Greatest Robberies of All Times There are crimes and then there are CRIMES. Unfortunately, petty crimes are extremely common. Someone might steal a shopping bag from you containing something you just bought or a purse which has hardly anything in it. It makes one wonder why this is being done, because obviously the risk is not worth the reward. When I was involved with the criminal justice system some people used to say many of the criminals were just plain stupid and if you saw what they did you would probably agree. When you write as many articles as I have you tend to repeat some things, whether by mistake or on purpose, this is on purpose. A young criminal broke into a doctor’s home and held him and his wife hostage and demanded money. The doctor said he didn’t keep money in the house, but he could run to the bank and cash a check. The criminal agreed and gave him the usual warning not to do anything stupid or his wife would get hurt. The doctor came back with the police and the criminal was arrested. It makes you wonder what the criminal thought would happen, doesn’t it? Not all criminals are dumb however and some have committed some incredible crimes worthy of a genius. Which makes me wonder how many genius criminals there are. The year was 1911 and it was just another day at the Louvre in Paris. Three men were on a hunt. They were hunting for the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa. A holiday had just passed and the three men had spent the night in a utility closet and emerged the next day while the museum was still closed. The Mona Lisa was encased in a heavy frame and a heavy glass case which was attached to the wall of the museum. All together we are talking about 200 pounds which the criminals managed to pry off the wall. The frame and case were removed and the painting was covered as the criminals went to the Quai d’Orsay station and got on a train. For over a full day no one noticed the painting was missing from the museum. The problem was an ongoing project at the Louvre. The paintings were being removed and taken to the roof to be photographed so I guess most people just figured that was why the Mona Lisa wasn’t there. For some crazy reason J.P. Morgan became a suspect, then the Kaiser of Germany. One of the men who stole the painting had worked for the museum installing the glass cases for the paintings. The painting was held for 28 months before the men tried to sell it. The art dealer they were trying to sell it to turned them in. In 1990 what has to be considered a perfect crime was committed in Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This is another museum which has among other things some very valuable paintings. Criminals posing as police went to the museum and convinced the guards they had a call about a disturbance and also had a warrant for the arrest of one of the guards. When they got in, they handcuffed the guards and went about their business of picking out paintings to steal which included paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Degas. It was estimated the paintings they took were worth about 350,000,000 dollars. It took until 2018 for a suspect to be convicted, but the suspect was not convicted for that crime and claims he knows nothing about the art heist. The FBI claimed they had solved the case in 2013 and knew who all the thieves were. The artwork however has vanished. It is probably in some private collection somewhere. A bank in Japan had been getting bomb threats so you can imagine how nervous the employees all were. During a bank run in 1968 a car was sent out to transport about 800,000 dollars’ worth of yen. As the car drove along its route, it was stopped by a motorcycle policeman who told the people in the car the police had gotten a warning there was a bomb under the car. The men got out and as the policeman checked under the car smoke and flame began to come out from under the car. The men ran for their lives. Little did they know it was only a road flare and the motorcycle cop was not a cop at all. He quickly jumped into the car and sped away. The Japanese threw everything they had into the investigation and interviewed so many suspects it is said the number reached over 100,000 and as the investigation continued time ticked away. The investigation went on for many years until finally the statute of limitations ended the pursuit. It seems making believe you are the police makes things easier for criminals, but not always. I remember a case where a certain criminal had spent most of his adult life in and out of jail. He had been arrested again for posing as a policeman and stopping a car to commit a crime. He didn’t know the driver was a real cop and when the driver asked for identification, he produced one he had made. Unfortunately for him his photo was in black and white and the Identification looked nothing like a real one and he was immediately arrested. Police identifications were different and contained color photos of the policeman. Remember the Pink Panther movies? They starred Peter Sellers as inspector Jacques Clouseau. There may be one thing about this you may not know and it is the fact there is a real gang of criminals named the Pink Panthers. The Pink Panther gang is responsible for some of the greatest jewel heists in history. It is said the gang is huge and could have as many members as 250. The members seem to come from Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have stolen fortunes in jewels. Some thefts ran as high as 23 million pounds. They have raided over 100 stores and gotten an incredible number of jewels worth a fortune. Thank goodness most criminals are not as smart as the few which could have been anything in life they had chosen. If these criminals had decided to be nuclear scientists or got into the space program, we might have been years ahead of where we are now. I would say they wasted their lives, but they certainly do not think so as they count their millions and decide which place they are going to strike next.
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