Join Facebook to connect with Leonardo Notarbartolo and others you may know. It was about a five-minute drive from his house, and if you ignored the sound of cars hurtling past at 80 miles an hour, it was a pretty 12 acres of trees with a gurgling stream. The Antwerp Diamond Heist: $100 Million Gone And Never Recovered. Thieves are known to adopt many disguises, but two heists carried out by a gang in Paris in 2007 and 2008 were particularly eye-catching. The flats in the UK that only locals can buy, Young councillors on why they need seat at the table, Winner makes history on TV talent show Project Icon, From living with incurable bowel cancer, to receiving a damehood, to her untimely death, Felicity Hannah explores what it takes to set up a business at a young age, 'We are one of the most nature-depleted countries', Meet the inspiring people who are working to restore the natural world, Brian Cox and Robin Ince discover the limits of human endurance. It was a cramped, narrow place with a half-dozen small tables, but from the corner by the window Notarbartolo could look out on the epicenter of the world's diamond trade. The high-strung Pietro Tavano is serving a five-year sentence in Italy for the crime. His police scanner was quiet. Then he dialed Securilink, the vault's alarm company. In the antechamber, the King of Keys deftly picked the lock on the metal grate. The buyer: Leonardo Notarbartolo. Notarbartolo was only caught when residents reported evidence he had dumped to police - including security tapes from the vault. The rest of the team was already driving back to Italy with the gems. The escorts bristled with firepower. He presented himself as a gem importer based in Turin, Italy, and scheduled meetings with numerous dealers. In half an hour, they were huddled around the bags in the apartment. Now they were looking at a fraction of thatprobably about $20 million. And it was there in 2003 that one gang of thieves pulled off one of the largest diamond heists in history. A detective drove to the grocery and asked the manager to rewind his closed-circuit television to 12:56 pm on Thursday, February 13. There were Africans in bright blue suits, Indian merchants wearing loupes around their necks, and bald Armenians with reading glasses pushed up on their mottled heads. The extinguisher was fully functional, but a watertight compartment inside housed electronics that picked up and recorded the video signal. It was Saturday night, and Williams was dominating the semifinals of the Diamond Games, an event that hyped Antwerp's predominant position in the gem world. Notarbartolo was released by the ruling of Probation commission. Self-awareness is an inner-work of self-knowledge. The Belgian courts sentenced him to 10 years in prison. In 2000, Notarbartolo rented a small office in the Diamond Center, one of the area's largest buildings. "What is the status of the alarm?" It didn't take long to reassemble the pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. He knew he had made a mistakehe should have turned around after he dropped off Speedy at the train station and gone back to burn the garbage. In a cupboard, they found a receipt from a local grocery store for Antipasto Italiano salami. Besides, since Leonardo was a regular tenant who frequented the vault, the security guards were used to his presence and never suspected his activities. Sunday, April 9 2023 Breaking News The garbage Van Camp found on his property that led to Notarbartolo's arrest. he said. Most had safes in their officesthey could have simply kept the stock there. Acting on the surveillance-system invoice discovered on Van Camp's land, the Belgian diamond detectives had asked the Italian police to search Notarbartolo's house. Everything was the same. Nearby, in a storage room beside the vault, an ordinary-looking red fire extinguisher was strapped to the wall. The Belgian courts came down hard. The Diamond District was flush. It was a little past midnight. "Then how is it that the door is wide open and I'm standing inside the vault?" WebRight now, Leonardo Notarbartolo is probably wishing he'd heeded the advice of his mother, and mothers everywhere, before plotting the largest jewelry heist in the history of the world. And he had. February 8, 2022 by Radhe 0 Comments Leonardo Notarbartolo, the man behind the Bravo! video series, shares his thoughts on the subject of self-awareness and being self-aware. He explains that the more we understand ourselves, the more we realize that each of us has a unique self. The Genius specialized in alarm systems. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. Like the rest of the team, the Monster wore plastic glovesthe police would find no prints on the cans. Notarbartolo nods and smiles faintly, the laugh lines crinkling around his blue eyes. They had anticipated a haul in the tens of millions each. They had to drop the bag immediately. If it didn't get one, it activated the alarm. he asked. That brought the total value of the heist to about $100 million. The theft took place in the 2003 district of Antwerp, Belgium. He tried to pretend that everything was normal. However, he reportedly violated a few conditions of his parole, including compensating the victims of the Antwerp Diamond Heist. The King of Keys was a quiet older man. It might actually be nicer to do the trip without his friend driving him crazy. He frantically dialed his father's cell phone while the police smashed the door open. They couldn't run the risk. When Notarbartolo arrived, the dealer was waiting for him in front of an abandoned warehouse. To disarm the field, a code had to be typed into a nearby keypad. He is allotted only one hour of visiting time per day. They had agreed to meet the diamond dealer there and divide the loot. The guys took turns yanking the contents out. Leonardo Notarbartolo was born in Palermo in 1952 and has been called the bandit of the century. The contents of the garbage bag was strewn amongst the trees. He sometimes traveled there to pawn off diamonds stolen back home in Italy, having been a thief since the age of eight (his first victim was the milkman). The Genius pulled a custom-made slab of rigid aluminum out of his bag and affixed heavy-duty double-sided tape to one side. They could even have a nice dinner party with some friends from the Netherlands. They were coming out. The rough, unpolished gems were flown to London, where they were divided and placed in 120 boxesone for each official De Beers distributor, many of which were headquartered in Antwerp. He presented himself as a gem importer based in Turin, Italy, and scheduled meetings with numerous dealers. While the rest of the team scrambled up, the Genius disabled an alarm sensor on one of the balcony's windows. They stopped talking when they saw the dealer and Notarbartolo. It was 7 am. At a glance, it looked like a simple highlighter, but the cap contained a miniaturized digital camera capable of storing 100 high-resolution images. "Pull off up here," he said abruptly from the passenger seat. A member of the squad bent over the clear plastic bags, looking for immediate clues. Originated in the Middle Ages, it gave to the island numerous personalities who have made a significant contribution to its social, political, intellectual and artistic life. Earlier this year, the four ringleaders - including two in their late 70s - were ordered to pay a total of 27.5m or serve another seven years in jail. He bought small stones, paid cash, dressed well, and cheerfully mangled the French language. At first, Notarbartolo was confused. As a result, Leonardo started assembling a team of skilled thieves in his 30s, including lock pickers, alarm aces, safecrackers, and tunnel experts. Armored cars idled tensely while burly couriers with handguns wheeled away small black suitcases. They headed out, and once they were clear of the district, the dealer picked up the conversation. He just knew how to walk there. The loot was never found, but based on circumstantial evidence, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years. When he had stolen goods to sell, he dealt with only a few trusted buyers. That way, if the cops were looking for tenants who'd disappeared, he wouldn't be on the list. The receipt had a time-stamp. How a Rogue Geologist Discovered a Diamond Trove in the Canadian Arctic, Digging for Diamonds 24/7 Under Frozen Snap Lake, The Mohs Scale of Hardness, From Talc to Diamonds, 2023 Cond Nast. They belonged to a special diamond-delivery protection unit, and each cop carried a fully automatic weapon. It was still a lot of money, but they couldn't help feeling they'd been played. After 6 years in prison he was released for good behavior, in July of the same year he was stopped by the police for road control. It was enough evidence to link the crime to Notarbartolo. Many of the city's diamantaires watched as Williams beat down the Slovak and moved one step closer to winning a tennis racket encrusted with nearly $1 million worth of stones. Join Facebook to connect with Leonardo Notarbartolo and others you may know. Leonardo Notarbartolo Profiles. But they didnt realize they were on private property, which belonged to August Van Camp, a Belgian hermit. They were leaving. The doors swung open, and the boxes were quickly carried through an unremarkable entrance in the middle of the block. In 2000, Notarbartolo rented a small office in the Diamond Center, one of the area's largest buildings. Notarbartolo was captured and convicted as the leader of a gang of Italian thieves who had managed to enter a vault considered impenetrable. It took two hours to get it all out of the building. It would take hours to gather everything up and burn it. The low thermal conductivity of the polyester blocked his body heat from reaching the sensor. The thieves got through the 10 layers of security, previously thought to be impenetrable. If I really had it, Id retire to private life. However, Tavano didnt have his friends level head. In 2016, reality TV star Kim Kardashian West was robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel, and lost $10m (8.96m; 7.84m) worth of jewellery. That man was Pietro Tavano, known as Speedy and one of Notarbartolos lifelong friends. Notarbartolo flashed his tenant ID card and breezed through. One of his contributions would be to duplicate the nearly impossible-to-duplicate foot-long vault key. In 2009, Leonardo Notarbartolo was released on parole after serving four years of his sentence. A security camera recorded his movementspolice would later watch the footagebut the guard had gotten used to the Italian's frequent visits and wasn't paying attention. After the robbery, they hauled the diamonds into a couple cars. Eight men were able to steal watches and jewels worth more than 85m ($99m; 76m) during the two thefts at the Harry Winston store, before they were caught and jailed in 2015. Notarbartolo stepped away from the safe-deposit boxes and pulled out the aerosol can. Others Call It a Mirage, An Afrofuturist Architect Builds for a Better Future. He was right on schedule. Join Leonardo and his ring of Italian thieves as they 00:58:01 - We gave y'all a break from the scary stories of the past few weeksto give you a HEIST! Interestingly, all the names were aliases used by Leonardos four accomplices, yet the fifth one, AKA King of Keys, could never be identified. Leonardo Notarbartolo, who is he? Everybody was a little scared of him, which was another reason for the nickname. Jan 1983 - Present40 years 4 months. Finally, on Feb. 16, 2003, they executed their plan. Light sensor9. The bags contained critical evidence. He bought small stones, paid cash, dressed well, and cheerfully mangled the French language. VideoWho will get out unscathed? It no longer mattered what happened further down the line. Notarbartolo settled in for the 10-hour drive back to Turin. Keypad for disarming sensors8. Notarbartolo was buzzed into the vault the next day, Friday, February 14the day before the robbery. His tone had changed however. WebRight now, Leonardo Notarbartolo is probably wishing he'd heeded the advice of his mother, and mothers everywhere, before plotting the largest jewelry heist in the history of the world. In Notarbartolo's jacket pocket, his phone flashed but made no sound. Furthermore, when the police raided Leonardos Turin apartment, they found 17 polished diamonds attached to certificates from the Diamond Center. Leonardo Notarbartolo was born in 1952 in Palermo, Sicily, and by his admission, he became addicted to stealing at an early age. Van Camp's irritation increased. The magnetic plates were now loose, but the sticky aluminum held them together, allowing the Genius to pivot them out of the way and tape them to the antechamber wall. Every month, Antwerp's share of the boxes was flown into Belgium and transferred to a Brinks armored truck. The Genius used this custom-made slab of aluminum to reposition the magnetic field away from the vault door. So he strolled into the Diamond District with a pen poking out of his breast pocket. A guard upstairs glanced at the videofeed, recognized Notarbartolo, and remotely unlocked the steel grate. "A big robbery.". An automatic electric pulse constantly shot into the room and back out along these wires. The balcony was now safe. Location along the E19 motorway north of Brussels where Speedy dumped the garbage bag of evidence. Three other Italians Elio DOnorio, Ferdinando Finotto and Pietro Tavano were sentenced to five years each. Maybe hes still there. During the day, they travel from office to office in briefcases, coat pockets, and off-the-shelf rollies. Typically, a rabbit came rocketing out the other end. He would purchase a few gemstones as tokens, only to empty their stocks in a week or month and vanish. After calming his friend down, they recovered most of the contents and sped off. As far as Notarbartolo could tell, the dealer had reconstructed it based on the photographs he had provided. They blew past posters of Venus Williamsshe was due in town to compete in the Proximus Diamond Games tennis tournament. Nobody knew for sure. But, thanks to one gang member, things eventually fell apart. But Speedy was having trouble. Was $100 million stolen as the police estimate, or just $20 million as Notarbartolo insists? Notarbartolo planned to stop in France and burn it, leaving no trace of the crime. Still, it was hard to guess how long the trick would work. Another minute and they would have been gone. The King of Keys unloaded a homemade, hand-cranked drill and fitted it with a thin shaft of metal. Officers - some disguised as cleaners - were then able to arrest the five men. According to the police, what happened at Diamond Cen in Antwerp is the most resounding heist of the last 50 years. He shut off the water. Notarbartolo intends to set the record straight. When Van Camp mentioned Diamond Center envelopes, the officer broke in. They used aluminum to trick the magnetic field and stripped plastic off the wires of the sensors circuits. There were 100 million possible combinations. After years of petty thefts and picking locks, he began tracking jewelry salesmen around Italy to study their behavior and dealings. Now they were looking at roughly $3 million per man. Pronunciation of Notarbartolo with 3 audio pronunciations, 1 meaning, 2 translations and more for Notarbartolo. He was later sentenced to 10 years. On Mondayabout 36 hours after the job was completedthe team of thieves reassembled at a bar in Adro, Italy, a small town about 50 miles northeast of Milan. In 2000, Notarbartolo rented a small office in the Diamond Center, one of the areas largest buildings. A silver Rolex peeks out from under his cuff, and a vertical strip of white soul patch drops down from his lower lip like an exclamation mark. They emptied 236 security deposit boxes into duffel bags. He put the car in gear and slowly pulled away. Inside, a massive structure was covered with black plastic tarps. Of course, the first vibrations of a drill bit would set off the embedded seismic alarm anyway. ", "I demand that you send someone to investigate.". Web(April 2021) Leonardo Notarbartolo had rented a sparsely furnished office for approximately 25,000 Belgian francs ($700) per month in the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. Leonardo Notarbartolo, who is he? Two days before the heist. Just like the script of a Hollywood film, career thief Leonardo Notarbartolo hired an office in the Antwerp World Diamond Centre three years before the raid and from there was able to track the guards' habits and learn how to bypass the centre's extensive security system. At home, he punched in the number for the police and asked to lodge a complaint. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Leonardo Notarbartolo (Credit: Wired) February 16 2003, Notarbartolo took the E19 motorway out of Antwerp, racing towards Brussels. After 6 years in prison he was released for good behavior, in July of the De Bruycker called headquarters, asking for a nationwide alert: The Antwerp Diamond Center had been brazenly robbed. Notarbartolo realized that the heist he had spent so much time planning might have actually been part of an elaborate insurance scam. Who will get out unscathed? One slip could cut through, instantly breaking the circuit and tripping the alarm. He momentarily forgot his worries. A heat-sensing infrared detector monitored the terrace, but he approached it slowly from behind a large, homemade polyester shield. This bridge rerouted the incoming electric pulse over to the outbound wire before the signal reached the sensors. It is a rare break in his fast-moving monologue. Four days later, the detectives executed a search warrant on the apartment Notarbartolo rented in Antwerp. Notarbartolo refuses to talk about what happened to the goods, adding that it is something best discussed once he is out of prison. The subterranean chamber was supposed to be one of the most secure safes in the world. More gems were vacuumed out of the rolled-up carpet from Notarbartolo's Antwerp apartment. WebBut on February 15, 2003, a band of skilled Italian thieves fronted by the charming Leonardo Notarbartolo, who spent over two years clandestinely casing the building subverted every one of the Diamond Center's defenses and There were also some white envelopes printed with the words diamond center, antwerp. Notarbartolo pressed a buzzer on the steel grate. It just rang and rang. They were caught trying to escape with a carpet containing stolen gems and several bags with prepaid SIM cards to contact Leonardos accomplices. Billions of dollars in diamonds pass by the caf's window. They jammed the bags in the car, slammed the doors, and headed off on foot for Notarbartolo's apartment. Notarbartolo asked, pointing at the replica vault. He called the police because of the debris, which contained videotape film strung about, a half-eaten sandwich, dozens of small diamonds, and a receipt for a video surveillance system. Following a trail of evidence disposed of in a nearby bush, the detectives found envelopes from the Diamond Center and a receipt for a sandwich. He spun the handle, and the vault door swung open. He opened the satchel and looked up, bewildered. Perhaps Notarbartolo's cousin, the Mafia don, was behind the whole thing. How to say Notarbartolo in English? He began tracing jewelry salesmen around Italy to track their behaviors and dealings. It would also give him an opportunity to clean his apartment more thoroughly. Notarbartolo says the Italian authorities traveled to Belgium soon after the heist to question him about Capizzi's possible role in the robbery. There was videotape strewn all over the place. "You're going to have to do one or two things yourself, though.". Notarbartolo was captured and convicted as the leader of a gang of Italian thieves who had managed to enter a vault considered impenetrable. It appeared that the thieves had so much loot, they simply couldn't carry it all away. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. In 2000, he started renting an office in the Antwerp Diamond Center, pretending to be an Italian gem importer. Leonardo Notarbartolo strolls into the prison visiting room trailing a guard as if the guy were his personal assistant. Once the truck's doors slammed shut, the convoy sped away, sirens wailing. Notarbartolo was captured and convicted as the leader of a gang of Italian thieves who had managed to enter a vault considered impenetrable. "Actually, I want to talk to you about something a little unusual," the dealer said casually. They had just received a frantic call: The vault had been compromised. How to say Notarbartolo in English? He hadn't slept in two days. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. "Just get me a clear video of it," the man told Notarbartolo. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. On the way back, Speedy had a panic attack, and made Notarbartolo pull the car over. His mother beat him, but it didn't matter. The Chinese company has become a fast-fashion juggernaut by appealing to budget-conscious Gen Zers.