The Crime Book

44

See also: The Antwerp Diamond Heist 54–55 ■ The Hatton Garden Heist 58–59

D

uring the 1976 Bastille Day

weekend in Nice, France,

a team of 20 men, led by

French photographer and former

paratrooper Albert Spaggiari, broke

into the Société Générale bank.

They had spent two months drilling

a 7.5-metre (25-ft) tunnel from the

city’s sewers into the vault.

Once they made it to the vault,

the gang spent four days prying

open over 400 safe deposit boxes,

while cooking meals, drinking wine,

and using antique silver tureens as

toilets. The “sewer gang” escaped

with $8–10 million (about £15–18.5

million today) in gold, cash, jewellery,

and gems. Before fleeing, Spaggiari

scrawled on the vault’s wall in

French, “sans armes, ni haine, ni

violence” (“without weapons, nor

hatred, nor violence”), identifying

himself as a higher class of criminal.

Dubbed the “heist of the

century” by the press, it was then

the largest bank theft in history.

However, by the end of October

1976, Spaggiari had been arrested

and confessed to the crime. During

a trial hearing, he made a daring

escape by distracting the judge,

jumping through a window and

onto a parked car, before driving

off on a waiting motorcycle.

He was later convicted in

absentia and sentenced to life in

prison but remained hidden until

his death in 1989. Six other men

were arrested; three were acquitted

and the others sentenced to

between five and seven years in

prison. The loot from the heist has

never been recovered. ■

WITHOUT WEAPONS,

NOR HATRED, NOR

VIOLENCE

THE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE BANK HEIST,

16–20 JULY 1976

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Nice, France

THEME

Bank vault heist

BEFORE

January 1976 The British

Bank of the Middle East in

Beirut, Lebanon, is robbed

by guerrillas, who make off

with safe deposit boxes

containing £22 million (about

£140 million today).

AFTER

19–20 December 2004

An armed gang steals

£26.5 million in cash from the

vaults of the Donegall Square

branch of the Northern Bank

in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

6 August 2005 Thieves

tunnel into the vault of a

branch of Brazil’s central bank

in the city of Fortaleza and

steal more than $65 million

(£52 million) in cash.

All the pleasures that come

with the life of a crook do not

make up for the heavy

sacrifices.

“Amigo”, a member of

Spaggiari’s team

044-045_Albert_Spaggiari.indd 44 13/01/2017 15:09

45

See also: Bill Mason 36 ■ Doris Payne 78–79

D

ubbed the “Superthief”,

John (Jack) MacLean

was estimated to have

committed some 2,000 burglaries

during the 1970s. He targeted

wealthy victims and made off with

more than $100 million (£80 million)

in loot. His most renowned raid

was a $1 million (£80,000) jewellery

theft at the mansion of a Johnson &

Johnson company heiress in 1979.

Although he stole only from the

rich, he was far from a Robin Hood

figure. He used his millions to fund

a lifestyle like that of his victims,

buying a helicopter, a speed boat, a

sea plane, and a summer home.

MacLean was finally caught in

1979 after a crystal-studded walkie-

talkie linked him to the Fort

Lauderdale robbery. He used the

time in prison to write a memoir

entitled Secrets of a Superthief,

which was published in 1983.

While MacLean was

incarcerated, investigators noticed

that a series of rapes and sexual

battery cases, which detectives

had attributed to a man with a

talent for slipping past locks and

alarms, had completely stopped.

In 1981, MacLean was charged

with two offences, but the cases

were subsequently dismissed.

However, after scientific

advancements in DNA testing,

MacLean was arrested in October

2012 for two of hundreds of rapes

he is believed to have committed

decades ago. ■

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS

I STOLE FROM THE

WEALTHY SO I COULD

LIVE THEIR LIFESTYLE

JOHN MACLEAN, 1970s

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Florida, US

THEME

Cat burglary

BEFORE

1850s–1878 English burglar

Charles Peace carries out

multiple burglaries in

Manchester, Hull, Doncaster,

and around Blackheath,

southeast London.

AFTER

2006–09 A gang of thieves

dubbed the Hillside Burglary

Gang burgle 150 houses of

wealthy residents in the area

overlooking Sunset Boulevard

in Los Angeles.

1983 –2011 Accomplished

Indian thief Madhukar

Mohandas Prabhakar commits

at least 50 burglaries in

wealthy areas of Mumbai,

India, amassing a fortune.

The mugshot of John MacLean in

1979 after he was arrested for the Fort

Lauderdale robbery. He later boasted

about this crime in his memoir.

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