“In my opinion, there was too much fuss.” Among other things, I don’t like to brag about my exploits. Born in Palermo, adopted Piedmontese: Leonardo Notarbartolo’s diverse talents also include understatement. Because Notarbartolo is – according to figures – the biggest jewel thief in the world. On the night of February 15, 2003, a team of jewel thieves, including Notarbartolo, managed to break into the most heavily guarded vault in the world: that of the Diamond Merchants’ Palace. Author of a “coup” considered impossible that led to the disappearance of a figure about which, as we will see, there is still no consensus. But there was talk of a hundred million dollars, three hundred, even half a billion. Diamonds were never found.
– A book and a TV series
Twenty years later, here is Notarbartolo’s book (Stealing the Impossible, written with Peter D’Angelo, 19 euros, 288 pages, Rizzoli) and the Prime Video TV series Everybody Loves Diamonds (from October 13th), telling his version . It is an autobiography “without filters”, as the editor explains, but it is also necessary to remind the readers of this interview that Notarbartolo – from prison – has denied for years any involvement in the affair and that so-and-so The instigators were never found (he points to a diamond dealer who remained nameless), and there are various hypotheses about their identity that have been widely published over the years. There are also doubts about the actual insurance coverage of stolen diamonds, which goes beyond the declarations. However, as Notarbartolo says, “those who wanted to explain to me in the newspapers and in their books what happened were not in this vault. I do.”
An office for filming and photographing mysteries
It is impressive to read that there were ten levels of security in the palace, each of which was technically impenetrable, and that Notarbartolo accepted the challenge: to secretly move into an office in the diamond merchants’ palace (he had a jewelry store in Italy). Film and photograph the various proceedings using micro cameras hidden in pens and fire extinguishers (the micro cameras of twenty years ago, not the very high resolution 6K cameras of today). “It is boring, long, obsessive and meticulous work.” The jewel thief is the exact opposite of the robber: the robber is fast, he goes in and out armed, he values speed. And then of course it takes ten years instead of six months. They are different characters, there are those who love shooting and those who like to argue. I belong to the second category. The key specialist created a very long key based only on photos, which again everyone thought was impossible.
A SHOT FROM MEMORY, IN THE DARKNESS… THERE IS NO AGREEMENT ABOUT THE NUMBER. There was talk of a hundred million dollars, three hundred, half a billion diamonds that were never found
The only thing more surprising than the robbery itself – which took place in the dark, they knew everything by heart – is that Notarbartolo was arrested for a bag of trash. “Do you know that paintings were stolen in Boston (1990, Gardner Museum, including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer stolen, editor’s note)? They were never found. It could have happened that way with us, the unexpected certainly shouldn’t have happened. A coincidence: I didn’t even know that there could be things in that trash bag at my house that lead back to me. “It was a matter of a few seconds: I was taking a shower and someone on the team absentmindedly, instead of throwing it in the recycling bin, made a random bag, which we then tried to burn in a forest.” Inside were receipts, remnants of a Sandwiches with Notarbartolo’s DNA. Result: six years in prison for Notarbartolo, five each for three accomplices (in the book and in interviews he uses his stage names: the genius, the monster, the Chiavaro).
– Notarbartolo in a photo from the early 2000s, before the robbery for which he was arrested: “If I still had this loot…”
The stolen goods? “I was robbed by my collaborators. If I still had the loot, everything would be different. I wouldn’t be here. The instigators? “More than one person responsible did not even serve a day in prison: but I was responsible for justice, I accept that.” I never said a word about anyone. That’s not my mentality. It’s better for one person to pay than for everyone to pay. However, the Belgian federal authorities have carried out a good investigation. Maybe someone didn’t have to pay but paid, but it goes like this: someone stays outside, someone ends up inside. I feel good. I’ve always been an outsider, the anti-mafia came to investigate my cousins, the problem is that I’m Sicilian, that’s all. They didn’t find anything, these aren’t my ties. I refused to cooperate for two years, then three years and six months, and at least three more years. Those robbed claimed to have lost 100 million diamonds, but in Belgium the government allows the diamond trade to be so black, otherwise they will all return to Amsterdam, everyone knows that. So in the end they declared 400 million.”
A loot worth half a billion
“What I know is that the government reimbursed 100 million, the insurers another 100 million, then there are rumors – there are rumors, eh – that a large English insurance company paid another 300 million.” However, there are no confirmations: there is and remains a controversial point. “I have heard that. I know the jewels (another understatement, editor’s note) and the loot was not 100 million. I would say 80 at most. I committed the theft, but there is someone smart. When we talk about the diamond trade, Antwerp is a world of its own. Everything works with cash: there’s a bar you can go to, you tell someone you want to buy a million worth of diamonds and they quickly bring them to you, you pay cash and goodbye.” The future? “You have no idea what freedom means unless you have been in prison. There are people who know my fame, sometimes they ask me for information, but I always answer: people, learn. Work. Have a peaceful future. My generation, people like me, had nothing. Today it’s different.
– Kim Rossi Stuart: In the series “Everybody Loves Diamonds” she plays Notarbartolo “Double locks are useless”
The show on Amazon Prime? “I was on set, I met the director. Not everything went exactly that way, because in the end it was entertainment, the reality was banal, very boring. In Hollywood it was even worse, they called me to Paramount and made me tell everything verbatim for hours. In the end they told me: there’s nothing here, we want cars that explode. Live now? “In prison I bound books. I know a lot about jewelry, I had a jewelry store in the 70’s, then I was stopped for something I didn’t do because I had a criminal record and it was my downfall, even if they later acquitted me. Nobody lets a convicted criminal work, that’s a huge problem.” Crime? “In my house you kick the door down: believe me, a good guy works on it for a while and then gets in wherever he wants, double locks are useless, like armored doors.” I could live behind a glass door, that’s that Same.” The code of honor? “I always thought big, I stole from the rich.” If you have nothing, then what am I stealing from you, hunger?
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