The largest diamond robbery in history. Disclosures made by the brain of the operation, in a documentary on Netflix

“Antwerp, 2003. A band of thieves plunders the impenetrable center of diamonds. Who was behind one of the largest robberies in the world and how did they manage to put it on?”, Is the description of the documentary on Netlfix, written and directed by Mark Lewis.

Antwerp has long considered the world diamond capital: about 85% of the world's diamonds pass through this city. The thieves targeted a building called Antwerp Diamond Center, which housed dozens of precious stones trade companies.

The official figure of losses following what many called the “theft of the century” was $ 100 million, although Agim de Bruycker, former commander of the “diamond team” in Belgium who investigated the case said that it is “absolutely sure the figure was much higher,” notes The Wall Street Journal.

Stolen: Heist of the Century, on Netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj_kyc14ttm

Or, nowadays, smaller: the appearance of synthetic precious stones and undermining the traditional market could now place the famous 2003 diamond robbery in a much less glamorous category. But “Stolen” is a vintage production, as well as a police film.

It is also a curious and captivating documentary, adapted by director Mark Lewis after the book “Flawless” by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell.

WSJ appreciates that its charm resides in the absence of flowering and in the direct narrative. Although there is a variety of assembly and images that create the atmosphere, almost the whole story is related through the memories of a small group of people, mainly by Bruycker and his colleague, Detective Patrick Peys.

The crime took place so long ago that no one of those involved is afraid to speak now, especially Leonardo Notarbartolo, a Sicilian offender with a vast “career”, who claims was not the brain of the operation, but was finally sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The testimony of the one who set up the robbery

“Stolen: Heist of the Century” is distinguished from other documentaries, because in this film, the filmmakers interview the robbery brain about how he managed to put it, writes Time.

Notarbartolo, who had an office in the building where the breaking, speaks for the first time in front of the cameras about its role in the theft of diamonds worth about $ 100 million in Antwerp, Belgium, on the weekend of February 15, 2003.

However, his memory is selective, and the film Stolen also presents statements of the representatives of the authorities who verify the truthfulness of his statements.

“It was a job from the inside,” he remembers Bruycker that he thought. But the initial investigation only demonstrated how “flawless” the theft operation of diamonds had actually had been.

At present, “Stolen: Heist of the Century” ranks 4th in the top 10 movies on Netflix at this time.