Le Heist

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>> Over the weekend, a group of thieves. staged a remarkable heist at one of the. world's most famous museums. Officials. in Paris say the masked crooks used a. basket lift and cutting tools to just. break into a gallery, >> stealing some of the most precious and. culturally significant jewels in Europe. in the middle of Paris in broad. daylight. >> It's like a scene from a film. >> Yeah. You could not make it up. I. thought it was a joke, like no, not. possible. >> As new details emerge about the brazen.

theft at the Louvre, the response in. France has been a mix of shock, disbelief, and fascination. >> This is the heist of the decade. You. know, it's as bad as it gets. >> How could the world's most visited. museum be robbed with such brazen. audacity? Today, my colleague Katherine. Porter explains how the robbery happened. and why so many feel as though they may. have just lost a piece of their history. for good.

[Music]. It's Wednesday, October 22nd. >> Catherine, hi. >> How are you? This is probably the only. taping where I've literally been like, I. need us to begin so I can ask my. questions right now. I mean, that's not true. It's not the. only one, but this is a very special. episode and I need to talk to you about. this story. I have read everything about.

this heist and I'm not satisfied still. >> I am I am ready for you. >> Okay, good. Just to start, tell me. exactly how a group of jewel thieves. broke into the Louve and stole these. very precious items. Just start from the. beginning. Tell me exactly what. happened. As far as we know, >> as far as we know, this started at 9:30. last Sunday morning.

Typical kind of quiet Paris morning. And. what we know is this truck that had a. ladder attached to it rolls up to the. Louv with two motorcycles. Now you might wonder why is there a. truck with a ladder on it, but in Paris. it's pretty common sight cuz this is how. you move your furniture in and out of. your apartments because of how skinny. the halls are. M. >> So, um, it rolls up, parks right up.

against the building on the sidewalk and. two people pop out and they set out. traffic pylons around the truck and they. have fluorescent vests on like public. workers do. >> So, like anybody looking at this from. the outside might think this is a. completely normal scene. Nothing to see. here. Nothing necessarily to see except. for the two men that then went up this. electric ladder to the balcony on the.

second floor were masked. So that might have tipped you off if you. were there. But to be honest, this is. the quiet side of the Louv. It's near. the Sen. Not a lot of foot traffic. So. they go up the uh mechanical elevator in. a kind of bucket, like a cherry picker. They get to this balcony onto the second. floor of the Louve and they use what are.

known as angle grinders, >> which is what exactly? >> Kind of like a electric hand saw. >> Okay. >> To saw through the window that leads. into what's known as the Apollo gallery. It's this golden long beautiful. uh wing of the Louve that literally was. built by Louis the 14th as a model for. his hall of mirrors and it houses the. royal jewels of France.

Is this like a very popular part of the. Lou? It certainly sounds as though it's. iconic. super iconic. It's not as popular. obviously as the Mona Lisa, >> but it's pretty close. You know, when. you go in there, it's often quite. crowded. It's really opulent. There's. paintings on the ceilings, on the walls. by famous people like Deloqua. There are.

hanging tapestries. There are um. sculptures and these cases down the. middle that hold the crown jewels. the. the thieves break in using this saw. We. hear from people who work in the Louve. that there was an explosion of glass and. there were a number of security guards. inside who really quickly evacuated the. room. >> So, they didn't approach the thieves.

>> No. The protocol in the Louvre and most. museums is if you are confronted with an. intruder that had things that seem like. they could be weapons, your priority is. protect people. So they did what they. were instructed to do, what they've been. trained to do. They got people out and. very, very quickly. And how many people. were there at the time? I mean, 9:30. a.m. on a Sunday does not seem like the. ideal time to rob the most famous museum. in the world. Was it crowded? Well, we.

don't know how many people were in that. room. That's like one of the details. that has not surfaced yet or been. disclosed by investigators. We do know. that the Louv is like the most visited. museum in the world. Up to 30,000 people. visit every day. We've seen videos and. spoken to people who were quite frantic. not knowing why they were being. evacuated. Many were running to get out. I mean, there was huge fear at first. that either there was a fire or this was. a terrorist attack.

>> So, the thieves are inside. What happens. next? >> What we know is that they go like. directly to two cases that are in the. middle of the line of cases and they use. their power saws to cut into them and. break them open. >> I had heard there was some video footage. taken of the thieves stealing the. pieces. Do we know anything about how. they were acting, what they were doing, their general demeanor at the time?

>> Yeah, we've seen those videos. They were. given, I guess, to a local French TV. station. They're quite blurry, but you. see clearly one of the two men wearing. something over his head, like a black. covering on his head. He's got his. yellow vest on, and he's just he looks. incredibly calm, like there's no. franticness. He's just sawing away. You. know what we have been told by the chief. Paris prosecutor who is in charge of. leading the investigation into this is.

that these are seasoned. They think that. they're part of a gang. They clearly. knew what they were coming for. They. were pretty precise and fast and they. didn't seem panicked at all. But all. this was, you know, fairly quick. >> Our timeline shows that they arrived. outside the building at 9:30. They got. up to that window on the top of the. mechanical ladder. Four minutes later, they broke in and they were out within. four minutes and down and gone. So, um,

>> amazing. >> That's pretty fast. I mean, I know in. terms of heists, it's not the fastest. There have many faster. People who study. this stuff say it's not crazy fast, but. it was fast enough that they escaped and. uh, they have not been found. So, okay, let's talk about that escape. I'm trying. to imagine it. What does it actually. look like? >> You know, they jump out the window that. they came in. They go down the same.

bucket um ladder to the bottom. We. understand also that they at this point. attempt to um set fire to the truck to. the bucket itself. We don't know why. There's been lots of speculation they. were trying to remove any kind of DNA or. fingerprints basically. And at this. point, what we know is that some. security guard or guards come chasing. towards them on the ground. They drop a. couple things, including one of their.

security vests and the bottle that they. were using to spray gas onto the this. cherry bin to light it on fire. and they. jump on the back of two waiting. motorcycles and speed away. One, you know, very juicy detail is that. they dropped one of the nine things they. originally grabbed. I read that. >> and it was this incredibly precious. crown, an imperial crown that was made.

for the last empress of France who was. married to Napoleon III. I can tell you. a little bit about it. I have been. learning a ton about these type of. things. >> You're like the world's expert in crown. jewels now. >> Well, not before this, but I have become. one. Hold on. So, this crown had eight. golden eagles on it. 1,354. regular diamonds and then 1,136.

rose cut diamonds as well as 56 pretty. sizable emeralds. Okay, so they dropped. this crown, but they did manage to get. eight items. Take me through what those. were. What were some of the biggest. gets? So, um, you know, again, my crash course. on learning about royal jewelry, a lot. of these items stem from either Napoleon.

III or Napoleon himself. So, I'll take. you through a couple. There was this. incredible emerald necklace and earring. set that Napoleon gave to his second. wife for their wedding in 1810. >> Wow. >> So, that's just one. Then there's this. decorative bow that was worn by Empress. Eugenei that has two thou more than. 2,000 diamonds. >> Oh my god, I saw a picture of that one. I was like hard to look at. It was so.

shiny even just in the pictures, you. know. And there's like a pearl um kind of tiar. that's also incredibly jaw-dropping. But. Natalie, one thing that points to that. these thieves. knew what they were doing is they didn't. go for what was really the most. expensive item. In those cases, they. went for these items. And there's a lots. of discussion about, you know, maybe.

they thought these ones would be easier. to break down and easier to um smelled. and break apart and sell in small. pieces. But you know among those cases. is this incredible diamond that's known. as the regent. >> that was bought by the Duke of Orlon in. like the early 1700s and was on the. centerpiece of Louis X the 15th's crown. and then later was on Napoleon's sword. on Louis V 16th's crown. >> and it's like the size of a plum.

>> Wow. But lots of jewelry experts say it. would be just far too easy to identify. and really hard to pawn off. >> So we have a sense that this is more of. a commodity grab than an attempt to get. beautiful heritage pieces for some kind. of kooky specialist collector who wants. to hold things alone in a vault. Right? >> And so if you're going for commodities, you're looking for things that can be. quickly disassembled and sold in small.

pieces. >> Right? These are thieves. The idea is. who are looking to sell these things and. make money, not, you know, mount them in. their homes. I can imagine it's a lot. easier, right, to sell a single diamond. than a distinctive necklace, for. example. >> Right. Well, you can't sell that. distinctive necklace because it's. already been traced. You know, like. Interpol has put it on its list. You. would get caught very, very quickly. But. the idea of what experts are telling us. is is that you would break it down into. small pieces, maybe carve some of the.

larger stones into smaller stones so. they're less identifiable. >> You know, one expert says you string. them into a different kind of necklace. and sell it and pawn it off that way. But certainly if you try and auction. anything off, people will be on the. alert looking for these things. Can I. ask, you know, everybody's been talking. about these crown jewels as priceless, but obviously there is a price that you. can attach to these things, right? Do we. know what was the worth of the things. they stole? Yeah, we just found out. Up.

until now, there's been lots of. speculation about how much they might. have escaped with, but the head of the. investigation just went on public radio. literally minutes ago and said that the. estimation they have is they are worth. 88 million. >> WA, >> which is a ton. But she also said this. interesting thing. She said, "Look, you. know, if you were to break them apart. and melt them down, they'd be worth a. lot less." in some ways almost.

beseeching to the the thieves like. please don't do this you know you're not. going to make as much money as is as how. uh we read it in in the office. >> for what purpose do you think out of a. desire to keep these precious items. intact? >> Yeah. I mean, even if they're worth 88. million euros, I think to the country of. France and. the history of the country, they're. worth a ton more. Historically, symbolically, culturally,

these things are priceless. >> And so, I think in some ways, a lot of. people have been talking about, you. know, how much they'd be worth, but. really the loss is more emotional for. the country than I think it is. financial. [Music]. We'll be right back.

So, I want to ask just about the. reaction to some of this. If the. assumption is that these thieves are. going to break these things down, maybe. melt down the gold, sell it for parts, make as much money as possible, how are. French people responding to that. possibility? It is the history of this. country that could be disappeared. I think the predominant reaction has.

been shock and not that at the idea of. these things being melted down per se, but just at the whole like what happened. on Sunday morning. The fact that these. people could that easily get into the. Louv has caused, you know, a lot of. different kinds of emotional reactions. There's been anger. People are stunned. Some people are quite emotional about. it. the country's justice minister. He. said that this is certain sign of a.

failure. We have failed. It has been. politicized. There's been people. particularly on the right wing of the. spectrum blaming the government for not. putting enough money into security. There's been questions about what is the. the security of the lou. And there's. just been sort of people bemoning the. fact that this could happen in the. center of the city in the the most. famous, most visited, most coveted, most.

protected museum in France and likely. the world. >> Right. The reaction that you're. describing sounds like it's one of a. sense of self questioning that's. happening because of just how highly. traffic this area was. How could this. possibly occur? Right. Yeah. There's. that sense and also just the sense of. tragedy. This country watched the NRAAM.

almost burn down and people lined the. banks of the Sen with tears in their. eyes. You know, many of them kneeling. watching it. I think French people. living here, they are. very critical culturally. They're people. who like to strike. They like to. complain. They're pretty critical, >> but they love their history. If you go. into a French bookstore, like one out of.

every four books is a history book. People know their history. They visit. the museums. This is like a a very. important cultural place in in French. people's hearts. And. >> I think people are appalled, shocked, and really grieving to a degree. The. thing that's really interesting is that, you know, France doesn't actually have a. huge amount of royal. jewels like this because of the. revolution. >> Explain that. >> And so, you know, the revolution which.

ended in the beheading of the king and. queen at the time. At that time, the the. Louv was sacked. A lot of things were. stolen, including some of the jewels. But then, you know, France has a really. ambivalent relationship with its royal. history. It's a very proud republic. And. during one of those republics, they. decided that they were going to take. what was left of the royal jewels and. auction them off. And that's what they. did in the late 1800s. They auctioned.

off tons of these jewels. And. incredibly, the lion share of them were. bought by an American who was a founder. of Tiffany's. >> Oh, wow. So, um, you know, the the Lou. has been spending decades now trying to. get them back. >> In reading about this story, I learned. that this is one of several thefts from. French museums this year. Can you tell. me about some of those other episodes?

Like, what is going on? >> Yeah, even this week there was a small. museum that was burgled twice in a row. and we were looking at like, should we. do a story on this? So, it was funny. that when this happened, I was like, "Oh. my god." But yeah, last month someone. went into the natural history museum, which is only a couple subway stops away. from the Louv, and using kind of similar. tools, cut into some cases and took out. a bunch of molten raw gold and made off.

with them. In the same month, last. month, a museum down in Limoge, southwest of Paris, thieves broke into a. museum and stole some ancient China. In. November of last year, thieves using. bats went in during the day also to a. quite famous museum not far away from. where I'm sitting. >> So, you know, there's definitely a. streak of these right now, right, >> in France. Is there an understanding.

that these robberies are connected in. any way? I mean, I'm just wondering, it. does feel like it's out of another era. that you have this string of museum. robberies, you know, and I'm wondering. if the thieves either are in any way. working together, even loosely, or are. targeting the museums for similar. reasons. >> There's no indication that people are. working together. Yes, this seems very. old-fashioned, except for in one way. This happened in broad daylight, you.

know, when people were in the museum, right? >> And that's pretty new. There's a modern. art museum here that was famously. burgled in the middle of the night and a. man made off with five very famous. tableau. And he did it in a classic way. like when you're thinking about the. movie in your head, which here is known. as Lup. It's a very famous series. If. you haven't seen it, definitely watch. it. >> I've seen it. Yeah. I I feel like I'm. watching it in real life right now. But, you know, like it's it's secret.

>> Yeah. >> And often that's at night or in some way. that people don't see it happening. This. is like a very brazen in that we do know. that, you know, there's CCTV cameras all. around the Louv. There were people there. even. So, it's a little bit different. And the lead investigator is talking. about this being like incredibly. organized. She doesn't think there was. just four people. She thinks that. there's many more involved in this. So, we don't know anything about these four. guys who broke into the Lou, though. So,

you know, it's hard to say um what kind. of connections, but clearly they're. either copycatting or there's some ring. that's sponsoring them. Those are. questions that, you know, we hope to be. able to answer in the weeks to come. >> What are the next steps in the. investigation? Like, what are the. investigators telling you about the. manhunt for these guys, about their. investigative strategies? Do we know how. they're going about trying to catch. them? >> No. What we do know is that there were.

60 police investigators on the case. Now, we know it's up to 100. We know. that they've been using DNA methods, fingerprinting. They've been using. surveillance cameras. We know that the. truck was left behind. >> Yeah. They didn't manage to burn it. >> They didn't manage to burn it. We know. that they had just recently basically. stolen it. And so investigators are. speaking to the person they stole it. from. But that's the gist of what we've. been told by investigators. They are. being incredibly tight- lipped about it.

at this point. I think they will speak. more once and if they find them. But. there's a real feeling that there's a. race against time to try and get them. before these precious jewels are broken. apart and secreted away. My final question for you, Catherine, is. do you think it's possible? And it. sounds like it might be that these. thieves actually pulled this off, like. that they could get away with it. >> Yeah. I mean, I think it's possible that.

we will never see those jewels again, [Music]. but I think France has a pretty good. record of capturing some of these. people. In fact, the person who is said. to have broken into the Natural History. Museum was just charged today. She was. captured in Barcelona. I think given the. amount of cameras um and evidence that. the cops have that they will be able to.

trace who these men were. If someone tries to sell, you know, that. beautiful diamond bow that we were. talking about earlier, then no doubt. they'll get caught and it will be. returned. And that is the best case. scenario. But if they take each of those. thousand plus diamonds off and make. something entirely different out of it, maybe a tiara, I don't know, an anklet,

a bracelet for a very rich person, then. who would notice at first? You would. need to be an expert to be able to trace. those diamonds to that bow. So, it seems. much less likely. in this case that these beautiful pieces. of French heritage will make their way. back. [Music]. Catherine, thanks so much. >> You're welcome, Natalie. It was such a. pleasure to be talking to you.

[Music]. We'll be right back. >> Here's what else you need to know. Today. >> we are one week into President Trump's. historic peace plan in the Middle East. and things are going frankly better than. I expected that they were. On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance traveled to.

Israel as the US seeks to shore up the. fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza, which. has come under strain with repeated. flare-ups of violence in recent days. Vance didn't give a deadline for Hamas. to disarm, a key part of that truce. agreement, and he also didn't specify. how officials would make sure the group. agrees to do so. >> We've got a lot of work left to do. This. is going to take a very, very long time. >> The vice president did express optimism. that the deal would hold, but said the. process of securing long-term peace.

would take time. And a White House official said on. Tuesday that Trump had no plans to meet. with Russian President Vladimir Putin in. the immediate future. A pivot after. Trump had suggested last week that he. would meet with the Russian leader soon. to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters, Trump said he. wanted to avoid a quote wasted meeting. with Putin. White House press secretary Caroline. Levit said that after Trump had a call.

with Putin last week, the Russian leader. had committed to sitting down with him. [Music]. Today's episode was produced by Shannon. Lynn and Caitlyn O'Keefe. It was edited. by Brendan Clinkenberg, fact checked by. Susan Lee, contains music by Dan Powell, Pat McCusker, and Marian Lozano, and was. engineered by Chris Wood. [Music].

That's it for the daily. I'm Natalie. Kitroof. See you tomorrow. [Music].