2003
No one believed that ANYONE would be able to penetrate the four-foot thick walls of the Societé Generale, until bank employees arrived to find the vault door welded shut--from the inside. They had not reckoned with Albert Spaggiari. Entering the sewer system of Nice, France, his team tunneled through the rock and concrete with drills, hammers and chisels. They opened the safety deposit boxes; the appraiser they brought along sorting out the most valuable loot. The total of cash, jewels, and gold bullion was over $12 million--largest in French history. Spaggiari was never convicted, escaping from a judge's office window! He even wrote a book about the "Riviera Bank Heist."
2003
The Dinsio bank heist gang from Ohio traveled to Orange County, CA to steal the contents of safety deposit boxes in a bank reputed to hold clandestine accumulations. They realized the bank's weak spot was the roof. Their entry was flawless, allowing them three nights to loot the vault and escape, leaving no fingerprints, only lots of dust and one cotton glove. The FBI looked for a group of airline travelers coming and going near the time of the heist, then traced them through taxi drivers, phone records and condo rental agents. In spite of an intensive housecleaning, all the gang's fingerprints were found in, of all places, a loaded dishwasher which they had forgotten to turn on! Masterful heist + messed up getaway = mastermind and his men convicted.