Caught rigging the lottery

BGR.com have an article about an insider who fixed the Multi-State Lottery.  The interesting part from our point of view is how he got caught.

In 2012, lottery officials in Iowa grew suspicious when a New York lawyer “representing a newly created trust” withdrew a claim for a $16.5 million jackpot after being asked to reveal who had initially purchased the ticket. Curious as to who in their right mind would turn down $16.5 million, video of the winning ticket purchase was eventually released to the public.

NYT on the Hatton Garden Heist

The New York Times has an article about the aging thieves who pulled off the largest cash robbery in British history.

Blowing Up ATMs

Bloomberg.com has an article about a  gang in the UK that stole cash from ATMs by filling them with gas and then blowing them up.  Dangerous but effective - at least in 2014.

Casino Extortion

Damn Interesting has a long post about a very interesting extortion attempt on a Lake Tahoe, Nevada casino in 1980.

Pink Panther member escapes

According to UPI, a member of the Pink Panther gang has escaped from a Swiss prison.

Two accomplices used ladders, a van and automatic weapons fire to get Poparic and another prisoner out of the prison near the French border, Thursday, the BBC reported.

Steal it then burn it?

Yahoo have an article about how the 7 masterpieces stolen from the Kunsthal museum may have been destroyed by the thieves who found themselves unable to sell the world famous pieces.

"A Romanian museum is analyzing ashes found in a stove to see if they are the remains of seven paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and others that were stolen last year from the Netherlands," reports the Associated Press, which adds that the ashes were found in the stove of one Olga Dogaru, the mother of prime suspect Radu Dogaru.

More on Belgian diamond heist

The New York Times has a follow up article on the Belgian airport diamond robbery.  It seems it may not have been as well planned as originally thought.