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Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History

Scott Andrew Selby,

Greg Campbell

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Jan 27, 2024 Kelli rated it it was amazing

Shelves: belgium, 2024, true-crime

I don’t generally read true crime stories so I’m no expert on the genre. This was a fun book because it kept my interest and made me say “holy crap” quite often. Really would like an update on some of these characters.

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Apr 07, 2010 Tony rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, own-loanable

I'm not particularly a fan of the "true crime" genre, but I do like crime fiction and every so often, something from the nonfiction side catches my eye and I am intrigued enough to pick it up. And as someone who always enjoys a good heist movie, I couldn't resist this book about the biggest heist in history (a crime I'd not previously heard of). The book and heist revolve around Leonardo Notarbartolo, a small-time Turinese jeweler/thief, who does the fieldwork in Antwerp that allows a loose affi I'm not particularly a fan of the "true crime" genre, but I do like crime fiction and every so often, something from the nonfiction side catches my eye and I am intrigued enough to pick it up. And as someone who always enjoys a good heist movie, I couldn't resist this book about the biggest heist in history (a crime I'd not previously heard of). The book and heist revolve around Leonardo Notarbartolo, a small-time Turinese jeweler/thief, who does the fieldwork in Antwerp that allows a loose affiliation of Italian crooks (aka "The School of Turin") to crack the ten or so layers of security between them and somewhere from $100-$400 million in loot. Along the way, we learn a bit about Antwerp, the diamond trade, and the vagaries of EU extradition law.

The book follows a straightforward chronological path, detailing the background of the painstaking two-year plan by to loot the vault of the Antwerp Diamond Center. Like a good documentary or procedural thriller, the authors take the reader step-by-step through the planning and execution of the heist, along with the investigation and aftermath. Like a lot of true-crime books, things are somewhat padded out in order to stretch the material to book length. And the authors are a little too fond of repeating details they've already given us (the first example that comes to mind is that they write three times that the amount of explosive needed to breach the vault door would bring the entire building down, another example is explaining extradition in the EU over and over and over).

Even so, the pace is generally well-judged: fast enough to keep the pages turning, but not so fast that it feels sensationalistic or under-researched. The book ends on a little bit of a sourpuss note, as the authors spend a number of pages discussing an article about the heist that appeared in Wired, rebutting much of what is suggested there. This material could have been relegated to an appendix instead of sticking out like a sore coda. If you're a fan of caper movies or books, this makes for a nicely done nonfiction companion piece. The wealth of details make it fascinating, and the whole affair is shrouded in enough mystery (Was there an unknown mastermind? How did they get the safe combination?) to leave one begging for more. ...more

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