Review: The Last Job

The Last Job: "The Bad Grandpas" and the Hatton Garden Heist by Dan Bilefsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great heist story...
I always love heist stories, fascinated by how they pulled it off... and how they got caught. I downloaded this book after hearing an interview with the author on CBC. I had just watched the movie about the old gents' crime (I'm a sucker for Michael Caine), so wondered if it would still hold my attention. It did... though funnily enough the narrator sounded a lot like Caine. Overall, very well researched and written. The only thing that turned me off ~ almost to the point of not continuing ~ was the excessive use of the 'c word' (ladies be warned). I respect that initially this was part of creating realistic characters, but it got tired very fast. I think men (in this case the author) have no idea how offensive this term is to women. I was ready to stop listening. It became gratuitous and unnecessary, and took away from an otherwise excellent book.

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Review: The Pierre Hotel Affair

The Pierre Hotel Affair by Daniel Simone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A heist from the bad guy's perspective.
I enjoy stories of real life heists, satisfying my curiosity about how they pulled it off. This book certainly gave me that! I'm equally interested in how authorities crack the case, but it was missing this key element for me. Refreshingly though, the book served up the whole story from the perspectives of the criminals. It was a new way of looking at a story, and it was interesting... up to a point. How they escaped capture evolved into how they both stuck together and double crossed each other. Meh. They didn't all live to tell the story. Overall, I'm glad I stuck with it until the end, but it doesn't leave me hankering for another crime-by-the-criminals tale.
Audible version

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The Pierre Hotel, NYC

Adding this hotel to my 'must visit hotel bar' list for next time I am in New York. I wasn't familiar with the Pierre until I started reading about its history.

The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. The 525.01 foot tall building (aka 160.02 m), was designed by Schultze & Weaver, and opened in 1930. The Pierre is located within the Upper East Side Historic District, as designated in 1981 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. It was acquired by Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces of India in 2005.

Given my interest in heists, and in NYC history, its surprising that I hadn't heard of the Pierre's story previously. The hotel was the scene of the Pierre Hotel robbery on January 2, 1972, organized by the Lucchese crime family. This robbery of $3 million ($27 million in today's dollars) would later be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest, most successful hotel robbery in history.

You can read the general story on Wikipedia.

Or here's the Audible book I'm listening to:
The Pierre Hotel Affair: How Eight Gentleman Thieves Orchestrated the Largest Jewel Heist in History

So far, its a good story.

PS. My review

Swedish Crown Jewels Heist

I have long been fascinated by art and jewelry heists, so am tracking last week's stunner: the brazen daylight theft of Sweden's crown jewels, getaway speedboat and all!

First, a little context...

The setting: Strängnäs Cathedral sits on a hilltop is located about an hour from Stockholm by train. The brick cathedral was built in the mid-1300's in characteristic Scandinavian Brick Gothic style. It replaced the original wooden church, built on a spot where pagan rituals took place in the 12th century.

The treasure: A glass case in the cathedral holds the 17th century burial regalia once belonging to King Karl IX and his wife Queen Kristin.

The heist: On July 31,2018, a theft raid was carried out inside the church, the thieves making off with two crowns and an orb.

The idyllic setting of Strägnäs Cathedral
made it perfect for a speedboat getaway
Creative Commons image henrikj on Flickr

"From 'The Italian Job' to 'Heat', Hollywood has been obsessed with pulse-racing heist movies for decades. And for the perfect robbery flick, you need always need two crucial elements: absolutely shameless self-confidence and a killer getaway plan. Now robbers in Sweden have put together an operation that rivals anything Hollywood could come up with. According to Reuters, thieves have stolen two 17th century crowns and an orb from the Swedish royal family’s collection, before making off in a motorboat..." [read more].

A pair of brazen thieves appear to have made a clean getaway after stealing Sweden's crown jewels. [In] the daring daylight robbery... two men smashed their way into a display cabinet and grabbed two historic royal crowns and an orb. An alarm sounded, but no one in the church was able to stop the men as they hopped aboard two bicycles and made their way down to the shore of nearby Lake Malaren, where they had moored a speedboat. Police carried out a search using their own boats and a helicopter... but could find no trace of the thieves. 'By boat you can reach Malaren, Koping or Arboga in the west, or Vasteras, Eskilstuna or Stockholm if you drive east' ..." [read more].

Strängnäs Cathedral
Creative Commons image henrikj on Flickr

"Sweden's government and police force has declared a 'national alarm' following the theft of priceless crown jewels, including two crowns and a royal orb. The national alarm in used to alert police forces about a serious situation that needs extra measures, revealing the severity of the daylight robbery at Strängnäs Cathedral... The gold-plated and jewel-encrusted crowns belonged to Queen Kristina and King Karl IX respectively, and the cathedral has now been closed to closely examine the crime scene..." [read more].

"The cathedral was open to the public when the jewels were stolen from locked-up glass boxes. Karl IX was the King of Sweden from 1604 until his death in 1611. The two crowns are the burial crowns from 1611 but were later exhumed and put on display. Both crowns are made of gold and inset with pearls and other precious stones. Christofer Lundgren, dean of the cathedral, said: 'This is part of the national cultural heritage - this is a theft from Swedish society.'..." [read more].

Interesting fact: This isn't the first time an attempt has been made to steal the Swedish treasure. Thieves managed to steal part of the crown jewels in 2013, but they were recovered in a ditch following an anonymous tip.


To learn more
Thieves steal Swedish royal crowns, flee in motorboat - Reuters
Sweden declares national alarm following theft of crown jewels
Priceless Swedish Crown Jewels are STOLEN - Daily Mail
The Swedish crown jewels have been stolen in a heist straight out of Hollywood - Shortlist
Theft of Swedish crown jewels sheds light on other high-stakes robberies - CBC

Review: Priceless - How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As an art lover, I have always been fascinated by stolen art and forgeries. Who did it? Why? How? Where is the work now? Is it hanging on some rich person's wall? (and who does that anyway?!?!). Is it stuffed in a garage somewhere? Did someone stash it somewhere and then die? Can it be covered before it is destroyed and lost forever?

FASCINATING STUFF. If this interests you as much as me, you'll probably enjoy Priceless. It was pretty interesting to learn about how major heists were resolved. It was freaky to learn about works almost recovered and then the opportunity lost due to turf wars and egos. Regardless, listen and you will travel the world in pursuit of lost treasures.

The book was written as a memoir, so it includes the background as to how the FBI's first art sleuth got to his post, which was not what I might have imagined.

It was heartening to learn that the priority was on recovering works first, and catching the bad guys second.

It was equally disheartening to hear about how the art crimes division would fall out of favour, and an intelligent and dedicated agent would be bounced around supervisors that didn't get or appreciate art. But all in all, interesting tales, and a good listen for art and mystery lovers.

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