The Crime Book

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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