“The gentleman thief, a myth that kidnaps us thanks to cinema”

The big heist, the skillful theft that mocks the police is something that always impresses the imagination. And in the end, let’s face it, if no one got hurt, you end up rooting for the thief a little. A bit like when the bandit Lutring, known as the soloist of the machine gun (which he never used), sent bouquets of roses to bank tellers who got too scared. We spoke about this feeling of mimesis with the presumed gentleman thief with Alessandro Moriccioni, author of a real handbook on the topic: The most famous thieves, thefts and scams in history published by Newton Compton.

Moriccioni, why do thieves end up endearing us so much?

“First of all, we must bear in mind that there are famous thieves who, among their characteristics, also had that of being very histrionic. The case of Renato Rinino comes to mind, who became a real star after he managed to enter the apartment – in the villa of St. James’s Palace in London – of Charles, Prince of Wales, on 26 February 1994. It was he himself who took over the affair to exploit the affair in the media. He became a kind of Lupine from the Riviera, he was from Savona. At the beginning he even wanted to meet Carlo to return his ill-gotten gains in exchange for a handshake…”.

What makes us like these criminals? Robin Hood?

“That is the prototype of the gentleman thief who steals from the rich to give to the poor… There have been some in history, they were rebels in power who were therefore considered criminals. Nowadays I would say that this type of thief no longer exists. Those who steal generally do it to get rich, there is no social component.”

What is it then that fascinates since the gentleman thief is a myth of the past?

“In my opinion there is a very strong overlap between reality and the cinematographic vision of the thief. We imagine them as in films while the reality is often much cruder. Then obviously there is a component of admiration towards the skill. The idea of ​​the exceptional, technically perfect gesture, following which one disappears forever with a treasure to live in luxury… we like it. And in fact since the eighteenth century there have been real schools of thieves. Among the recent cases it strikes me to mind the theft at the World Diamond Center in Antwerp carried out by a gang of four members from the so-called Turin school. But it is France which in many ways is famous for having highly professional thieves.”

The Louvre is a victim for the second time, the most famous theft up to now was by an Italian…

“Vincenzo Perugia who stole Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa but it wasn’t a particularly technically complex theft… He used the service stairs and a secondary door, very nineteenth-century in its execution. Furthermore, he was truly an atypical thief…”.

Also in this case the thieves used a service ladder but they took it with them…

“Ladder and broken window theft in museums is much more common than you might think.

In this case, unless it is a theft on commission, we can imagine that the thieves risk making little progress, they are not easily sellable jewels. We like movie thieves, but the real ones mostly end up differently.”