Some senior citizens with too much time on their hands pick up bocce or dominoes as a hobby. And then there are the āBad Grandpasā: Eight old men who pulled off one of Britainās most audacious jewelź§ heists, capturing some $20 million in precious goods.
The plan began coming together over fish and chips at the Castle, a North London pub, in 2012. Ranging in age from 52 to 73 at theą¹ time, the friends were some of the UKās most notorious break-in artists and had served prison time for armed robbery, jumping bail, fencing stolen goods and other offenses. At this point, however, they were generally out of the game ā although they still enjoyed hanging out and reminiscing about their bad old days.
Brian āThe Guvānorā Reader, 73, started complaining about being tight on cash (despite living in a home vš”alued at nearly $1 million) and wondered what it would take to pull off one last job. His white whale? Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in Londonās diamond district.
It housed nearly 1,000 security boxes where local jewelers stowed a fortune in gems, gold and š cash. Although a fat target, the place had not been successš¹fully fleeced in decades.
Somehow, the fanciful musing metastasized into a bona fide plan, largely masterminded by Reader. As chronicled in the new book āā (Norton), the friends ā who dubbed themselves The Firš·m ā spent three years plotting their Ācareer-topping caper.
āThis represented a final hurrah,ā author Dan Bilefsky told The Post. āThey were motivated by cash, š but, at a time in life when many of their contemporaries lived in nursing homes, theš¼ excitement of a final heist got their hearts going.ā
The FIRM started preparing.
They invested in a copy of āForensics for Dummiesā to learn abāout DNA detection at crime scenes. (One tip they used: scrub down the area with bleach before fleeing.) Member Danny Jones, 60, researched the best diamond-tipped drill for breaking through the vaultās reinforced concrete wall: a $5,200 Hilti DD350 withš¹ the capacity of 667 rotations per minute.
The šgang watched YouTube videos for pointers on how to use the tool, and planned toš¦ bring along a battering ram for the final push. They allegedly practiced at the plumbing shop of plumber Hugh Doyle, 47, whose neighbors heard The Firm trying out their drill.
It was the Thursday start of the long Easter weekend in ā2015 when Reader embarked on a 20-mile bus ride from his Kent home to the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit building, not far from the Cź¦astle pub.
There he convened with Jones aš½nd four others: lock and alarm specialist Michael āBasilā Seed, then 54; getaway driver John āKennyā Collins, 74; and āextra pairs of handsā Carl Wood, 58, and Terry Perkins, 66. (After the fact, they would enlist the help of William āBilly the Fishā Lincoln, 59, who would provide transportation and storage of the stolen goods.)
At around 8:30 pš.m., the men smashed security cameras, dź§isabled alarms and lugged their equipment ā including an assortment of tools and rolling trash cans to be loaded with jewels ā inside.
They spent hours drilling into the wall. Perkins had to take a break for an insulin shot. Getaway driver Collins dozed while serving as lookout in a building ašcross the strą± eet.
Finally they broke through ā only to come up against the steel backs of safety deposit boxes. Jones punchš²ed at them with the ram until the tool shattered into pieces. On Friday morning, frustrated by their failure, the old-timers decided to head home for a nap.
They planned to meet up again in the wee hours of Easter, enouāgh time for them ź¦to get their hands on a more powerful hydraulic ram. But by the time Sunday rolled around, Reader had lost faith and backed out. Wood showed up, changed his mind and left.
Undaunted, the remaining Firšm members were pleased that there would be two fewer people sharing in the take.
āThey felt that they had nothing to lose,ā said Bilefsky. āThā±ere was a brazenness that was borān of age.ā
Finally, with the cheerleading Jones urging, āSmash that up!ź¦ā they penetrated the steel backings. Climbing through the narrow hole, the robbers emptied some 70 boxes, stopping onlyš when theyād gathered more loot than they could roll out in the trash cans.
On Tuesday mornišng, a jeweler with offices on the same floor aź¦s the vault encountered the trashed premises. āThe Last Jobā quotes a security guard: āIt was like a bomb hit the place.ā
Outraged customers tried to assess the financial damage. The London MetrošØpolitan Policeās elite law-enforcement division, the Flying Squad, swooped in to investigate. But thš¹e āForensics for Dummiesā bleach tip had worked: Not a single fingerprint remained.
Still, the crime wašÆs far from perfect. As Bilefsky put it, the oldź¦ men had failed in one big way: āBy not understanding technology.ā
Ignoring the fact that they lived in what is said to be the worldās most surveilled nation, the Bad Grandpas showed no respect for Englandās CCTV system, with its extensive network of cameras on streets aānd in public places. Detectives made their first ID by discerning ownership of Collinsā Mercedes-Benz, which he foolishly drove to the crime scene. Soon after, investigators managed to bug some of the gang membersā automobilesš . They surreptitiously heard The Firmās members crowing about their crime and bad-mouthing each other.
Reader, once nicknamed āThe Master,ā was mercilessly deš¹rided behind his back. ą“His former partners trashed him as āan old ponceā who ātalked about all our yesterdaysā and ābottled out at the last Āminute.ā
Immediately after robbing Hatton Garden, the crew stashed most of their haul in the garage of Linācolnās unknowing nephew, but took some of it home with them ā storing the diamonds, gold and cash in kitchen pots and pans and, in the case of Jones, under the tombstone of his girlfriendās late father. Then they went to the pub to celebrateš.
Some six weeks later, The Firm started talking about splitting up the rest of the loot. They agreed to a meet-up at the home of Perkinsā daughter to do the chop. Just as the men š¬laid out the goods, along with a smelter for melting down precious metals, police busted in with a battering ram of their own.
Taken by total surprise, āthe men mostly accepted their impending fate. šJones, however, bolted out a back door, gaining only a few yards before being tackled and handcuffed by officers.
Reader was apprehended at home. Wood was arrested getting out of his car, and proź¦šÆmptly wet himself.
Despite the cold feet of Rešader and Wood, Britainās legal system made no accommodations for second thoughts. All six of the main crew pleaded guilty, Āreceiving prison sentences of around seven ą¹years each. (Lincoln also got seven years and Doyle received a Āsuspended sentence.)
Perkins died behind bars in 2015 after a heart attack. The others continue to serve teź©²rms at Belmź§arsh prison, a maximum-security facility in southeast London that now also houses Julian Assange.
Through it all, public sympathy siź¦ded with the Bad Gź¦randpas.
ā[The gang members] didnāt hurt anyone and there was a feeling of āgood on them,āāā said Bilefsky, who believes the surviving ąµ²Firm members are finally done with crime. āIf they bore a hole through Belmarsh, that would be impressive. But I donāt think they will be escaping anytime soon.ā