The new docufilm “Stolen – The theft of the century” has just released on Netflix, and reports one of the most sensational crimes of our time in the spotlight: the blow of over 100 million dollars in the center of gravity of the world diamond trade. But if the history of the theft is already legend, what intrigues now is the fate of its protagonist. What happened to Leonardo Notarbartolo, the Sicilian “Lupine” who challenged (and for a beaten night) the most advanced security systems in Europe? Do you still know, how do some “legends” want, where the diamonds are hidden? Let’s find out who is really today Leonardo Notarbartolo.
What happened to Leonardo Notarbartolo
Palermo by birth, Notarbartolo begins as a very young age to get his bones with small thefts and burglary. But it is in the 80s and 90s that he builds a real “criminal curriculum”, setting up a team of specialized thieves operating between Turin and Belgium: the so -called “Turin School”. The group is made up of experts in locks, alarms, holes in the walls and manual stunts. In 2003 their most ambitious blow came: the theft at the Diamond Center in Antwerp, a company worthy of a Heist Movie. Notarbartolo pretends to be jeweler, rents an office in the center and becomes a usual presence of the place, therefore unsuspected. Meanwhile, he and his accomplices study every detail, film, replicate the safe, neutralize sensors and use duplicate keys. On one night only 120 safety cassettes empty, disappearing with a booty of more than 100 million dollars; But a trivial error (the garbage thrown into a wood) betrays them. From there the hunting takes place and Notarbartolo is arrested a few days later and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 to be the mind of the operation. Three accomplices receive minor convictions. The “king of the keys” will never be identified. Most of the booty vanish into thin air instead.
The true story of the theft of Diamonds of Antwerp that inspired the “Stolen” docufilm on Netflix
After serving four years of imprisonment, Leonardo Notarbartolo obtains freedom conditioned in 2009. But freedom has a price: among the conditions imposed there was compensation to the victims of the theft, which then does not happen. In 2011 a European capture mandate was issued and two years later, in 2013, he was intercepted and arrested in Paris. He then returns behind the bars, where he remains until 2017, finally completing his sentence.
Since then, the great master of the theft seems to have retired and today lives in Giaveno, a small town in the province of Turin. He is an ultra -seven -year -old man, more reserved than ever than – according to local sources – excellent a modest activity linked to the jewelry sector, perhaps a factory, perhaps only a laboratory. No clamor, no public appearance. Moreover, he said it in a 2016 interview: “I always did the thief,” he said “and I never stopped, except when they stopped me. My dream? A pack of cigarettes full of diamonds. If I had it, I would disappear forever”. In a recent interview with Wired, on the other hand, he declared that after the prison he sold pellets for several years. But in 2023 he sold the activity, also due to the almost tripled prices. Today the man is retired, writes novels and dedicates himself to the family, wife and children.
Today his name lives halfway between chronicle and myth: the fate of most of the diamonds stolen in 2003, never recovered, never reappeared, is unknown. Liteordo Notarbartolo remains a symbol of that spectacular and blood crime that intrigues more than frightening; And now that Netflix has dedicated a docufilm, the man who challenged the diamond banks returns to be talked about.
