The Pierre Hotel affair
Subtitle: how eight gentlemen thieves orchestrated the largest jewel heist in history
By: Daniel Simone with Nick Sacco
Contributors: Sacco, Nick, author
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 402
Subjects: Organized crime; Case studies; Pierre Hotel; Robbery
Description: "The startling and sensational true story of the most famous unsolved heist in American history: the theft of $28 million in jewels from the Pierre Hotel. New York City, 1972: Bobby Comfort and Sammy "the Arab" Nalo were highly skilled jewel thieves who specialized in robbing luxury Manhattan hotels. (They once raided Sophia Loren's suite, escaping with over $1 million in gems.) With the blessing of the Lucchese crime family, they cooked up their target: the posh Pierre Hotel, host to kings and queens, presidents, and the wealthiest of the wealthy. Dressed in tuxedoes and driven in a limousine, the band of thieves arrived at the Pierre and--with near-balletic choreography--seized the security guards and then swiftly took as hostages the night staff and several unfortunate guests who happened to be roaming around the lobby. The deposit boxes inside the vault chamber were plundered and, after holding the Pierre under siege for almost two hours, the gentlemanly thieves then departed in their limousine with a haul of $28 million. It looked like the perfect crime--until it wasn't. In no time at all, Comfort, Nalo, and their partners begin to double and triple cross one another; two absconded to Europe with the bulk of the booty, while three were murdered by their former associates. The authorities immediately suspected Comfort and Nalo of masterminding the Pierre affair and the men were arrested, but the veteran criminals weren't talking. Furthermore, in order to ensure that they were not prosecuted, the Lucchese Family funneled a $250,000 bribe to the presiding judge to quash the charges. To this day The Pierre Hotel caper remains unsolved. A suspenseful narrative of Mafia intrigue, police corruption, and personal betrayal--including a poignant love story that mearly ends in a suicide-homicide--[this] is the incredible true tale of one of the greatest heists in American history."--Jacket.