Friday, March 13, 2009

Impregnable vault? Tell that to $100mil worth of diamonds!

The Antwerp Diamond Center's vault after the break in
If you want some riveting reading, I just came across this incredible story on Wired Magazine's website about a jewelry heist in Antwerp, Belgium, where the thieves made off with a reported $100 million dollars worth of gemstones. Antwerp is where an "official" tally would show that around $3 billion worth of diamonds are bought and sold every year. The actual number is much, much higher as many transactions are off the books. Forget your George Clooney/Brad Pitt movie vehicles, Italian jewel thief Leonardo Notarbartolo (in pic at right) and his gang are the real thing!

pictures from Wired Magazine
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one year ago today @ E.D.T.: late winter warmth with the Manhattan Cocktail!

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