Greatest heists of all time

[Gambit]

In September of 1992, Bill Brennan, a cashier at the Stardust's (which has since been demolished) sports book, casually left for lunch after a shift with over $500,000 in cash and chips inside of a bag draped over his shoulder -- the biggest theft from a Las Vegas casino in history. Even after being on the the FBI's most wanted list, and appearing on America's Most Wanted, there have been no signs of Brennan. Some believe he worked with an accomplice who later killed him for his half of the money, though others -- such as the police -- are convinced he worked alone and fled the country. Fifteen years later and still no sign of Bill Brennan. February, 1994. Across the pond, in Oslo, Norway, Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, was stolen from a lower level gallery in the National Gallery of Norway. Two men, a ladder, some wire cutters, and 50 seconds is all it took to wander off with Norway's most famous and valuable painting. A few months later the thieves offered the painting back in exchange for a $1 million USD ransom, but the offer was refused. Good thing, too, as a sting operation held in May of 1994 successfully recovered the unharmed painting and returned it to its owners. Four men were convicted and sentenced for the theft in 1996. However, the drama for The Scream wasn't over yet. In August of 2004, nearly 10 years after the first theft, The Scream, along with Munch's Madonna, was stolen once again -- this time at gun point at the Munch Museum. "The paintings were simply attached by wire to the walls," a French radio producer and witness to the theft told the BBC. "All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose - which is what I saw one of the thieves doing." Have no fear -- the paintings were once again recovered, and in much better condition than expected. But come on, Norway, twice? You've seen the movie Goodfellas, right? The character, Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, is responsible for the Air France Robbery of 1967 in which Hill and crew simply walked into the Air France cargo terminal at JFK and left with USD $420,000. It really happened. Working on a tip from cargo supervisor Robert McMahon, the team used a woman to seduce a security guard into getting a copy of a key that locked the main security door separating the criminals from the money. Keys replaced unnoticed, Hill and Tommy DeSimone (portrayed by Joe Pesci in Goodfellas) walked in, unlocked the door, and walked out with the bags without as much as a peep from an alarm or question from a guard. This robbery later led up to the famous Lufthansa Heist, " the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil at the time." Not everyone steals famous paintings, cash, or microchips. In fact, some people go to great lengths to get their hands on some very unsavory -- yet quite expensive -- items. In November of 2005, a farmer at Smithburg, Maryland's Stonewood Acres had ventured to Pennsylvania to visit relatives. When he returned to the farm, he noticed a 70-pound tank filled with $75,000 worth of bull semen had been opened up, with sixty-five "straws" containing the sperm of nearly 50 bulls missing. "Frozen bull semen is big business because it saves on the transportation cost of putting a bull and a cow into the same pen to breed," explains the Washington Post. "Frozen semen can also last for many years, outliving the bull who produced it." Moo? The Securitas depot robbery of 2006 is the single most profitable (for the criminals, that is) crime in Britain's history, just barely beating out the 2004 Northern Bank robbery of Belfast, Ireland. The Securitas heist began on the evening of February 21st, when the depot manager, Colin Dixon, was heading home. Posed as a policeman, one of the robbers pulled Dixon over and forced him into their car, where he was handcuffed and driven to a nearby farm. Meanwhile, Dixon's wife and kid were also abducted and driven to the same farm, where the family were bounded together and driven to the Securitas depot. Fourteen depot employees were also restrained while £53 million in used bills ($92.5 million USD) was loaded into a truck. Here's one you've probably never heard of: The Robert Zemelsky Musky Heist, or the Day That Everything Changed. In 1963, Robert Zemelsky, a Spooner, Wisconsin area fisherman, reeled in a world record 70-pound muskellunge and hauled it into the Hayward, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to have it weighed and measured. Unfortunately for him, he failed to take any pictures of the gigantic fish, and the employees at the department immediately seized the fish and kicked him out. You see, Hayward prides itself on having the largest "musky" on record, and the Department of Natural Resources couldn't bare seeing someone from a rival town capturing anything larger than their hometown pride. So they stole it. These days, Hayward folks don't have to worry about any larger fish popping up -- they've built not only the world's largest fiberglass structure, but the world's largest fish (above). The 4.5-story-tall, 143-foot-long musky replica is the centerpiece of Hayward's National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, built in 1960. Oddly enough, the Robert Zemelsky Heist isn't the only musky-related controversy in Wisconsin. It happens quite often. D.B. Cooper is one of America's most notorious hijackers, one that is still at large after 35 years of being on the run. On November 24, 1971 -- the day before Thanksgiving -- "Dan Cooper" hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 with a briefcase "bomb." He handed a flight attendant a note saying "I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked." With that, the flight attendant alerted the pilot who then relayed details of the situation to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The pilot was instructed by radio control to comply with Cooper's requests: four parachutes and USD $200,000. Why four parachutes? Allegedly he requested the extra three for the pilot, co-pilot, and flight attendant as a way to insure they were not fake. Passengers were dropped off at the Seattle-Tacoma airport, in exchange for the parachutes and cash. Loot in hand, Cooper instructed the pilot to take to the skies again, this time headed for Mexico. Not even the trailing F-106 fighter jet saw D.B. Cooper as he jumped out of the slow-moving plane; it's believed that he landed safely somewhere near Ariel, Washington. The Wikipedia entry on D.B. Cooper has a massive amount of information -- everything from possible suspects to pop cultural reference. Most definitely worth a read. In August of 1963, fifteen gun-less men wearing ski masks and helmets jumped on a stopped Royal Mail traveling post office train running from Glasgow to London, stealing £2.3 million in used bank notes. Today that amount would be worth nearly £40 million. Bruce Reynolds (left) was the mastermind behind the heist, and after his capture and subsequent prison time, he was treated as a celebrity. There are numerous books, films, and musical tributes devoted to telling the story of the Great Train Robbery. Among them is a film called Buster starring Phil Collins, who plays the lead role of Buster Edwards, one of them men involved in the robbery. After his release from prison in 1980, he ran a flower stall outside of London's Waterloo station.

http://www.gadling.com/2007/06/07/move-over-danny-ocean-here-are-13-real-heists-from-around-the-w/

[CC1981]

Burning DeMolay at the stake. The modern day equivalent would be something like the Pope & Bush charged the head of the World Bank with terrorism, threw him at Gitmo, dissolved the WB and Bush pockets the entire World Bank funds with the Pope getting some kickbacks. I am not joking- replace Bush with king of France, WB head with DeMolay(head of Knight Templars..aka bankers of Europe), interchange terrorism/gitmo with heresy/burning at stake and its actual, very much real, history. Can't beat a heist of that proportions! France, which had the biggest national debt at that time ( hence good motivation for King to go Waaagh! on KTs) instantly erased all its debt & king had so much money that it was many times over France's net GDP for the year ( these rough estimates are easy to derive in Europe's case for that era). So Bush swallowing entire WB funds is an exgaggeration as the entire WB funds cannot cover the US national debt!

[Aditi]

Just in time for the release of Ocean's 13, eh? :tounge_smile:

[Holysmoke]

haha DB Cooper.. he was there as a character in Prison break...:hysterical:

[varun]

Just in time for the release of Ocean's 13' date=' eh? :tounge_smile:[/quote'] Speaking of just in time. Did you hear about the missing girl who was just found living under the stairs in somebody's house a'la Harry Potter ?? It's all over the news ! How's that for timing :haha:

[Rajiv]

Greatest Heist of all time is Musharraf and Co. Skimming billions every month from the US and everyone knows about it :hysterical:

[Anakin]

Mushy is a known criminal, what about GWB's ceo buddies and future bosses and in the USA of all places?

[Rajiv]

Mushy is a known criminal' date=' what about GWB's ceo buddies and future bosses and in the USA of all places?[/quote'] Ssshh, you might hurt some naturalized Americans here, the pure land

[The Outsider]

Nice read, gambo. I like con stories and movies. They give me some wierd kind of a thrill, siding with the anti-hero.

[beetle]

Nice read' date=' gambo. I like con stories and movies. They give me some wierd kind of a thrill, siding with the anti-hero.[/quote'] not surprised at all.....:giggle: Have you ever been conned?...tab pata chalega:wink_smile: I would rather be beaten up and mugged than conned...mujhe koi ullu banata hai to mujhe bahoot gussa aata hai.....:ridinghorse::ridinghorse::ridinghorse::stickyman::y:

[CC1981]

mujhe koi ullu banata hai to mujhe bahoot gussa aata hai.....

I'd rather be 'ullu ban gaya' than have my arm ripped out of its socket and a shiner under each eye! I don't think you've ever been mugged before..if you have, trust me, becoming ullu is far more pleasant. :cantstop: