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The 15 Greatest Gold Heists Of All Time

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Gold is valuable and extremely rare, and therefore the yellow metal is usually protected at all costs. However, there have been multiple occurrences in history where evildoers have breached security measures and bullion has fallen into the wrong hands.

Below is also a video version of the infographic detailing the greatest gold heists!

 

Today we count down the stories of everyday henchmen, terrorist groups, and nation states that have all stolen large swaths of gold loot. This includes notable worldwide events such as the Spaniards’ metal extraction from the New World, famous and recent ISIS raids on banks in the Middle East, and two significant transfers of wealth in WWII that occurred through the use of force.

It’s times like these when we are reminded how important it is to have proper security measures in place for our own personal wealth. For a good primer, JMBullion goes through the basics here on securing precious metals.

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist
 

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Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:03 | 5301114 zaphod
zaphod's picture

FDR implemented the biggest gold heist in history when he banned private possession for 2 generations in order to erase from mankind's memory the fact that only gold is money. 

Humanity's process of relearning this fact will be painful. 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:10 | 5301131 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

this is all good stuff, but what about the US stealing central bank of ukraine's gold? that was quite a heist. apparently they can put 30+ tons on a plane and ship it out same day.

but, of course, when germany demands its gold back which the US is allegedly holding for germany, well, there's "logistics problems" to overcome, so in that case transporting gold is not so easy.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:23 | 5301160 knukles
knukles's picture

A C-5 Galaxy can airlift 380,000 kg which equals about 425 tons (short, US)

Meaning it could carry to loot of about 15 countries with that amount of gold reserves.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:24 | 5301166 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

The last Fort Knox audit was when again?

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:27 | 5301174 quintago
quintago's picture

They forgot the greatest - from under WTC on 911.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:34 | 5301191 knukles
knukles's picture

Tee hee heh
Yep.  And a couple of days, no more than a week later, the Mayor and some others give a press conference saying that they recovered the gold.
The Towers were still a smouldering mass of rubble.
Recovered, my ass.
And they said it was about $500k.
Horseshit.
There were pics of the empty vault prior to the collapse, etc., etc., etc. 
Another theft right along with all the options activities, etc., surrounding that day.

Oh and BTW, the records of access to the vault went missing (several days pages) so nobody knew what went on... yeah, right.
And the dude running the vault's security went a missing, too.

LOL   Yeah, and nary a mention.

 

Look!  A Flying Unicorn Pooping Rainbows!

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:19 | 5301304 imaginalis
imaginalis's picture

"All your gold are belong to us."

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:23 | 5301316 Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang's picture

The Rothschild central bank scam in a nutshell.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:58 | 5301415 Xibalba
Xibalba's picture

Why are the Twin Towers (+Tower7) not on this? 

 

Or the friggen tunnel between Chase and the NY Fed???

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 22:04 | 5301657 markmotive
markmotive's picture

Not to burst any bubbles, but Ned Davis Research thinks gold could head down to the $600s

http://www.planbeconomics.com/2014/10/ned-davis-if-gold-follows-1980s-pa...

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 03:34 | 5302178 The Black Bishop
The Black Bishop's picture

Lets not forget the Libyan gold either.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 04:36 | 5302214 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Germany, Iraq, Lybia, Mali, Ukraine. This is how you crush the gold price to buy time for the dollar. Who's next?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 06:00 | 5302261 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

Davis Research thinks gold could head down to the $600s

 

Uh huh.......clearly Jon Nadler cult members.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:41 | 5301209 knukles
knukles's picture

Ft Knox Audit

Last formal audit was in 1953 at the behest of Pres Eisenhower.

Later, on Sept 23, 1974, a bevy of Congressmen and a Senator were given a show and tell, some of which is available online.
I might add, that the bars shown in said film at Ft Knox as well as those in the last Official FRBNYC publicity photos (used to be available online at FRBNYC's site, and the one's I saw were a long time ago, so dated info) are not lof proper good delivery "shape".  FWTW

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:46 | 5301226 stant
stant's picture

A few years before Ruben and clinton finished it off

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:52 | 5301395 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

I believe that the greatest gold heist in history was committed by the Spanish in the New World.  An estimated 3000 to 6000 tons of gold was stolen from the Aztec and Incan empires.

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:22 | 5301162 zaphod
zaphod's picture

To be fair Germany lost it's gold in WWII to the US. 

In order to help Germany rebuild post-war, the US allowed Germany to use it's confiscated gold as backing to finance the rebuilding effort, but the US took that gold understanding it would not be returned. This is why Germany makes noises but doesn't push. Remember Venezuela was able to get it's gold back, but not Germany. There is a reason.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:27 | 5301170 knukles
knukles's picture

Venezuela got their gold back from the BoE, not the Fed, if I remember correctly.
Which, BTW, coincided almost exactly with the amount "liberated " form Libya's CB just hours or days after Hugo demanded his gold back from the BoE

Yep, another one of them co-inkie-o-dinces.  They just happens all the times.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 06:05 | 5302265 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

Venezuela got their gold back from the BoE,

 

No...they tried too. There's no evidence they actually did. I'm certainly not taking their word for it.

 

If Germany can't do it.....I'm not holding out much hope fer Venezuela.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:33 | 5301190 PhilofOz
PhilofOz's picture

So the gold does not belong to Germany or the US and it can be stolen from the vaults of Fort Knox by others in a similar way without penalty. 

Oh wait......!!

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:22 | 5301312 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Stolen without penalty? It's what happens when you lose a War.  That post hit people like cold water.  Today we're taught that everybody wins.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:51 | 5301378 PhilofOz
PhilofOz's picture

Comment removed, considering Cacete de Ouro's post below.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:39 | 5301206 Cacete de Ouro
Cacete de Ouro's picture

Reichsbank gold is different to Deutsche Bundesbank gold. Reichsbank gold was apprehended by Allies and some of it given back to original owners that Nazis had robbed it from. Bundesbank gold was built up in 1950s and onwards from trading (exporting things)

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:05 | 5301449 Jayacts
Jayacts's picture

9/11 has to be in there somewhere. Was that WTC gold ever recovered?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 03:55 | 5302195 Volaille de Bresse
Volaille de Bresse's picture

"Humanity's process of relearning this fact will be painful"

Make that : "America's process of relearning this fact will be painful"

In the rest of the world the tradition of owning and buying gold has never been interrupted. Asia IS the golden continent, African women own owns a lot of yellow metal.

In Europe (France Italy Germany) basements and mattresses are full of coins.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:03 | 5301119 Cacete de Ouro
Cacete de Ouro's picture

What about the Great Gold Heist carried out under the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001?

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:29 | 5301178 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Whose gold was heisted?  I've heard the story but I never got who owned the gold.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:04 | 5301122 Goldilocks
Goldilocks's picture

Royal Babylon by Heathcote Williams (rough cut)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIukrdRhnpw (1:11:53)

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:13 | 5301126 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

Whatever happened to the 144 tonnes of Libyan Gold?

The Brits took enormous amount of gold and jewels from India.

And Churchill thanked India by starving 4 million Indians during World War II

How Sir Winston Churchill Starved 4 Million Indians

Madhusree Mukerjee’s book [Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II, New York, Basic Books, 2010] is not a denunciation of British rule of India, but a meticulous chronicling of the role of the British Raj in furthering a famine in Bengal, and suppressing the fact that this deliberate holocaust took 4 million lives

Churchill’s six-volume History of the Second World War fails to mention the cataclysm that was responsible for about 90% of total British Empire casualties in that conflict

http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=1396

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:13 | 5301140 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

Unfortunately, all of my gold was heisted as well. And then there was that earthquake...and fire...

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:15 | 5301143 JohnG
JohnG's picture

Fed manipulation has caused much, much more losses.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:16 | 5301145 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Makes my boating accident pale in comparison ;-)

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:49 | 5301237 gmrpeabody
gmrpeabody's picture

But not when you add up the sheer number of boating accidents involving gold...

the total is huge.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:20 | 5301157 scrappy
scrappy's picture

This is the greatest gold robbery, you missed it.

Gold Robbery of Cairo - Caught on Film!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgcGyt6qOLg

This scene is one of the best with the hot European chick.

Hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cne7psSwCWY

After the Fox Theme Song - Classic - Bert Bacharach - Peter Sellers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2HO5sTGll8

The full movie. If you have not seen it, give it a try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV8hRbSci2Y

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 03:19 | 5302164 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

"The wrong man has escaped!"

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:24 | 5301164 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

We need to get back to. Good as Gold. ASAP. 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:34 | 5301179 Youri Carma
Youri Carma's picture

That's incorrect. Fort Knox and 911-WTC gold heists are the biggest in history.

Not to mention the Iraq, Libyan and Ukraine gold heists.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:48 | 5301235 Cacete de Ouro
Cacete de Ouro's picture

Fort Knox was sure one of the biggest. The "International Speculators" bank cartel (US-London-Paris-Suisse) in the London market even got the US Treasury London Gold Pool to airlift multiple 100s of tonnes from Fort Knox to north of London in December 1967 using the US Air Force to Mildenhall and then a police convoy. The FRBNY picked up the tab for insurance with MAT and even dinner for the police. And all the while the Rockefeller, Indo Suez, Englehard and Montagu boys were laughing their way to the bank. It was an inside job with the Treasury.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:06 | 5301454 darteaus
darteaus's picture

I thought James Bond stopped Goldfinger's heist at Fort Knox.

The following documentary proves it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqz9GjnhKcY

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:30 | 5301181 Cautiously Pess...
Cautiously Pessimistic's picture

What about best Gold Heist Movies??

Kelly's Heroes

Three Kings

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:37 | 5301197 Youri Carma
Youri Carma's picture

Yeah, Kelly's Heroes always puts a smile on my face. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuStsFW4EmQ

Kelly's Heroes Oddball -You know what's inside that bank, man?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuStsFW4EmQ

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:41 | 5301211 Cacete de Ouro
Cacete de Ouro's picture

Italian job?

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:54 | 5301232 Youri Carma
Youri Carma's picture

Kelly's Heroes The Ectasy of Gold & Burning Bridges https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfo2uG5saxQ

Brad Neely - Bring The Gold http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qO66Rmi1Mw

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:32 | 5301186 Lmo Mutton
Lmo Mutton's picture

And neither one was mentioned.  WTFO?

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:42 | 5301214 Irishcyclist
Irishcyclist's picture

What about all the gold looted by the Vikings and then by the Brits, from Ireland?

Gold from my country is on display in the Tower of London.

I remember the 1983 Brinks Mat job.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:58 | 5301231 Keltner Channel Surf
Keltner Channel Surf's picture

Gold bug Jim planned to purloin

a museum’s rare Medieval coin

But two guards with bastinadoes

swinging low, toward his “potatoes”

made him thankful to have but one groin

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 19:52 | 5301244 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

Yes FDR #1

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:05 | 5301271 Big Corked Boots
Big Corked Boots's picture

Here's a recent one that didn't make the list:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/25k_reward_offered_for_return.html

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:20 | 5301276 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

Where is the Gold taken on 9-11?

The Day-long, joint Mossad-CIA-MI6 heist makes these look like small potatoes

SilverDoctors: $1.08 TRILLION Worth of Gold,


9-11 WTC Biggest Gold Heist in History: $300 Billion in Bar
Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:17 | 5301281 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture
  "Missing Gold"?

 

"Precious Metals in WTC 4 Vault: Only a Fraction Recovered?"    

The basement of 4 World Trade Center housed vaults used to store gold and silver bullion. Published articles about precious metals recovered from the World Trade Center ruins in the aftermath of the attack mention less than $300 million worth of gold.

All such reports appear to refer to a removal operation conducted in late October of 2001. On Nov. 1, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced that "more than $230 million" worth of gold and silver bars that had been stored in a bomb-proof vault had been recovered. A New York Times article contained:

Two Brinks trucks were at ground zero on Wednesday to start hauling away the $200 million in gold and silver that the Bank of Nova Scotia had stored in a vault under the trade center ... A team of 30 firefighters and police officers are helping to move the metals, a task that can be measured practically down to the flake but that has been rounded off at 379,036 ounces of gold and 29,942,619 ounces of silver .. 1  

Reports describing the contents of the vaults before the attack suggest that nearly $1 billion in precious metals was stored in the vaults. A figure of $650 million in a National Real Estate Investor article published after the attack is apparently based on pre-attack reports.

Unknown to most people at the time, $650 million in gold and silver was being kept in a special vault four floors beneath Four World Trade Center. 2  

An article in the TimesOnline gives the following rundown of precious metals that were being stored in the WTC vault belonging to Comex. 3  

  • Comex metals trading - 3,800 gold bars weighing 12 tonnes and worth more than $100 million
  • Comex clients - 800,000 ounces of gold with a value of about $220 million
  • Comex clients - 102 million ounces of silver, worth $430 million
  • Bank of Nova Scotia - $200 million of gold
9-11 Research: Missing Gold

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:14 | 5301288 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Japs took 275 billion in gold and 276 billion pieces of Chinee poontang.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 07:18 | 5302331 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

There's a saying in China....two words.....ONE DAY!

 

Oh....they're very serious about that.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:45 | 5301366 goldenbuddha454
goldenbuddha454's picture

How about the NY FED taking 7 years to return Germany's gold?  Doubt that even happened

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:49 | 5301382 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen.
All of this gold "HEIST" talk is making me nervous. I'm exiting this thread, now.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 20:52 | 5301396 IronForge
IronForge's picture

Gee, since TEAM_USA, TEAM_GBR, and TEAM_SUN took over DEU and JPN (SUN was not invited to the party in JPN) after WWII, where did all the looted Gold in DEU and JPN go?

Also, Author forgot the Looting the USA did to JPN from the mid 1800s - taking in USA paper money for JPN Gold with VERY LOUSY transfer rates (the game's been going on for this long, folks), draining JPN's Gold Mines.

Where's DEU's Gold Reserves in the Present?

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:05 | 5301443 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

In the end, Gold owns Itself.

But Gold, like God, allows others to think they "own" it.

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:11 | 5301468 armageddon addahere
armageddon addahere's picture

Hell of a way to advertise gold, convince people to buy it by showing how easy it is to steal?

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:12 | 5301469 luckylogger
luckylogger's picture

What about the 15 tons of gold on that malaysian airlines jet that "crashed" in the middle of the indian ocean????????

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:21 | 5301502 Seize Mars
Seize Mars's picture

The #1 Gold Heist of All Time:

...when the Rothschilds stole all of America's gold.

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:21 | 5301508 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

 

 

 

Amateurs. 

 

L. Blankfein

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:40 | 5301568 Proofreder
Proofreder's picture

Gold is Not Rare

Gold is everywhere; in the dirt, in the ocean, and in the rock and sand all over the world.

High concentrations of metallic gold are truly rare - big chunks and nuggets of Gold.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 21:53 | 5301605 limacon
limacon's picture

Gold attracts too much attention .

Lots of silver is better

See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2014/10/should-you-buy-gold.html

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 23:12 | 5301852 jtlien
jtlien's picture

Alexander Orlov, working as an agent for Stalin.  Help to steal 510 tons of the gold of the Treasury of Spain during the Spanish Civel war (1936).   This was supposedly for safekeeping and payment of arms but the
Spanish never got the gold back or the arms.   Orlov, who was a terrorist during the Spanish Civel war and specialized in assasinations lived out his golden years in the 1950's in that evil place that persecuted communists so unjustly--- the United States of America.

 

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 23:38 | 5301894 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

"$1.08 TRILLION Worth of Gold, 102 MILLION oz of SILVER Were Stolen From Under the World Trade Center

On the 10 year anniversary of September 11th, SilverDoctors believes the best and most appropriate way to honor those who lost their lives, their father, mother, spouse, son, daughter, or loved one on that fateful day is to help expose their real murderers.

This is the only acceptable way to honor those who lost their lives- by exposing the dastardly actions of the murderers who took their lives.

For those who believe the "Official" story of 911, please realize that this is in no way an attempt to do anything other than honor those who lost their lives by exposing the truth of who executed the dastardly actions on 911, and why. 

First, the why.

It's always ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.

$1.08 TRILLION WORTH OF GOLD STORED UNDER THE WORLD TRADE CENTER WAS NEVER RECOVERED!

  approximately 65 tons of gold were stolen from the WTC, but perhaps even more interesting, the official statistics indicate 102 MILLION OZ OF SILVER WERE LOST/STOLEN in the WTC! 

This is equal to the TOTAL CURRENT INVENTORY OF COMEX SILVER!
http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/gold.html

(Conveniently the source of the statistics, TimesOnline, has removed the article including these stats)

Out of $167 Billion (2001 value) worth of gold stored under World Trade Center building 4, only $200 million was recovered....under WTC building 5, in an empty delivery truck, with an escort of empty armed cars.

SilverDoctors: $1.08 TRILLION Worth of Gold,

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 07:29 | 5302347 vyeung
vyeung's picture

these criminals have no shame. They pretend to honor the victims when in truth they were the executors. Makes me SICK!

People, US is under seige by these criminals and the Zionists are the puppet masters!

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 10:58 | 5303112 steveharless
steveharless's picture

What about Goldfinger on James bond?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 11:29 | 5303335 EclipticAnomaly
EclipticAnomaly's picture

Wrong Roosevelt in #6.  But everybody at ZH  knew that already.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:23 | 5305477 FeralSerf
FeralSerf's picture

"A Rare Shortchanging, #6" in 1933

Theodore Roosevelt? I don't think so.

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