How Three Amateur Jewelry Thieves Stole new york's Most Precious Gems

1964101On the evening of 29th, two beach boys who claimed to be Miami climbed onto the ground of the American Museum of Natural History in new york, and a tourist drove a white Cadillac near the Manhattan block of the museum. Beach boys are very talented, cheeky and down-to-earth. After climbing the fence leading to the museum courtyard, they climbed a fire escape and fixed the rope on the post above the window on the fourth floor of JPMorgan Chase Gem and Mineral Exhibition Hall. One of them grasped the rope tightly, shook it on an open window and put down the sash with his foot. They are at

The surreal photos of related content reveal that Allen Dale Kuhn and Jack Roland Murphy destroyed three display cases with glass cutter and tape, and then collected 24 gems with a scraper. Among them, India's milky blue star (the world's largest sapphire, weighing 563.35 carats), orchid red Delong star ruby (100.32 carats, considered to be the most perfect sapphire in the world) and purple-blue midnight star (the largest black sapphire, weighing 1 16 carats) have returned. "For us, it was nothing," recalled Murphy, who is better known as "Surfing Murphy". "We just went in to get something."

***

The mid-1960s was the heyday of jewel theft. 1963, a jewel robbery happened every 32 seconds in the United States on average. The swindlers stole $4100000 in cash of insurance precious stones and semi-precious stones. Diamonds are anonymous currencies in the prosperous seller's market. It is estimated that the United States sells 3.5 million diamonds every year, about 1/3 carats or more, but it is far below the demand. Abroad, Europeans, Europeans and Asians who fly by jet know that jewelry is valuable in uncertain times. In order to provide lubricating oil for this emerging global economy, many seemingly legitimate jewelers have done double work and acted as barriers. They didn't ask any messy questions; Precious metals are usually melted into saleable metal ingots; Cut conspicuous gems (or "continue to interrupt") to erase your identity, and then easily mix stolen goods with honest people.

The best jewel thieves are nobles above the three-tier class structure, and at the bottom are a group of humble criminals. They may have committed 80% jewel theft, but their methods are crude and often have no clue. Caught in the middle are about 4,000 skilled professionals, who, like nobles, leave unwanted things in their original places and deal with stolen goods quickly. Kuhn, Murphy and their Cadillac drive Roger Frederick Clark, who may aspire to be middle class. But they are 26-year-old young Kuhn, 27-year-old Murphy and 29-year-old Clark. They like luxury life. They pursue betrayal.

***

When the robbery was first discovered, James A. Oliver, director of the American Museum of Natural History, was pulling out his tooth. In the afternoon, when Oliver answered a reporter's question about the more painful and expensive extraction work in his institution, he admitted that the security situation was "not good". Other officials explained in detail that the battery burglar alarm in the showcase had been broken for several months, which surprised Brian H. Mei Sen, curator of the Geological Museum, who often turned off the system to visit these gems. At night, the top of the external windows of all Gem Pavilions 19 is kept open and ventilated for two inches, and no one has burglar alarm. After several years, nothing bad happened, even the preventive measures of locking the security guard in the gem room for the night failed.

The bookkeeper of the museum valued the stolen jewels at 4,654,380+0 million dollars (about 3 million dollars today). Historically, these jewels were priceless, but because of the high insurance premium, no one insured them. While thieves and detectives from the 20th group in new york were sweeping the floor looking for fingerprints (they didn't find them), the museum manager closed the barn. JPMorgan Chase Gems and Minerals Exhibition Hall was immediately closed to tourists, and a popular adult education course "Know Your Precious Gems" was postponed in You Can't Go Anywhere Alone, Nagari assured him. But Nagari was attracted by the hope of a quick recovery, and convinced that if three policemen went together, Kuhn's custody would not be threatened, so Nagari ventured to Miami secretly.

The mission turned into a nightmare. 65438+10.5, Nagari saw a reporter from a local TV station waiting to board a flight in Miami, so he grabbed a policeman's fedora, stuffed it on Kuhn's head and pulled the brim to his ear. In Miami, the media continued to avoid reporting. But at Kuhn's insistence (encouraged by the police), Nagari agreed to rent a red Cadillac convertible. Just a few steps in front of reporters and photographers, Kuhn called and answered the phone from his contacts, who walked back and forth between more than a dozen hotels. As a TV viewer, Kuhn provided detailed excuses for procrastination, and hinted that if his guardian just "looked at others differently", he might receive a bribe. "If you get the jewels, I'll come back," Hogan suggested. "If you don't go, go to Argentina."

Finally, a phone call was made to the key direction of the locker in Miami Northeast Railway Station. Richard Malyon, the inspector, came back with two soaked suede wallets (this is a clue that the gem is hidden underwater). There are only nine gems in it: the Star of India, the Star of Midnight, five emeralds and two aquamarine, but Delong Ruby and other smaller gems are missing. Over time, Nagary reduced its losses. In order to elope with the local bail agent Nagari, the police and Kuhn gave up the red Cadillac and took the 8: 0015 flight in the morning. Before wearing a seat belt, Nagari stuffed a saturated mail bag full of jewels into an airsickness bag.

***

Two months after1April 6, 965 pleaded guilty, Allen Kuhn, Jack Murphy and Roger Clarke were sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Rikers Island Correctional Institution in new york. Eva Gabor's case was finally dismissed after she refused to testify. A few days after the verdict, the Star of India returned to the exhibition hall, this time in a thick glass showcase in the main building of the museum. Every night, the box will be transferred to a two-ton black safe. In September, Ruby, the star of Delong, was taken back and redeemed by insurance millionaire John D. MacArthur for $25,000 (the same person will set up a foundation called genius grant). Although the new york District Attorney's Office didn't play any role, the treasure hunt had the characteristics of Nagari's treasure hunt: MacArthur found the stone in a telephone booth near Palm Beach after private negotiations with a fence in Florida. Finally, 34-year-old Duncan Pearson, a Miami friend of Rix's criminals, was convicted of hiding gems. ) With the return of Delong, 10 of the 24 most valuable gems was once again kept by the museum, and the rest were never found.

***

In the following years, people's interest in Roger Frederick Clark and Allen Dale Kuhn gradually faded, although Kuhn won the honor of writer in 1975, because he lived less, stole a lot of things and made a film about the Natural History Museum. 1967 Murphy and Kuhn were arrested in Los Angeles for a series of jewel thefts, but they were never tried. Murphy's surfing crime career began a dark turning point. In 1968, he was accused of planning and attacking the botched armed robbery of Miami Beach socialite Olive Wofford. The following year, he was convicted of first-degree murder in the Whiskey Creek case: two California secretaries were beaten to death in a securities theft case, and their bodies were found in a stream north of Miami.

Murphy was finally sentenced to two life sentences plus 20 years (one of them was convicted of murder in Whisky Creek, but he said that he was paroled in 1986-a reformed man who served prisoners wholeheartedly. 20 12 he asked Florida for leniency to restore his civil rights and my rights. Governor Rick Scott didn't know Murphy before the case happened. Obviously, he is willing to be lenient. But Murphy failed to get the two extra cabinet votes he needed.

***

Today, the Star of India, the Ruby Star of Delong and the Star of Midnight are on display in the Morgan Mineral Hall on the first floor of the Natural History Museum. The Gems and Minerals Hall on the fourth floor of JPMorgan Chase Chase has long been divided into staff offices, although its heavy metal doors and at least some original windows are still in place. According to George E.Harlow, curator of natural science, this three-layered gem is the most popular work in this series. However, the current exhibition does not show the notoriety of the past, and the atmosphere in the room has been suppressed. Just like a gem escaped from the tabloid era and entered a long field of geology.