Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.
🖼️ Heists
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft
1990 · Unsolved
On 18 March 1990 thirteen works vanished from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Empty frames still hang; the FBI reward stands and the case remains unsolved.
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🖼️ Heists
Antwerp diamond heist
2003 · Mixed outcome
Over the weekend of 15–16 February 2003 a vault at Antwerp's Diamond Centre was emptied of stones, jewellery and cash. Leonardo Notarbartolo was convicted; most of the haul was never recovered.
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🖼️ Heists
Great Train Robbery
1963 · Convicted
On 8 August 1963 a Glasgow-to-London Royal Mail train was robbed at Bridego Bridge in Buckinghamshire of £2.6 million. Most of the gang were convicted at Aylesbury; Ronnie Biggs later fled.
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🖼️ Heists
1911 Mona Lisa theft
1911 · Convicted
On 21 August 1911 the Mona Lisa left the Louvre. Vincenzo Peruggia was caught in Florence in December 1913; the portrait returned to Paris in January 1914 and became a global celebrity.
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