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Albert Spaggiari

Albert Spaggiari (1931? - ?) was French criminal who, in 1976, organized a break-in into a Societe Generale bank in Nice, France.

Spaggiari was described cavalier and stylish. Previously in his life had been a paratrooper for the French army and worked for OAS. In 1976 he was an owner of a photographic supply store in Nice. However, he begun to plan a break-in into the Société Generale bank and eventually decided to do it by digging into the bank vault from below.

He recruited a hand-picked group of international thieves for his scheme, including Gaby Anglade , would-be-assassin of Charles De Gaulle, and con artist Jean Kay . Men made their way into sewers and begun a two-month digging from the sewer under the bank's vault.

On July 16 1976, during a long weekend due to Independence Day festivities, Spaggiari's gang broke into the vault itself. They opened 400 safety deposit box es and stole 60 million francs worth of money, securities and valuables. Before they left at July 20, they welded the vault doors shut from behind and painted taunting messages into the walls. They also left some of the potential loot behind.

At first French police was baffled. However, by the end of October, they traced some of the stolen bonds and arrested a fence of stolen property that was keeping a garage in Nice. They forced him to tell who was behind the scheme. When Spaggiari, who had been in a holiday in a Far East, returned to Nice he was arrested at the airport.

Four months later, when Spaggiari's case finally came into trial, he jumped out of the courtroom window, landed safely and escaped on a motorcycle. As of this writing (September 2004) he remains at large.

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Last updated: 11-06-2004 07:00:02