WEBVTT - 2: Thick as Thieves 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.160 My name is Zavikonnen. 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:05.120 I am former police officer, was working in Paris and 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.800 was in charge the highest robberies of jewelries in Paris. 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.280 So I've been in the police during twenty five year. 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.200 Captain ervekon Nan was the lead investigator on multiple robberies 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.640 by the Pink Panthers in Paris starting in the early 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.479 two thousands. He saw firsthand how a group of Serbian 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.800 jewel thieves turned themselves into a global brand. 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:33.640 The name of Pink Panthers was given after the robbery 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.600 in London after the graft. 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.599 Robberies back in two thousand and three, two men in 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.920 expensive suits entered a Graph jewelry store on New Bond 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.159 Street in London's West End. One of them was wearing 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:51.479 a conspicuous black wig that a security guard later said 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.880 looked like a cat. It was the middle of the 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:59.440 day and this luxury shopping district was full of people. Suddenly, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.360 one of the men pulled out a gun, the other 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:07.080 a hammer. Three minutes later, the pair walked out into 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.479 the busy London streets with over thirty million dollars worth 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:19.960 of diamonds. Graphs sell some of the world's most exclusive, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:24.000 expensive jewelry and high end watches. This was the first 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.280 time the Pink Panthers had targeted them, but the Panthers 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:30.760 would develop a taste for what Graph offers and would 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:35.360 return to them when they struck the Waffy Mall in Dubai. Now, 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.920 most of the jewels from this first Graph heist were 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.880 never recovered, but at least one was. 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.920 The name of Pink Panthers was given by the newspapers 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:51.040 in England because our colleagues in London they found diamonds 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.320 in a pot of cream. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:55.080 Cream. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.600 It was a jar of face scream and inside police 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:03.080 found a blue diamond worth seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.080 The thieves had left it behind when they made their 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:07.280 escape from London. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:11.160 Okay, the fun of diamonds and it was a reference 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.480 to a movie, Pink Panther, and so the name was 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.000 given to this gang. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:17.919 At this time. 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.960 It was something right out of the classic Peter Sellers 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.680 movie Return of the Pink Panther. The name given by 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.720 the British press stock media across Europe just loved it. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.600 But this was not the first time the newly branded 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:38.359 Pink Panthers had struck. In fact, the Pink Panthers was 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.000 simply a new label for a vast underworld network that 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.680 was already running like a well oiled machine, and vlad 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.760 and Lazarevich, b Yana Mitch and Milan Lipoya were just 0:02:49.880 --> 0:03:03.280 three of its latest recruits. I'm Natalia Antalava. I'm a 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.320 journalist based in Eastern Europe, and I'm going to take 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.760 you into the world of Serbia's most brazen jewel thieves. 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.240 The most daring and successful diamond thieves in the world. 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.160 Thirty to forty seconds in. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.320 Out They've stolen half a billion dollars worth of valuables. 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.400 Two well dressed men strolled into an exclusive jewelry store 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.040 in London and walked out with sixty six million dollars 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:36.240 in jewels. They called the Pink pantherst They're a loosely 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:41.760 connected group of over educated, underemployed, ambitious young people who 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.120 rose from the ashes of the Yugoslav Wars of the 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:50.120 nineteen nineties to commit elaborate smash and grab heists all 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:56.200 across the globe, often in broad daylight. This is infamous 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:02.480 international The Pink Panthers Story Episode two, Thick as Thieves. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.880 Last time we heard how three young Serbian thieves had 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.000 traveled to Dubai from Eastern Europe in two thousand and seven. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:23.680 The mastermind Mladen Lazarevich, the team's logistics lead, and Laden's 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:28.640 girlfriend Boyana Mitch and their friend Milan Li Poya. The 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.919 team had spent weeks in preparation for a robbery that 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.520 would make them all rich and famous. They drove two 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:38.800 Audi Sedans through the doors of the Waffy Mall and 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.600 straight into the Graph Jewelry store, making off with over 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:48.800 three million dollars worth of jewels, all in under a minute. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.320 The heist was caught on cell phone video and posted 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.760 online within days. The Ping Panthers were a worldwide sensation, 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.880 but Conan of the Paris Police was well acquainted with 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.920 the Panthers long before Dubai, even before the British papers 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.240 gave them a name. In two thousand and one, they 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.080 had pulled off an ingenious robbery at one of the 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.360 most high jewelers in Paris called Boucheron. 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.520 They have attacked Beauchamp, the jewelry on the place b 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.080 Loom and they attack the main windows. 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.200 In fact, it was in the morning, very early. 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:26.039 The shop was still closed. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:30.520 Okay, but the jewelries were still visible from outside. 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.599 Millions of dollars of jewels sitting on display right behind 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.240 the front window of a closed shop. It seems like 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.679 it's inviting trouble. But the store had a very special 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:40.760 security system. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:45.599 It is a specific glasses, very sophisticated. It resists when 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.200 you eat the window with the ammer or axis. But 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.520 if the departure is very high the glass, you can 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.400 break it. So they burn, in fact, the windows with 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.800 I don't know if the name in English, with a 0:05:58.800 --> 0:05:59.400 big flame. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.360 It was a blowtorch. The thieves knew what they were 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.479 up against, and they had planned accordingly. They hid the 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.480 glass until it's brutal, neutralizing the security feature. 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.159 So they break the window like this, and they have 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.760 took an egglace in the jewry. It was maybe three millions. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.680 It's very very smart. 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:21.680 It was like in a movie. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:24.800 It was just like a movie. It's almost like that 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:25.719 was their intention. 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.640 I always thought that the most important part of their 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:36.040 exploits was this part of them being media said, you 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.800 hear these guys out there interested in their image, you know, 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:43.320 interested in the way how public perceives them. 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.359 The misvoint of is a Serbian film scholar who wrote 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.600 a film about the Being Panthers. For him, the Panthers' 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.880 style was clearly inspired by popular movies and television. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.919 In a very same way John Dillinger appeared after a 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.800 very long stint in prison, you went to cinema in 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.080 order to learn to speak again. So he used to 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.760 mimic dialogue for films. And I think that Pink Panthers 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.240 are a lot like Dillager. You know, their actions resemble 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.960 a lot of films using masks or some kind of 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.080 disguise that's from Mission Impossible. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:15.440 You know. 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.160 It's a very curious thing, you know about how media 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.160 and movies informed. 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.280 This, and journalists have made that connection as well. 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.320 We've seem so many fun heist films. 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.080 We love a complicated crime that is well executed, and 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.080 apparently they do too. My name is Eric Pape. I'm 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:37.680 a longtime investigative reporter. I've worked extensively for Newsweek magazine, 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.400 The Daily Beast that I've written for Vid Debray publications 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:42.160 around the world. 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.240 Eric Pape was based in Paris, where he first started 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.240 covering the Panthers in the late two thousands. 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:54.080 I started writing about the Pink Panthers almost fifteen years ago. 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:58.120 They very much capture something in the popular imagination. 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.480 Pay reported on a number of the Pink Panthers heists 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.920 and some of the details struck him as especially creative. 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.320 Police this may be one of my favorites talked about 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.560 the four busty ladies who entered the Henry Winston jewelry 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.440 shop in Paris, threw out a magnum and a grenade, 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.160 and then they escaped with about one hundred million dollars 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.360 in jewelry. Police said that they believed it was Pink 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:21.680 Panthers in drag. 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.640 For the Panthers, plenty of heist is similar to making 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.840 a movie. Everyone has their part, their costume, They spend 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:34.040 weeks rehearsing, and on the day of the robbery it's 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:38.760 time to perform. Eric Paper calls another Panther heist where 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.680 distracting woodrobe choices play the key role. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.439 I believe it was in two thousand and five and 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.319 it was in Centrope on the Mediterranean coast. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.120 You would think they might want to dress in the 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:52.479 most mundane. 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.920 Clothes imaginable to blend in, but instead they dressed in 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.240 these loud, very tacky tourist T shirts and they went 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.520 into a store right near the waterfront. 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.600 Streets were thronged with tourists. That's something that they often do. 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:06.600 They often use. 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.880 Masses of people or traffic as a cover because a 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.160 you can try to blend in afterwards, you can change 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.120 out of that flashy T shirt, for example, but also 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:16.920 the traffic and all the people make it hard for 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:21.560 police to respond. So they basically walked through the tourist 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.440 bron streets that were impassable to cars, and they got 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:26.400 in a waiting speedboat. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.640 A speedboat like something out of James Bond or maybe 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:30.720 the Italian Job. 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.040 It's brazen and very well thought through. 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.120 At the same time, if they just went in looking 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.520 like a couple of normal people like me and they left, 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.360 then would we be talking about them? 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.240 These early highs show how big patners develop a signature style, 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:48.280 the one that reflects a deliberate use of drama and misdirection. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:53.560 They have made a tactical decision to draw attention to themselves. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.720 It's kind of an interesting thing if you think about it. 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.199 The idea of having flashy when you want attention and 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.360 switching to to nondescript when you need to Everything is 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:04.880 thought through quite brilliantly. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:09.640 It's almost like a magician. 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.120 The magician wants you looking somewhere, and they don't want 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.920 you looking somewhere else. And they have given so much 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.079 thought to what it's going to grab your attention and 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.240 what is going to not And in this case, the 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.959 you is all of the different witnesses. 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.120 Who are likely going to end up speaking to authorities. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:30.160 So to me, it just gets at something really well crafted. 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:35.360 Crazy costumes, expensive cars, speedboats, all of it designed to 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.360 distract onlookers from the actual crime. 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:39.800 They want the wow factor. 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:44.360 And so I think strangely, by being extremely visible, by 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.079 dressing up these big, strong men, dressing up as women, 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.920 by doing all of these things that we associate with 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.960 being Panther films, with James Bond films, with countless heist films, 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.560 I think it actually makes it very very hard to 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.480 catch them, because it's not just someone walking in with 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.439 a gun saying this is a robbery and then running 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.120 away or jumping in a car. It's something so much 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.640 less probable than that that authorities would have a very 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.720 hard time predicting every one of these wild and crazy 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:13.200 crimes that they seemed to have committed. 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.199 Captain Irve Konnan of the Paris Police says, these early 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.679 years we're a kind of golden age for the Panthers. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.440 Between two thousand and two thousand and seven, they had 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.480 a fantastic opportunity to rub everywhere in the world because 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:33.120 you were able to travel. 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.199 With false passport or for spassport. 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:36.400 It was easy. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.600 You had no DNA, the TV was very bad and 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.560 sometimes did not exist, and Montenegro and Serbia there were 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.800 a lot of corruption in these countries, so they know 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.240 that as soon as they were in that country they 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.240 were not in danger. So there are ten years it 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:54.000 was open bar. 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.680 They were able to do everything they want in the world. 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.120 An open bar everywhere in the world. And though there 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:03.920 was no way to predict where the Pink Panthers would 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:09.080 strike next, their targets all shared a specific profile. Anywhere 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.079 the rich and famous gathered and shocked. They hit London, 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.880 Paris and Liechtenstein, Monaco and ski resorts in the French Alps. 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.240 And as their ambitions grew, so did the distance the 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:22.880 Panthers were willing to travel. 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:24.600 One was the guy we arrested. 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.880 We had wire tape on him and we understood that 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.640 he traveled in Japan, and after that we found picture 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.440 where he's in Japan with his girlfriend, so he was 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:37.640 going there to check if he was able to make 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:38.280 a robbery. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.640 They were traveling everywhere in the world, and two major robberies. 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.560 Were committed in Tokyo by them, two major robberies. 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.199 So the pig Panther thing is kind of legendary in 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.160 Japan because it was one of the first international jewel 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:55.640 heights ever in the country. 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.240 Jake Adelstein is an investigative journalist who has been covering 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:03.680 crime and for thirty years. He literally wrote the book 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.040 on it. His memoir Tokyo Vice became a major TV 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.760 series he remembers one of these panther heists. 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.360 So, first of all, the crime took place in Kinza, 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.240 which is one of the most expensive places in Tokyo. 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.120 Even now, it's loaded with these high end shops like 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:22.320 Uivatan shops and Channel shops and Bulgary and these luxury 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.080 brands that are high end and the Japanese people of 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.360 certain wealth really love, and so it's also a place 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.200 where a very expensive high end jewelry. 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.280 It's May two thousand and seven, just two months after 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.200 the heist at the Wafimont. Two panthers arrived at Tokyo's 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:41.480 Narita Airport with their sites on a particularly valuable piece 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:47.560 of jewelry, a diamond encrusted tiara. They've given themselves two 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:51.280 months to put a plan in place. They study the 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.960 area carefully and decide to approach the story they've targeted 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.920 on bicycles Towards the end of the workday. The streets 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:01.400 will be crowded and they'll easily blend in. 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.280 It's five pm on June fourteenth. First came this guy 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.960 in wearing a suit, and then came another guy in 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.839 a white mask almost immediately after him. He shot the 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.640 tear gas in the faces of the clerks. They stole 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.960 this tierra and a necklace and other things worth about 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.440 the tier itself was worth like two million dollars, and 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.440 then they sold a necklace and other things were probably 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.120 worth maybe close to a million dollars. And they did 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.200 it all in about thirty two seconds. Thirty two seconds 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.880 they entered, they broke into it, they stole the stuff, 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:33.880 they were out of there within thirty two seconds, which 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:34.800 is kind of amazing. 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.520 This kind of thing never happens in Japan. The Tokyo 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.280 police are totally taken aback. 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.760 So the Japanese police were kind of baffled by this 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.640 crime because they came in fast and they left very fast, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:50.960 and this was the time before Japan was covered in 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.840 closed circuit TV, so there wasn't great footage of these guys. 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.760 They didn't leave any fingerprints behind, even though they were 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.520 not wearing gloves, which really surprised anybody, and all they 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.560 did was take the merchandise they are aiming for. 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.040 But since the Waffi mol heist in Dubai, the Panther 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.680 brand of robbery had become all too familiar for law enforcement, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.920 and the Tokyo police immediately have their suspicions. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.320 From the very beginning, they suspected that these might be 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:18.360 members of the Pink Panther. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.440 They also have one small bit of evidence. The thieves 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.560 dumbed the empty can of tear gas not far from 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:27.960 the jewelry store. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.000 So they decided to go with the can of tear 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:31.840 gas and see what they could find. But they found 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.160 out that the spray was a mass market animal repellant, 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.160 which used in France to scare of wild dogs and 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:36.960 other animals. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.840 This one clue is enough to convince them that the 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.960 crime is international in nature and that is enough to 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:44.960 bring an INTERPOL. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.120 The Japanese police are incredibly good at cooperating with Interpol 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.680 and working with them even with the language barrier, and 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.520 making sure that the crime is perpetrated on Jepanesy soil, 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:56.960 and they want to capture the person. They're dedicated and 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.120 they spend lots of manpower in hours and they will 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.880 send people overseas to help gather the information to put 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:03.680 together the case. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.000 With the help of INTERPAL, Japanese authorities are able to 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.280 track the serial number and they can to a military 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.720 surplus store in Marseille in the south of France. Meanwhile, 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:18.080 Tokyo police are able to piece together the timeline of 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:18.680 the heist. 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.840 So what the police were able to put together is 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.080 that they came in at five pm thirty two seconds. 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.080 They had stolen everything that they needed. They hopped on 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.200 bicycles about four hundred meters away. They threw away the 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.680 tear gas, They dropped the bicycle, They got in a car. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.320 They took apart the tierra. They took off all the 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.800 diamonds what they couldn't use from the tier. They flushed 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.400 on the toilet. Then they headed in the Reda airport 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:51.000 and left. There is a possibility that they met with 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.640 the mistress of an Italian jewelry dealer before they left 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.400 and made a transaction there, But that's what police were 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:58.240 able to put together. 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:02.760 The Japanese authorities, together with Interpol, embark on an international 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:08.320 manhunt using global intelligence gathering and surveillance, and their diligence 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.959 pays off. One suspect is caught in two thousand and 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.720 nine in Cyprus, the other in twenty ten in Rome. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:23.879 The jewels themselves were never recovered, but the details of 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.560 how these Pink Panthers dismantled the highly recognizable tiara into 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:32.719 loose stones points to another hallmark of the Pink Panther brand. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.800 Not only do they know how to steal a two 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.679 million dollar piece of jewelry, they know how to sell it. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.360 Now, let's talk about what you do if you've come 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.399 into possession of a large amount of stolen high end jewelry. 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.760 Scott Selby is the author of Flawless Inside, the largest 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.040 diamond heist in History. He's a leading expert on the 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:10.680 black market diamond trade. 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.400 The Panthers they like to hit high end shops high 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.040 end jewelry. These are things that are already polished, that 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.280 are already ready to be sold. They've been cut in 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.800 such a way to really have the highest value, to 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.280 look the most beautiful. There's a lot of things that 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.680 then come into play with how you fence those, depending 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.800 upon exactly what you stole and what kind of value 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:34.280 you're expecting to get back from it. 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.639 The panthers intentionally target the most expensive jewelry from the 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.240 most famous stores, but these are not the easiest items 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:43.800 to turn into quick cash. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:48.640 Generally, they've stolen from high end, name brand jewelry stores, 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.760 and so with those you're going to be facing some 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:56.960 decisions pretty quickly, right because having a brand name associated 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.720 with a jewelry as well as the intricate design of 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.679 that jewelry gives it a high percent of the value. 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.080 Here's the problem is, if it's something recognizable, if it's 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:09.879 something that costs fifty million dollars, from some famous jeweler, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.280 everybody in the business will know what it is and 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.720 anybody else would just google it, right, So then what 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:20.480 you would probably do is you would unfortunately have to 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:23.560 lose the craftsmanship of the jewelry as well as the 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.480 value of the brand by removing the individual stones from 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.439 it and melting down the gold. If you sell something 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.240 to a fence, particularly things that are harder to sell 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.800 on the rule of thumb that's been used for a 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:37.639 long time is ten cents on the dollar. 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:38.280 Right. 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.639 So now imagine that Tiffany's diamond. You've now removed the 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.720 polished diamond from the engagement ring and you've melted the 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.399 ring down for its silver value, which is tremendously less 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.160 than you know it being a finished product. 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.920 But let's be honest, when what you've stolen is worth 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.560 tens of millions of dollars, you can probably afford some markdowns. 0:19:58.119 --> 0:19:59.920 And what about really big. 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.679 Stone, It's going to depend. Like let's say you have 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.400 a big necklace with the pink panther. Sometimes they've stolen 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:09.200 something where there's a primary stone that's large, famous enough 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.639 maybe even to be named. It's going to be something 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.280 really special that anybody in the world in the business 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:15.320 would recognize it. 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.680 Something for example, like the one hundred and twenty five 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.159 carrot diamond necklace known as a contest de vendome. The 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.679 panther stole that in two thousand and four. It was 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:32.800 worth an estimated thirty one point five million dollars. 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:34.160 So that one, let's put on the side. It's really 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.320 hard to move, but there's going to be a lot 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:38.720 of accompanying stones with it, and a lot of these 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:41.320 will be relatively generic, so it should be pretty easy 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.680 to move. They're probably going to be flawless. One carrot 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:50.080 maybe two carrot white diamonds. The first thing you're going 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.280 to want to do is look on it's called the girdle, 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:55.480 and what that basically is is if you have your 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.040 gemstone line flat, so you have a profile view. It's 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.000 going to be the widest part. It's a part that 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.679 divides the top and the bottom of the diamond, and 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.399 it's become common over the years for there to be 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:09.679 a laser inscription there. Then what you have to do 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:11.359 is you have to see if there's the equivalent of 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:14.520 a serial number or certification number or something. 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.920 There a certification that could identify the jam and tell 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:19.480 you exactly where it came from. 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:21.320 So that's the first thing they're going to look for, 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.800 is are their numbers on the side, And if there are, 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:28.160 that's a problem because anybody anywhere along the process could 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.560 look it up right. You could very easily polish those off, 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.640 but you need somebody that's in the business that polishes diamonds. 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.120 So that's something where you're going to need a corrupt 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:38.360 individual to work with. 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.120 Finding a corrupt individual in this shadowy world's called Selby's 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.880 talking about doesn't sound difficult. I mean, this is where 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:49.639 the Pink Panthers live. On CNN, Anderson Cooper talk to 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:53.160 filmmaker Havana Marking, who made a documentary about the Panthers, 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.280 about the group's extensive support network. 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:01.280 Diamonds are the key thing that they are professional at 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.240 and do the best at, mainly because they've got incredible 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:10.200 connections to diamond centers like Antwerp, a huge European center 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:12.840 of diamond trading. I was lucky enough to make a 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.280 contact of the Panthers called mister Green, who is a 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:20.320 fence and he's the person who they take the diamonds too. 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:23.439 He gets them recut, he creates completely new sort of 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:27.240 certificates of origin for them, and is able to he 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:30.440