Monday Milestone: Lifting the World Cup

Filed in Other by on March 19, 2012

This Week in History:
1966, March 20
The FIFA World Cup is stolen briefly from London by a bungling thief.

Throughout history there are stories of great robberies.

For example in 1911 the Mona Lisa was lifted from the Louvre, and stayed hidden from the world for two years. But my question is how do you sell something that famous?

Nonetheless through the years this small detail hasn’t stopped ambitious thieves lifting some of the world’s most famous artefacts, including the FIFA World Cup.

The Delorean parks in 1966 this week ahead of the World Cup hosted in England and where the Jules Rimet trophy, was proudly displayed, on loan to the Football Association in London for promotional purposes. Since 1930, it had been presented to the World Cup champions, and through the decades had become among the most coveted prizes in world sport.

But as a major attraction in London, it lasted one day before the display case was found forced open, and the trophy was missing. Scotland Yard interviewed suspects but came up empty handed.

Now imagine for a moment you were the thief. You’ve pulled off the heist of the decade, without reprisal. You’re in the clear. But now what? You hold the most recognisable sporting trophy on the planet. Congratulations. It’s not like you can sell it. So what do you do with it? Blackmail of course.

So the following morning the chairman of the Football Association received an anonymous phone call. A man only identifying himself as ‘Jackson’ demanded fifteen thousand pounds in low denomination notes. It’s at this point I can only imagine Jackson was not particularly bright.

Fifteen thousand pounds? Is that all? Holding the most important sporting trophy in the world for ransom and that was all he wanted? Even in 1966 that was not that much money.

‘Jackson’ turned out to be Edward Betchley who was recognised and picked up when he went to retrieve the ransom. He denied his involvement in the theft, claiming to only be a middle man, a receiver of stolen goods. He’d also failed to realise that only the top and bottom notes of the ransom cash were real, and the remainder of the “notes” were just paper. Again, I can’t help but feel Betchley was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Unable to sell the trophy and with his extortion attempts having failed Betchley ran out of options. As such, six days later the trophy was recovered when it was found, wrapped in an old newspaper stuffed in a hedge and returned to FIFA.

Four years later, upon Brazil’s third World Cup victory, FIFA decided the Jules Rimet trophy would remain in Brazil permanently, perhaps for a safer housing. A new prize was subsequently cast for the winners.

But in 1983 the trophy was stolen again from Rio de Janeiro. The most popular theory suggests that the gold trophy was melted down. Either way, this time, the thieves were never captured. 

And to this day the Jules Rimet trophy has never been recovered

 

The Milestone Five: Famous Robberies.

5. Boston Museum– 1990
Thieves, disguised as security steal thirteen pieces of art valued at over $300 million in the largest art theft in history. A $5 million reward is still available for information.

4. Schiphol Airport Heist – 2005
Men dressed as women intercepted a truck carrying an estimated 75 million euros worth of diamonds en route to the Amsterdam airport.

3. Antwerp Diamond Heist – 2003
Over $100 million worth of loose diamonds, gold and other jewellery are lifted from the gem district in Belgium.

2. Mona Lisa – 1911
Audaciously, the world’s most famous painting is lifted from the Louvre. It remained missing for two years, and was feared lost.  

1.  The Great Train Robbery – 1963
2.6 million pounds are stolen from a train in Buckinghamshire, England. Most of the money has never been recovered.

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