- I'm not wearing pants right now.
There's a fact for ya.
So if you've ever watched a Hollywood movie
that involved a heist, you'll notice that they
almost always portray the thieves
as criminal masterminds.
Movies like Oceans 11 and The Thomas Crown Affair
among others, are excellent movies, but
once they end so does our suspension of disbelief
because let's face it, there couldn't possibly be
that smart of criminals out there
that they could pull off these incredible heists.
Or could there?
Well as it turns out there have been
some criminals that have pulled off some
incredible heists over the years,
proving that once in a while crime does pay.
So this week I gathered some of the
smartest criminals of all time
that have pulled off some pretty amazing thefts.
And of course I wanted to share them all with you.
So here they are, the
10 Most Brilliant Criminals In History.
Number one is The Vacuum Gang.
In France there's a gang of thieves that have
been steeling money from supermarkets since 2006.
Their brilliance is that unlike other thieves
that might use safe cracking or explosives
this gang has been emptying safes
using nothing more than a drill and
a modified vacuum.
They discovered a weakness in the type of
safe used by French supermarket chain Monoprix.
By drilling into the delivery tubes near the safes,
they simply hook up their device to it
and suck out the envelopes of cash.
They have successfully stolen at least
$800,000 from 15 different stores since they started.
What's most surprising is that Monoprix
has no plans to change their
cash delivery system, despite the fact
that it's cost them nearly $1 million
over the last several years.
See sometimes the simplest things
are the most successful, maybe
that's why so many of you subscribe to me.
(laughs)
Number two, Are the Credit Lyonnais Burglars.
On March 30th 2010 a group of thieves stole
millions of Euros of cash and valuables
from the Credit Lyonnais bank in Paris.
They first waited until the bank was closed for renovations.
They then tunneled into the bank,
subdued a guard, broke into the vault,
and emptied 125 safety deposit boxes.
Finally they set the building on fire
destroying any evidence and allowing them
to get away scot-free.
What's incredible about this story
is not that they got away with it but
that the whole operation took nine full hours
and they still got away with it.
Really though, one guard to watch
and entire bank for nine full hours
and nobody checked on him?
Either this was an inside job or
the robbers had horseshoes up their asses.
Or they just realized that they
were hitting up a really stupid bank.
Yeah I'm gonna go with the latter.
Number three, are The Pink Panthers.
The Pink Panthers were a Serbian gang
of jewel thieves known to be responsible
for the robberies of 120 jewelry stores
in over 20 different countries.
They were known for their daring escapes
and creative break-ins, including one famous heist
where they all dressed up as women,
broke into a jewelry store and stole
$108 million worth of jewelry.
Their crowing achievement however
was the theft of a diamond worth £500 million in London.
The thieves hid the diamond in a jar of face cream
similar to the movie Return of the Pink Panther
which is how the group earned their name.
That is crazy stuff.
Number four, is the Friday Night Robbers.
Carl Gugasian was a successful American thief
that had the smarts to make his
criminal career last 30 years.
He began robbing shops when he was 15
and dedicated himself to a lifetime of crime
even going as far as to get a
master's degree in Systems Analysis.
He was extremely meticulous in his planning
using two separate getaway vehicles
and even had very specific criteria to
narrow down which banks were the
most vulnerable, ensuring his success.
Three decades and $2 million later,
the only reason that he got caught
was pure and simple bad luck.
One day two teenage boys just happen
to discover his cache of weapons and masks
while playing in the park, that happened
to have his fingerprints on it.
As of right now he's still serving his 17 year sentence
and I hope to hell he's had better luck in prison
otherwise I'm sure he ended up as
Big Bubba's personal pincushion.
Yikes.
Number 5 is Derek "Bertie" Smalls.
Bertie Smalls was a British robber
who led a gang of thieves in the 1960s and 70s.
He led several successful bank robberies
including one where he got away with
£230,000 which was a record theft at the time.
Unfortunately for him his streak ended
when a member of his gang gave him up to the police.
However Bertie always had incredible survival instincts
and was very smart when it came to avoiding jail.
So this time was no exception.
Faced with 25 years in prison, he offered
to give up the name of every single person
he had ever been connected with and for
testifying against all of his former friends was
offered immunity and successfully avoided jail time.
Pretty sweet deal considering he led
a lifetime of crime except for the
rumor there's a £1 million bounty on his head
from some very powerful underground mob bosses.
So, he's free but you know now he's got
a significantly shorter lifespan.
Number six is The 300 Million Yen Robber.
On December 10th of 1968 a bank car
transporting ¥300 million, worth about $817,000 US
was pulled over by a policeman on a motorcycle.
The policeman warned there was a bomb under the truck
so all four armed guards exited the vehicle
while the policeman inspected it.
The only problem is the policeman wasn't a policeman
he was actually an unknown bank robber
who simply drove away with the cash
never to be seen again.
Now this might sound silly but in
the guards' defense that specific bank
had been getting a lot of bomb threats
as of late, so it wasn't unreasonable
to hear that there was a bomb under the truck.
Still that being said Japan you might wanna
step up your security game, know what I'm sayin'?
Damn.
Number seven are the Boston Art Robbers.
On the night of March 18th 1990
two men gained access to the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
They stole and estimated $500 million worth of art
including priceless masterworks by Rembrandt
and Monet among others.
Dressed as police officers they were able
to convince security that they were responding
to a call, after which they raided the museum
stealing 13 pieces of historical one-of-a-kind
pieces of artwork.
Despite this being the largest private property theft
in history, the truly amazing thing is that
the statute of limitations has run out.
So even if these men came forward
they could not be charged with a crime.
Man, these guys need to come forward,
I mean they can't be charged with a crime
so at a minimum they'll probably
be given a movie deal and become celebrities.
I mean we have made people like Honey Boo Boo
famous so these guys definitely have a shot.
Number eight is The School of Turin.
The School of Turin was the name given
to a group of thieves led by criminal mastermind
Leonardo Notarbartolo in Belgium.
They were the ones responsible for
the infamous Antwerp diamond heist
which was dubbed the heist of the century.
Every step of the heist was carefully planned
and executed, everything from Leonardo staying
in the bank vault the night before to learning and
by passing the most intricate workings of the bank vault.
They were even smart enough to have
the foresight to not only grab the diamonds but
the paperwork needed to sell them as legitimate.
Interestingly they all got away with it except
Leonardo who was convicted purely on DNA evidence
found on a half eaten sandwich found by the crime scene.
Damn well just goes to show you
never commit a robbery on an empty stomach.
You're more likely to slip up.
(touching piano riff)
Number nine are the Baker Street Burglars.
In 1971 a team of thieves tunneled into
the Lloyds Baker Street bank vault in London
stealing £3 million worth of cash and valuables
from safety deposit boxes.
During the heist a radio operator overheard
their transmissions and contacted police,
who franticly searched over 700 banks in the area.
Amazingly police arrived at that very bank
but upon seeing no damage to the vault door
left and continued searching other banks.
But despite several of the men getting caught
years later the true mastermind of the plot
was said to be a London car dealer
who was never caught.
Interestingly this story was the basis
for the movie The Bank Job starring Jason Statham
who just happens to be one of my favorite actors
because he's got the whole bald with
a beard thing going on.
It's my favorite look.
And number 10, D. B. Cooper.
One of the most infamous and mysterious
criminals in history is D. B. Cooper.
On November 24th of 1971 a man
named Dan Cooper who's real name
has never been discovered, hijacked a
Boeing 727 claiming that he
had a bomb in his suitcase.
Upon landing in Seattle he demanded
$200,000 and four parachutes.
Shortly after the plane taking off for Mexico
he jumped out of the aircraft, over the
mountains northwest of Portland.
Even after years of searches and ongoing
FBI investigations neither he nor the money
were ever found.
It's amazing to think that there
was once a time when criminals in America
could actually get away with hijacking an airplane.
Today he probably would've been wrapped up
in an American flag while everybody
aboard that flight beat the piss
out of him and yelled 'Merica.
And that's all for this time guys.
If you enjoyed this video you should definitely
check out my buddy Russell's channel ownage Pranks.
We thought that it would be funny
for him to do the exact opposite of my video
prank call a guy as a dumb criminal
and it turned out amazing.
Russell's a really talented voice actor and
you have to see what he does with
this guy over the phone.
So if you want to check that out I'll put a link
on the screen and in the description.
I've actually been subscribed to him for a while now
and I think you guys are really going
to enjoy his content.
As always if you enjoyed this video
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and I will see all of you back here
next Saturday with a brand new video, peace.
I am uncomfortably close.
Thanks for watching my new video.
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Have a great weekend.
Bye.