Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

The Knightsbridge Security Deposit Robbery

The Knightsbridge Security Depositrobbery took place on 12 July 1987 in Cheval Place,Knightsbridge, England, part of the City of Westminster in London.This robbery, the Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza, and the $900million stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq in 2003 are said to bethe largest bank robberies in history.

The robbery was led by Valerio Viccei(1955–2000), a lawyer's son who arrived in London in 1986 from hisnative Italy, where he was wanted for 50 armed robberies. Once inLondon, he quickly resumed his robbery career to fund his playboylifestyle. On this occasion he secured inside help, obtaining thehelp of the managing director of the centre, Parvez Latif, a cocaineuser, who was heavily in debt.

On the day of the robbery, two menentered the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre and requested to rent asafe deposit box. After being shown into the vault, they drewhandguns and subdued the manager and security guards. The thievesthen hung a sign on the street-level door explaining that the SafeDeposit Centre was temporarily closed, whilst letting in furtheraccomplices. They broke open many of the safe deposit boxes and leftwith a hoard estimated to be worth £60 million (equivalent toroughly US$98 million at the 1987 exchange rate).

One hour after the robbers departed,the shift changed and the new staff discovered the crime and alertedthe police. Police forensic investigators recovered a bloodyfingerprint that was traced to Valerio Viccei. After a period ofsurveillance, several of his accomplices were arrested during aseries of coordinated raids on 12 August 1987 and later wereconvicted of the crime. Viccei, however, fled to Latin America forsome time. Later, when he returned to England to retrieve and shiphis Ferrari Testarossa to Latin America, police arrested him byblocking the road and smashing the front windscreen of his car anddragging him out.[citation needed]

Viccei was sentenced to 22 years,serving his sentence in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. Whileserving his sentence there, he forged a friendship with Dick Leach, aFlying Squad officer who led his arrest. They regularly wrote lettersto each other, referring to themselves as Fred (Leach) and Garfieldor The Wolf (Viccei).

In 1992, he was deported to Italy toserve the rest of his sentence. He was incarcerated in an open jailin Pescara, where he was allowed to live a lifestyle he was alreadyaccustomed to, as well as running a translation company.

On 19 April 2000, during day releasefrom prison, a gunfight broke out between Viccei, an accomplice, andthe police, resulting in the Viccei's death. Two autobiographies ofViccei's life have been published, titled Too Fast to Live (1992) andLive by the Gun, Die by the Gun (published posthumously in 2004).