Streaming platform Netflix dropped its latest true crime documentary earlier this month, a thrilling real-life caper about one of the world's most daring diamond heists set in Belgium.
'Stolen: Heist of the century' is based on the book 'Flawless: Inside the largest Diamond Heist in History' by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell and comes from the creators of binge-worthy 'Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer' and 'The Tinder Swindler' and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Documentaries. It tells the story of "the heist of the century" in the diamond capital of the world, Antwerp, with blow-by-blow accounts from the Flemish detectives who cracked the case and the alleged criminal mastermind behind it all.
The documentary film begins on the morning of 17 February 2003, when detectives from Antwerp's infamous 'Diamond Squad' were called to investigate the nighttime robbery of an allegedly impregnable vault in the middle of the city. Between $100 to $500 million worth of diamonds are estimated to have been stolen – and have never been found. An ingenious gang of Italian thieves, known as 'The School of Turin', were behind the audacious heist. Now, finally, the world is learning how they managed to pull it off.
Dubbed "the real Ocean's 11", the 95-minute film is already generating a buzz online. Viewers have noted how remarkable this documentary is as it features interviews with the mastermind behind the crime, Leonardo Notarbartolo.
Notarbartolo, who has already served ten years for his crime, speaks openly on camera over the weekend of 15 February 2003 about his role in the complex operation, which involved breaking into the Antwerp World Diamond Centre housing dozens of gem trading companies and masterfully dodging security. A seemingly flawless theft – until police manage to piece together clues which led back to him and a couple of accomplices several days later.
Despite the impact on so many people's lives, he does not seem to have any regrets: "I've always wanted to be part of something like this," he says in the film, adding, "we felt proud of doing something so strong and powerful."
Notarbartolo's claims are also fact-checked by law enforcement officials in the film: throughout the documentary, he talks about how a man named Alessandro commissioned him to do the heist, but authorities interviewed say they never found any evidence of this. He now lives on the outskirts of Turin and has a small business making wood pellets, but is still closely monitored by police, according to Time. To this day, almost all of the diamonds are still missing.
Watch 'Stolen: Heist of the century' on Netflix here.
