10
French “Vacuum Gang”
Since 2006, in France, an unknown gang of thieves have been emptying supermarket safes, using nothing more than a drill and a modified vacuum cleaner. The innovative group of bandits found a weakness in French supermarket Monoprix’s system of storing cash, and have been exploiting it ever since. Envelopes of cash are funneled into the safe via pneumatic suction tubes. Whereas breaching the safe itself might be considerably difficult, requiring explosives or safecracking, the thieves realized that if they just drilled into the delivery tubes near the safe and hooked up a powerful vacuum, they could suck the money out and get at it much more easily.
This mode of robbery is very unique as most thieves would resort to safecracking methods, which leave more evidence. Techniques such as using explosives, or tools like a thermal lance or plasma cutter, are the common choice of career burglars. As of 2011, the vacuum gang have successfully stolen almost $800,000, in fifteen night-time heists, leaving only a few CCTV tapes of masked men for evidence.
9
2010 Credit Lyonnais Paris Burglars
On March 30th, 2010, burglars got into a Credit Lyonnais bank, in central Paris, and emptied over a hundred safety deposit boxes, getting away with millions of Euros in cash and valuables. The gang tunneled into the bank’s basement from a neighboring cellar, and entered the vault through a small hole they cut using a thermal lance. The branch itself was closed for renovations, however, a security guard who heard noises from the basement confronted the robbers, who lashed him to a chair and told him not to move. Meanwhile, the gang ransacked 125 safe deposit boxes over the course of a few hours. They then set fire to the premises to eliminate any evidence. The fire set off the sprinklers, which alerted the tied-up guard, who assumed the robbers had left, so he raised the alarm. The full operation took around nine hours. As of 2011, the thieves are still at large, and because of the lack of evidence it is unlikely they will ever be brought to justice. This raid bears similarities to the 1971 Baker Street burglary, and shows that security hasn’t improved over time as much as it should have.
8
Carl Gugasian
This particular criminal was successful in baffling police during a bank robbing career that spanned thirty years, and netted him over $2million. The reason he isn’t higher in the list is because of his eventual arrest. When Carl Gugasian was 15 years old, he was shot while attempting to rob a candy store and was sent to a State Youth Facility. After his release he took deliberate steps, not only to avoid a normal life, but to excel in a life of crime. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, earning a master’s degree in systems analysis. He also went out of his way to receive military weapons training.
Immediately after his graduation, Gugasian began to plan out mock robberies involving stolen cars. On eight separate occasions he was planning to commit his first bank robbery; however he repeatedly backed down before entering the bank. Eventually, he committed his first offense, using a stolen car for his getaway.
It was after this that he began to develop his unique bank robbery modus operandi, with such meticulous planning that police were powerless to stop him. He would first look for banks in small towns, that provide easy access to a freeway. He then narrowed the search further by looking for a bank that had late closing times, in August or winter months, so darkness could hide his escape. He only robbed banks on a Friday, which earned him the nickname: Friday Night Robber. He then created a cache to store any evidence that connected him to the crime (including the money), immediately after the robbery. He would return later to retrieve the stuff, when the heat had died down in the following weeks.
As for the robbery itself, Gugasian would burst into the bank five minutes before closing time, when customers weren’t likely to be there. Donning a gruesome face mask from a horror movie (Freddy Krueger was a favorite), he would vault the counter in a standing jump, landing with a crash on the other side, which terrified staff. He then grabbed everything he could from the cash tills, and left in less than two minutes. Immediately afterwards he would disappear into the well-scouted woods and run for several minutes to a dirt-bike. Then he would bike for a further few miles through the woods to an anonymous looking panel van, waiting on the other side, where he’d load the bike into the van and drive away to complete his escape.
In the end, despite his meticulous planning and execution, it was a simple case of bad luck that led to his arrest. Two young teenage boys found one of his caches whilst playing in the woods. It was full of weapons, ammunition and face masks which had his fingerprints. Only enough evidence existed to convict Gugasian of 5 bank robberies, resulting in a 17-year sentence, which he is currently still serving. Despite this, he has still gotten away with over 45 armed bank robberies; an amazing feat considering that, statistically, over 65% of armed bank robbery cases in the US are solved.
7
Paris Modern Art Museum Burglar
In May, 2010, a lone thief broke into the Paris Museum of Modern Art and stole masterpieces by artists such as Picasso and Matisse, valued at just under £100million. Unbelievably, the museum didn’t have a functioning burglar alarm, and the thief was able to simply smash a window and remove the pictures from their frames, without incident. The burglary was discovered at 7am the following morning. Although security guards were in the building at the time of the heist, they didn’t hear anyone enter, or notice the missing paintings or smashed window.
The crime was initially believed to be worth around £430million; however, this figure soon came down to just under £100million. Police have speculated that the paintings may have been “ordered” by a private collector, as this has been the case with previous art thefts in the city. As of 2011, no one has been arrested for the burglary and police believe that the painting is no longer in the possession of the thief. This theft is an example of very poor security around objects with extremely high value.
6
Derek “Bertie” Smalls
Bertie Smalls was an English armed robber who was active in the 1960s and 70s; a time considered the golden age of British armed robbery. Smalls committed his first robbery when he was 15, and, after being imprisoned for a short while, committed his life to crime. Before 1970, Smalls already had a string of high-profile robberies to his name, and was a respected figure in the London Underworld.
On the 9th February, 1970, Smalls led a gang from the Wembley Mob, in the East End of London, to rob a Barclays Bank branch in Ilford. The gang successfully got away with £237,736, a record at the time. Most of the team left England on various routes. Smalls, himself, boarded a train to Paris and from there went on to the Costa del Sol, where he read English newspapers looking for police updates about the robbery. The police made an early breakthrough, with an informant naming Smalls as the leader of the gang.
Smalls returned to England and gave himself up in Northampton, where he spent the Christmas period in jail. On June 2nd, Smalls asked for a meeting with the chief inspector. Smalls had been informed by his solicitor that he would be spending at least 25 years in prison. In an attempt to reduce his lengthy sentence, he offered the police a deal to turn over every person connected with any criminal activity he had ever been involved with.
Smalls was given immunity from prosecution in return for his help. At the Old Bailey, the trial of the Barclays Bank raid commenced, and Smalls testified against every one of his co-conspirators. As he finished giving evidence against his former friends, they reportedly sang to him: “We’ll meet again” by Vera Lynn. The trial ended with a jail time for the gang totaling over 100 years in prison. In the months after the trial, Smalls helped convict 21 more associates, for a total of over 300 years in prison. As a result, Bertie Smalls received no jail-time for his part in the Barclays raid, although there was rumored to be a £1million bounty on his head, instigated by powerful underworld figures such as the Kray twins. Despite this, he lived under police protection for the rest of his life. Even today, criminals who grass on their friends are said to be a “Bertie Smalls”. Pictured above is John Coyne portraying Bertie Smalls).
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