Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History (39 page)

46
  
ten single-carat brilliant-cut diamonds . . . $200,000 at retail:
This figure is based on a one-carat ideal-cut, D-color, and IF-clarity diamond for sale on
bluenile.com
for $20,077. (Stock number LD01477526, viewed on July 9, 2009). A one-carat diamond with a signature ideal cut, a D color, and FL clarity would cost significantly more. Certain fancy diamonds, such as red, would be much more expensive.

47
  
also his extended family’s:
The importance of family members vouching was one of the main reasons for the prominence of religious Jews in the diamond trade and, later, for the rise of Jains from India. Both groups share key characteristics linked to success in the global diamond trade—they are members of a religious minority accustomed to having to depend on each other and in which large families with extended relations exist with members spread around the world.

Although competitive at times, Jews and Jains work closely together in Antwerp and without animosity. The Jains rose to prominence in recent decades with their access to the cheap labor available in India, specifically Surat, making it possible to profitably polish small stones that previously had little value. Dan Bilesky, “Indians Unseat Antwerp’s Jews As the Biggest Diamond Traders,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 27, 2003.

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to be settled in civil court:
Iris Kockelbergh, Eddy Vleeschdrager, and Jan Walgrave,
The Brilliant Story of Antwerp Diamonds
(Antwerp: Ortelius Books, 1992), 231.

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“I remember times when there was absolutely no security”:
Fay Vidal, interview with author, Antwerp, September 28, 2008.

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“You’d put . . . worth of diamonds”:
Ibid.

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member of another bourse. The World Federation of Diamond Bourses:
All four bourses in Antwerp are members of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). A member of a WFDB-affiliated bourse can trade in any other member bourse in the world.

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diamonds were paid for . . . usually American dollars
: This reliance on cash described here relates to the time period leading up to and including when the Diamond Center heist took place. In 2004, the Belgian Anti-Money Laundering Law was amended to effectively end the use of cash in Belgium’s diamond business. It stated that merchants could not settle in cash a sale of goods at a price for more than
15,000. As the Antwerp diamond trade runs on amounts much higher than this, the legal use of cash for diamantaires effectively ended. Cash has still had its place since then though, to keep on hand in case of emergencies, for minuscule transactions, and for transactions that have been, for whatever reason, not aboveboard. See, e.g., “Belgium: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes,” IMF Country Report No. 06/72, February 2006.

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in its private offices, which was expensive:
In addition, such alterations would be at the tenant’s own expense; the landlord would not give any credit for such changes. This then tied tenants down to their rented offices because if they moved out of the building, they gave up all the money they had sunk into security, which could be very substantial. This reality may have created a perverse incentive for the Diamond Center’s owner to allow its security to lapse to the degree that many of the tenants were forced to protect their own offices rather than put their faith in the protections offered by the building. The building benefited by the tenants’ being locked into the place.

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a smash-and-grab in 2003:
The visiting exhibit was “Art Deco Diamond Jewelry 1920–39.” Eight and a half months after the Diamond Center heist, these two robbers bought tickets and entered as normal visitors. Once inside, they used sledgehammers to bash open the display cases and take off with the goods within a matter of minutes. In 2004, police made arrests based on DNA evidence left behind at the scene. Paul Geitner, “Belgian Authorities Catch Two Suspects in Last Year’s Diamond Museum Heist,” Associated Press, August 16, 2004.

54
  
When you stepped off the elevators:
The description of IDH Diamonds’ office in the Diamond Center is based on a visit by author on October 1, 2008.

55
  
“Belgium is great for beer, but not for anything else”:
Antonino Falleti, interview with author, Turin, September 19, 2008.

56
  
Notarbartolo’s house was nearly hidden:
The description of Notarbartolo’s former house in Trana is based on a visit there by authors on September 18, 2008.

59
  Sans armes, sans haine, et sans violence, . . .
“Without guns, without hatred, and without violence”:
Rene L. Maurice and Ken Follett,
Under the Streets of Nice: The Bank Heist of the Century
(New York: Knightsbridge Publishing, 1990), 21.

Chapter Four: Where the Diamonds Are

61
  
“What do I know about diamonds? Don’t they come from Antwerp?”:
This line is spoken by the character Turkish, played by Jason Statham.
Snatch
, written and directed by Guy Ritchie, (2000).

62
  
as insurance investigator Denice Oliver tells the story:
Denice Oliver, interview with author, in her office, Antwerp, September, 29, 2008.

62
  
with an Israeli named Amos Aviv:
A second Israeli and a Brazilian were also working with Aviv. “Part of Diamond Heist Returned,”
The Victoria Advocate
(Victoria, Texas), February 4, 1995. The second Israeli was Alberto Shabao and the Brazilian was Baruch Torenheim.

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10.3 pounds of diamonds worth $4.7 million:
“Diamonds Returned from Antwerp Heist,”
Akron Beacon Journal
(Ohio), February 5, 1995.

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the equivalent of half a million dollars:
Ibid.

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names of the accomplices from him:
This would not have happened in the United States where clergy members, including rabbis, generally have a privilege so their congregants can freely confess to them without fear that their religious advisor will be forced to reveal this confession to the police. This is known as the “clergy-penitent privilege” or the “clergy testimonial privilege.” Also note that the Belgian authorities appear to have pressured this rabbi into violating Jewish law, which holds that a rabbi in a situation such as this one should hand over the stolen goods but keep the confidence of those who have confessed to him as doing so does not place anyone else in danger.
See, e.g.,
Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim,
156:2 and
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma,
4b.

63
  
“The rabbi was about to get his nails pulled out
”: Denice Oliver, interview with author, in her office, Antwerp, September, 29, 2008.

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diamonds are used to pay spies:
For example, Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent, was paid in part with diamonds by the Russians to give them information. “It was a further part of the conspiracy that defendant HANSSEN would and did ask the KGB/SVR for additional payment in the form of diamonds, and that the KGB/SVR would and did pay him in diamonds on several occasions.”
USA v. Robert Philip Hanssen
Indictment, Count 1(b)19 (E.D. Va.), May 16, 2001.

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they were a threat to the reputation of the whole industry
: Members of the Antwerp diamond community were not just worried about the reputation of the diamond industry as a whole, but also of Antwerp’s reputation as a safe, good place to deal diamonds. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Antwerp was feeling its reputation as the center of the diamond world slip, as new markets such as Mumbai and Dubai courted diamond companies with lavish perks. Dubai even offered a fifty-year moratorium on taxes. “Antwerp’s Pre-Eminence Threatened,”
The Financial Express
(Delhi, India), April 3, 2005.

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Industry titan De Beers:
“De Beers” is often used in this book to refer to all of the De Beers Group’s subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and prior incarnations. As such, this term sometimes encompasses De Beers Consolidated Mines, De Beers Mining Company Ltd., the Diamond Trading Company, the Central Selling Organization, De Beers Société Anonyme (DBsa), Namdeb, Element Six, Forevermark, Debswana, Diamdel, and the entire “Family of Companies.”

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funding wars in Africa:
De Beers stopped buying diamonds from the open market in 1999. De Beers,
Report to Stakeholders 2005/6,
47. Confirmed by Lynette Gould, Media Relations Manager, De Beers Group, e-mail to author, May 1, 2009.

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certified by the company to be conflict free:
Before this, De Beers sold diamonds not only from mines that it controlled, but also diamonds from mining companies that it had distribution deals with and diamonds that it bought on the open market through its Outside Buying Office. After this, it likely had conflict diamonds still in its stockpiles, but as the term had not yet been defined and agreed upon by international authorities at the time they were purchased, De Beers could claim with a straight face that the diamonds in its stockpile were conflict free no matter if they had blood on them. De Beers’s managing director Gary Ralfe admitted the day before he retired that “I look back and think it is awful that we were buying diamonds that might have fueled conflict in the 1990s. It didn’t seem wrong at the time but with hindsight it probably was wrong.” Rebecca Bream and Nicol Degli Innocenti, “Diamond Profits Are Not Forever,”
Financial Times
(London), February 27, 2006.

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  Washington Post
investigation in late 2001:
Douglas Farah, “Al Qaeda Cash Tied to Diamond Trade: Sale of Gems From Sierra Leone Rebels Raised Millions, Sources Say,”
Washington Post
, November 2, 2001, A01.
See also
Douglas Farah,
Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror
(New York: Broadway Books, 2004).

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“Some of them wish we’d all drop dead”:
Patrick Peys, interview with author, in his office, Antwerp, September 26, 2008.

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you cannot trace a diamond backward:
There are a few exceptions to this rule: if a thief does not have access to a polisher, then the diamond could be traced if it has a laser inscription or if a retail customer has used a service like Gemprint, which is a noninvasive diamond identification and registration system. Gemprint uses “low-powered laser to capture the unique sparkle pattern of each diamond and registers this image in its database,” according to their Web site. The problem would be that in either case someone would have to look it up and this would likely happen only if the police happened upon suspicious stones.

Another exception would be a highly unusual stone such as a large, fancy diamond with a rare color. A bit of polishing could do the trick with any but the most famous stone. A famous stone could require the thief to break it up into parts. For example, the Hope Diamond turned out to have been cut from the stolen French Blue.