Make a Million Dollars Overnight! 6 of the Most Successful Jewel Thieves Ever! When you think of Jewel Thieves, images of Cary Grant sporting a black turtle neck and leaping from building to building while the French police follow in futility come to mind. Or maybe thats just me. At any rate, few things in the criminal world bring the WOW factor as the international jewel thief! The truth about any good enterprise is that you need to have a good plan and the ability to execute it in order to achieve success. Below are some examples of dedicated individuals who planned, worked, and most importantly, ran, all with the expectation of making crime pay. A lot. 6) Doris Payne Rather than putting her faith in grappling hooks and ski masks, Doris Payne relied on her assets to carve out a career as one of the most successful jewel thieves of her generation. In a career that spanned over five decades and multiple states and countries, Doris Payne lifted hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars of hot merchandise. Her chief weapon? Charm. In broad daylight and in full view of security personnel, Doris would stroll into a jewelry store as a well-to-do socialite and ask to examine a ring or two. From there she would try on many accessories and charm a conversation out of the helpless clerk, steadily holding his gaze on her lovely faceor elsewhere. After a while she would notice the time and remember a pressing engagement, leaving an admiring salesman to discover later that he was light a few rings and tennis bracelets. Doris Payne was arrested many, many times in her lifetime, but more often than not, she made a successful getaway. Still practicing her trade, Doris was arrested in 2010 at the age of seventy-nine, strolling out of a department store in a Burberry coat that lost its sales tag. A year later she was sentenced to five years for stealing a single carat diamond ring. Currently the story of Doris life is in development for a major motion picture starring Halle Berry. 5) Bill Mason Known as the King of the Cat Burglars, Bill Mason is alleged to have stolen over $70 million dollars worth of jewels in a career that lasted three decades. The secret to Bills success? Three words: Location, location, location. By day Bill Mason was a real estate broker in southern California, showing million dollar homes to the rich and famous. By night he broke into some of those famous homes, scaling walls and climbing ropes to help himself to the gems of the rich and famous.

Cracking the homes of luminaries such as Bob Hope, Johnny Weissmuller and Armand Hammer, Mason made off with their celebrated finery. He made millions fencing jewelry and gems and let his wife and family believe he made his money the old fashioned way; through shady real estate scams. Although the rush appealed to Mason, he had a romantic side as well, and even went as far as to leave a stolen gold medal from the Weissmuller home in an envelope for the star to later find. He also told reporters after his career ended that he thought of Elizabeth Taylor as the one that got away. In 1984 the FBI caught up to Mason, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. He is the author of Nine Lives: Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief. 4) Alan Golder Growing up in New York and getting his start by stealing bicycles from the curb, Alan Golder refined his skill, nerve, and brazenness to grab headlines as the Dinnertime Bandit. Working in organized crime, Golder specialized in creeping into the mansions and townhouses of New York elite and helping himself to their jewelry boxes and safes while they enjoyed their food and drink only a few feet away. Golder eventually was served a fifteen year sentence, one that he negotiated by naming prominent mob figures and working with prosecutors. Upon his release he immediately began where he left off, burglarizing the town homes of the jet set before fleeing to Europe for a change of scenery. He is currently enjoying the hospitality of Connecticut State Department of Corrections. 3) Micky McAvoy Sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good. In Micky McAvoys case, he proved to be quite lucky when it came to being good about being bad. McAvoy and a small group of robbers made their way into the back entrance of the Brink's-MAT warehouse at Londons Heathrow Airport in a brutal hold-up. After pouring gasoline on bank employees and forcing them to reveal the combination to a vault they suspected of holding $3 million dollars, the gang was shocked to learn that they had made an error. The vault held 3 TONS of gold and jewels. They loaded over $26 million in gold and jewels and made their getaway, in what was known as the crime of the century. Police held the bank employees and discovered the guard had made a copy of the key to the rear entrance of Brinks and gave it to a friend. When police worked their way to McAvoy, much of the gold was missing but they did manage to recover a few millions worth, as well as a large supply of ore smelting equipment. All the gang was arrested but most of the gold was not recovered, leading to urban legends that still linger today. 2) Carlton Jewelry Store, Cannes, France, 1994

In one of the most swift and brutal jewel heists ever, three masked men made their way into the swanky Carlton Jewelry Store in Cannes. They opened fire indiscriminately, causing workers and clientele alike to hit the dirt in self-preservation. The masked men filled their bags and pockets and made away with over $60 million in loot. Neither jewels nor loot were recovered. It is important to note that once police investigated the scene they could not find one single bullet hole from the spray of bullets issued from the machine guns. The robbers had fired blanks. 1) Leonardo Notarbartolo In the history of jewel theft, the platinum standard remains the Antwerp Diamond Heist. Housed in the Antwerp Diamond Centre in its storied gem district, the vault was outfitted with state-of-the-art security. Multiple security redundancies, seismic sensors, infrared heat detectors, and a magnetic field, the building itself was even had its own security force. A person would have to be an idiot to break in. So Leonardo Notarbartolo chose to break out. Renting an office in the Centre and posed as a merchant, Notarbartolo even went as far as to rent a safety deposit box in its vaults. He kept the pretense up long enough to establish his identity and build trust with the security forces, enough to break into the vault and its 160 safety deposit boxes. Notarbartolo and his gang, known as "La Scuola di Torino" (the School of Turin) forced open 123 of the safety deposit boxes and stole the surveillance tapes on the way out. The thieves made off with over $118 million in jewelry and gems, quickly making the heist a thing of legend. Legends however, have a way of getting messy. While Notarbartolo covered his tracks well, he left a half-eaten sandwich that was traced back to him using the DNA. He was also tied to the recovered surveillance tapes. From Nigerian Princes to local Hit men, there are many ways to make crime pay, but few as exciting or as glamorous as the role of the International Jewel Thief. The odds of a long career, unfortunately, are not in their favor. Please leave a comment below on any crimes, real or imagined, you may want to know more about, and well see how it plays out in the Factory!