In Virginia's Fairfax County, Robbing Banks for the CIA
A captured bank robber makes a remarkable claim.
A captured bank robber makes a remarkable claim.
Tom Schoenberg Businessweek Apr 2013 10min Permalink
“Dan Seavey stepped ashore the docks of Grand Haven, Michigan, armed with two of the most dangerous weapons known to man: booze and bad intentions.” The story of the early 20th century’s fiercest Great Lakes pirate.
Michael Bie Classic Wisconsin Jan 2009 10min Permalink
On the theft of 6 million pounds of maple syrup from Canada’s strategic reserve and the group of free market renegades who are fighting “The Maple Wars.”
Brendan Borrell Businessweek Jan 2013 10min Permalink
How and why did 200 pages of the Aleppo Codex, “the oldest, most complete, most accurate text of the Hebrew Bible,” go missing?
Ronen Bergman New York Times Magazine Jul 2012 25min Permalink
The curious case of SpongeBob SquarePants illustrator Todd White, three ninjas, and an art caper.
David Kushner Vanity Fair Jun 2012 15min Permalink
The Watergate reporters look back.
In the course of his five-and-a-half-year presidency, beginning in 1969, Nixon launched and managed five successive and overlapping wars — against the anti-Vietnam War movement, the news media, the Democrats, the justice system and, finally, against history itself. All reflected a mind-set and a pattern of behavior that were uniquely and pervasively Nixon’s: a willingness to disregard the law for political advantage, and a quest for dirt and secrets about his opponents as an organizing principle of his presidency.
Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein Washington Post Jun 2012 15min Permalink
The story of Attila Ambrus, who was released from jail this morning in Hungary. Nicknamed the Whiskey Robber because witnesses always spotted him having a double across the street prior to his heists, Ambrus only stole from state-owned banks and post offices, becoming a Hungarian folk hero during his seven years on the lam. While on his spree he was also the goaltender for Budapest’s best-known hockey team and was arguably the worst pro goalie ever to play the sport, once giving up 23 goals in a single game.
Excerpted from Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts.
In 16 months, he has broken into more than a thousand homes up and down the San Fernando Valley. According to the police, his haul is worth anywhere from $16 million to $40 million. And yet because he has cultivated so many aliases, law-enforcement officials have been hard-pressed to learn his real name—Ignacio Peña Del Río—much less comprehend his unlikely background.
Luke O'Brien Details May 2010 15min Permalink
A profile of lifelong thief and 13-time escapee Chris Gay, aka “Little Houdini.”
Ben Montgomery The St. Petersburg Times Sep 2011 10min Permalink
As a teenager, Trey Smith snuck into the cash- and porn-filled home vault of his friend’s father. Fifteen years later, he told the story from prison.
Trey Smith D Magazine Jul 2011 15min Permalink
A bank robber tells the story of a successful heist.
Dane Batty Crime Magazine May 2011 Permalink
In 2006, seven men stole £53m. Six were caught, but more than half the money remains at large. On modern money laundering best practices.
Sam Kinght The Financial Times Feb 2011 15min Permalink
After two New Jersey homes were robbed of their silver—only their silver—in the same night, the local police got a call from a detective in Greenwich, Connecticut. “I know the guy who’s doing your burglaries.”
Stephen J. Dubner New Yorker May 2004 35min Permalink
Was the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre actually a smokescreen to obscure an even more audacious art crime?
Dorothy Hoobler, Thomas Hoobler Vanity Fair May 2009 25min Permalink
A Hollywood screenwriter finds out his identity’s been stolen when a hooker calls–from his private office–demanding to be paid for the sex they didn’t just have.
Josh Friedman Huck's Blog Jul 2010 15min Permalink
Gerald Blanchard, the world’s most ingenious thief, made his first swipe at age six. And he didn’t stop, robbing banks and stealing jewels around the world until a pair of obsessed Winnipeg cops took his case.
Joshuah Bearman Wired Mar 2010 25min Permalink