A real life jewel thief criminal mastermind - sounds like a hollywood movie.

[Comstar]

Art of the Steal: On the Trail of World’s Most Ingenious Thief.

This guy parachutes onto a castle window, overshoots, grabs a rail after nearly falling 4 floors, stashes the 'cute, opens a window, sneaks in past the motion sensors and armed guards, unscrews a display case he has loosened when casing the joint, put 2 bars in to fool the case dector, replaces a 2million dollar diamond tiara with a fake to fool the pressure plate (which isn't detected for 2 weeks), climbs down a rope and out the back of the castle.

And he's not caught for years after DOING everything ELSE a master Hollywood thief does before getting pressure from the Mob and a phone call from the "Boss" (what they really called him, and he has a British Accent a Bond Villain would be proud of) right as he's in a ventilation shaft with a guard standing right below him.


And he's out on Probation after protecting his cohorts and living the "quiet life".

If HALF of this story is true, Hollywood will be knocking on his door.

[Khaldun]

Jesus. That is fascinating. And yeah, pretty much a guaranteed movie.

One of the things that folks often comment about with comic book supervillains is that they often invent stuff or have powers that would make them way more money in the legitimate world, and isn't it unrealistic that they'd be criminals? But this guy is exactly that: his skill set would be valuable to a lot of businesses, but it's clear that it's the thrill of crime that satisfied him as much as the profits. I wouldn't put much on the odds of him going legit over the long haul.

[Slayerik]

Quite the read. I'd buy his autobiography in a second!

[Segoris]

That was a very interesting and enjoyable read, thanks for linking that one.

[Strazos]

Sounds like Frank Abagnale Jr. and "Catch Me If You Can."

[Morat20]

Jesus. That is fascinating. And yeah, pretty much a guaranteed movie.

One of the things that folks often comment about with comic book supervillains is that they often invent stuff or have powers that would make them way more money in the legitimate world, and isn't it unrealistic that they'd be criminals? But this guy is exactly that: his skill set would be valuable to a lot of businesses, but it's clear that it's the thrill of crime that satisfied him as much as the profits. I wouldn't put much on the odds of him going legit over the long haul.

At least with noted hackers and such, the FBI and various other police organizations attempt to get them that same thrill by outwitting their fellow criminals, not their original marks.

It depends on what the thrill is for him. If it's the adrenaline of theft, probably not. If it's the thrill of getting in, outwitting guards, security firms, and tons of money in order to "win" -- maybe.

[Abagadro]

If you want an enjoyable book about the largest diamond heist in history this is a good one that just came out.  What's most fascinating is how unsophisticated the methodology was.

[schild]

If you want an enjoyable book about the largest diamond heist in history this is a good one that just came out.  What's most fascinating is how unsophisticated the methodology was.

Bought.

[Abagadro]

Oh, and as schild will discover in that book, don't believe everything you read in Wired.

[Salamok]

I feel like I just read the stainless steel rat.

[Ghambit]

I feel like I just read the stainless steel rat.

I read all of those as a child and it scarred me for life.  Probably in a good way though.