Throughout history, there have been robberies of all kinds, some notable for the ingenuity of the thieves, who seem to have come straight from a movie. One of them is the case of the robbery at Knightsbridge Security Centrelocated in Knightsbridge, England.
This happened in 1987 by a group of thieves, led by a experienced playboy in the case and a member of the same bank. Find out the details.
What the Knightsbridge safe deposit robbery looked like
The robbery took place on July 12, 1987 in Cheval Place, Knightsbridge, England. It was run by a lawyer’s son who fled Italy after being wanted for 50 armed robberies, named Valerio Viccei. Upon arriving in London he resumed his career as a thief in order to finance his playboy life.
But he did not do it alone, but He had the help of the managing director of the centerParvez Latif, an indebted cocaine user.
On July 12, these two men entered the Knightsbridge Security Center and they requested to rent a safe deposit box. Once in the vault, they overpowered the manager and security guards with weapons and hung a sign saying that the bank was closed.
In this way, they opened the door to more accomplices to collect a treasure estimated at approximately US$ 98 million (at the 1987 exchange rate).
An hour later, the workers on the next shift noticed the situation and They alerted the police. The researchers managed to collect a bloody fingerprint of Valerio Viccei, which is why a period of surveillance was requested.
Valerio Viccei
Valerio Viccei sentenced for the Knightsbridge robbery
The police managed to arrest several of the accomplices and they were convicted of the crime. But Viccei managed flee to Latin America for a while.
The thief was arrested in England, when he returned to recover and send his Ferrari Testarossa to Latin America. Police blocked his path, smashing his front windshield and dragging his car.
The sentence was 22 years in prison from Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, where he met Dick Leach, an officer in the Flying Squadron who led his arrest.
In 1992 he was deported to Italy to serve the remainder of his sentence. He was imprisoned in a open prison in Pescara, where he was able to carry a lifestyle to which I was already accustomedas well as running a translation company.
Viccei died on April 19, 2000 in a shot between him, an accomplice and the police, the day he left prison.
Source: Ambito
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