Top 10 Most Famous Robberies In History

These people stole millions and billions and will go down in history for carrying out the most famous robberies in history.

1. Harry Winston

This robbery was carried out in December 2008 when out of four men, three were dressed like women entered a jewelry store and forced the working staff to rob it. They stole jewellery worth 108 million dollars.

2. Antwerp Diamond Center

Those diamonds that are uncut are made to go through a process that is carried out at the Antwerp Diamond Center. Leonardo Notarbartolo headed a gang which managed to empty out 123 deposit boxes out of 189. The gems they stole were worth 100 million dollars and were never found.

3. United California Bank Robbery

A group headed by Amil Dinsio robbed the United California Bank. They cleaned out the safe deposit vault and managed to remove about 30 million dollars. While this may not seem like too much after going through this list, fact is that this robbery took place in 1972 and this money will probably be worth over 100 million dollars today. Even though the details are not clear, one can safely say that it was a great robbery!

4. Schiphol Airport Heist

This diamond robbery is considered to be the largest of its kind as gems worth over 118 million dollars were stolen. While a majority of these robberies involved fantastic plans and remarkable execution, this one didn’t. Their basic plan was to smash, grab and run. Four men carried it out and several have been arrested on the grounds that they were associated with the crime.

5. British Bank of the Middle East

In 1970, a terrorist group called PLO needed money so they decided to rob a number of banks and the most significant one was the British Bank of the Middle East. They stole gold, current and stocks worth over 25 million pounds which would be worth about 100 million dollars today.

6. Knightsbridge Security Deposit

Valerio Viccei was a well known thief who moved to England from Italy and decided to continue his ‘trade’. He, along with his gang, emptied out safe deposits and left the bank with about 174 million dollars. However, he was arrested because he came back to England to get his Ferrari and was sentenced to over 20 years in prison. Unfortunately, he was killed in the year 2000.

7. Baghdad Bank Robbery

This bank robbery was carried out in 2007 in Iraq by 3 guards who worked at the bank. They managed to empty out about 282 million dollars and it has been speculated that they took the help of some militias. The money was never recovered and the media did not think it necessary to cover this robbery as much as they should have.

8. Boston Museum

Two men disguised themselves as police officers and told the security guards at a particular Boston museum that they were doing a routine check. They took 81 minutes and stole about 12 paintings which were worth 300 million dollars 20 years ago.

9. City Bonds Robbery

In May 1990, a messenger was carrying bearer bonds when he was mugged. Since bearer bonds are as good as cash, the person who mugged him was quite lucky. The worth of these bonds has been estimated at 292 million pounds at that time.

10. Central Bank of Iraq

Saddam Hussein felt that the Central Bank of Iraq was his own and that he could withdraw any amount whenever he wanted. He sent his son to withdraw over 1 billion dollars but was soon caught.