S8E4: The Last Diamond

Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test in new and creative way. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder. This is Episode 3, jewel theft is the featured crime. This is THE LAST DIAMOND by Kathleen Marple KalbDeliberation            Detective Connie Mercado has landed a gem of a case and needs our help. Miss Susan Sawyer was about to auction her prized diamond when she discovered the ring in the vault was a fake. Here is a list of the people Miss Sawyer reported had access to the ring:Allison Boatwright, assistant at the auction house, sheltered, pampered, rudderlessEverett Goodwin, auction house director, butt kissing twerpDana Jones-Stann, accountant, keeper of the safe deposit box keysABOUT Kathleen Marple KalbKathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she’s the author of short stories and novels including the Old Stuff and Ella Shane series, and, as Nikki Knight, the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio series. Her stories, under both pen names, have been in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and many anthologies, and short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. Active in writer’s groups, she’s served as Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and Co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Sisters in Crime Chapter. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/ABOUT Diamond TheftFrom the pages of History.com and The True Crime Database comes one of the most audacious thefts. Antwerp, Belgium, February 2003. The Antwerp Diamond Center was an impregnable fortress in the diamond capital…until it wasn’t. Thieves disabled the vaults heat and motion sensors and got around and/or through Doppler radar, a lock with 100 million combinations, and 2-ft thick metal doors that signaled the police if pulled apart. The industrious thieves had 4-5 hours in the vault, leaving with diamonds, gems, and cash valued at $100mil at the time and more like $160mil today. On their exit, they took the security footage. They would have gotten away cleanly…if they had only cleaned up after themselves. The bags of trash they left in the woods along the highway provided the clues that led to the arrest and conviction of Leonardo Notarbartolo, a career criminal who posed as a diamond merchant to case the diamond center, and several of his compatriots. During the trial, Notarbartolo denied being the mastermind and argued the value was a fraction of what was claimed. He served 5 years of his 10 years sentence, was paroled, and then some years later violated the parole and returned to prison to finish the sentence. Little of loot was ever found. The scale and skill of the heist captured imaginations. The Antwerp heist was featured on the first episode of The History Channel’s “History’s Greatest Heists”. In 2023, Amazon turned the heist into the 8-part series “Everybody Loves Diamonds.”https://www.history.com/news/biggest-jewel-diamond-heistshttps://www.thetruecrimedatabase.com/case_file/antwerp-diamond-heist/WRAP UPThat wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our NEW website www.m2d4podcast.com for links to this season’s authors.Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. THE LAST DIAMOND was written by Kathleen Marple Kalb. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story where safe cracking is the featured murderless crime. It’s Clipped by Robert J. Binney