Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History -- Book Review

Flawless:  Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History.  By Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell.  New York:  Sterling Publishing Co.  2010.  320 pp. 

This is a reconstruction of the February 17, 2003, burglary of the Diamond Center in Antwerp, Belgium.  It said to be the biggest take for any burglary in history at between $108-432 million.  "Reconstruction" means that it is not an inside view of these events based on firsthand accounts of the participants, as the book claims to be, but rather, it is the best reasoned surmise of what must have happened based on the police investigation of the crime and the trials of four of the burglars.  It is not even a biography of the principal character in the drama, Leonardo Notarbartolo.  The authors use Notarbartolo as a centerweight for the book because Notarbartolo is the person about whom the most is known in relation to this crime.  He was the point man, the inside man, the scout, but he was not necessarily the leader of the group or the "mastermind" of the whole scheme.  The book's disproportionate attention to him makes him appear to be the lead figure in the crime, when in fact he may not have been.  In fact, based on what the authors provide on this individual, my own opinion is that Notarbartolo would not have been the one to initiate such a project.  Notarbartolo was probably working for people who aren't even named in this account, who probably aren't even known.  The authors admit as much, but because the book is written with Notarbartolo as a protagonist, it makes him appear unduly magnified.  I wish more had been done to develop the characters of the others known to have participated in this crime.  It is known that there must have been at least seven burglars, but only four of them were tried and convicted for the crime.  But one learns very little about the others and their relationships to one another from this account.   Even Notarbartolo is sketchily drawn.  There is nothing about his childhood, very little about his personal life, very little about his background in Palermo, Sicily, which might have illuminated his connections to Italian Mafia organizations.  This is a another subject that the book also studiously avoids, but a crime of this magnitude could not have been possible without the support and protection of powerful organizations.  If they did not have the backing and support of the Mafia, what would have stopped the Mafia, or any number of other groups, from simply taking the proceeds from this small band of burglars once the heist was completed?  With that much money in diamonds, jewels, and cash, they would need some very powerful protection.  Look at the security precautions the Diamond Center had in place, which the authors so ably describe.  How could a small band of thieves hang on to such a trove outside of the fortresslike installation of the Diamond Center?  The loot from the heist was never found, and it is not likely to be.  Diamonds are generally not identifiable nor traceable, but they are a readily liquid asset.  It is not that easy to hide $400 million in any form.  This fact alone points to the collusion, if not participation, of larger, more powerful organizations, such as Mafia, or drug cartels, or perhaps even governmental intelligence agencies.  But the authors do not explore these possibilities beyond the mere mention. 

It seems like I am doing a lot of complaining, but the book is actually absorbing.  It contains a wealth of information about the Diamond business; the Diamond Center in Antwerp; how business in diamonds is conducted; the magnitude of trade in "black diamonds," off the books sales of diamonds that are either stolen or used as currency in gun running or drug smuggling -- this, incidentally, is the reason that the estimates for the take in the heist are so varied.  Many dealers probably did not want to report the full extent of their losses because doing so would have implicated them in illicit trading.  The authors expend considerable time and energy describing the elaborate security systems in place at the Diamond Center and their deficiencies.  They explain how to pick locks, how to subvert various kinds of electronic security devices, the workings of different kinds of safes, and the fact that ultimately trust and reputation make for the most effective security.  The elaborate preparations for the robbery and its execution are spelled out in scrupulous detail.  It is very fascinating, but I wish a better account was available that offered a more human portrait of the criminals and the social context in which they were nurtured, meaning their ties to Sicilian Mafia organizations whose umbrella they must have been operating under.  There is a dearth of photographs, which I think would have greatly improved the book, and made it much more concrete.  One page of low quality mug shots of four of the burglars in the appendix did not satisfy me and I think it reflects the sterility of the account, its lack of a human face.  There are two other unexplained facts that are bothersome.  I decided not to discuss them and let you read the account for yourself, but they are crucial to how the crime was pulled off in the first place and why Notarbartolo was caught after the crime.  They are not adequately explained by the authors.  Notarbartolo's behavior after the heist is particularly puzzling.  So while I do recommend this book as a very interesting read, I am also dissatisfied with it, and regard it as woefully incomplete and superficial.  There is much more about this story waiting to be told.