NEED TO KNOW
- Over the weekend of Feb. 15, 2003, five men pulled off what would become known as the largest diamond heist in history
- Led by Leonardo Notarbartolo, the men came to be known as the School of Turin, who operated under the aliases of Speedy, the Monster, the Genius and the King of Keys
- Four of the five men were caught and served time for their participation in the robbery
On a weekend in February 2003, five men carried out what’s largely considered to be the world’s biggest diamond heist ever in Antwerp, Belgium.
Led by Leonardo Notarbartolo, the diamond heist saw a small group of thieves, dubbed the School of Turin in honor of their city of residence in Italy, carry out a quiet heist in Antwerp’s diamond district over the weekend of Feb. 15-16 where they made off with at least $100 million worth of diamonds, gold and other loot.
Though it’s been decades since the crime occurred, most of the stolen goods have never been recovered, and how the troupe bypassed the underground vault’s security system remains a point of contention in the heist’s investigation.
Based on Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell’s book Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History, Netflix’s Stolen: Heist of the Century, which premiered on Aug. 8, attempts to unpack one of the world’s most mystifying crimes and how Notarbartolo, who appears in the documentary, managed to pull it all off with his gang of brothers and bandits.
So where are the Antwerp diamond heist thieves now? Here’s everything to know about Notarbartolo and his accomplices in the School of Turin today.
Who was involved in the Antwerp diamond heist?
In addition to Notarbartolo, four other accomplices were also involved in the Antwerp Diamond Center heist: Speedy, the Monster, the Genius and the King of Keys.
A longtime friend and partner of Notarbartolo’s, Speedy was in charge of updating Notarbartolo on the team’s progress throughout the heist and remained in constant contact with him to ensure a swift escape.
In a 2009 interview with WIRED conducted while he was still serving his sentence in a Belgian prison, Notarbartolo claimed that Speedy was known for being an anxious person and that the team deemed him a liability prior to conducting the heist.
Meanwhile, the Monster was an expert lock picker, electrician, mechanic and driver who also boasted impressive physical strength, according to Notarbartolo. Similarly, the Genius was also known for his expertise in electronics and specialized in alarm systems.
Finally, the King of Keys, who was apparently significantly older than others, was a master key forger and was considered to be one of the best in the world.
Though Notarbartolo refused to refer to his teammates by their real names, Belgian police have identified Speedy, the Monster and the Genius as Peitro Tavano, Ferdinando Finotto and Elio D’Onorio respectively, based on evidence.
The true identity of the King of Keys, the only member to have never been sentenced to prison for the heist, remains unknown.
Although the five thieves made up the School of Turin, Notarbartolo maintained in his 2009 interview with WIRED that none of the members, including himself, were the true masterminds behind the heist and that they were hired to conduct the crime on behalf of a diamond dealer in Antwerp.
He alleged that he was approached by a dealer a few years prior to the heist and was offered €100,000 (around $115,000 adjusted to current inflation) to rob the main vault in the Antwerp Diamond Center.
Italian authorities have also pinned potential blame on Notarbartolo’s cousin Benedetto Capizzi, an alleged high-ranking member of the Sicilian Mafia, for the heist, however, Notarbartolo has denied there ever being an organized crime link to the robbery.
How did the School of Turin break into the Antwerp Diamond Center?
The Antwerp Diamond Center’s vault was protected by 10 layers of security, which Notarbartolo’s team individually bypassed step by step.
According to Notarbartolo, who had been renting out an office at the Diamond Center since 2000, an exact replica of the vault was created by the alleged diamond dealer who orchestrated the heist in a remote area.
The recreated vault allowed the School of Turin to figure out different ways to bypass the vault’s security systems, which included a combination wheel with a million possible combinations, magnetic locks and seismic, light, heat and motion detectors.
To break into the Diamond Center, Speedy, the Monster, the Genius and the King of Keys all allegedly snuck in through a small balcony on the building’s second floor, which was monitored by a heat-sensing infrared detector, according to Notarbartolo’s 2009 WIRED interview.
To bypass it, the Genius approached the sensor with a homemade polyester shield and placed it right in front of the detector to prevent it from picking up on the team’s body heat. He then disabled an alarm sensor on one of the balcony’s windows, and the troupe made their way into the center while Notarbartolo waited nearby in a getaway car.
How the team exactly entered the Diamond Center however, remains somewhat of a mystery to police who instead believe that the group entered through the center’s garage and made their way to the building’s ground floor by forging a key.
It was hacks like the polyester shield, though, that ensured the School of Turin’s seamless heist. Other tricks the group employed included spraying women’s hairspray on the vault’s heat detectors to temporarily insulate them from sensing the room’s fluctuations in temperature.
The Genius also allegedly used a custom-made slab of aluminum to realign the vault’s magnetic sensor away from its door. Even simple hacks like covering the vault’s light sensors with tape ensured the troupe would bypass what was believed to be an impenetrable fortress of security.
Once inside the vault, the foursome yanked open 109 out of 189 safe-deposit boxes and stole whatever they could in jewels and cash. They then raced out of the building in the early hours of the morning and headed toward Notarbartolo’s apartment before making their escape to Italy.
“It was unbelief [sic], really,” Antwerp police detective Patrick Peys said of the crime in a 2004 report from ABC News. “It’s unimaginable that something like that happens because the buildings are secured quite well.”
How did Notarbartolo and the School of Turin get caught?
The majority of the evidence linking Notarbartolo and his team to the diamond heist was found in a haphazardly thrown garbage bag on the side of a highway near Brussels.
In his 2009 interview with WIRED, Notarbartolo claimed that he and Speedy were driving along the E19 motorway north of Brussels to get rid of an incriminating trash bag when his teammate started experiencing a panic attack.
Instead of following through with their plan to burn the bag in a remote area, Speedy allegedly threw the contents of the garbage around in a random dirt road off the side of the highway to get the job over and done with quickly.
Though Notarbartolo expressed concern over the garbage’s state in his interview with WIRED, he still left it all behind and joined his other troupe members in Italy where they equally split up the loot.
Little to Notarbartolo’s knowledge however, the site where Speedy allegedly dumped the garbage was owned by August Van Camp who quickly called the police after finding trash strewn across his property.
Through investigation of the garbage, police found an invoice with Notarbartolo’s name, a business card with D’Onorio’s (aka the Genius) address and phone number and several other random tidbits that led them to their culprits.
What were their sentences?
Though the majority of the stolen items were never recovered, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years in prison based on circumstantial evidence. He was arrested in Antwerp in February 2003 a few short days after the heist occurred.
Meanwhile, Finotto, the man believed to be the Monster, was arrested in Italy in November 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison. D’Onorio was extradited to Belgium in November 2007 where he was similarly sentenced to five years in prison.
Finally, Tavano, or the man thought to be Speedy, was also ordered to serve a five-year sentence in Italy for the heist. The fifth thief, the King of Keys, has never been identified nor apprehended.
Where are the Antwerp diamond heist thieves now?
Notarbartolo was released from prison on parole after serving time.
According to Heist of the Century, he now lives with his wife in the countryside near Turin, and runs a small business making wood pellets typically used for fireplaces. It is unclear where the four other members of the School of Turin now reside after serving their sentences.
In the years since the heist, Notarbartolo has argued that the operation was all part of an insurance scam for diamond dealers to file claims on some of their lost gems and turn an extra profit. Police seem to disagree.
The stolen loot has mostly never been recovered and many questions about the heist’s planning, execution and true leadership remain a mystery.
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