Since the 1900s as many as 70 gangs have fought it out on London's streets. Gangs of Britain with Gary and Martin Kemp s1e45: London E&W, CI 2014
The Sabinis from Clerkenwell ... by the 40s they were gone. ibid
The Watney Streeters – originally an Irish fighting gang ... During 1919, 1,500 people were arrested for cargo poaching. ibid.
Pilfering was organised by the older dockers. ibid.
A hundred years later a new wave of Asian immigrants were arriving ... One of the gangs was the Tooti Nungs [the Worthless Ones]. ibid.
Southall: Holy Smokes v Tooti Nune: Operation Shampoo was about to lift the lid off of organised crime in Southall. ibid.
By 1956 the [Kray] Twins were making serious money. They controlled an area from Bethnal Green east to Mile End, Stepney, Bow and north to Hackney and Walthamstow. ibid.
The Krays were a new breed of criminal – unpredictable, violent and ruthless. ibid.
Operation Shampoo: it would unearth one of the largest heroin-smuggling operations ever discovered in Britain. ibid.
The Tooti Nungs were bringing in ten kilos a day ... for ten years. ibid.
By 1989 prominent members of the Tooti Nungs had become exposed. ibid.
The robbers made off with at least and probably more than £500,000 in jewels, money and valuables; allowing for inflation that’s more than £5,000,000 today. Royal Inquest, robbery of Lloyds Bank Baker Street London, later immortalised in the film Bank Job
The Great Baker Street Bank Robbery. Evening Standard headline 13th September 1971
There has never ever been a diamond so spectacular and beautiful as the Millennium Star ... the world’s largest internally and externally flawless top-colour pear-shaped diamond. Lesley Coldham, De Beers
But this wasn’t a plot from a movie. This is the incredible story of the Millennium Dome Diamond Heist. Britain’s Biggest Heists: Millennium Dome Diamond Heist
A second attempted robbery five months later in Kent was almost a carbon copy of Nine Elms. ibid.
[Lee] Wenham had his eye on the Millennium Star – one of the most expensive diamonds in the world exhibited at the Dome with other precious stones. This diamond was so rare because it had no flaws. No imperfections whatsoever. ibid.
As the police prepared for the showdown so did the gang ... For months they have been secretly following a gang of London crooks. ibid.
The operation was a complete success. The entire gang were apprehended without any casualties. Cockram and Adams had been the ones trying to smash the cabinets. Ciarrochi had been tasked with the smoke bombs. Betson was nabbed at the wheel of the JCB, leaving Meredith outside on the boat, and Millman across the river – both oblivious officers were coming to get them. ibid.
‘It [JCB] crashes through suddenly these big Perspex doors in the Dome and moves right around outside the jewel house ... They were through, and it just needs a hand to reach in and take the diamond. And we saw these smoke bombs being thrown which are causing absolute pandemonium ... We controlled the area and moved in and they were arrested.’ ibid.
The 4th April 1983 went down in criminal history: a gang of armed robbers raided a high security depot in London nicknamed Fort Knox. The heist was executed with military precision. The robbers carefully planned their attack and fled without a trace. They held the guards to ransom for an agonising eight hours then stole almost £7 million. Britain’s Biggest Heists: Security Express Heist
But how the gang managed to infiltrate a top-security depot remained a mystery until some time later. ibid.
This was a robbery that shook London. It took the authorities over seven years to recover less than half the cash. The whereabouts of the rest of the money remains a mystery. But despite the gang’s planning and skill, most were brought to justice. ibid.
In 1987 affluent Knightsbridge, London, is the scene of an armed raid so spectacular it’s set to enter the criminal records books as one of the heists of the century. A staggering £40 million of valuables is stolen when a ruthless Italian robber smashes his way into hundreds of safety deposit boxes. Britain’s Biggest Heists: Knightsbridge
As [Parvez] Latif shows the men the facilities the mood quickly changes when one of them pulls a gun. With a gun to his back the owner is quickly led to the security room ... The security deposit boxes are housed in a solid steel vault in the basement of the building. Four thousand containers line the room but only eight hundred are in use, holding anything from deeds and bombs to cash and jewellery. ibid.
Officers may have a fingerprint but matching it to a suspect is a different matter ... Valerio Viccei is a criminal like no other: flash, brash and with good looks t’boot. He’d got Italian charm, charisma and a playboy lifestyle. ibid.
Detectives discovered he [Viccei] was responsible for at least five armed robberies in London netting him over a quarter of a million pounds to fund work on Knightsbridge amongst other things. ibid.
In May 2004 a gang of eight masked robbers raided a high security bonded warehouse near Heathrow Airport. They were planning to steal millions of pounds’ worth of gold bullion and cash. But instead of a jackpot they found the Flying Squad. Britain’s Biggest Heists II: Heathrow
The police arrested a baggage handler thief who came forward as a super-grass. ibid.
In September 1971 Lloyds Bank in Baker Street, London, became the scene of one of the most death-defying robberies of all time. Britain’s Biggest Heists II: The Baker Street Robbery
In the dead of night Robert Rowlands feared he may have stumbled upon a robbery in progress. Concerned that he had somehow managed to tune in to a frequency being used by thieves, Rowlands knew he had to inform the authorities. ibid.
They didn’t know ... Scotland Yard were listening in. ibid.
The daring gang had somehow managed to dig their way through mounds of earth and rubble to the floor of the vault. ibid.
Allegations that the target was not in fact money and jewels but in fact compromising photographs of people in power were quickly dismissed by the Yard. ibid.
Police had their first major lead which led them to 64-year-old leather goods dealer Benjamin Wolfe. ibid.
No forensic clues were left. ibid.
A careless oversight on the lease of the shop. ibid.
None of the stolen goods were recovered from the raid. ibid.
In April 1975 a gang of top criminals entered the Bank of America in London’s exclusive Mayfair dressed as smart businessmen. They raided the bank’s safe deposit boxes and stole an astonishing £8 billion of cash, jewels and high value items. Britain’s Biggest Heists II: The Bank of America Robbery
26-year-old Stuart Buckley was serving a 9-month prison sentence for stolen goods. ibid.
Responding to a job vacancy Buckley had secured an electrician’s post at the Bank of America. ibid.
In the 1970s they had 9 branches. ibid.
The whole bank’s security procedure was questionable. ibid.
Whilst he already had keys to the bank’s side door he did not have keys to the vault area itself where all the money and valuable items were kept. ibid.
The police didn’t think the crime was that serious. ibid. re first attempt
Brazenly, they set about planning a second attempt. ibid.
Hostages: there were left bound and gagged as the robbers escaped with their haul. ibid.
News of the heist was soon making the headlines. ibid.
The Flying Squad were quickly drafted in to investigate the crime. ibid.
The police quickly identified Stuart Buckley’s role in the heist. ibid.
Stuart Buckley was awarded super-grass status. ibid.
The 1970s gave birth to the era of the super-grass and opened a new chapter of criminal investigation in Britain. ibid.
A mastermind unmatched for his sheer brilliance. A career criminal in search of the biggest robbery in history. A man who’d go to any lengths to achieve his goal. A dedication that paid off with a $65 million heist. Masterminds s1e3: The Knightsbridge Heist, History 2011
With 24 bank robberies under his belt he headed to London. ibid.
The biggest haul in history. ibid.