'The Bling Ring' Shows Tonight! Here Are Boston's Biggest Heists

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With tonight's one-night-only advanced release of The Bling Ring at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, we thought we'd honor Ms. Coppola's latest opus with a brief roundup of Boston's best heists. Do they compare with the months-long robberies (they snatched upwards of three million dollars worth) a couple kids from the Valley pulled off on stars like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Miranda Kerr, and Rachel Bilson? You tell us! Boston has its own star power and many of the below burglaries have made it to the big screen—or are about to.—Heather C. White

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist: Two crafty thieves posed as Boston police officers and tricked the guards on-duty by saying there were warrants out for their arrests (leading them away from the alarm buttons to be handcuffed). Crazy! They made off with 13 works of art including tons of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and more. There's still a five million dollar reward to catch them.

The Great Brinks Heist: The "crime of the century" took place at the corner of Prince Street and Commercial in the North End. The 11-man crew rolled up in matching Navy peacoats, chauffer's caps, and Halloween masks and made it out with over $2.7 million. They were apprehended just five days before the statue of limitations was about to run out, and only $58,000 of the $2.7 million was ever recovered.

Depositors Trust Robbery: The robbers (comprised of three police officers and two accomplices) decided to hit this Medford bank after hearing a bookie kept $400,000 in of its security boxes. They almost made it away with $25 million yield of jewels, valuables, and cash. So what happened to the crew? One disappeared with nearly $300,000—before turning it over to Whitey Bulger. One testified against the others to help the state. The rest were apprehended. This is just screaming for an Affleck brothers remake, right?

Sacco and Vanzetti Robbery: The duo targeted a security guard delivering $15,700 in paychecks to a shoe factory in Braintree (it was the 1920s), and were apprehended quickly after.

The Bling Ring premieres tonight at the Coolidge Corner Theatre at 6:30pm. Buy tickets here.
· Fashion Heists This Spring, In Honor of The Bling Ring [Racked National]