BRUCE REYNOLDS RIP

Napoleon of Bridego Bridge takes his final train

"We hated going straight" Bruce Reynolds was one of the most respected criminals of the post-war era, considered the mastermind of the robbery that is remembered as one the iconic events of its time, the ultimate blow at the establishment carried out by men with short hair. His autobiography did much to seal his reputation. I met his son once who liked to compare his father to William Burroughs. At one time they were both fastidiously dressed gringos on the streets of Mexico City but I think it ends there. He was pretty cool though. He had a bearing of authority about him and so he might, this was the Napoleon of Bridego Bridge. Here are some obituaries: The Guardian , the Telegraph, and the The Independent, The Daily Mail

The internet is full of tributes but throws forth some interesting media coverage. Here for example by Jack Harvey, an "expert in electronic surveillance" published by the Algarve Daily News or this feature from The Daily Mirror, 10 things you need to know about the Great Train Robbery. Criminal aristocracy unlikely to be replaced by any shell suited drug dealers.

HEIST OF THE CENTURY

Millions of dollars in diamonds take off at Brussels Airport

Hollywood drools over surefire blockbuster.

The diamond heist at Brussels airport was superb. One of those things that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when you read about it in the morning paper. Here is the report from the BBC and another one from the Guardian. It took the robbers 11 minutes to make off with 50 million dollars worth of diamonds and to make it worse (or better) the stones  can be recut so they are almost impossible to trace. Of course later the Guardian ran an op-ed piece on how such crimes should not be regarded as glamorous ... but hey, too late! Hands up who doesn't think its the coolest thing? Its nothing to do with bad George Clooney movies either, a well planned heist with no violence to boot will always be something to inspire awe.

It wasn't long however before experts started to point out some uncanny parallels between this heist and one carried out in Antwerp ten years ago (described in the excellent book Flawless by Greg Campbell and Scott Andrew Selby). Here is Scott Andrew Selby's reflection on the two robberies from CNN. More on the strange co-incidences from the Daily Beast.

The seven biggest diamond heists in recent history are outlined in this piece from US News