Archive for the ‘Fascinating Crime’ Category

Bernie Madoff’s Secretary- The Inside Story

Friday, May 29th, 2009

This piece in Vanity Fair shows what it was like working inside the company that perpetrated that largest fraud in history. Eleanor Squilla was Madoff’s personal secretary for 24 years. She had no idea about the mega ponzi scheme and dealt with distraught clients in the immediate aftermath.

On the day of the arrest-

A big guy in a trench coat tried to rush past me into the conference room. “Excuse me, can I help you?,” I asked.

He flashed a badge in my face and barked, “F.B.I.” It was Ted Cacioppi, who, along with another agent, was about to go to Bernie’s apartment and place him under arrest. I put out my arm and barked back, “Wait right here!” He turned beet red, and I thought the veins in his neck were going to burst. But he stopped. I went into my protective mode, because we never let anyone into the office unless we knew the reason for their visit. I poked my head into the conference room, but Peter seemed oblivious. “There’s a—” was all I got out. One of the lawyers said, “Send him in. We’re expecting him.”

Worlds Biggest Diamond Heist

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

The Antwerp Diamond Center vault is 2 stories underground and protected by 10 layers of security. It was thought to be impregnable.

Wired magazine has a fascinating behind the scenes account of the robbery. The details are provided by one of the criminals later caught and convicted.   

A security camera recorded his movements—police would later watch the footage—but the guard had gotten used to the Italian’s frequent visits and wasn’t paying attention. Notarbartolo stepped away from the safe-deposit boxes and pulled out the aerosol can. With a quick, practiced circular movement, he covered the combined heat/motion sensor with a thin coat of transparent, oily mist.

The vault was momentarily filled with the smell of a woman’s hair.

It was a simple but effective hack: The oily film would temporarily insulate the sensor from fluctuations in the room’s temperature, and the alarm went off only if it sensed both heat and motion.

Still, it was hard to guess how long the trick would work. Once the Monster was in the vault, he had to install the sensor bypass before his body heat penetrated the film. He might have five minutes—he might have less. Nobody knew for sure.

Via Waxy.Org