Albert Spaggiari (December 14, 1932 – June 8, 1989), nicknamed Bert by his friends, was a French criminal chiefly known as the organizer of a break-in into a Société Générale bank in Nice, France in 1976. He was involved with the terrorist OAS and also worked for the Chilean DINA, participating in operation Condor. December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Crime (disambiguation). ... Société Générale (Euronext: GLE) is one of the main banks in France (one of the three oldest). ... A bank is an institution that provides financial service, particularly taking deposits and extending credit. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: [1] (Latin: Nice the city) Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Département Alpes-Maritimes (06) Région Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Mayor Jacques Peyrat (UMP) (since 1995) Intercommunality Community of Agglomeration Nice Côte dAzur City (commune) Characteristics... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1976 calendar). ... The Organisation de larmée secrète (OAS; Secret Army Organization) was a short-lived French right-wing terrorist group formed in January 1961 to resist the granting of independence to the French colony of Algeria (Algérie française). ... For the Biblical Dina, see Dinah. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Earlier life

Spaggiari was born in Laragne-Montéglin in the Hautes-Alpes département. He grew up in Hyères, where his mother had a lingerie store. Hautes-Alpes is a département in southeastern France named after the Alps mountain range. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ... Hyères is a town and commune in the southeast of France, in the Var département, located 1. ...

Spaggiari is reported to have committed his first robbery in order to offer a diamond to a girlfriend. He would later enter the French Foreign Legion (maybe in order to escape justice) and fought as a paratrooper during the Indochina War. The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion Étrangère) is a unique unit within the French Army established in 1831. ... An American Paratrooper using a MC1-B series parachute Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force. ... Combatants French Republic Viet Minh Strength 500,000 ? Casualties 94,581 dead 78,127 wounded 40,000 captured 300,000+ dead 500,000+ wounded 100,000 captured The First Indochina War (also called the French Indochina War) was fought in Southeast Asia from 1946 through 1954 between the nation of...

During the Algerian War he worked for the OAS, a clandestine anti-de Gaulle and anti-decolonisation organization. Despite the fact that he was probably more a sympathizer than a real activist, Spaggiari was later sentenced to some years in prison for his OAS activities. During his imprisonment Spaggiari wrote his first autobiographic book Faut pas rire avec les barbares ("One needn't laugh with the barbarians"). Combatants FLN Algeria France The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists, or the colons as they were called, in French special département Algeria and the FLN (Front... The Organisation de larmée secrète (OAS; Secret Army Organization) was a short-lived French right-wing terrorist group formed in January 1961 to resist the granting of independence to the French colony of Algeria (Algérie française). ... Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ) (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970), in France commonly referred to as le général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman. ... Colonialism in 1945 Decolonization is the process by which a colony gains its independence from a colonial power, a process opposite to colonization. ...

In 1976 he was the owner of a photographic studio in Nice, living in a house in the hills over Nice named Les Oies Sauvages. But he apparently quickly became bored with his law-abiding middle-class life. Later accounts described him as cavalier and stylish. When living in Nice he used to wear sunglasses most of the time and smoke large cigars, a style that made him resemble the singer Jacques Dutronc. Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. ... Jacques Dutronc (b. ...

Heist

When Spaggiari heard that the sewers were close to the vault of the Société Générale bank, he began to plan a break-in into the bank. Eventually he decided to do it by digging into the bank vault from below. Spaggiari rented a box in the bank vault for himself and then put a loud alarm clock in the vault. He set the clock to ring at night in order to check the possible existence of any acoustic or seismic detection gear. In fact, there were no alarms protecting the vault because it was considered utterly impregnable; the door wall was extremely thick and there was no obvious way to access the other walls. A bank vault or strongroom is usually a (very) large safe built into (or under) the fabric of a bank building and in which valuables are stored. ... A premium digital clock radio with digital tuning. ... Burglar (or intrusion), fire and safety alarms are found in electronic form today. ...

Spaggiari contacted professional gangsters from Marseille. Although it has never been verified, he probably got support from Gaëtano Zampa to build a team that was completed by some of his OAS friends, including would-be-assassin of Charles De Gaulle Gaby Anglade and con artist Jean Kay. His men made their way into the sewers and began a two-month effort to dig an eight meter long tunnel from the sewer to under the vault. Spaggiari had taken many precautions during this long dig. His men worked long hours continuously drilling. He told his men not to drink coffee nor alcohol and get at least 10 hours of sleep every shift to avoid any danger to the mission. city flag coat of arms Motto: By her great deeds, Marseille shines in the world Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Subdivisions 16 arrondissements (in 8 secteurs) Département Bouches-du-Rhône (13) Région Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin (UMP) (since 1995... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ) (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970), in France commonly referred to as le général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short, (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... Sewers transport wastewater from buildings to treatment facilities. ...

On July 16, 1976, during a long weekend due to Bastille Day festivities, Spaggiari's gang broke into the vault itself. They opened 400 safe deposit boxes and stole an estimated 60 million francs worth of money, securities and valuables. July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1976 calendar). ... The Champs-Élysées decorated with flags for the 14 July. ... Safe deposit boxes inside a Swiss bank. ... One million (1000000), one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999999 and preceding 1000001. ... An example of Money. ... Security is a type of transferable interest representing financial value. ...

According to some accounts, Spaggiari brought his men some refreshments (including wine and pâté), and reportedly they sat down in the vault for a picnic lunch, spending hours picking through the various safety deposit boxes. Spaggiari and his men found nude photos of some wealthy and famous locals, which they attached to the walls of the vault to be seen by all who entered. Before they left on July 20, they left this message on the walls of the vault: "without hatred, without violence, without weapons". This was Spaggiari's message to the world, and he obviously considered himself to be something more than a common thief. A pâté (also spelled paté) is a spreadable paste, usually made from meat although vegetarian variants exist, and often served with toast as a starter. ... July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ...

Capture and escape

At first the French police were baffled. However, by the end of October, they were closing in, and on a tip from a former girlfriend, they arrested one of the errant thieves. After a lengthy interrogation he turned over the entire gang, including Spaggiari. When Spaggiari, who had been accompanying the mayor of Nice Jacques Médecin in the Far East as a photographer, returned to Nice, he was arrested at the airport. Jacques Médecin (1928-1998) was a French politician. ...

Spaggiari chose Jacques Peyrat, a veteran of the French Legion, as his defence attorney. Spaggiari first denied his involvement in the break-in, then acknowledged it but claimed that he was working to fund a secret political organization named the "Catena" (Italian for Chain) that seems to have existed only in his fantasy. Jacques Peyrat (born October 18, 1931 at Belfort) is a right-wing French politician and lawyer who has been mayor of Nice since 1995 and senator from the Alpes-Maritimes since 1998. ...

During his case hearings, Spaggiari devised an escape plan. He made a fictitious document which he claimed as evidence. He made the document coded so it had to be deciphered by the judge. He distracted judge Richard Bouaziz with this document and then jumped out of a window, landed safely on a parked car and escaped on a waiting motorcycle. Some reports claimed that the owner of the car later received a 5000 francs cheque in the mail for the damage to his hood. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A 125 cc motorcycle, the Italian-manufactured Cagiva Planet. ... Typical cancelled personal cheque as used in the U.S. A cheque, or (in American English) check, thought to have developed from Persian Ú†Ùƒ chek, is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specific demand account held in the maker...

Left-wing papers later claimed that Spaggiari would have received help from his political friends, in particular from ex-OAS militants close to the mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin. The accusations forced Médecin to go through a second round of voting at the local elections of 1977. Jacques Médecin (1928-1998) was a French politician. ...

Life in hiding

The escape of Spaggiari would last until the end of his life. He was sentenced in absentia to a life in prison. Reportedly he underwent plastic surgery and spent probably most of the rest of his life in Argentina. However, it is reported that Spaggiari came several times clandestinely to France, visiting his mother or his wife "Audi". For the publishing of his ultimate book Le journal d'une truffe he gave an interview to Bernard Pivot for the TV program Apostrophes that was reportedly recorded in France. In Absentia is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in September 24, 2002. ... Life imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. ... Plastic surgery is a general term for operative manual and instrumental treatment which is performed for functional or aesthetic reasons. ... Bernard Pivot (born 5 May 1935) is a journalist, interviewer and host of French cultural television programmes. ...

According to a CIA document declassified in 2000 and publicized by the National Security Archive, Michael Townley, the DINA international agent responsible for the murder of Orlando Letelier, a member of Salvador Allende's government, in Washington DC, 1976, was in contact with Spaggiari. Information contained in the document suggests that Spaggiari (code name "Daniel") conducted operations on behalf of DINA. [1] [2] [3] The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... The National Security Archive is an independent organization located within the George Washington University. ... Michael Townley, a U.S. expatriate, first worked for the CIA before working for the DINA, Chilean secret police under Augusto Pinochets dictatorship, where he participated in operation Condor. ... For the Biblical Dina, see Dinah. ... Orlando Letelier (1932 April 13 - 1976 September 21) was a member of the Salvador Allende’s government who was assassinated in Washington, D.C., by Chilean DINA agents in 1976. ... Salvador Isabelino del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Allende Gossens (July 26, 1908 – September 11, 1973) was President of Chile from September 1970 until his removal from power and death in September 1973. ...

Spaggiari was said to have died under "mysterious circumstances". The press reported that his body was found by his mother in front of her home on June 10, 1989, having been carried back to France by unknown friends. However it now seems well established that his wife "Audi" was with him when he died of throat cancer on June 8, 1989, in a country house in Piedmont. She drove the corpse from Piedmont to Hyères and lied to the police as it is a criminal offence to carry a cadaver. June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... When normal cells are damaged beyond repair, they are eliminated by apoptosis. ... Piedmont (Italian: Piemonte) is a region of northwestern Italy. ...

Remains of the loot from the heist has never been found.

Writings by Albert Spaggiari

• (1977) Faut pas rire avec les barbares
• (1978) Les égouts du paradis
• (1983) Le journal d'une truffe

Popular culture

French authors René-Louis Maurice and Jean-Claude Simoën wrote the book Cinq Milliards au bout de l'égout (1977) about Spaggiari's bank heist in Nice. Their work was translated in 1978 by the British author Ken Follett as The Heist of the Century (also published as The Gentleman of 16 July and Under the Streets of Nice). To the outrage of Ken Follett some publishers brought it out as a new Ken Follett book, while it was in fact little more than a rushed trough translation. [4] Ken Follett (born June 5, 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels. ...

In 1979, two movies were produced which were also based on the Nice bank heist:

• Les égouts du paradis, a French movie directed by José Giovanni.
• The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, a British movie directed by Francis Megahy.

See also

• Organisation de l'armée secrète
• Operation Condor

The Organisation de larmée secrète (OAS; Secret Army Organization) was a short-lived French right-wing terrorist group formed in January 1961 to resist the granting of independence to the French colony of Algeria (Algérie française). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

External links

• French page related to a 2004 TV documentary on Albert Spaggiari (scroll down two thirds
• Les égouts du paradis IMDb page dealing with the movie