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The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue
by Dean Jobb
Book Reviewed by:In this captivating Jazz Age true crime about "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" (Life Magazine), Arthur Barry, who charmed celebrities and millionaires while simultaneously planning and executing the most audacious and lucrative heists of the 1920s.
A skilled con artist and one of the most successful burglars in history, Arthur Barry was adept at slipping in and out of bedrooms undetected, even when his victims slept only inches away. He became a folk hero, a gentleman bandit touted in the press as the "Prince of Thieves" and an "Aristocrat of Crime." Think Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. In a span of seven years, Barry stole pearls, diamonds, and other precious gems worth almost $60 million today. Among his many victims were a Rockefeller, an heiress to the Woolworth Department Store fortune, an oil magnate, Wall Street bigwigs, a top executive of automotive giant General Motors, and a famous polo player. He befriended the Prince of Wales, Harry Houdini, and other luminaries. The rollicking, caper-filled rise and dramatic downfall of this master thief is a high-speed ride told in stylish prose.
A Gentleman and a Thief is also a love story. Barry confessed to dozens of burglaries to protect his wife, Anna Blake (and was the prime suspect in scores of others on Long Island and across Westchester County). Sentenced to a twenty-five-year term, he staged a dramatic prison break—triggering a bloody inmates' riot—when Anna became seriously ill, so they could be together for a few more years as fugitives. Page-turning, escapist, and sparkling with insight into the allure of gemstones and our fascination with well-planned heists and the suave, clever criminals who pull them off, A Gentleman and a Thief is perfect for true crime fans who relish the exploits of con artists and high-class crooks.
In the Roaring Twenties—an era known for its flash and glamour as well as its gangsters and bootleggers—Arthur Barry used a combination of charm, cool-headedness, and shrewd observational skills to become one of America's most infamous jewel thieves. In A Gentleman and a Thief, Dean Jobb shares the stranger-than-fiction story of a young boy from Massachusetts who became a master cat burglar, took an English monarch on a tour of NYC, stole millions of dollars in jewels, and gave it all up for love.
To set the stage for Barry's crimes, Jobb includes a wealth of information about the culture of the 1920s. NYC's role in the diamond industry, in particular, emphasizes the extravagance of the decade, which provided jewel thieves like Barry a wide range of victims from whom to choose. Jobb also incorporates background about the various investigators who worked to capture Barry and looks at the role of the media, particularly newspapers, in the sensationalism of crime and how false headlines and unfounded tips made criminal investigations harder to solve...continued
Full Review
(899 words)
(Reviewed by Jordan Lynch).
It's been called the heist of the century, despite happening only three years after the turn of the millennium. At the start of the business day on February 17, 2003, police were called to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) by frantic jewel traders claiming their highly secure vault had been breached. Investigators found the vault open and safe deposit boxes, cash, and priceless jewels scattered across the floor. In striking similarity to the exploits of Arthur Barry, the central figure of Dean Jobb's A Gentleman and a Thief, the thieves who broke into the AWDC had seemingly pulled off an impossible crime and walked away with millions of dollars.
Antwerp, Belgium has been the capital of the world's diamond trade since ...
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