Flawless
Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History
NOW THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
Stolen: Heist of the Century
"Like a diamond, this true-life caper is clear, colorful, and brilliant."
Publishers Weekly
★ Starred Review ★
"Fans of caper books and movies will be in seventh heaven here... A must-read for true-crime fans."
Booklist
★ Starred Review ★
"Tells the story with the gripping pace of a true-crime 'Ocean’s Eleven.'"
The New York Post
The True Story of the Antwerp Diamond Heist
The Antwerp Diamond Center was one of the most secure buildings in the world. With hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of diamonds stored in its subterranean vault, it had to be. Located in the heart of Belgium’s ultra-secure Antwerp Diamond District, protected by two police stations, armed patrols, extensive video surveillance, and vehicle barriers securing an area where 80 percent of the world’s diamonds trade hands.
But on February 15, 2003, a band of skilled Italian thieves — fronted by the charming Leonardo Notarbartolo, who spent over two years clandestinely casing the building — subverted every one of the Diamond Center's defenses and made off with a record amount of loot. Experts estimate they got away with nearly half a billion dollars in diamonds, jewelry, cash, and other valuables. They'd pulled off the biggest heist in history.
The robbers did it with stealth and smarts; no one was hurt or even threatened during what was quickly labeled the largest diamond heist in history. The bandits — members of a group of professional thieves known as "The School of Turin" — used cunning in lieu of violence, successfully evading security cameras, thwarting an array of electronic sensors, and penetrating a vault protected by a double-locked foot-thick steel door.
Flawless is a fast-paced global scavenger hunt uncovering the truth behind Leonardo Notarbartolo and the Antwerp Diamond robbery. Tracking clues, sources, and documents throughout Europe — from seedy cafés in Turin, Italy to sleek diamond offices in Antwerp, Belgium — the authors retrace Leonardo Notarbartolo’s careful discovery of the building’s security flaws. They recreate this jewel heist and its aftermath — detailing how the thieves brilliantly neutralized each element of the security protecting the Diamond Center’s vault while inviting readers into the secretive world of diamonds and diamond dealing.
The result is a thrilling ride through the better-than-fiction heist of the century.
More Reviews
"As compelling as any work of fiction."
A.V. Club
"A caper movie in print… offers exactly the right blend of diversion and pith."
Salon.com
"A riveting narrative."
Boston Globe
"Flawless is a page-turner... The sheer massed detail gathered from multiple sources is impressive."
Globe & Mail
"The whole fascinating story is outlined in a new book called Flawless."
BBC 4 Radio
"Flawless is a true crime tale as entertaining as Hollywood's 'Ocean's Eleven.'"
Star Tribune
"A breathless 'inside,' blow-by-blow, if not actually how-to, account of 'the largest diamond heist in history'"
Harvard Magazine
"Meticulously reported and expertly assembled, Flawless is just the thing to get the blood of winter-weary readers moving."
The Week
"An engrossing nonfiction thriller."
Kirkus Reviews
"The literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster."
PopMatters.com
"Flawless details a real-life diamond heist that is definitely movie-worthy."
Bustle
"Fans of true crime...and of crime caper movies will especially enjoy this fun romp."
Library Journal
Praise for Flawless
"With Flawless, Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell take the genre of true crime to a new level. Reading Flawless you realize that sometimes reality can be more fantastic than most action films."
Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi
New York Times bestselling authors of The Monster of Florence
"How could a group of thieves have slipped into a building designed as a diamond fortress and escaped with millions of loot in tow without anyone noticing? In Flawless, Scott Selby and Greg Campbell expertly dissect this audacious crime in a compellingly expansive investigation ranging from the intricacies of the diamond industry to the history of the mob in Italy. A story that could have been ripped from the pages of a movie script but which is rooted in fact, Flawless is a rare true crime story—a real diamond in the rough."
Julian Rubinstein, author of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
"Thoroughly researched and wonderfully written, Scott Selby and Greg Campbell tell the gripping story of the diamond heist of the century. Part whodunit, part mob tell-all, part diamond underworld reportage, Flawless is simply too good to miss."
Ulrich Boser, author of The Gardner Heist