Wiki page of Gerald Blanchard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Blanchard
The World's most Ingenious Thief
31–40 of 65 posts
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#32There is an awesome show that aired on A&E (I think) called "Masterminds", it only ran for a couple of years, but you can still catch re-runs of it.
Most of the criminals they profile are like Blanchard - they steal a lot of money and get away with it for a long time. About half they criminals they profile never even get caught. It is a really good show, I highly recommend it.
One thing I learned from the show: Crime pays. As long as you're not using weapons to steal the goods, you'll very rarely get more than a few more years in prison, even if you're stealing hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#33I'm wondering if this parachuting story has got any corroboration. I searched in German but found nothing. It's a good tale, the stuff of legends, but for all we know he just hid behind a curtain in one of those 1000 rooms until after closing time.
The landing on the rooftop with a parachute and almost falling off - if it weren't for his lucky last second grab, is pretty intense. I wondered the same thing - why not just hide behind a curtain?
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#34I wonder why he never tried to sell the Star of Empress Sisi. Seems he had enough connections that someone could find a buyer on the black market no?
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#35This dovetails almost exactly into that "psychopaths among us" piece on here about a week ago.
This is a guy that needs to stay in jail.
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#36I'm wondering if this parachuting story has got any corroboration. I searched in German but found nothing. It's a good tale, the stuff of legends, but for all we know he just hid behind a curtain in one of those 1000 rooms until after closing time.
Well, you obviously need to search in Austrian ;)
Austrian and German are like Canadian English and American English.
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#37I wonder why he never tried to sell the Star of Empress Sisi. Seems he had enough connections that someone could find a buyer on the black market no?
Unique items do not sell well due to attracting too much attention.
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#38You have to give the guy credit. Arrested, he escapes into the ceiling tiles, steals a uniform, and walks out the front door. Arrested by a frackin SWAT team, he steals the squad car he's placed in and makes a run for it? Hats off, ladies and gentlemen; we have a winner.
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#39You have to give the guy credit. Arrested, he escapes into the ceiling tiles, steals a uniform, and walks out the front door. Arrested by a frackin SWAT team, he steals the squad car he's placed in and makes a run for it? Hats off, ladies and gentlemen; we have a winner.
Amen!
I am glad to see people on this thread who can differentiate between the morality of what he did and the actual skill, balls, and sheer luck this guy had.
While I do not condone or advocate stealing from banks or anyone, well, the damn banks do not seem to have a problem with stealing from clients . . . where I live, the banks charge the local currency equivalent of FIVE US DOLLARS per deposit, even small deposits . . . I had to order a couple of PC parts a few weeks ago, and experienced it for myself . . . stood in line for 30 minutes (out of 8 teller windows, only 4 were manned, and this is in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday) and paid that much to deposit the local currency equivalent of 15 US . . . this is in a country where minimum wage is like $2 US per hour folks . . . someone has to be a straight sheep to criticize a person who steals from banks while not saying the same about the banks themselves . . .
Re: The World's most Ingenious Thief
#40You have to give the guy credit. Arrested, he escapes into the ceiling tiles, steals a uniform, and walks out the front door. Arrested by a frackin SWAT team, he steals the squad car he's placed in and makes a run for it? Hats off, ladies and gentlemen; we have a winner.
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