Albert Spaggiari And The Sewer Rat Gang

Albert Spaggiari is a notorious French criminal who is infamous for orchestrating one of the most daring robberies of all time – the 1976 heist at Société Générale bank in Nice, France. The heist, which yielded the robbers over $30 million in cash and valuables, is often referred to as the "robbery of the century" and the "crime of the century."

Spaggiari and his gang of thieves, who became known as the "Sewer Rat Gang," gained access to the bank's vault by digging a tunnel from the adjacent sewer system into the bank's basement. The tunnel, which was over 25 meters long and two meters deep, was dug over several months, and the robbers used sophisticated tools such as pneumatic drills and electric saws to make their way into the vault.

The robbers made off with tens of millions of francs worth of cash, gold, and jewelry, but their escape was not as smooth as their heist. As they were leaving the bank, they triggered an alarm, which caused the police to arrive on the scene within minutes. The robbers fled in a van, but they were pursued by the police and eventually had to abandon the vehicle and flee on foot.

Spaggiari and his gang managed to escape the police's grasp initially, but their freedom was short-lived. Within days of the robbery, the police managed to track down and arrest several of the robbers, including Spaggiari's close associate, Jean-Michel Gambon. The net was closing in fast, and it looked like Spaggiari would be caught soon too.

But Spaggiari had other plans. Just before he was due to be arrested, he managed to escape from his apartment in Nice by leaping from the fifth-floor balcony and evading the police. He then fled to Italy, where he stayed for several months before moving to South America, where he lived for the remaining years of his life.

Spaggiari's daring escape and evasion of the police only added to his notoriety and reputation as a daring and audacious criminal. Even after his death in 1989, he remained a legendary figure in the criminal underworld, and his heist at the Société Générale bank continued to fascinate and captivate people around the world.

It was only in 2008, over 30 years after the heist, that the full details of the Sewer Rat Gang's daring robbery were finally revealed to the public. In that year, a French journalist named Philip Vallois published a book called "The Heist of the Century," which detailed the full story of the robbery and its aftermath.

Vallois's book is based on interviews with several of the robbers who were involved in the heist, including Spaggiari's former wife, Daniele. In the book, Daniele reveals that Spaggiari had planned the heist for several years and had recruited a team of trusted associates, many of whom were experienced criminals.

According to Daniele, Spaggiari had a detailed plan for the heist, which he had meticulously mapped out using aerial photographs of the bank and sewer system. He also made sure to choose a weekend when the bank would be closed, so that the robbery would not be disturbed by normal business activity.

Although Spaggiari never revealed the full details of his escape and evasion from the police, Vallois's book suggests that he may have had help from criminal associates in Italy and South America. Spaggiari remained on the run from the French police for the rest of his life, and he never served time for his role in the Société Générale heist.

Overall, the story of Albert Spaggiari and the Sewer Rat Gang is a fascinating tale of audacity, daring, and criminal genius. The heist was a feat of engineering and planning that ranks among the most audacious robberies of all time, and Spaggiari's escape and evasion from the police only added to his mythology. Despite his criminal notoriety, Spaggiari remains a legendary figure in the annals of criminal history, whose name is still synonymous with daring heists and audacious escapes.