01x01 - The Antwerp Diamond Heist

[bunniefuu]

The Antwerp World
Diamond Center.

It's got hundreds
of millions of dollars

in gold, diamonds,
jewelry, cash.

It's home
to one of the world's

most impenetrable vaults.

Who would be crazy enough

to even think
of attempting this?

But one criminal mastermind
thinks he has

the right team to crack it.

These guys are
the best of the best.

If he's right,
they could pull off

the biggest diamond heist
in history.

Five feet away from
a vault door, that's insane.

Tensions are
through the roof,

and he starts to crack
under the pressure.

If anybody sees and notices
his erratic behavior,

it's all over.

[energetic music]

The masterminds
behind every great heist

see what most people don't.

Risking everything to pull off
the score of a lifetime,

it takes a bold plan,
the right team,

and the skill to stay
one step ahead of the law.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

It's 2003, and a team
of top-notch Italian thieves

is about to crack
one of the world's

toughest diamond vaults.

Getting this far has taken
two years

of practice and planning

that starts
with infiltrating

the city's well-guarded
Diamond Quarter.

♪ ♪

[upbeat swing music]

The Diamond Quarter is where
80% of the world's diamonds

will pass through
at any one time.

It's a small town,
a small industry,

but it's maybe $35 billion
worth of merchandise a year

goes through there.

Security is very, very high.

Within the Diamond Quarter

is an even more protected section

called the
Secure Antwerp Diamond Area,

or SADA.

It's got
its own police station.

It's got bulletproof glass.

There's CCTV.

There's security patrols.

There's only two roads,
one in and one out,

both of which
have telescopic barriers

that would stop any cars
coming in or leaving.

The amount of wealth
in this area is staggering.

It is not uncommon
to see people walking

through the streets
with attaché cases

handcuffed to their wrists.

That security is
why people choose

to do their business here.

♪ ♪

All that security
exists for one reason,

to protect the Antwerp
World Diamond Center.

♪ ♪

That is the jewel
in the crown.

It's the largest building
within SADA,

and it's the home to all
of the biggest diamond

companies in the world.

All of them have
an office there.

To gain access

to the Diamond Center building,

you have to provide
an ID, and a computer

marks down the point of entry
and the point of departure.

There are 27 cameras around
the Diamond Center facilities,

and those are monitored
by guards

all the time
during business hours.

In fact, the Diamond Center
is actually broken down,

much like a prison,
into three blocks.

There's A block,
B block, and C block.

And two stories below B block
is the Diamond Center's vault.

Stored in
the underground vault

in these safety deposit boxes
is gold, gems, currency,

but especially diamonds.

That vault is
supposedly impenetrable.

There's approximately
ten levels of security

just to get in.

The vault is something
of an engineering marvel.

It's got
a 12-inch-thick steel door.

The vault door is
around three tons,

and supposedly, it would take
more than 12 hours

for a drill to go through it.

And it has
a seismic sensor to it,

so if anybody starts

banging on the door
with a sledgehammer

or starts drilling on the door,
it sets off the alarm.

There is a combination lock
on this vault.

There are four
different numbers

that have to be entered,
and each of those

goes between 0 and 99.

To put it into context,
there's approximately

100 million
different combinations.

And if those numbers
aren't entered in perfectly,

the key can't actually go in
because the numbers

actually create a channel that
the key goes through.

This would have been
a very long key

because this is
a very thick door,

and they say that this was
an unpickable lock.

On top of the door,
there's magnetic sensors.

If they were to pop,
the alarm would sound.

So even if anyone was
to get through the locks

on the vault itself,
if they tried to open the door,

the alarms are
still gonna sound.

Once you open
the massive steel door,

you've got light sensors.

You've got motion
and heat sensors.

Even if you are able
to overcome the CCTV cameras,

motion detectors,
seismic monitors,

light detectors,

and you were to get
inside the vault,

you're then presented
with the safe deposit boxes,

which are each
individually locked

with a very secure lock.

You've gotta ask yourself
who would be crazy enough

to even think
of attempting this.

[energetic music]

Leonardo Notarbartolo.
He was born in Sicily

but raised in Turin.

His superpower is
his charm,

and he's able to disarm you
and make you feel

like you've been friends forever.

And then the second
he walks out of the room,

you forget
who you were talking to.

Notarbartolo has said that
he was born to be a thief.

By the age of 19,
he was already stealing

high-end sports cars.

[engine revving]

In the '70s, he moves
from fast cars to diamonds.

He chooses
diamonds specifically

because they're easy to carry,
they're valuable,

and they're really difficult
to trace.

And it turns out
he has this ability

to design jewelry,
really great jewelry.

♪ ♪

He sets up a few
jewelry stores of his own

to provide himself
some legitimacy

and create a lot
of professional connections,

both legitimate
and in the underworld.

And so at some point, one
of Leonardo's jewelry stores

gets hit.

He loses a ton of jewelry
and some of his designs.

I think he thought
he would find a way

to recoup his losses.

This might have been
the motivation

for the Antwerp Diamond Heist.

But robbing Antwerp's
Diamond Center

is about more than just
dollars and diamonds.

This is a legacy maker.

This is what will make him

the best thief in the world.

Of course,
Notarbartolo can't simply

walk in and case the joint,
so he turns to an old saying:

if you can't beat them,
join 'em.

Leonardo actually goes
to the Diamond Center itself,

posing as a diamond trader.

It's so bold.

When Leonardo walks
into the building,

the crime essentially
has begun.

♪ ♪

Notarbartolo creates
a front company

called Damoros Preziosi.

He smooth-talks the woman

who is the manager
of the building.

He seems likable enough.

She rents him an office
for 700 bucks a month,

and the plan is in motion.

Nobody checked
his criminal record,

which sounds a little bit
strange in a diamond building,

but yet they allowed him
to rent the office.

Because he was
an official renter,

he was also entitled
to rent a security box.

Free access in a building
is priceless.

Any of the tenants that
have boxes in the building

are able to take the elevator
down to the vault floor.

Then the only thing standing
between them and their boxes

is a wave to a camera.

The guards recognize you
as a tenant,

they buzz you
through the day gate,

and then you have access
to your box...

and access
to everybody else's box.

Seeing the security system
in person is one thing.

Finding their flaws
and figuring out

how to exploit them
is another thing entirely.

He takes the outrageous step

of using a video camera
to record

through a tiny hole in a bag
that he carries on his person,

and he's using it to record
all sorts of information

about the security
of the Diamond Center,

including the vault itself.

There's an armed guard waiting

right outside the vault.

And he's got to be wondering

what's taking so long.

Leonardo is surely aware
that whilst he

is trying to record,

that he is being watched himself.

If he's caught, he would be
going straight to prison.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Italian jewel thief
Leonardo Notarbartolo

has been casing
the Antwerp Diamond Center

for the last eight months.

But now secretly recording
the security features

inside the vault is
attracting unwanted attention

from a guard.

That's a security feature
he doesn't need to experience.

He's drawn
the attention of the guards,

but he's leaning heavily
on his greatest weapon,

which is his charm.

And this is gonna
get him out of it.

With a clear picture
of the vault's interior,

he returns to Turin
to build a team.

Fortunately for Leonardo,
his hometown

is known
for its beautiful architecture

and its world-class thieves.

In the late '90s, the School
of Turin was a name

that was given by the media

for a group of individuals
who all worked together

to pull off crimes.

They're not
an organized g*ng

in any certain way,

but they are loosely connected
to each other

because of the skills
that they have.

As Notarbartolo begins
to build the team

that will help him commit
his most ambitious crime yet,

he reaches out first
to a man they call...

[dramatic musical sting]

The Monster.

Ferdinando Finotto,
AKA The Monster.

He's named The Monster
because he's monstrously good

at everything he does:

driving, electrician,
or even providing some muscle.

Leonardo convinces
The Monster that this is

not just an ordinary bank job.

"No, no, no, no," he says.

A job like this would provide
financial security

for the rest of their lives
if they could pull it off.

Notarbartolo
has found his muscle,

but he knows that beating
the complex security system

of this vault will
require brains as well,

his own version of 007's Q.

♪ ♪

Elio D'Onorio,
AKA The Genius.

He provides all the solutions

to the most complex
security systems.

He even has his own
security systems business,

so he can essentially hide
in plain sight.

The Genius is going
to be the point person

for anything that's
technologically challenging

during this heist.

He can disable any alarm,

no matter how sophisticated
it is.

So in the beginning,
Leonardo travels from Turin

to Antwerp about once a month.

Notarbartolo is determined
to keep a low profile

on his visits
to the Diamond Center,

but his eyes and ears
are always open

for any opportunity
or weakness.

♪ ♪

He notices he is able
to get into the safe

early in the morning,
when it opens at 7:00,

so he can actually watch
the guard open the safe

and whatever
the procedure might be.

He also made it
his business to be there

when they were
closing the vault,

so he was allegedly
the last customer.

And he noticed how
the guard closed the door

and what he did.

He's also getting
a glimpse of this key.

To make a working copy
of the key,

you have to have
the accurate spacing of cuts,

and each of those cuts
has to be cut

to a very specific depth.

Forging this unique
foot-long key

will be a challenge
for the team's new locksmith,

known only
as the King of Keys.

We know
very little about him,

but what we do know
for sure is that he is

an expert at making keys.

[dramatic music]

The plan is set
for Valentine's Day weekend,

when the district
is distracted

after its busiest time
of the year.

The team has to sneak
into the Diamond Center

after hours,

get past multiple alarms,

and defeat
a massive vault door

that requires both a key
and a combination.

After all that,
there are still more sensors

just to get
to the safe deposit boxes.

It won't be easy.

To succeed, they need
more than skill and luck.

They need blueprints.

Leonardo reaches out

to the Diamond Center's
manager

and says that he's looking
at expanding his business,

and if he could get
a floor plan,

you know,
that would really be helpful.

And astonishingly,

they not only give him
floor plans,

they give him
the schematics for the vault.

By obtaining the blueprints,

the thieves are able to start
looking at points of entry.

And they determine that one

of the parking garages
in block C

is actually accessible
from the main street

without having to go in
through police checkpoints.

It's the perfect way
around SADA's no-car policy.

12 weeks before the heist,
Notarbartolo decides

they'll need a getaway driver,
someone he trusts.

The last member of this crew
that Leonardo brings on

is Pietro Tavano, AKA Speedy.

Not only is Pietro
a lifelong friend of Leonardo,

but he also has

a pretty long rap sheet
of his own.

With his crack team
of thieves now assembled,

Notarbartolo continues
to charm his way

into more
and more restricted areas

of the Diamond Center.

He gets friendly
with the guards

and learns their routines.

There is a monitoring feed,
and that it goes on VHS tape.

But very often,
nobody's watching these feeds.

He notices
that the vault isn't

physically being observed
by security staff at night.

This was
a huge revelation for him.

Notarbartolo knows his heist
must be a one-night job...

get in the building,
get in the vault,

and get out with the diamonds,
all in five hours.

The key is figuring out
how to defeat

all ten layers of security
without wasting precious time.

Five days before the heist,

Notarbartolo has a genius idea.

There is simply
too much security

to try and overcome
in a single night,

so some of this
has to be done beforehand.

And that's where
The Genius comes in.

♪ ♪

The Genius enters
the building.

♪ ♪

He uses Notarbartolo's
key card to scan himself in,

and he actually scans
himself out

but doesn't leave
the building.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Now it's after hours.

The Genius can
really get to work.

First, he covers
the security cameras

outside the vault door.

Next, he goes and installs
a security camera of his own

over the combination dial
of the vault door

so that they can see
what that combination is.

The king of thieves thinks
he can also use this footage

to replicate the vault key.

Next, The Genius shows off
the kind of skill

that earned him his nickname.

The magnetic sensor
contains two components.

These two magnets
touch each other

and create a magnetic field.

And if they're pulled apart,
that magnetic field breaks,

and that instantly sends
a distress signal

and locks everything down.

And so The Genius fabricated
a specialized aluminum plate

with a couple of lips on it
that actually hold

these two sensors
next to each other.

This simple device allows
The Genius

to unscrew the bolts

and remove the plates
without interrupting

the magnetic field
between them.

Next, he attaches
double-sided tape

to the sensors themselves
and cuts the bolts,

and this allows him to just
stick the censors

back exactly where they were,
giving the illusion

that they're still bolted
into place.

But his work isn't done yet.

There's one more critical task
the team's clever gadget guy

must accomplish.

There is a parking garage
which needs to be used

for the group to come
straight in

and down towards the vault.

But that garage

has an electronic buzzer

that needs to open
the gate itself.

There are 12 possible
toggle switches

that make for 1,000 different combinations.

The Genius has to find
the correct frequency

to open that door.

The Genius,
being The Genius, does it.

[intriguing jazz music]

Will The Genius's night

at the Diamond Center pay off?

The team won't know
until the end of the heist.

Then, they'll either
be rich or behind bars.

In the meantime,
the last piece of preparation

falls to the guy who started
it all, Leonardo Notarbartolo.

Leonardo still has
a massive job to do,

and it involves the heat
and motion sensor

that's inside the vault.

If that's activated,
then clearly,

the alarm will be raised,
and they will be caught.

So he needs to try
and dole down its sensitivity

so that
it can't actually detect

the humans are in there.

And he uses something
that most of us

have probably got in our homes:
a simple can of hairspray.

Notarbartolo has to be
extremely careful doing this

because he's on camera,
and if anybody sees

and notices this erratic
behavior, it's all over.

It's the day
before the heist,

and international jewel thief
Leonardo Notarbartolo

takes on the riskiest part
of his plan,

trying to disable a sensor
inside the vault

during business hours.

He simply walks
inside the vault

and gives the impression
of stretching

because maybe he's
a little bit tired

after a hard day in the office.

Whilst he stretches,
he actually sprays the sensor.

♪ ♪

He does, you know, attract
the attention of guards,

and now he's gotta pretend,
you know,

that he was just
fixing his hair.

He could talk his way out
of almost any situation,

and that's undoubtedly
what got him as far as it did.

[slow jazz music]

The night before the heist,

the g*ng all gather
in Leonardo's apartment.

The Monster goes
to a local Italian deli

and brings back some food,

including some pasta and some
tomatoes and some salami.

And they're all going over
the plans of everything,

how they're going
to run through it,

and they're very amped up.

After more than two years
of preparation,

two years of planning,
two years of meetings,

two years
of risking everything,

it all boils down
to what happens

within the next 24 hours.

♪ ♪

Speedy drives the crew
to the garage entrance

just outside the SADA.

All their exhaustive prep work

is about to be put
to the test.

The heist begins now.

[dramatic music]

They make their way in
through the garage

with the frequency
that The Genius has obtained.

They're able to go
right through the garage

and into the building.

By ordering locks that
are used in the building,

these guys are able
to take them apart,

and they're able
to manufacture a universal key

that gives them access
to a bunch of the doors.

Thanks to the blueprints
they obtained,

they take the stairs

to the vault room

that allows them
to bypass the cameras

and the elevator logs.

So far so good, but once
they get to the vault foyer,

the real work begins.

They have just five hours
to clean out the vault

and get clear of the building.

Although The Genius has done
all this preparation,

we still don't know
at this point

if it's gonna work.

The Genius takes
the magnetic sensor

that's taped to the door
and moves it to the wall.

If the two magnets
stay together,

if you move them together,
it does not trigger an alarm.

Now that's taken care of,
and they can start working

on accessing the vault door.

It falls on The Monster
to beat the first lock.

He must precisely enter
the four double-digit numbers

to open
the channel for the vault key.

There's 100 million
possible combinations.

As for getting
the combination

for the vault door,

the camera that
The Genius put in place

five nights prior
was able to actually see

the numbers being dialed in
by the security guard.

This is the moment of truth
for the King of Keys.

Were they able to use
hidden camera footage

to make a counterfeit key?

Sadly, it seems his reign
has come to an end.

His key fails, and the lock
is not pickable.

But after more than two years
of planning,

Notarbartolo is aware
of one detail

that may save the heist
from complete disaster.

♪ ♪

During his late-night
reconnaissance missions,

Notarbartolo thinks
that the guards

actually just keep the key
to the vault

in a utility closet.

They're able to break
into it easily with a crowbar,

and now they've got that key.

It's not a good practice

to leave this like this
in a storeroom

five feet away
from a vault door.

That's insane.

♪ ♪

Now that they've got
the combination

and they've got the key,

they have to do one last thing

before they open
the vault door,

and that's turn off the lights

so that they don't trip
the light sensor

inside the vault.

We think it's likely
that they even used

night vision goggles
because they had to see

what was happening inside.

Because if they even put
a flashlight on,

they'll set
the light sensor off.

Finally, the door
is open, but not so fast.

First, they must
very carefully pry open

the day gate
and slowly swing it open.

Then the tallest member
of the crew,

at a snail's pace,

must tape over
the light sensor

on the vault's ceiling.

Disabling the heat
and motion sensor comes next.

The hairspray will diminish
the sensitivity

of the heat sensor, but it
won't do it indefinitely.

In fact, the g*ng estimate
it would only give them

around three minutes
before their body heat

would be enough to activate
the sensor.

So they only had
three minutes,

but they had to move
very slowly.

And at this time, tensions
are through the roof

because this is one
of the most critical parts

of the entire heist.

So they use a telescoping rod
with the Styrofoam plate,

but they have to be
extremely delicate

in how they do it.

They have to do
some very deep breathing,

because if that sensor is
not completely covered,

it's going to trigger
an alarm.

If they move too fast,
it's gonna trigger an alarm.

If they sweat,
it's gonna trigger an alarm.

[dramatic music]

After two years
of reconnaissance
♪ ♪

and meticulous planning,
the School of Turin has bested

one of the toughest
vault doors on Earth.

But it's not time
to celebrate yet.

Now the crucial next step.

To defeat the safe's
sophisticated heat

and motion sensor
depends on, well,

everyday kitchen supplies.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

They take
a, like, a Swiffer mop,

and they stick
a Styrofoam cube,

and they literally place it
over the sensor.

Despite all the technology,

all the money that was spent
on the security,

it was stuff you could buy
from a supermarket

that enabled the robbers
to get in.

♪ ♪

But now they have
another challenge

on their hands.

There are
189 individual boxes.

Each of those have
a lock and a combination.

Leonardo was able
to figure out,

"Okay, how does this safe
deposit mechanism work?"

He figured out that
the doors had a weakness,

a plastic back plate.

So the g*ng put together
a device

so that they could force
these doors open.

They used a device
called a nose puller

that fits right
over the face plate

of the safe deposit box.

And then they screw it in,
and with the tension,

they essentially are able
to pop it off

like you're pulling out
a cork in a wine bottle.

It would have been
crack, crack, crack

with the locked case snapping.

And they're finding
cash, currency, jewelry

from individual owners.

But also, there are
boxes there that belong

to private corporations.

These are the loose diamonds.

I mean, just
an untold wealth of diamonds.

They're grabbing
what they can,

stuffing it into bags.

The weight
of the diamonds alone

are estimated to be
around the same weight

as a microwave oven.

They opened 109
of the safe deposit boxes.

The heist was so enormous

that the robbers
actually discarded

a bunch of jewelry
on the floor

because they couldn't take everything.

After they pulled off
the heist of the century,

they need to get rid
of the evidence.

And as they make their way
back up to the ground floor,

one of the men picks the lock
for the security office

and actually just takes
the tapes out of the VCRs.

They find
every single security tape

for the last week
and remove them

and take the tapes with them.

With daylight
fast approaching,

the team slips silently
through the garage,

loaded down with hundreds
of millions in loot.

And the Diamond Quarter
is none the wiser.

When the g*ng finally get
back to Leonardo's apartment,

they would surely be feeling

a mixture of joy,
of jubilation,

of fear, of apprehension,
all these emotions surely

running through their minds.

They haven't slept
in nearly two days,

but they've got hundreds
of millions of dollars

in gold, diamonds,
jewelry, and cash.

They start a process
that's known as the slaughter,

where they start dividing up
some of the loot

and trying to figure out,
"Okay, what evidence do

we have to get rid of?"

It's the perfect crime,
but they're smart enough

to know one day, the police
will come into this apartment

and check it out.

So they were very meticulous
about taking

all their garbage with them.

They're also trying

to very quickly clean
the apartment

as thoroughly as possible,

because they're not safe
in Belgium.

They know that Italy does
not have

an extradition treaty
with Belgium.

So if you commit
a crime in Belgium

and you are residing in Italy,
you can't be brought back

to Belgium to be tried for it.

The job is not done yet.

They need to put
as much distance

between them and Antwerp
as humanly possible.

[upbeat jazz music]

The g*ng exits
the apartment, thrilled

to be leaving Antwerp's
nearly empty diamond vault

in their rearview mirror.

Notarbartolo and Tavano
load the car

with their share of the loot
plus the evidence

they need to dump.

They drive south,
gunning for the safety

of the Italian border.

But Speedy, well,
he can't quite shake

the feeling
that there's something else

in the rearview mirror.

They have in their car
all of the evidence,

which has to be just harrowing
to drive, like,

with that in your back seat.

And Tavano starts to crack
under the pressure.

Speedy just wants
to get rid of everything.

He doesn't care
where he does it.

He just wants to get
rid of it right now.

They're gonna pull
off the side of the road

into a wooded area,
and Leonardo

is going to find
the best place

to burn this evidence.

He finds a little shed
next to a pond

and was like,
"We can do it here."

♪ ♪

But when he gets
back to his car,

he's horrified,
because Speedy is just

dumping trash out of the bag.

That is the point where
Leonardo realizes

this is, in fact,
far from over.

[dramatic music]

Just 30 minutes
south of Antwerp,

driving a car
full of evidence,

Leonardo Notarbartolo's
old friend loses his cool.

After pulling off
a perfectly ex*cuted heist,

Speedy could be
throwing it all away.

When Leonardo comes back
and he sees Speedy

just throwing
trash everywhere,

it just becomes too much.

There's the tapes pulled out
of the surveillance cassettes

hanging from the trees.

There's documents
all over the ground.

The only thing
that Leonardo can do

is just help spread
it out even more.

And by the time anyone
would stumble across it,

it'll have been
deteriorated anyway.

They just keep driving.

The two man make it back
to Turin in one piece,

though their friendship
is probably broken.

For the moment, though,
Notarbartolo isn't worried

about his relationships.

He is ecstatic.

They got away with it.

Meanwhile, 650 miles
away, the Diamond Center

is discovering
the impenetrable vault

has been cracked wide open.

The following Monday
after the heist,

one of the concierges...
he walks into the vault,

and he sees bags and diamonds
and jewels on the floor.

The security
at the Diamond Center

describe it as looking
like a b*mb has gone off.

The building security
immediately calls

the SADA's specialized unit,
the Diamond Police.

These guys are the best
of the best when it comes

to crimes of this nature.

Their entire job is just
catching diamond thieves.

Once they arrive on the scene,
they immediately think

it's an inside job.

Every layer of defense
in this vault

has been compromised.

And then they go to look
at the tapes,

and the tapes are gone.

The investigators estimate
that about $100 million,

on the low end, was stolen.

Due to the nature
of safety deposit boxes

and the fact that a lot
of times,

people keep things in there
that they don't want

other people to know about,
the real value

is probably much higher.

In today's dollars,
it could be

over half a billion dollars.

Around the same time, just
outside the city of Brussels,

a retiree named
August Van Camp is taking

a stroll through
a pristine patch of forest.

He loves to go out in nature
and do his nature walks

in the morning, but
people have been throwing

garbage out there daily.

And he's calling the police,

saying people are throwing
garbage again,

and they're like,
"Okay, Mr. Van Camp.

We'll get it cleaned up."

So on this day,
he sees garbage again,

and he's like,
"These damn kids."

But as he starts
to look closer,

he sees papers that say
Antwerp Diamond Center.

And his wife had told him
that there was a robbery

in the Diamond Center
in Antwerp,

and the rest,
as they say, is history.

♪ ♪

As the police start going
through the trash

that is discovered
on the side of the road,

they're amazed
at what they find.

The investigators
find security footage

from the Diamond Center.

They take these tapes,
and they send them to Sony,

but the tapes are so destroyed,
there's no usable evidence.

The investigators
also find in this debris

little emeralds that
are called pointers.

Pointers are
the smaller accent gems

around the main stone
in a piece of jewelry.

It's easy to let a few
slip through your fingers.

There's a business card
for The Genius himself

and a fake work order
that he created

for Notarbartolo's office.

They also find
a half-eaten salami sandwich.

The fake work order
for Notarbartolo's company

causes the Diamond Police
to take

a hard look at its owner.

In all the years
that he was there,

he never did any business.

There is no record of him
transacting any business

in the Diamond Center.

And of all
the safe deposit boxes

that were opened in the safe,
his was not.

The Diamond Police are
convinced he has something

to do with the crime,
but all they have

is circumstantial evidence.

And back in Turin,
he's untouchable

by the Belgian authorities.

In 2003, there is
no extradition treaty

between Italy and Belgium,

so they are essentially
scot free.

But then,
less than a week later,

a very confident
Leonardo Notarbartolo

decides it's safe
to return to Antwerp

to tie up a few loose ends.

Five days later, he comes
back to the Diamond Center,

thinking he's in the clear.

Nobody knows it's him.

He needs to vacate
his Antwerp apartment,

and thinking it's
the best cover

to keep his routine,

he makes one more trip
to the Diamond Center.

Notarbartolo arrives
back at the Diamond Center

because he wants
to use his badge

to create an electronic record
that he was there.

He goes up to his office,
and after hanging out

for a little bit,
he starts to try to leave

so that he could badge out.

But he's identified
by the building manager,

and the manager basically
has to stall for time

until the Diamond Police
can arrive.

He's leaning heavily
on his greatest weapon,

which is his charm.

And he's just trying to play
it cool

because at this point,

he doesn't know
that they know.

So when Notarbartolo
sees the police,

his heart must have just sunk
to the floor.

He realizes that he was
the one being played.

After a perfectly ex*cuted heist

and a near-perfect getaway,

Leonardo Notarbartolo returns

to the scene of the crime,
where he's confronted

by the Diamond Police.

He's gotta be feeling
the, you know,

the rope tightening around him.

They start asking
him questions.

They're asking him
where his apartment was,

because he had rented
his office in cash

and never listed an address.

Notarbartolo tries to stall
because his wife and friend

are still cleaning out
the apartment,

so he's trying
to buy them time.

He draws it out as long
as he can,

but eventually has to say
where his apartment is.

While police grill
their prime suspect,

another detachment
races to his apartment.

They actually see
his wife and his friend

pulling a carpet down
the stairs of the apartment.

They immediately seize it.

Investigators search
the flat and find

three really important clues.

They find the receipt
for the salami sandwich

that they found
along the roadway.

They find a SIM card
for one of the burner phones

the crew used
during the heist.

And while these
are burner phones,

they didn't have names,
they did have phone numbers

and geolocations
and exact time stamps

for all of the calls
placed during the heist.

And then they find
emerald pointers

embedded in the carpet,

which they then match

to the emerald pointers

they found along the highway.

That same day,
with Notarbartolo

in custody in Antwerp, Italian
investigators raid his home

in Turin, under the pretense
that there

may be ill*gal weapons
on the premises.

In a safe,
they find 17 diamonds

that are in blister packs.

They also find
a diamond in an envelope

with a serial number
that is an exact match

to a diamond that was reported
stolen in the diamond heist.

And that has Notarbartolo
dead to rights.

Unfortunately, their warrant
only covered weapons,

and so they weren't able
to seize any of that.

And that was the last time
that law enforcement would see

any of the loot ever again.

With the evidence
from Antwerp and Turin,

Notarbartolo is arrested.

An ironclad case
is built against him,

but he refuses
to rat out his accomplices.

Even so, investigators
are able to follow the clues.

The Genius is
linked to the crime

because his business card
was found amongst the trash.

The Monster...he's
actually linked to the crime

through the receipt
for the salami sandwich.

Using that receipt
with a time stamp,

they're able
to go through and see

the security camera footage.

And there's
the unmistakable silhouette

of The Monster
purchasing a meat platter.

Speedy's linked to the crime
because his details

are all over
the mobile phone SIM card.

In addition, all of the men
involved in the crime

left behind DNA evidence
either in the vault,

in the trash
that was recovered,

or in
Notarbartolo's apartment.

The King of Keys has
never been identified.

But DNA analysis
from the crime scene

indicate that there is
another person

that has not been brought
to justice.

All four men are tried
and found guilty,

but their sentences,
by American standards,

are a slap on the wrist.

In Belgium,
a nonviolent theft,

which this was,

the maximum sentence
is five years.

Now, that's five years whether
you've stolen a loaf of bread

or millions and millions
of dollars' worth of diamonds.

Three of those people
served less than six months.

Leonardo was released
after four years,

but then violated his parole
and was then put back in jail

for an extra two years.

By 2009, everyone
involved in this heist

is released from prison
on good behavior.

The reason that we
are all captivated

by the Antwerp Diamond Heist is,

they actually got away
with it.

Several people served
some prison sentence,

but nobody has recovered
the hundreds of millions

of dollars of diamonds.

And to this day, we are
unlikely to ever really know

where they went.

♪ ♪

Now, I'm not sure
what you think,

but I suspect there are
a lot of people out there

who would think
six months in prison

would be worth it to get away
with the heist of the century.

Pssh.

We may never know where nearly
half a billion dollars of gems

went, but thanks
to a smooth operator,

a bona fide genius,

a king, and a monster,

the Antwerp World
Diamond Center robbery

definitely ranks as one
of history's greatest heists.

♪ ♪