they shuffle box after box down the line and into their safe house. At the end of the nigh...

On a February morning in 2017, LA based Star Wars collector Zach Tann gets the text that he's been dreaming of for the past 4 years: his contact has the ultra rare, and very expensive, Rocket Fett toy. Meanwhile in Texas, another collector walks the floor of his warehouse museum when he notices something is missing. His Rocket-Firing Boba Fett exhibit is missing a crucial piece: the $20,000 action...

On November 6, 2000, London's Millennium Dome opens for the day. A meager crowd walks through the gates alongside an even smaller security staff. As the visitors ponder the exhibitions, they hear a crash outside, and a loud rumbling that gets closer…and closer. Then, an excavator crashes through the side wall, heading straight towards the De Beers diamond exhibit. Tourists and employees dive out o...

In October 2018, in the dead of night, a mini-van drives along the California coast on the famous Route 101. When it pulls over to a cliff's edge, the van's passengers get out. But they don't take photos or enjoy the view. No, what they seek sits on the side of the jagged mountain. With their backpacks and ropes secured, they rappel over the edge. Minutes later, they climb back up, now with full b...

On a February evening in 1785 Paris, an intermediary for Queen Marie Antoinette enters a famous jewelry shop to secure a diamond necklace for the royal: the most expensive in history. She has been sent on strict instructions to keep the transaction secret, lest the king find out. The intermediary leaves as quick as she came, with a promise that the queen will start sending payments come summertime...

Just outside of Montreal, a vast industrial warehouse holds thousands of barrels of Canada's most valuable export: maple syrup. Each barrel weighs 1500 pounds and is worth nearly 20x more than crude oil. A single surveyor is making his routine inspection — climbing up on and around the barrels to make sure everything is up to snuff, when one barrel falls to the ground. Empty. It would not be the o...

In the days leading up to Christmas in 1990, the affluent town of Winnetka, Illinois suffers from a string of home invasion style robberies. Investigators believe that the break-ins are connected as they follow a similar M.O: the back or basement doors are forced open, the homes are ransacked, and the faucets are always left running. With more families going out of town for the holidays, police ar...

Welcome to part 2 of the Goodfellas heist. Last week on Heist Club, we dove into the world of the New York mafia in the 1970s and met Jimmy Burke, a powerful mob associate with a penchant for thievery, and his Robert's Lounge Gang. The gang is now moments away from robbing the Lufthansa vault at JFK airport.

A little after 3 in the morning at JFK airport, the night crew for Lufthansa Airlines goes for their meal break. After they sit down, masked gunmen storm in, demanding everyone get down. A few minutes later more employees are brought in, except for one, who's taken to the cargo terminal to open the safe. When he returns, the armed assailants warn them not to call the police until 15 minutes after...

On an October night in Beverly Hills, two teenagers walk the hiking trails that connect the affluent neighborhoods. They hop a fence, and head to the end of a mansion-lined street, to a house with a pink Bentley parked out front. The duo walks up the driveway and right through the front door, almost like they live there. An hour later, they leave with luxury bags stuffed with clothes, cash, and a...

In the early morning hours at a McDonald's, the opening staff unlock the doors and prepare the fast food joint for the morning rush. However, as they count cash at the register, a masked gunman bursts through the bathroom door. The employees shoot their hands up, terrified of what he might do next. Instead of deranged shouting and gunfire, he politely asks them to grab their coats and head into th...

On a Monday morning in Milan, employees of Italian jewelry house, Damiani, prepare the showroom for VIP guests, when suddenly, men identifying themselves as the Italian Financial Police burst into the room, already holding the caterer hostage. They demand the manager take them to the vault room for their investigation. While everyone else is tied up, the manager opens the inventory vault and the m...

On a September evening in 2019, a party rages on in Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Partygoers celebrate the arrival of an acclaimed, and strange, art piece. Each guest gets personal quality time with the work. But alas, the party must end. A couple hours later, two cars rip across the courtyard. 4 men leap out, armed with sledgehammers, crowbars, and wrenches. They smash a w...

On an October evening in 1997, a vault supervisor at the Loomis Fargo Armored Truck Company sends his trainee home early after an exhausting first day. After the trainee leaves, the supervisor walks the building, alone. He goes into his manager's office and takes two security tapes, then, he backs a truck up to the vault entrance. For over an hour he loads bricks upon bricks of cash, 2,700 pounds...

The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games in Sydney showcase the ultimate story of triumph. The  Spanish basketball team, led by men with intellectual disabilities absolutely dominates the competition…When they win the gold medal, they become national heroes, securing millions of dollars for their organization (and a few thousand in prize money). Pictures of the winning team explode across Spanish media, a...

On a Monday morning in Nice, France, customers at a bank grow agitated as they wait to make their deposits. The short line grows into a small crowd. The vault door is stuck. And as the hours tick by, the door won't budge. Not even the manufacturer can get it open. In the end, frustrated employees take a jackhammer to the wall and make a hole big enough to peek through. Instead of neatly sealed dep...

On the night of October 26, 1970, crowds swarm the streets of Atlanta, Georgia in anticipation. Muhammad Ali is officially back after a three year ban from boxing. While most of the city hits the bars and clubs, a select few travel to the west side for a highly exclusive after-party. They arrive at a house, ready for a days-long celebration full of booze, drugs, and gambling. Instead, they are met...

On a rainy summer night in 1899, a railroad engineer powers a locomotive carrying passengers, mail, and other wares through the Wyoming prairie. Through the darkness, he spots two lanterns signaling an emergency stop. He breaks just in time. Instead of helpful railworkers, two masked men reveal pistols and announce that he is being robbed. Even more men board the train and after two hours of chaos...

On a November evening in 1955 in Argentina, an embalmer works on his most important project: the first lady of the nation. After nearly two years of operating in secret, he hopes the rival party will stay ignorant of his magnum opus. But that night, 20 soldiers burst through the door and drag the body into the night. They have just taken his Evita.

It's nearly 6 AM on Christmas Day in London in 1950. A young man runs into the famed Westminster Abbey, looking a bit frantic and disheveled. He drops to his hands and knees feeling around for something in the darkness. Miraculously, he accidentally kicks the small object, his car keys. He sprints out of the abbey and returns just minutes later. He grabs the ends of a cloth wrapped around a large...

On Monday, January 30, 2017, just after 9 PM, a blue hatchback rolls up to a London warehouse. Two men slip out. They carry almost nothing — just rope, some sharp tools, and nerves of steel. They slice through the fence. There's a 40-foot wall and no ladder. They climb a drainpipe. On the roof, they expertly slice the skylight, and rappel down into the dark. All that await them are crates and sile...

It's October 29,1964 and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City is closed for the night. In the darkness of night, the city lights stream through the window, gently illuminating exhibits, including… The JP Morgan Hall of Gems and Minerals. Then, a foot pokes through an open window. Two men slide down a rope and tiptoe through the room. They cut into the glass casings protecting th...

On a fall evening in 1866, three men hop on a steam train just as it leaves the depot. But they're not your average passengers – and they're not here for a ride. Their destination? The express delivery car. They open the door, Colt 45s in hand. The stunned guard follows their orders. The thieves grab the loot and leap off the locomotive with $10,000 in gold. Welcome to America's first train robber...

In the dead of night in a little Minnesota town, a car parks in front of a small house, a relic of the early 20th century. A shadowy figure, armed with a sledgehammer, charges the house, smashing the glass door. Less than a minute later, he emerges, carrying a secret package which occasionally glitters under the moonlight. The car speeds off with a job well done. The following morning, a horrified...