Master Thieves

Download or read book Master Thieves written by Stephen Kurkjian and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive story of the greatest art theft in history. In a secret meeting in 1981, a low-level Boston thief gave career gangster Ralph Rossetti the tip of a lifetime: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was a big score waiting to happen. Though its collections included priceless artworks by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and others, its security was cheap, mismanaged, and out of date. And now, it seemed, the whole Boston criminal underworld knew it. Nearly a decade passed before the Museum was finally hit. But when it finally happened, the theft quickly became one of the most infamous art heists in history: thirteen works of art valued at up to 500 million, by some of the most famous artists in the world, were taken. The Boston FBI took control of the investigation, but twenty-five years later the case is still unsolved and the artwork is still missing. Stephen Kurkjian, one of the top investigative reporters in the country, has been working this case for over nearly twenty years. In Master Thieves, he sheds new light on some of the Gardner's most abiding mysteries. Why would someone steal these paintings, only to leave them hidden for twenty-five years? And why, if one of the top crime bosses in the city knew about this score in 1981, did the theft happen in 1990? What happened in those intervening years? And what might all this have to do with Boston's notorious gang wars of the 1980s? Kurkjian's reporting is already responsible for some of the biggest breaks in this story, including a meticulous reconstruction of what happened at the Museum that fateful night. Now Master Thieves will reveal the identities of those he believes plotted the heist, the motive for the crime, and the details that the FBI has refused to discuss. Taking you on a journey deep into the gangs of Boston, Kurkjian emerges with the most complete and compelling version of this story ever told.

Download or read book Jack of Thieves written by Ben Hale and published by . This book was released on 2016-09-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Thieves Guild is renowned for their ability to steal anything. Its elite members have robbed nobles of wealth, reputation, and even their honor. The Guildmaster rules them with brutality and fear, yet his name and past are a mystery. From the depths of the Evermist swamp he seeks a master thief, one who can help him reclaim his lost power.Young and brash, Jack Myst has drawn the Guildmaster's attention. His feats mark his potential, but his audacity and cunning make him dangerous. After years of preparation an invitation from the guild is exactly what he desires. When he gets it his hunt begins, and there is nothing he cannot steal.Even the Guildmaster's secret.

Download or read book Superthief written by Rick Porrello and published by Next Hat Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superthief is a captivating first-hand look at the life of Phil Christopher, a career criminal, Mafia associate, and one of the most successful bank burglars in the United States. In a raw and candid accounting, Rick Porrello takes his readers inside Phil's brutal street world and prison life and exposes the details behind the planning and execution of the daring and record-setting 1972 United California Bank burglary in Orange County, California.

Download or read book Stealing Sisi's Star written by Jennifer Bowers Bahney and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While on honeymoon in Vienna in June of 1998, at the height of the tourist season, Gerald Daniel Blanchard, an accomplished thief, happened upon the greatest challenge of his life when he spotted the last remaining "Sisi Star" on display in Schonbrunn Palace. Named after its former owner, the Empress Elisabeth, the ten-pointed diamond and pearl star was originally one of 27 that the enigmatic Sisi wore in her extravagantly long hair. Despite the multi-layered security system protecting the priceless jewel, Blanchard decided then and there to steal it. The star remained missing for nine years until a team of Canadian police investigators launched a joint task force to bring down a criminal organization that had robbed banks, stores and ordinary citizens on several continents. When their chief suspect offered to reveal the whereabouts of the Sisi Star, the investigators realized they were dealing with no ordinary thief. But no one involved in the case fully understood the history of the star, its ties to obsession, suicide and assassination.

Download or read book The Napoleon of Crime written by Ben Macintyre and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of Prisoners in the Castle, a dramatic portrait of the master thief of the nineteenth century: Adam Worth “Fascinating . . . a brisk, lively, colorful biography of an amazing criminal.”—The New York Times (Best Books of the Year) The Victorian era’s most infamous and iconic thief, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes’s Professor Moriarty, Adam Worth was known as the Napoleon of crime. Suave, cunning, and fearless, Worth learned early that the best way to succeed was to steal. And steal he did. Following a strict code of honor, Worth won the respect of Victorian society. He also aroused its fear by becoming a chilling phantom, mingling undetected with the upper classes, whose valuables he brazenly stole. His most celebrated heist: Gainsborough’s grand portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire—ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales—a painting Worth adored and often slept with for twenty years. With a brilliant gang that included “Piano” Charley, a jewel thief, train robber, and playboy, and “the Scratch” Becker, master forger, Worth secretly ran operations from New York to London, Paris, and South Africa—until betrayal and a Pinkerton man finally brought him down. The Napoleon of Crime is a grand, dazzling tour into the gaslit underworld of the nineteenth century, and into the doomed genius of a criminal mastermind.

Download or read book The God Thief written by Ben Hale and published by . This book was released on 2016-12-13 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Master Identity Thief: Testimony and Solutions of an Expert Witness written by Dartanyon A. Williams and published by Tpeg Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first time Dartanyon A. Williams experimented with identity theft, he was fifteen years old, and the identity in question belonged to his father. From gaming credit card companies and retail stores, to fooling car lots and financing it all with a successful drug enterprise, Dartanyon went on to build a million-dollar, forty-member, multilevel crime ring before his twenty-third birthday--then lost it all before finally finding himself in the depths of solitary confinement. Follow Dartanyon's riveting story of self-discovery on one side of this two-volume book, then turn to our national story of white-collar crime enablement, theft, and institutional opportunism on the other side, as he uncovers just how vulnerable we are. The Master Identity Thief takes us down memory lane--from the death of Dartanyon's parents' and grandparents' identities to the rebirth of his own. It brings in patriotic and spiritual undertones, tackling difficult subjects through an autobiographical redemption memoir. Readers are invited to take a walk in Dartanyon's shoes, experiencing the familial, spiritual, and societal redemption he found, then to carry that experience forward into a safer future for us all.