CYPRUS: Art of the Heist TV -
In the 1970s the black market in religious artefacts had exploded into a multi-million-dollar industry. The war-torn island of Cyprus was being picked clean. This is the story of how a sophisticated ring of smugglers ripped a sacred mosaic from the walls of a church then tried to hawk it on the open market. Little did they realise that their greed would trigger a global clamour for its recovery that would culminate in a daring police raid which uncovered $40 million in stolen artefacts and change the trade in antiquities for ever Art of the Heist s1e5: Den of Antiquities, 2006
The theft had all the hallmarks of a professional smuggling ring. ibid.
Inside the crates were fragments of a young Christ, Matthew, James and the archangel that had so captivated her [Peg L Goldberg]. ibid.
Judge Noland ruled that the mosaics belonged to the Church of Cyprus. ibid.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Scam City TV
I’m in a nightclub on the edge of town. It’s a bad situation and I don’t know how to get out. Scam City s1e2: Prague, National Geographic 2012
Not all taxicabs in Prague are playing by the same rules. ibid.
Lady pickpockets followed by fake drugs. ibid.
The clip joint scam: the victim is sucked in with the promise of a good time. ibid.
EGYPT: Art of the Heist TV -
It was an elaborate swindle: disguising precision Egyptian antiquities as tourist souvenirs so they could be smuggled out of the country. Art of the Heist s2e2: The Pharaoh’s Head, 2007
They belonged in the government store in Egypt. ibid.
Ancient Egyptian artefacts began to flow freely from where they were discovered to collections in the West. ibid.
Jonathan Tokeley-Parry ... A reputation as a brilliant antique restorer. ibid.
FRANCE: Heists TV - Art of the Heist TV - Masterminds TV - Le Deuxieme Souffle 1966 - The French Connection: Inside the New Mafias TV - Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes 1955 - Sewers of Gold 1979 - Ocean’s 12 2004 - Le Cercle Rouge 1970 -
The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. And at £2.5 billion it’s also the most famous. Heists s1e5: Mona Lisa, Channel 5 2017
Just over a hundred years ago the Mona Lisa was snatched from the world’s most famous museum. The crime sent shock waves around the world and baffled the world’s greatest living detective. ibid.
The greatest art heist ever: August 22nd 1911. ibid.
In December 1913 a man arrived with a trunk in Florence after a sixteen-hour train journey from Paris. He checked into a run-down hotel, and the next day he was visited by two of Italy’s greatest experts in art. The man had something to give them: the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa had been taken from the Louvre two years earlier in one of the coolest and most brazen art robberies ever. Art of the Heist s2e3: The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa, 2007
It had simply just vanished ... A humble Italian carpenter had outwitted the whole of the French art establishment ... It was more than twenty-four hours before anyone even realised the Mona Lisa was missing. ibid.
Luck and police incompetence favoured [Vincenzo] Peruggia. ibid.
Two names came up, names familiar in the world of art and letters. One was a poet. The other a young Spanish artist who was already showing promise: Pablo Picasso. ibid.
Peruggia treated the Mona Lisa with respect. ibid.
He told the court his motive for the theft was national pride. ibid.
For a long time he had slept with the Mona Lisa by his bed. ibid.
Its fascination has always been her expression: the Mona Lisa smile. ibid.
The Louvre was shut indefinitely. But still had to face the public outcry. ibid.
The authorities clung to the faint hope that the theft was a publicity stunt. There were plenty of other theories. ibid.
A thumbprint from the thief. Finger-printing was a relatively new science. ibid.
A mastermind breaks into the most heavily fortified vault in France. Tunnelling under the busy city streets he advances at a rate of six inches a day, and scores twelve million in cash and jewels. Masterminds s1e13: Riviera Job, History 2003
Without Arms, Without Hate and Without Violence. ibid. message on walls of vault
Spaggiari now assembles his elite team made up of former paratroopers, members of the Marseilles Mob and tunnelling experts. ibid.
He not only confesses to the crime he brags about his brilliance. ibid.
Spaggiari disappears without a trace. ibid.
After thirteen years on the run Spaggiari surfaces one last time ... Suffering from cancer the mastermind of France’s greatest vault heist dies. ibid.
A mastermind breaks into the most heavily fortified vault in France. Tunnelling under the busy city streets he advances at a rate of six inches a day, and scores twelve million in cash and jewels. Masterminds s1e15: Safe Landing, History 2003
Without Arms, Without Hate and Without Violence. ibid. message on walls of vault
Spaggiari now assembles his elite team made up of former paratroopers, members of the Marseilles Mob and tunnelling experts. ibid.
He not only confesses to the crime he brags about his brilliance. ibid.
Spaggiari disappears without a trace. ibid.
After thirteen years on the run Spaggiari surfaces one last time ... Suffering from cancer the mastermind of France’s greatest vault heist dies. ibid.
Manouche: Gu’s escaped.
Alban: We’ve got to find him and hide him. Le Deuxieme Souffle 1966 starring Lino Ventura & Paul Meurisse & Raymond Pellegrin & Christine Fabrega & Marcel Bozzuffi & Denis Manuel & Michel Constantin & Pierre Zimmer & Pierre Grasset & Paul Frankeur et al, director Jean-Pierre Melville
He [Jacques] got a bellyful of slugs. ibid. rozzer
I have inside information … Two motorcycle cops escorting a van with 1,100 pounds of platinum. A five-way split, 200 million each, including my inside source. ibid. Paul
We’ve been crooks since we were kids. ibid. Manouche to Gu
We need just one tiny lead and we’ll work it to the very end. ibid. rozzer
A small town in south-west France. It’s five in the morning … 300 Gendarmes are on a war footing in what is the largest ever operation against the Georgian Mafia … This is operation code-name Caucuses 31 – the purpose is to break up and arrest the gang of Georgian gangsters responsible for burglaries and robberies in the region. The French Connection: Inside the New Mafias, Youtube 2017