The Crime Book

36

See also: John MacLean 45 ■ The Antwerp Diamond Heist 54–55

■ Doris Payne 78–79

B

ill Mason was an

unexceptional property

manager by day, but by

night he was a notorious cat

burglar. While unsuspecting

owners slept he scaled walls,

tiptoed across parapets, clambered

onto balconies, and shimmied

through barely open windows.

On a wet and windy night,

Mason executed a plan weeks in

the making. Straining every sinew,

he climbed a full 15 floors up the

outside of the apartment building

of oil tycoon Dr Armand Hammer,

where he found the balcony door

unlocked. He tossed the contents

of Mrs Hammer’s jewellery box,

worth several million dollars, into

one of her pillowcases.

Ironically, on his way out,

Mason found the front door secured

by an easily pickable single lock.

He made his escape through an

open window on the third floor and

used a grappling hook to help lower

himself to the ground. Mason

diligently concealed his tracks at

every turn; the police did not

identify a single suspect.

Over a 20-year period of targeting

the rich and famous – including

swimmer and actor Johnny

“Tarzan” Weissmuller, who lost an

Olympic gold medal – Mason stole

approximately £120 million in

jewellery. The adrenaline surge he

felt during the robbery and the

glamour of these furtive brushes

with the stars were addictive.

Mason was eventually caught

in a sting operation, and later wrote

the memoir Confessions of a Master

Jewel Thief, published in 2003. ■

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Dr Armand Hammer’s

apartment, southern

Florida, US

THEME

Jewel theft

BEFORE

1950–1998 Peter Scott, a

Northern Irish cat burglar,

commits some 150 burglaries

before he is caught in 1952;

in 1960, he steals a $260,000

(£206,000) necklace belonging

to actress Sophia Loren.

AFTER

2004–06 Accomplished

Spanish thief Ignacio del Rio

confesses to more than 1,000

burglaries committed in Los

Angeles over just a two-year

period, taking $2 million (£1.5

million today) in jewellery and

a painting by Degas worth $10

million (£7.4 million).

To the astonished

occupants, it would seem

as if the jewels had

simply evaporated.

Bill Mason

ADDICTED TO

THE THRILL

BILL MASON, 1960s–1980s

036-037_World_Cup_Theft.indd 36 13/12/2016 11:24

37

See also: Thomas Blood 18 ■ The Theft of the Cellini Salt Cellar 56

F

or England’s football fans,

1966 lives in the memory as

the only year in which their

team ever won the World Cup. The

theft of the famous Jules Rimet

Trophy four months before the

tournament started, however,

meant that England captain Bobby

Moore nearly had to hold an

imitation trophy in celebration.

On display in Westminster’s

Central Hall, London, the cup was

guarded, but thieves sneaked in

between patrols and forced open its

glass case. Despite a full-scale

investigation, the Metropolitan

Police were no nearer a solution

when a note arrived demanding

£15,000 (£196,000 today) for the

trophy’s safe return.

An attempt to entrap the sender

did catch a petty criminal named

Edward Betchley but failed to

produce the trophy. Not until

Pickles, a collie dog being taken for

a walk by his owner David Corbett,

unearthed a parcel beneath the

hedge outside his owner’s home in

Upper Norwood, south London, did

the missing cup come to light.

The story is still striking in terms of

calculating “value” when it comes

to crime – and whether some items

are too well-known to be worth

stealing. The original trophy,

melted down – the only way a gang

could have disposed of it – would

have been worth little in monetary

terms. Its symbolic significance,

however, was priceless. A replica

was produced in the original’s

place and fetched £254,000 at

auction in 1997. ■

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Central Hall, Westminster,

London, UK

THEME

Priceless trophy theft

BEFORE

9 October 1964 Jack Roland

Murphy, a surfing champion,

breaks into the Gems and

Minerals Hall at the American

Museum of Natural History

and steals the J.P. Morgan

jewel collection.

AFTER

19 December 1983 The Jules

Rimet Trophy is stolen again,

this time from the Brazilian

Football Confederation in Rio

de Janeiro. It has never been

recovered.

4 December 2014

Sixty Formula 1 trophies are

stolen by a group of seven men

who drive a van through the

doors of the Red Bull Racing

headquarters in England.

Pickles the dog netted his owner a

£5,000 reward, which he used to buy a

house in Surrey. Pickles was later

awarded a silver medal by the National

Canine Defence League.

TO ME IT IS

ONLY SO MUCH

SCRAP GOLD

THE THEFT OF THE WORLD CUP, MARCH 1966

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