Stealing the Antwerp Diamonds: A Heist for the Ages

Written By Max Gibson

It was the largest diamond heist in history. Over $100 million in precious jewels stolen. It occurred on the night of February 16th, 2003 in a vault two floors below the Antwerp Diamond Center in Belgium.

­The Team

The accused were an assortment of talented specialists skilled in the art of thievery, an eclectic team of five, capable of penetrating a safe protected by ten layers of security. Their nicknames gave insight into their destructive talents. There was Leonardo Notarbartolo, the ringleader, and the smooth talker, a charmer of sorts, and fluent in a variety of languages. There was “the Genius,” a master with alarm systems; he could debug anything with the proper equipment. There was “the Monster,” a whale of a man, and a jack-of-all-trades. And finally there was “the King of Keys,” a quiet, elderly man who happened to be an excellent locksmith.

In many ways it seemed as though Leonardo was destined to live a life of crime. His first robbery, perpetrated at the tender age of 6, would mark the beginning of his criminal career. When his mother sent the young Leonardo out for milk one morning, he returned with 5,000 lira (around $8) he had stolen from the milkman whom he had caught asleep.

Performing numerous thefts throughout his childhood, his teens and into adulthood, it was Leonardo’s understanding of people and their behavior that gave him the expertise needed to pull off his ambitious heists. Under the guise of a gem importer based out of Turin, Italy, Leonardo managed to conduct casual business, while assimilating into Antwerp’s diamond trading population. Naturally Leonardo was welcomed into this world and appeared to most as merely a well-to-do businessman whose French was less than extraordinary. Invited to banks, offices, and boardrooms, the unassuming Leonardo slowly infiltrated Antwerp’s prosperous diamond district.

As an “importer,” Leonardo’s scheme was to buy a few stones from a particular dealer to start, only to steal the target’s entire stock weeks or months later. Over the course of two years, Leonardo had established himself in Antwerp; the city providing more than enough opportunity to accommodate his malevolent practice.’

The Plan

It was a typical day in Antwerp when Leonardo’s career would change forever. Sitting alone in a coffee shop, he was approached by one of his trusted dealers. “I want to talk to you about something a little unusual,” the dealer said casually. Taking a walk outside, the two began to converse although soon after Leonardo noticed a sudden change in the dealer’s demeanor. “I’d like to hire you for a robbery,” the dealer told him.

Leonardo’s mission was simple. For a commission of 100,000 Euros, he was to find out if the Antwerp Diamond Center could be robbed. Having rented a safety-deposit box there already, Leonardo had access to much of the vault’s interior. With a ballpoint pen equipped with a miniscule digital camera in his breast pocket, Leonardo entered the Diamond Center on reconnaissance. Approaching the large metal door at the base of the center, Leonardo showed his tenant ID card and passed through with ease while capturing images of the entrance and the surrounding environment.

Once inside, Leonardo walked toward his personal deposit box. Imitating a routine check of his belongings, he managed to survey the vault’s interior. Motion, heat and light detectors covered the entire room, making it virtually impossibly to penetrate the vault unnoticed. With 17,576 possible combinations to each deposit box, it also appeared as if breaking into a safe would prove impossible as well. Returning back to the dealer, Leonardo related his findings: he simply didn’t believe the heist could be done.

The Response

It took the dealer five months to respond to Leonardo after his assessment. Calling him from a location outside Antwerp, the dealer wanted to meet up again, though this time he had another idea in mind. When Leonardo arrived, the dealer was waiting for him in front of an abandoned warehouse. When Leonardo stepped inside, he was shocked to see a life-sized replica of the vault he had surveyed five months earlier. “I want to introduce you to some people,” the dealer said. Standing inside the vault were three Italians. An assortment of specialists, the gentlemen were skilled in their respective crafts, each a valuable piece of the impending heist. Not long after, the team had formulated a plan to penetrate the diamond vault. All that was needed was the proper preparation and execution.

The Heist

Time passed accordingly, after nearly a year of planning, Leonardo again found himself outside the all-too-familiar Diamond Center. It was just a day before the team would execute their plan, and Leonardo was back, putting the finishing touches on their scheme. Entering the vault with a can of hair spray, he covered the heat and motion sensors with a thin film, disabling the monitors temporarily.

With much of the city’s attention on the highly publicized Diamond Games Tennis Tournament across town, the Antwerp Diamond Center was nearly deserted on the night of the heist. It was almost midnight when Leonardo, the Genius, the Monster, and the King of Keys descended upon the Center. Carrying large duffel bags the team crept into a private garden in the back of the Center. Using a ladder they had hidden there prior, the Genius ascended the ladder to the second floor of the building. Confronted by a heat-sensing infrared surveillance device, the Genius moved slowly from behind a large homemade polyester shield. Placing the shield directly in front of the sensor, he effectively deactivated the system. The low temperature of the polyester shield hiding the body heat of those that passed behind it. Soon the rest of the team had scaled the balcony, and after disabling another alarm, they climbed through a window and entered the antechamber of the vault itself. The large vault door stood in front of them. Covering the surveillance cameras with black plastic bags, the Genius diverted the magnetic sensors away from the door using a slab of aluminum to reposition the magnetic fields. With the bulk of the plan already executed to perfection, it was the King of Keys who would soon strike gold.

Entering the utility room next to the vault, the King of Keys was astonished to see the vault key itself, hanging in clear view, on the wall inside the room. Grabbing the key, the King twisted it inside the keyhole, and entered in the vault code he had memorized from watching surveillance footage. The door swung open.

Meanwhile, Leonardo sat outside the Diamond Center, communicating via cellphone, and keeping watch while his colleagues worked away inside. Propping the vault door open with two spray cans, the Monster eased the way for the thieves. Alone in the pitch black vault interior, the Monster moved slowly, imitating the steps he had practiced dozens of times in the vault replica. Reaching above his head, the Monster disabled the wires of the vault’s security system. Stripping the wires of their plastic exterior, the Monster then clipped in a new piece of wire. Attaching it to the exposed copper of the inbound and outbound cables, the Monster successfully rerouted the electrical charges, fully disabling the vault’s security. It was time for the haul.

Equipped with leather gloves, the team descended upon the private boxes, drilling into each deposit box with precision. Maneuvering through the dark, the thieves only turned their flashlights on for brief moments to view the contents within. Soon each man was stuffing their bags with unimaginable jewels, gold bars and currency from around the world.  Although the most valued prize, lay in small leather satchels—the purses full of diamonds. It was 5:30 am.

It took an hour to haul the loaded duffel bags up and out of the Diamond Center. Jumping into Leonardo’s nearby get-away vehicle, the men sped off into the predawn light.

Arriving at Leonardo’s apartment a few hours later, the team was eager to survey their loot. Unzipping one of the purses the Monster peered inside, anticipating the gleam of diamonds that lay within. But it was empty. He opened another satchel, empty. He opened another, empty. Panic and anxiety swept over the thieves. Was there a miscalculation? Had they been scammed? Leonardo thought back to his interactions with the dealer. Had he been merely a pawn in a grander scheme of theft?

“Did the dealer tip off others about the heist,” Leonardo wondered. Perhaps the dealer told others to take their most prized belongings out of the safe, only to report them stolen to collect insurance on them later on. It was definitely a possibility. Expecting a purse of close to $100 million, the thieves had in fact returned with something closer to $20 million. Still ample riches, but far less than what they had hoped for.

The Next Day

It was 6:00am on Sunday when Leonardo and his partner Speedy, a well-trained yet erratic thief himself, sped through the roads outside Antwerp. With a garbage bag full of incriminating evidence the pair had intended to burn the bag in France, although at the moment, Speedy burst into one of his panic attacks. “I can’t do the drive,” Speedy said to Leonardo. The thief seemed to be falling apart under the pressure.

“Pull off up here,” Speedy shouted, now fully overtaken by the fear of getting caught. At Speedy’s request, the duo turned onto a dirt path on the E19 motorway, disposing of the evidence over a side railing and into a forested area.

Perhaps it was fate that did them in; a series of chance occurrences that led to an unexpected ending. Although Speedy and Leonardo had disposed of the evidence, little did they know that their uninhabited forest was in fact the backyard of 59-year-old Belgian citizen, August Van Camp.

August’s Intervention

Having purchased the land adjacent to the E19 freeway two years prior, Van Camp was used to encountering displaced trash strewn throughout his beloved backyard grounds. Calls to the police from Van Camp reporting these “crimes” were not uncommon, as he was evidently annoyed by the constant dumping. Naturally, the police were used to Van Camp’s periodical calls, so when he contacted them on Monday the following morning, they thought they knew what to expect. Listening to Van Camp as he listed off the items he had found. the police’s interest piqued when Van Camp mentioned envelopes with the words DIAMOND CENTER, ANTWERP on them. Stunned by the ransacked vault the day prior, police in Antwerp were eager to piece together the remarkable heist.

Soon, a half-dozen police cars descended on Van Camp’s forest. After a thorough search of the grounds, it was the garbage bag full of incriminating materials that nearly sealed the fate of the skillful conmen. Back at the Antwerp Diamond Squad headquarters, it wasn’t long before items linking Leonardo to the heist had been discovered. A rental receipt for surveillance camera equipment made out in the name of Leonardo Notarbartolo connected the con artist to the heist. While a business card of electronics expert Elio D’Onorio of Italy was also found.

Along with the other evidence, a half eaten salami sandwich was also found lying with the garbage. Upon searching Leonardo’s apartment days later, police found a receipt from a local deli that read ANTIPASTO ITALIANO SALAMI. Tracking to receipt to a nearby grocery store, one of the police officers asked the manager to rewind their surveillance tape. Rewinding back to Thursday, February 13, the officer stopped when he saw a tall, well-built Italian man purchasing a salami sandwich. His name–Ferdinando Finotto, also known as the Monster.

Regrouping

The thieves reassembled two days after the heist. The team was supposed to meet the dealer at a local bar to divide the loot, but he never showed. While waiting at the bar, Leonardo had a feeling of uneasiness. Not only had the dealer not shown, but the garbage bag full of evidence was still out there to be discovered.

Initially, Leonardo had planned to return to Belgium the next day. His rental car had to be returned in Antwerp and he wanted to clean his apartment before police could search it. As he drove back to Belgium, however unbeknownst to him, police had already surrounded Leonardo’s apartment. His 24-year old son was inside, and refused to open the door. Frantically, the son dialed his father time and again, but to no avail. His phone was on silent.

Leonardo drove back into Antwerp that night, unaware of the frenzy circulating around him. Going to meet a friend close by, it wasn’t long before the police were upon him, tipped off by a security guard who knew Leonardo’s identity. Searching his apartment again, the police discovered a number of bags full of more detailed evidence. Calling cards linked to the names of three Italians revealed Leonardo’s well-trained team: Ferdinando Finotto, the Monster; Elio D’Onorio the Genius; and Pietro Tavano, Leonardo’s frantic partner, Speedy.

The police discovered 17 diamonds in Leonardo’s possession, all of them from the burglarized vaults. Leonardo was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His accomplices were given lesser sentences, though they all faced years behind bars. One member of the team, however, was never apprehended. Authorities believe he was known as King of Keys.

Although the Antwerp thieves are behind bars now, one mystery still remains: what happened to the rest of the loot? Leonardo claims that the group came away with only $20 million, although police estimate that it was indeed $100 million that went missing. In part, this may be due to the hazy nature of diamond dealings, wherein a large percentage of business is conducted under the table. Because a $25 million loss was claimed officially, police estimate that the other $75 million will never be accounted for. Maybe Leonardo was in fact a pawn in the dealer’s larger scheme. Or perhaps he’s only admitting to stealing $20 million to recoup the rest of the loot once out of jail. In any case, he refuses to talk about the stolen jewels, preferring to reside inside the prison walls until his sentence is completed.