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Two males broke into the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and made off with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in gems on this day in historical past, Oct. 29, 1964.
The theft was the largest jewel heist in U.S. historical past.
Among the 24 gems stolen by Allan Dale Kuhn, 26, and Jack Roland Murphy (often known as “Murf the Surf”), 27, have been the Star of India, a 563.35 carat sapphire; the DeLong Star Ruby, a 100.32 carat ruby; and the Midnight Star, a black sapphire weighing 116 carats.
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The Star of India and the Midnight Star are the largest sapphire and black sapphire, respectively. The DeLong Star Ruby is taken into account to be the “world’s most perfect” ruby, notes the Smithsonian Magazine.
The heist revealed that safety at the American Museum of Natural History was shockingly lax.
Jack Roland Murphy, who additionally glided by “Murf the Surf,” was sentenced to 3 years in jail for stealing 24 gems from the American Museum of Natural History. (Getty Images)
Murphy and Kuhn have been capable of enter the museum after scaling a fence and a fireplace escape. Once on the hearth escape, the pair tied a rope to a pillar above one of the home windows in the J.P. Morgan Hall of Gems and Minerals, says Smithsonian Magazine.
Using the rope, one of the thieves “swung to an open window and used his feet to lower the sash,” mentioned the journal.
“We just swung in there and took the stuff.”
Their strategies of thievery have been additionally extraordinarily low tech: the two used a glass cutter and duct tape to interrupt into three show instances, after which used a squeegee to gather their loot.
They then cut up up and took separate cabs to keep away from suspicion, mentioned Smithsonian.
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“For us, it wasn’t anything,” mentioned Murphy. “We just swung in there and took the stuff.”
It was later decided that the batteries in the show’s burglar alarms had been lifeless for months, one thing a geology curator at the museum didn’t even know. Additionally, none of the home windows had burglar alarm, mentioned Smithsonian.
The Star of India, left, and the DeLong Star Ruby, middle, at the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals inside the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The two have been amongst the 24 gems stolen on Oct. 29, 1964. (Nina Westervelt/Bloomberg through Getty Images)
What’s extra: the museum had merely stopped locking an in a single day safety guard in with the priceless gems, the journal added.
Despite the younger age and prison inexperience of Murphy and Kuhn, they didn’t go away a lot at the scene for investigators to work with. There have been no fingerprints recovered on the show instances, mentioned the Smithsonian.
They did, nonetheless, fall sufferer to their very own greed, which might result in their arrest.
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James Walsh, a vice and playing plainclothesman acquired phrase from an informant that Kuhn, Murphy, and getaway automotive driver Roger Frederick Clark had thrown a lavish get together at a lodge not removed from the Natural History Museum.
“I think I got something for you,” the informant informed Walsh. “There are three guys upstairs in this place … spending money like Wild. You’d think they were making it with a machine.”
The story of the jewel heist in New York City was made into the 1975 film “Live a Little, Steal a Lot.” (LMPC through Getty Images)
Detectives acquired a search warrant for the lodge suite, and there they found marijuana, a flooring plan of the museum, and books on gems, mentioned the Smithsonian.
Clark walked in whereas the police have been looking the room, and knowledgeable the police that Kuhn and Murphy had fled to Florida.
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Kuhn and Murphy have been finally captured and arrested — and the three males have been tried for the jewel heist.
The museum considerably upgraded its safety procedures.
In January 1965, some of the stolen gems have been recovered from a Miami bus terminal, reported the New York Times at the time. Among the recovered gems have been the Star of India, however the DeLong Ruby remained lacking.
The DeLong Ruby would finally be recovered in September 1965, after the one who had acquired the gem agreed to return it in trade for a $25,000 ransom, it was reported at the time.
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Clark, Kuhn and Murphy pleaded responsible to their roles in the jewel heist, and the three have been sentenced to 3 years at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York on April 6, 1965.
The story of the heist was made into a movie, “Murf the Surf,” which was often known as “Live a Little, Steal a Lot.”
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The American Museum of Natural History additionally considerably upgraded its safety procedures.
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