by Patrick H. Moore
It’s well known that the United States is far more prone to everyday violence — including murder — than our neighbors in Europe. Europeans scratch their heads in wonder at this peculiar and life-threatening U.S. obsession. It should be remembered that in the first half of the 20th century, Europe suffered through World Wars I and II, massive confrontations that decimated two generations of its youth. The fact that Europeans now shy away from gun violence — at least compared to us here in the U.S. — does not mean, however, that they are crime free. Far from it, they are plagued by large scale robberies — particularly jewelry heists — that are rare here in the U.S.
This fact was hammered home once more on Sunday morning in Cannes on the French Riviera at the prestigious Carlton Hotel, on the ultra-trendy Croisette promenade, where an armed man made off with jewels worth about 40m euros ($53m; £34m).
Oddly enough, the Carlton Hotel is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed his classic, To Catch a Thief, in 1955. The film, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, was about (you guessed it) a jewel thief operating in the French Riviera.
According to the authorities, the hold-up — which is the latest in a series of high-profile robberies in Cannes — took place on Sunday morning at (you guessed it again) a jewelry exhibition at the Carlton Hotel. The exhibition of diamonds by the jeweller Leviev was being held in the lobby of the hotel.
Local media has stated that that the robber made off with the jewels in a briefcase. It is not yet known who actually owned the jewels. If the value of the jewels is confirmed at 40 million euros, it would reportedly be the second-largest jewelry heist in French history.
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I’m sure I hardly need to point out that it is highly improbable that a “heist” of this magnitude could occur in broad daylight in the lobby of a famous hotel unless “certain strings were pulled” ahead of time. Like, where was the freakin’ security? But that’s how things work in Europe. We’ve got our random — and seemingly constant — gun violence here in the U.S.with all the associated heartbreak; they’ve got their large-scale organized crime syndicates that makes off with vast quantities of euros, or goods such as jewelry that can be converted into euros, on a fairly regular basis. (Parenthetically, I just learned that “insider trading,” which is of course completely illegal in the U.S., is all in the day’s work in Europe.)
A Cannes police spokesman said shortly after yesterday’s heist:
“A full and urgent operation is under way to catch the culprit and recover these jewels. Thieves see Cannes as rich pickings.”
The Cannes film festival, which attracts celebrities from around the world, was hit by two jewelry thefts in May this year:
- A necklace by Swiss jeweller De Grisogono reportedly worth 1.9m euros ($2.5m; £1.6m) vanished after a celebrity party at a five-star hotel in the resort town of Cap d’Antibes.
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A week before the Cap d’Antibes robbery, more than 777,000 euros ($1m; £650,000) worth of jewels were taken from the hotel room of an employee of the exclusive Swiss jeweler Chopard.
- The Carlton Hotel itself suffered a huge robbery back in August of 1994, when gunmen burst into its jewelry store just as it was closing and made off with jewels then valued at £30m (now $77m; £50m; 58m euros).
- France’s biggest ever jewel heist occurred in 2008, when three men stole almost every piece of jewwelry on display at an exhibition in Paris with an estimated value of 85m euros ($113m; £73m).
Here Is a Listing of the World’s Biggest Jewelry Heists
- In February 2003, robbers absconded with jewels then worth 100m euros (now $140m; £91m) from the Antwerp Diamond Centre in Belgium.
- Two years later, in February 2005, an armed gang hijacked an armored truck carrying 75m euros ($100m; £65m) of diamonds and other jewels at the Amsterdam airport.
- Then (see above), in December 2008, three men stole almost every piece on display at a Paris jewelry exhibition by Harry Winston, totaling 85m euros ($113m; £73m).
- Finally, in August 2009, criminals staged a raid worth £40m ($61m; 46m euros) on Graff Diamonds in London.