The Daring Heists Of The Elusive Pink Panthers

this week on buzzfeed unsolved we feature a ring of

heists

and robberies that have been going on for 25 years, most recently in 2018, the

pink

panther jewel thief ring, that's why you wore this little t-shirt, i respect it, it's Pretty good, right, it's fun. flair you're still having fun even in 2020 let's hear about a little crime huh well it's not a little crime there's a lot of crime actually it's funny you brought that up because we're going to do things a little different. For this case, it's a bit of an unusual case for us, as we're not just covering one case, but a bunch of robberies, so this is like a Russian doll of crime, yeah, it's kind of like, yeah, yeah, you keep opening it. and you will get more and more surprises as you open it, yes I love it.

That being said, let's dive in starting with the first case which, for us, is resolved in May 2003, the luxury jewelry retailer's flagship store. in London was serving an eccentrically dressed client named Naboisha Denik, although her suit and umbrella may not have seemed unusual, her strange pompadour wig stood out as she examined a 12-carat ring worth 450,000. The ring apparently wasn't exactly what Danique was looking for. which was too glamorous and then I asked for a quote, do you have a smaller one? That's not what she would be asking. I'd say bigger, baby. Is this all? You guys have this little 450k candy store of yours, so glamorous, yes, for a man. with a pompadour, it's also a wig with a pompadour, it kind of defeats the purpose of a wig if everyone says, hey, that's a weird wig.

I thought the point of a wig was that some people weren't supposed to mind showing off a wig. Recognize that it is an accessory to use. Lady Gaga wears wigs. People like her, yes, but I understand you. She's not carrying out a heist. She could do it if she wanted to. I feel like if you're going to commit a robbery, don't wear something that's too obvious. Like yeah, she had a weird wig, yeah, yeah, but while you're looking at the pompadour while you're like, wow, what a crazy pompadour, I pulled out my gun, what are you talking about?

I'm throwing you curveballs, yes, but they're still going to be able to get here. I have those little puppets that you get on the 4th of July. I'm going to throw them on the ground here. I have a crazy pop door wig in the meantime I'm just taking money out of the cash register. and you're leaving, what a crazy guy before they could offer him a more subtle piece, Denise pulled out a chrome 357 magnum and told everyone to get on the ground as a twenty-something Montenegrin man named Pradrag Vujosevich entered. you entered the store and used a hammer to break the display cases and remove 47 pieces of diamond jewelry.

That's it, the distraction is gone. What if you just saw? Is that how it works. What if you just didn't make a distraction? You just walked in and I just started the robbery. Where's the flare for the dramatic? You walk and go Hello everyone. I have a gun. I'm here to rob you. How about I go in as Razzle Dazzle and then you can go in as Mr. Hammer? What kind of hammer are they? are you imagining here i was imagining mulnir as thor's hammer for some reason i wasn't imagining myself as a hammer from home depot kinda don't break the ice hammer well you were all about the fuss dazzle what happened even though apparently you're not I'm Mr.

Razzle Dazzle, I mean, okay, you're dressed, that's true, look at that long flowing hair you want, why don't you want to give us some? Yes, there we go. I'm here to rob you now of 23 million pounds. of jewelry the two men fled the scene simon stearman a security guard chased him and managed to subdue danique by sitting on him steerman reportedly took off denik's wig and began berating him for it telling the thief how stupid he looked rude hey man, that's a security guard going above and beyond the call of duty, sitting on someone isn't cool, it's actually a lot of fun just imagining the person underneath saying no, no, no, no, he's the one. thief.

I'm just trying to figure out why you're not excited. a security guard who usually sees something happen because I'm supporting the thieves, right? I just think it's fun to sit on someone, it's a fun way to submit someone, without doing any kind of mma type moves, just the way you are before. Not going anywhere for a few days, Scotland Yard identified another accomplice in charge of the thieves' travel arrangements. milan jovetic detectives obtained a warrant to search the apartment where yovitich was staying with his girlfriend anastankovitch stankovich smells like stankopitch had been here the search turned up two fake italian passports with no names or photographs and a particular jar of face cream in the cream there was a blue diamond ring valued at more than three-quarters of a million dollars the press referred to the thieves as the Pink Panthers since a similar hiding place was used in the 1975 comedy Return of the Pink Panther What do you think of them hiding a ring in the face cream?

It seems a little risky, although yes, a little risky. I don't like dipping my hands in cream, so I don't think it would do well. no need to lie here we all know you are obsessed with having your hands lubricated your hands need to be soft and moist my hands are naturally soft you would think they were constantly lubricated but yeah they are like a baby are you turning? and I've worked a lot in my life but you wouldn't know it, it's like silk like wet silk while the blue ring had been found, over £22 million of jewelery was still missing along with vujocevic scotland yard Detective Steve Alexander traced records telephone calls to an apartment in Paris believed to be Vujosevich's home, but Bujo Savage had disappeared while in Paris.

Alexander met with a special police unit called the Brigade Suppression Brigade to compare notes. Banditry is a fun word to say. It's a cool name through and through, what if you named your band as opposed to your banditry as a bandit band and called yourself banditry and went on stage with bandanas over your face or as the jabba? Well, I feel like you would just call yourself bandits, yeah, but it has to be a band that exists, but that's conventional banditry, so they want to appear like the hamburger with a little guitar where the bandits turned out to be the chart robbery in London .

It wasn't the first time Fujo Savage was suspected of robbing a jewelry store, in fact, it wasn't even the first craft store he targeted. Vujocevic was wanted for robbing a craft store in Amsterdam, a Castiglione in Paris and jewelry stores in Frankfurt, Geneva. and barcelona this guy is doing a euro trip here he is talking all about what happened on a sabbatical in 2005 vujo savage was caught trying to cross into france from italy by car when alexander traveled to paris to interrogate vujocevic , however he refused to talk about the robbery in London according to his mother.

Vujo Savage was sentenced to nine years in prison, but the missing diamonds were nowhere to be found. I say if you can't find the rocks, no one is doing time, so if you can't find them. the body the murderer does not use the stones brother that's right, I'm free, yes, I murdered her but you can't find her body, take off her handcuffs and I'm not convinced that that is her mother either, this is a network of thieves. who have already shown that they love costumes that could just be his friend over there with a wig and old lady makeup like yeah, I think he was in jail for nine years.

I think you made that prison over there and it just fades away. I understand you gentlemen, somehow you say tea, she slams her foot like a chair and says ah, I mean, oh, while the London Chart robbery was the crime that gave the Pink Panthers their name, she was far from being the only one and by no means encompassing it. The complete list of the group according to Jeweler magazine in 2019 had stolen goods worth almost a billion dollars in 35 countries. Let's see a small sample of his work in 2001, a group robbed a jewelry store in the coastal city of Biaritz. france talking about their thoroughness in planning work to deter potential witnesses before the robbery, the men painted a bench outside the store so that no one would sit there in a front row seat of the robbery in 2002, a group stopped the courage of the millennium necklace. a million dollars from the venetian casino in las vegas a ringing millennium necklace i told you so this is an impressive list of things that have been stolen that sounds good a million dollars for a necklace and it's called a millennium necklace you're asking for it right yes they call it the necklace of the millennium call it the dog diamond that no one steals that in 2003 another group of

panthers

took 14 million dollars in chopar jewelry in paris in march 2004 two serbian men with wigs stole the necklace answer vendome that featured a 125-carat diamond from a Tokyo store in Saint Tropez in 2005 a group of

panthers

with wigs and flower-printed shirts robbed a jewelry store and escaped on a speedboat Also in 2005 a group in Amsterdam dressed as airport workers transferred 75 million of euros worth of jewelery to a waiting plane in 2007 the

pink

panthers robbed harry winston's boutique in paris with guns the following year they robbed the same shop dressed as women combined the two robberies resulted in 76 million pounds worth of jewelery lost for sure who love their wigs in this group a team full of wigs if I was hiring thieves and I was like this big boss and I was looking at resumes this one is jumping off the pile now oh big time it makes me wish more teams could get together like this and be able to follow them as sports, yes, as statistics like fantasy thefts or something like that, yes, yes, in fact, it seems that the Panthers have no qualms about attacking a store that they already robbed in 2009, they stole 43 pieces worth of £40 million from the same London graphics shop they attacked. 2003, the robbery that gave them their name, what do you think about robbing the same store twice?

I think it's very funny, a little silly, once. Honestly, I think it's very funny. Do you think he's in the store at that moment? Oh yes, like you. You didn't learn your lesson the first time, maybe you'll get back on the bench, oh damn, while jewelry has been a specialty of the Pink Panthers, it's not the only luxury item they've targeted in 2008, The group carried out the biggest art heist in European history stealing a Monet, a Van Gogh, a Degas and a Cezanne in total valued at more than 145 million from a gallery in Zurich with so many big money

heists

to choose from some theorizations the most robbery The collective's infamous incident took place in 2016 stealing an estimated $5.6 million in jewelry in Paris from one Kimberley Kardashian, including her 20-carat diamond engagement ring from Kanye West, they weren't the ones who were violent towards her, right, I think they were, oh, I can't support them, so, then it doesn't matter. rescind they are bad to her these are bad people they are criminals well but some criminals are fun and I thought they were fun criminals they have guns what did you think was inside the gun silly putty okay give me all your jewelry okay?

Let's no longer support these criminals with nerf balls or all due respect to their sense of fantasy when it comes to wigs. I say that it is only theorized that the Pink Panthers assaulted Kim Kardashian because, frankly, despite their long list of crimes of which we have only discussed a few, not much is known about the group who their leaders are where they take the jewels how they were organized even how many people are in the group is unknown this is what I would do if I was robbed I would say where do you take the jewelry and then it would be a fun little tip for the newspaper?

They'd be like, well, I asked them, you're going to be like put them on a desk somewhere, yeah, yeah, take it, but where are they? Are you taking, yes, go on, take it, by the way, where are you taking the jewelry? I mean, get me something in the back so I can sell this to the newspapers, even the Pink Panthers name is a nickname given to them by the media, not the group itself, every time a crime is committed , if it sounds like someone fits the description of a pink panther, it is attributed to the pp gang, a name i just coined for the group, it's a pee gang, that's funny, don't you.

Not so maybe possibly I love the peepee group if they named me pp group I would be pretty mad well there is no shortage of detectives and police agencies working to track them down as we have mentioned there isn't much confirmed information about group one Belgian detective Andre Notre Dame believes Operation Panther is made up of between 20 and 30 experienced thieves along with dozens of facilitators in cities across Europe providing logistical assistance such as obtaining hotel rooms, cars and weapons. In many cases, the group appears to employ the same strategy they used at 152 different jewelry stores between 2002 and 2010.

A well-dressed man enters the store opening the security door, other associates follow through the doorpropped up and, using hammers and pickaxes, they open the display cases and fill the jewelry into backpacks which they then leave in an old model of car, often stolen. You would think that a group of very experienced thieves would have some kind of elaborate plan that they employ in every place they go and it's like now we're just going to go in and smash you up with hammers, I think the nature of this group speaks to the idea of that maybe they do it for the love of the game, this sounds like they are the most competent and capable thieves in all of Europe, just coming together to say, let's have a little fun up there, weren't you expecting more like the movement down the pipeline? air and then yes, repel down like Tom Cruise and Mission?impossible, I mean, but clearly they are capable of more because they did a heist in Las Vegas, stole some art, yes, but it all comes down to someone getting in first and he looks at me and then everyone looks at them and then people go after him and smash effectively, that was effective, it's not very inventive, but it works, damn, if it's not effective, when that strategy doesn't work, the Panthers will occasionally use a tactic known as vo obelier, which basically consists of breaking a store window to facilitate entry and exit. the store in 2007 and you can find full footage of this elsewhere on youtube the panthers drove two audis through the gates of the waffy mall in dubai and then through the gates of the graft gate three masked men ran into the store and seized 3.4 million in jewelry. and they escaped in the getaway cars while their strategies are brazen and what jewelry heists are not, are not flawless in the graphic dubai heist DNA evidence left in the audis that connects the thieves with a previous job in liechtenstein, so like a cell phone number used to rent those audis led the police to identify eight panthers, they rented the audis and gave them their numbers, not very good, one would think that if you were going to rent a getaway car you wouldn't use your personal sale, yeah, steal it, just steal a car. a burner how hard is it to seal a car how hard is it to get a prepaid cell phone if you're stealing the millennium diamond you can't steal a toyota we don't steal on a small scale that's small potatoes they love cars we just steal diamonds we'll rent the audi we'll use too my cell phone because I have minutes in October 2008 one of those men, the Bosnian Darko, drove a rented Audi to Monaco with a Serbian, Borko Ilencik, the two men parked and headed towards a Sierra Belly store, a store that already it had been stolen by the Panthers in 2007.

As they crossed the street, a car suddenly hit Paoznin Po Oznin and Elencik reluctantly went to the hospital where the Monaco police arrived and arrested the men. Shopping? the fact that a car accidentally hit one of these guys who were robbing a store or you think a cop saw them was like yeah, it's suspicious, it's suspicious, it's suspicious, I mean, cops get frustrated after a while, the cat and mouse game might turn on your head, yeah these guys keep smashing us with their cars, why don't we smash them with a car while a lot of panthers have been arrested?

The pressure to reveal information has not resulted in any knowledge about any type of higher organization of the group. Because of this, it is rumored that the Panthers are actually an informal group of Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosnians, and other former Yugoslavs. Target orders may leak from some unknown higher level, but many panthers don't seem to know each other and there may be no real leader. Do you think they are found with hoods? Do you think they are in a place with all their identities hidden with shadows on their faces? You know it's some kind of secret society, maybe, but I'm interested.

Do you really think it exists? There's no leader, I might believe that, I might believe that, yes, I believe that or maybe it's just like a Facebook group and they say, hey, it might be like one day a guy started the group it was like you guys like diamonds, I like diamonds and then other guys say yeah I like diamonds I mean Facebook is full of illegal activity and then you post like he's robbing a place and another guy says hey I could do that too , that's mine there, as for a group that most consider little fabric.

However, there still appears to be quite a bit of camaraderie among the members, including

daring

attempts to break each other out of jail in 2003, a Serbian named Dragon Mikich, one of the panthers who in 2001 painted the bank in front of the jewelry store he was robbing for dissuade witnesses. He was arrested the day after robbing a jewelry store in Courchevel, France, in jail. Local prosecutor Gilbert Lafayette noted how unintimidated Mikich seemed to speak. These guys don't care if they get put in jail, they know they'll escape. End of appointment later. The year Mikich made his first attempt to escape from the guards after a hearing and ran across a road Mikitch was shot in the leg and sent to a more secure prison in Vio France Mr.

Son, however, that prison apparently proved not be safe enough one day An associate was able to throw wire cutters into a ladder over the prison wall so Mikic could escape while another man fired 8,000 bullets at the guards for cover. Mikich was never recaptured. How can you walk up to a prison with a ladder and not have anyone inside? the tower says: hey there's a guy walking towards the wall right now with a ladder maybe we should do it oh oh he's getting old he's gone you know the big spotlight probably wasn't on him oh yeah like a video game and the guy in The Staircase is like, oh, so in July 2013, another Milan panther, Popo Ridge, was serving a six-year prison sentence in Switzerland for a 2009 jewelry robbery.

During a period of tenure, a van opened the prison door and crashed between the door and the inner courtyard under a hail of AK-47 fire. Paparic, together with another prisoner, used a ladder provided by his accomplices to climb over the prison fence, the prisoners and the two men. in the van they set the van on fire and got into a secondary vehicle and took away papa rich was the third panther to escape from the swiss prison in three months the other two escaped from the guamirme prison near lausanne in may after an accomplice threw a sack over the prison wall containing escape equipment and a gun a sack just threw a sack over the wall, that's funny, it's starting to make me wonder that maybe they should have a little more security outside about these walls, that people are just throwing away various escape paraphernalia, maybe they don't care.

Would you get me out of prison if I had a no? arrested, I mean, you don't have to answer so quickly, oh, I'm sorry, I'll ask you again, take a longer break, oh no, it's not the amount of time, man, if they put me in prison, could you be son of with members? break each other out of prison. It seems that there must be more than a loose affiliation that keeps the Panthers together. Theories about what unites the group focus largely on a shared geographical and cultural history. The countries of the former Yugoslavia, especially serbia, montenegro and bosnia and herzegovina the group with an interpol that focuses on the pink panthers is specifically tasked with pursuing jewel thieves from the former yugoslavia during a brief context, criminal gangs rose to dominance in serbia during the conflicts of the Balkans of the 1990s, during this time many in the region developed an animosity towards the pink panthers.

European Union, who they considered incapable of stopping the bloodshed and corruption ravaging the region and at the same time denying the immigration applications of Belkin citizens, essentially the former Yugoslavs felt that none of the wealthy Western Europeans cared about their difficult situation, as a result, it is possible to observe the heists through the lens of angry former Yugoslavs who rob Western Europe and theoretically bring the money east to the Robin Hood compound. I thought you would appreciate that I'm a big fan of punches, absolutely, you could do it, go for it, yeah. hit, don't hit, In a 2010 article that appeared in the New Yorker about the panthers, writer david samuels met with a serbian man who called himself eugene and who claimed to have knowledge of panther operations as quoted by eugene, they hate everyone, they hate germany vatican united states their own governments are addicts who hate you you get a call from a guy you meet 10 other guys and they pay you some are cousins ​​some are good friends all will be in prison in 5 or 10 years end of date would be robbery with your friends you use a robbery with five friends answer carefully you could hurt someone's feelings in a big way, in a big way, yes, I would try, I trust them with my life, which ones ah, I'm just thinking about everyone My fun friends, I miss you.

We're all in Chicago, you don't know anyone, uh, local, who you'd do a heist with. I would probably rob with sarah, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't rob with you, oh, oh, we, I would rob, yeah, I would rob with pride with you. I guess yeah, it's too late, I guess some of them were just acquaintances, so you son of a bitch, how dare you despite his prolific portfolio of heists and hundreds of resulting arrests. Much of the pink panther remains an enigma. Estimates of how many members they have in their ranks. They range from dozens not including the enablers who eat them across Europe to hundreds, like most theories about panthers.

It is impossible to verify who is in charge of the group and who orders the robberies. Where the stolen items are hidden or how they are washed remains a mystery. It is largely unknown if any type of Pink Panther headquarters exists, what is known, however, is that the group is anything but inactive. In 2018 alone, in three separate heists, the Pink Panthers stole approximately 2.3 million of dollars worth of jewelry from a Christie's exhibition in Venice treasures from the Swedish monarchy from a cathedral and a tiara from a British manor house, so if you have a lot of expensive jewelry hidden somewhere, you might want to make sure they are safe because among the many mysteries surrounding the group, one stands out where The Pink Panthers will attack next remains unsolved, well, they certainly are a quirky list of guys, the appearance is quite prolific, he's probably stealing badly, but that's who, That being said, I don't have anything of value, so you don't have to steal anything from a what.

But if you want to steal something, Mr. Money Bag, don't steal from me, steal your cat, don't steal my cat, if you're looking at these pink panthers, steal all of Shane Midday's left shoes and leave him only the right one. I'll drive him crazy. It's going to be really funny if five Serbian men walk into my apartment this weekend wearing wigs. Give us your cat and all the shoes and socks you have left. They burned me, burned me, and made me drunk once again.