01x02 - The Pierre Hotel Robbery

[bunniefuu]

The Pierre is one
of New York's

most exclusive
and expensive hotels.

You had all
the richest people

all staying
under a single roof.

It was like
the perfect target.

Its well-heeled guests
include the biggest names

in finance, fashion, and film.

One would see people
like Aristotle Onassis there,

J. Paul Getty,
Elizabeth Taylor.

It was that kind of place.

But for five
ambitious crooks,

The Pierre means
something more,

a chance to get rich quick
if they can pull off

one of history's
most daring heists.

Bobby hit about 25 hotels,

but he wants
that one big score.

There's gonna be more money,

but there's also gonna be
more security,

and that brings more problems.

You could plan a robbery
for years,

and things
will still go wrong.

♪ ♪

[devious music]

The masterminds
behind every great heist

see what most people don't.

♪ ♪

Risking everything to pull off
the score of a lifetime,

it takes a bold plan,

the right team,

and the skill to stay
one step ahead of the law.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

It's 1972, and Manhattan
is a tale of two cities.

Downtown, crime and poverty.

Uptown, the city's wealthiest

hobnob with celebrities
and luxury hotels,

flaunting their wealth.

The line between
the haves and the have nots

could not be clearer,

and that leads to an uptick
in violent crime.

♪ ♪

There were shootings
in the streets.

There was gangs.

And bad guys thought

they can get away with m*rder

because they actually did.

It really was kind of
a dark time for the city,

but then on the other hand,

you kind of had
all these celebrities

flocking to New York.

One of their favorite spots

is an infamous hotel,
The Pierre.

At The Pierre Hotel itself,

you had Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino.

They were doing
their fashion shows there.

It was even
where Joe Frazier was staying

when Muhammad Ali called him

and asked him for a rematch.

It was that kind of place.

To rent a apartment there,
for instance,

it cost the equivalent
of about $34,000 a month.

So you can imagine the luxury.

On any given night,
this roster of riches

makes a tempting target
for ambitious thieves,

which is why The Pierre has
more security

than almost any other hotel
in New York,

starting with its vault.

Back in the 1970s,
when you checked into a hotel

and you had jewels,
you had cash,

what you would typically do
was put it

in the safe deposit boxes
owned by the hotel.

The vault
at The Pierre Hotel

is made to look ominous.

They don't want it to look
welcoming to thieves.

It's huge. It's steel.

It's not Fort Knox,

but you're not gonna
get through it

with a crowbar either.

12-gauge steel,
about 300 pounds.

The second that you open
the vault door,

it triggers the alarm,

and it's incumbent then
upon the employee

to turn off the alarm
within 10 seconds.

Otherwise, the police
are automatically called.

Inside the vault,
there's 208 boxes,

and inside those boxes,
some very expensive jewelry

from some high-dollar people.

A safe deposit box has
a design

where there's two keys.

You have one key
for the manager

and one key for the owner
of the box,

so it takes two keys
to get into that box.

Unless you have
the proper tools,

you have to use a hammer
and a crowbar.

And trust me,

it's real hard to get
into a security box.

You can't get anywhere
near this fault

without encountering
a security guard.

Unlike many hotels
of that era,

The Pierre Hotel has guards
patrolling 24 hours a day.

Getting past the guards
and into the vault

is only half the challenge.

With hundreds of guests
and dozens of staff

roaming The Pierre
at all hours,

the likelihood of
getting caught is enormous.

Even so, one experienced thief

is dreaming up a plan to net
the score of a lifetime.

He just has to get
out of jail.

♪ ♪

Bobby Comfort is
a lifelong criminal.

He is fearless.

He starts stealing at the age
of seven years old.

By 13, he's in jail.

But Bobby is
incredibly intelligent.

He has a history
of getting plea deals

knocked down to lesser time.

In 1967,
Bobby is in Attica prison,

and he gets a number
of newspapers.

But he is interested in
some of the gossip columns

in the "New York Daily News,"
particularly.

When Bobby is in prison,
he was doing

what a lot of guys do.

They research their next job.

He's looking to see what kind
of jewelry they wear.

He's looking to see
where they're staying.

That's very important.

They'll say, oh,
they're at The Pierre Hotel

or they're at
the Ritz Carlton.

You're gonna always look
for an opportunity.

Comfort spends two years

planning the perfect heist
from his prison cell.

He knows robbing The Pierre
is too big a job to do solo.

When he's released
in April 1969,

he starts looking
for a partner.

He gets introduced
to a fellow professional thief

named Sammy Nalo
through a mutual friend.

♪ ♪

Sammy Nalo is basically known
as the tool man.

He uses his hammers.
He uses chisels.

He can break into anything.

Sammy needed
Bobby's people skills,

and Bobby needed
Sammy's mechanical skills.

These two guys are a match
made in heaven.

Bobby convinces Sammy
that they should team up

and go after
a lucrative untapped target,

hotel safe deposit boxes.

What many people didn't know
is that there's more money

in The Pierre Hotel
"security boxes"

than at many banks
in the country.

Before hitting The Pierre,
Comfort wants practice.

So between 1969 and 1970,

he and Sammy launch
a string of robberies

across Manhattan's
mid-sized hotels.

In the 1970s,
hotels were the perfect place

for Bobby and Sammy to hit
for burglaries

because they didn't have
security cameras.

They had security guards,
but not too many,

because
they didn't wanna appear

like they were a fortress.

And the staff themselves
were trained

to really welcome guests,

not suspect them
of being thieves,

so it was kind of
the ideal target.

Sammy and Bobby follow
the same approach each time.

They arrive
in the middle of the night.

They have suitcases.

They act as guests.

They wear fake facial hair.

They wear fake noses.

Sammy typically wears
a wig as well,

because he's bald.

Then at gunpoint,
they force the manager

or a night clerk
to open the vault.

When the robbery
is taking place,

Sammy's just in there with
his hammer and his chisels,

and he's busting open
absolutely everything

and grabbing what's in it.

In the first year,
Bobby hit about 25 hotels.

But he wants
that one big score.

But first,
Bobby wants more practice.

He ups the ante
by planning a heist

at a bigger hotel,
the Regency.

Up until this point,
Bobby and Sammy have made

about $100,000.

The largest hotels
that they've robbed

are the Sherry Netherland,
with 100 rooms,

and the Carlyle,
with 190 rooms.

With The Pierre Hotel
at 714 rooms,

that's over twice the size

of any hotel
they've ever robbed.

The Regency Hotel
is 390 rooms,

perfect practice run.

Although the Regency has
no security guards,

it's big enough to need
a third man.

So Comfort and Nalo decide
to hire another g*n,

a man nicknamed Doc,

and dedicate more time
to surveillance.

[bell dinging]

Three days before robbing

the Regency Hotel,

Bobby checked in,
and he really did that

to look around,
see who's coming and going.

Is it a place where
there's more or less staff?

Casing a robbery is the most
important thing you can do.

You have to know where
everybody is at all times.

If you don't, you could have
an unexpected surprise.

Confident he knows
everything he needs to

from when the trash goes out
to how the windows get washed,

Comfort is ready to strike.

♪ ♪

Their biggest
practice heist yet is on.

In the middle of the night
on August 5, 1970,

Sammy, Bobby, and one other man
arrive with their suitcases,

and they assume
their positions.

♪ ♪

These guys go
into the Regency,

and what they do
to the employees

is they tape their eyes
and their mouths shut.

Why?

Because they don't want them
identifying them.

As Bobby and Sammy take down
the Regency Hotel,

they're practicing the tactics

that they're gonna employ
at The Pierre.

One man is holding
the hostages at gunpoint.

Sammy goes directly
to the safe deposit boxes,

and Bobby mans the front desk.

Sammy is banging away
at the safe deposit boxes,

one after the other
after the other

with a crowbar
and some other tools.

[phone ringing]

So the phone rings.

Bobby answers.

It's a woman in the hotel.

She's calling about the racket,

and if they don't stop it,
she's gonna call the cops.

So Bobby's freaking out
a little bit.

He goes to Sammy.

He's like, "Hey, enough.

We gotta get what we got
and get out of here."

Sammy's like, "No, no, no.
I'm not leaving."

They've been at it
for nearly two hours,

but Sammy has only opened
17 deposit boxes

for a total of six grand,

not exactly the big score
they hoped for.

Bobby notices one
of the safe deposit cabinets

isn't attached to the wall.

If they can find a way
to take it with them,

they'll have all the time in
the world to break into it,

but they'd need a dolly
to do that.

Then mastermind Bobby
gets inspired.

So Bobby remembers that
when he was casing the place,

every day, he saw a window
washer across the street.

So he gets an idea.

He goes across the street
to the window washer,

and he doesn't ask.

He tells him,
"You see that dolly right here?

You and I are taking this
across the street."

Pretty much hijacked him in
to come in,

help on this robbery.

What that really showed me

is Bobby's thinking
on his feet.

You have to improvise.

The best criminals
in the world, they improvise.

They've got Sammy
on the dolly,

and they've got
the window washer.

And the window washer

is kind of a hostage
at this point,

kind of an accessory
to the robbery.

And can you imagine
how heavy this thing is?

They're trying to push
this dolly.

You've got Bobby trailing
the window washer

with a g*n, trying to ensure
that he doesn't bail.

When these guys get out
to the streets of New York,

anybody can see them.

This isn't exactly keeping
a low profile.

♪ ♪

More than two hours in,
the Regency Hotel

practice heist
is not going well.

So Bobby and his partner Sammy
decide to change course.

They'll wheel
an entire locked cabinet

crammed with safe deposit boxes

out into the street.

Bobby takes these heavy
safe deposit boxes.

He wheels them
right through the lobby,

out the front door,
into an awaiting car.

It takes a lot of ba*ls.

And the window washer
forced to help out,

he gets a $100 bill for his
trouble and his silence.

Bobby gets away
with about $100,000

in jewels and gems,
about $6,000 in cash.

Not a bad take.

♪ ♪

Up until this point,
the general public

is really kept in the dark
about these robberies

for obvious reasons.

The hotels are embarrassed.

They don't wanna appear

that they're an open target
for thieves,

but with the Regency,

it's such a big score
that it makes headline news.

Bobby now realizes

that he's brought
unwanted attention.

The NYPD starts seeing
a pattern,

and they form a task force.

There's insurance companies
investigating this as well,

and they're all gonna be
all over

every hotel in New York City.

When Bobby realizes
the heat is on,

he has to lay low.

Bobby Comfort waits patiently

for more than a year,

refining his plan
for what he sees

as his swan song,
The Pierre Hotel heist,

the job that will set him up
for the rest of his life.

It's almost
the holiday season,

and he knows the perfect way
to ring in the new year.

In 1972,
New Year's Eve is a Friday.

So when people come in

to New York City
for the weekend,

they're staying at The Pierre,

they're gonna go out Friday,

and they're gonna go out
on Saturday,

so they're wearing
their finest jewels.

But by Saturday night,
their jewels are tucked safely

into the safe deposit boxes

along with what's left
of their cash,

making it the perfect
opportunity to hit The Pierre.

♪ ♪

Bobby brings Sammy in
28 days before the robbery

because Sammy's the tool guy.

Sammy can get
the proper equipment

to get into these maybe
stronger safe deposit boxes.

Bobby tells Sammy that
The Pierre is ripe for them,

and Sammy said,
"But they have such security."

And Bobby said
"I looked it over,

"and it's something
that we can do,

but we have to plan carefully."

♪ ♪

Even with two years
of practice,

Sammy is nervous
The Pierre is too big a job.

So the two men do
a walk-through.

When you case a hotel

or a jewelry store
or any robbery,

you have to know when
people are coming and going.

There are security guards
and employees

around every corner 24/7.

♪ ♪

When Sammy sees
The Pierre's massive vault door

and all the roving
security guards,

he has his doubts.

But Comfort assures him
a g*n to the head

of the right employee
will open any door,

even the vault.

There's just one thing.

They need some help.

♪ ♪

This is a huge,
luxurious hotel.

They have 18 security guards
at The Pierre.

They're working
in eight-hour shifts.

There's no doubt
it's intimidating.

♪ ♪

About 18 days
before the robbery,

Bobby hires three
outside people.

He doesn't tell him anything.

Doesn't tell them
where it's gonna be.

But he does tell him
the date it's gonna happen.

"I need you
from this time to this time.

"I'm gonna pay you this money.

It's a big score. Are you in?"

The three guys say yes.

To this day,
we only know them

as City, Country, and Doc.

When you're doing a robbery,
every person on that team

gets a nickname,
even Bobby and Sammy.

In case
they have to communicate,

you're not gonna say
a person's name.

"Hey, Bobby or Sammy,
get that drill."

Or, "Hey, Larry, I need this."

You use an alias or a nickname
during a robbery.

Very important.

Sammy needs a man

to help him bust open
the boxes.

City is a man
they've worked with before.

They used City
in the Carlyle Hotel robbery

in their first year,
so Bobby brings him on

because he knows
he can trust him.

Bobby hires Doc

because Doc is a friend
from out of town.

Doc also helped him with
the Regency Hotel robbery.

Country's an interesting case.

You've got Bobby
at a card game,

and he's looking
across the table,

and there's Country.

And he's thinking,
"God, this man looks so dumb,

"but he's got ba*ls.

"He takes huge risks.

That's exactly what I need
for one of my robberies."

And that is how Country gets
hired for The Pierre robbery.

Nalo rents an apartment

a mile southwest
of The Pierre.

This will be their hideout
before and after the robbery.

The three hired g*ns
rent rooms at a hotel

a mile farther downtown.

The team deliberately keeps
some distance

from both The Pierre
and each other.

As part of the preparation
for the heist,

Bobby and Sammy go
to the library.

They're learning everything
they can about the hotel.

They're also learning
about who the guests are

that are gonna be there
that weekend.

The Pierre had a lot
of famous hotel guests,

but one of the most famous
was Gabriele Lagerwall.

She lived in a seven-room
apartment at The Pierre,

and she had about
$3 million worth of jewels.

And she is always photographed
in the gossip columns

wearing these huge
diamond necklaces.

♪ ♪

Two weeks
before the robbery,

Bobby Comfort checks in
to the hotel.

The reason he checked in
is so he could be in the hotel

when they locked the doors
late and they have a doorman.

The Pierre locks its doors

between 1:00 a.m.
and 6:30 a.m.,

which makes a lot of sense
for the hotel,

because they only have
one door open,

one guard watching
that one door,

and they're really able
to control who comes in

and who comes out.

But for Bobby,
that was a great scenario,

because he only
had to worry about

one door rather than four.

But that door has
lots of protection,

seven guards spread
throughout the hotel.

Rounding them up fast will
be the team's first priority.

He's watching the comings
and goings of all the employees

and all the security guards,
but he notices

that the night auditor opens
the vault

at 3:40 in the morning.

And because
he's checking the cash

and he's refilling money,

he's back and forth between
the cashier's office,

he leaves the vault door open
until 4:30.

Bingo, it's the perfect time

to commit this robbery
when the vault is already open.

[suspenseful music]

During the casing
of this robbery,

Bobby and Sammy practice
multiple routes,

multiple directions
to get out of this

to the safe house.

And a good robber,
what he does

is he gets an alternate route

even en route

in case maybe he thought
someone saw him

and the person followed him.

You have to have
multiple exit strategies.

As they get closer
to the date,

they go out and they buy
some supplies.

Handcuffs...20 sets...

gloves, and tape.

Now, they don't all buy it
in one store,

reason being is because

that was gonna look
kind of odd.

"Can I get 20 sets
of handcuffs?"

♪ ♪

It's not like an S&M party
or something like that.

They need disguises,
so they go

to a variety of stores
to pick out disguises.

They got wigs,
they got beards,

they got mustaches,

they got eyebrows,
and they got noses.

♪ ♪

Three days
before the robbery,

Bobby lets them know
they're gonna be robbing

The Pierre Hotel
the day after New Year's.

They have to know their jobs.

Who's gonna go to the desk?

Who's gonna to take down
the guard at the door?

You have to take down
multiple people at once.

You have to do it...the timing,
'cause even back in 1972,

they used to have buzzers

that would go
to the police department.

♪ ♪

Comfort and Nalo plan
to position the getaway car

down the block from the hotel

and hide near the entrance.

City will dress
as a chauffeur

and drive Doc and Country,

posing as wealthy hotel guests
in the limo.

They'll all arrive
at 4:00 a.m.

When Bobby does
his first briefing

about The Pierre Hotel heist,
he tells the men

the hotel's gonna be
on lockdown.

It's in the middle
of the night.

They have to arrive
at the 61st Street entrance.

They've got five men
this time,

so they need to delineate
the roles.

You've got Country,
who's gonna stay

at the 61st Street entrance.

You've got Doc,
who's gonna be holding

the hostages at gunpoint.

Sammy and City
are going to be focused

on the safe deposit boxes.

And Bobby, as usual,

is going to be manning
the front desk.

They have to be out of there
by 6:30.

In a job where you gotta
break into safe deposit boxes,

it takes time.

This is not a smash and grab.

♪ ♪

The evening of the heist,

they start
at Sammy's apartment.

You have Sammy and Country
that are wearing wigs.

City as well.

He's gonna be the limo driver.

Doc and Country put on tuxedos.

But Comfort chooses
a more obvious disguise.

Bobby has glasses,

and so he puts a ski mask
over his face

to ensure that the glasses
stay on.

Doc doesn't have a disguise,

because he isn't staying
in New York.

He's not sticking around.

The adrenaline's pumping.

They're thinking
about the score.

They're right about
to take down.

There also has to be
a fear factor

of getting caught.

You're ready.

The pressure starts building.

[dramatic music]

It's happening.

♪ ♪

Dunford and Nalo arrive
at The Pierre first.

They take positions
on either side

of the 61st Street entrance,
hidden from the guard's view.

Minutes later,
the limousine arrives.

At first, it's a scene
like any other night.

They roll up to The Pierre
on the 61st Street side.

City, Country, and Doc
get out of the limousine.

They approach the front door.

The security guard meets them.

They say,
"We have a reservation

under the name of Dr. Foster."

The second that
they start stepping in,

Bobby and Sammy race out
from behind the planters,

and the heist is on.

♪ ♪

1972 has barely begun

as Bobby Comfort, Sammy Nalo,
and their three accomplices

force their way
into New York City's

elite Pierre Hotel.

It's been three years since
Comfort first planned it,

but his heist
to end all heists has begun.

♪ ♪

When they let 'em in,
the g*ns fly.

They take this guard down.

And now they have control
of the front door.

Like a well-choreographed
strike team,

they go in so fast, so quick,

that the staff, the security,

they don't even know
what's going on.

And this is a credit
to Bobby's insistence

that everybody be prepared.

♪ ♪

Sammy leaps
over the front desk,

and he takes the clerk hostage.

City races to the elevator

and takes the elevator operator hostage.

Bobby, one track mind,
straight to the vault.

He's got a ski mask on,

so he can't just walk
very slowly to that place,

'cause the guy will see him

and then lock up the place immediately.

He's in a cash room.

There's secure systems.

There's buttons
to the police department.

But no, Bobby sneaks up
quietly, gets to the guy,

and gets the drop on him,
as we used to call it.

That guy's in shock.

Hands go up.

For their plan,
take all the hostages,

put them in one place,

and that place
is the executive office.

Being The Pierre Hotel
is 41 stories,

multiple people living
in there,

you're not gonna take over
every room.

But you have to secure
the main floor,

and at least you'll know
who's coming down

by watching the elevator.

♪ ♪

It's only been 11 minutes,

and the robbers have captured
six hostages.

But in a hotel this size
in the city that never sleeps,

Comfort's biggest concerns
are how many people

will they end up holding here,

and can they maintain control?

They clear the lobby,
and they're looking

for the security guards
and thinking

that there are seven,
'cause usually there are seven.

They're grabbing
the employees,

and they get four
security guards.

There's three
unaccounted for.

That's panic time.

Where are these other
three guards?

But Bobby,
he's a quick thinker.

What does he do?

He takes one of the managers,

puts a g*n to his head,

and finds out
that they're short-staffed

'cause it's a holiday.

It's New Year's.

♪ ♪

After 30 minutes of sweeping
the lobby and basement,

they now have
16 frightened hostages.

Comfort assures them,
listen, no one will get hurt

if everyone just stays calm.

Confident in Bobby's planning,

men take up their positions,

hoping for
a hiccup-free heist.

Bobby's casing set up
a really important part.

He put a man at the door
with a security outfit on.

Country stays
at the 61st Street exit.

Doc is with the hostages.

Sammy and City are attacking
these safe deposit boxes

with a hammer and a chisel.

Bobby takes position
at the reception desk

so he can watch the elevator.

He can also answer the phone.

Who's calling
to check on a reservation

if somebody checked in?

I have now control of that.

♪ ♪

This is where it becomes
rather interesting.

45 minutes into the heist,
an elderly guest

approaches the side entrance
and asks to be allowed in.

The g*nman opens the door.

He puts a g*n
into the man's stomach...

♪ ♪

And the man nearly fainted.

The guy almost has
a heart attack.

He starts sweating.
He's scared.

Bobby's worried.

Bobby puts him in a chair,
doesn't tie him up.

He has to stay calm

'cause he can't have
this guy die.

If anyone dies
during the commission

of a felony or a robbery,

they are charged with m*rder.

Even if a cop comes
to the place

and shoots somebody,
misses you,

and kills a civilian
or kills your partner,

you're getting a m*rder beat.

The concerned Comfort decides

to check in at the vault,

where Nalo's patented
smash-and-grab tactics

are well under way.

Bobby goes into the vault

to check and see
how it's going.

Sammy looks at him.

He's in a bit of a panic.

He says, "This is the Regency
all over again.

"However, this time,
we can't even get

the boxes out of the wall."

They're embedded in the wall,

so these aren't being dollied anywhere.

They are opening these boxes,

and they're not finding
what they expected.

They're finding nothing
in many of the boxes.

Think of how much time
it takes you

to get into one box,
and now you're finding nothing.

They start panicking.
"What am I gonna do?"

Mastermind Bobby quickly
comes up with a plan.

Target the wealthiest
boxholders first,

and he knows Sammy can be
very persuasive.

Realizing that they are
wasting precious time,

Sammy crabs the night auditor,
and this man

is gonna give him the list
of names of the box owners

if it's the last thing he does.

♪ ♪

Bobby and Sam know
how to make somebody talk.

You can do it
either the easy way

or the hard way.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Just over an hour
into The Pierre Hotel heist,

Sammy Nalo is using his
unique talent for persuasion

on the night auditor.

Doesn't take long to get
the list of boxholders.

He didn't hesitate.

He's not about to save
the heiress on the 27th floor.

He wanted to save his own skin.

They had already been reading
the gossip pages,

so they knew which stars
and which celebrities

and rich people were there.

So they went right to them.

Bam, the first one they hit,
got money.

Let's keep going.

They got a list now,

and now they can
really target certain boxes.

They find the Red Sox owner's
box.

There was $17,000 in cash
and $17,000 in jewels.

They also find
a Greek shipping heiress' box

with a necklace in it
worth $400,000 alone.

Inside Gabriele Lagerwall's box,

she had one single necklace

that was worth more than
$5 million in today's money.

♪ ♪

The men barely have time
to celebrate

when the phone rings
at the reception desk.

Bobby Comfort answers

in the calmest voice
he can muster.

There's a problem
on the 37th floor.

There's a man up there.

He's a Brazilian lawyer.

He's just walked his
mother-in-law to her room.

Now he needs to get down
to the 20th floor,

where his room is,

and he's been waiting
for an elevator,

and one is not coming.

Hotels like The Pierre
and the Plaza

still were using these kind of
old-fashioned elevators

where you would close the gate,

and you'd have an elevator man.

Unfortunately,
all the elevator operators

are tied up at the moment.

Bobby receives the phone call
and says, "Coming right up."

Doc goes up the elevator.

He grabs the lawyer
and the mother-in-law.

He takes them hostage.

He then tries to get
the elevator to go back down,

but this elevator
isn't going anywhere.

He probably didn't know

how to operate
the elevator properly.

Maybe he didn't close
the gate all the way.

So he got stuck.

[phone ringing]

Doc can't get back down,

so he calls Bobby.

And Bobby now has to leave
the front desk,

which wasn't part of the plan,

to go get Doc and the hostages.

♪ ♪

Bobby Comfort is,
well, uncomfortable.

They got less than an hour
until the day shift shows up,

only one man watching
17 hostages

with no eyes on the entrance.

Not exactly
what they planned for.

Now you can imagine
Bobby's anxiety.

He's worried this whole plan
is gonna implode.

When Bobby got the lawyer
and the mother-in-law

on the 37th floor,
the lawyer says,

"But my wife is
on the 20th floor."

And Bobby said,
"Well, we have to get her too,"

because she's scared,
and she can make phone calls.

This could be a problem.

So let's get the wife as well.

The more hostages
Bobby's getting,

it's creating a larger problem
for the whole takedown,

because every encounter
could be a deadly encounter.

Who's gonna have
a heart attack?

Who's gonna fight back?

So it's becoming
a real big problem real fast.

While Bobby's
in the elevator,

he recognizes
that this lawyer has had

ample amount of time
to look at Doc,

and Doc does not have
a disguise on.

So Bobby,
thinking quickly again, says,

"Look,
I'm gonna make you a deal.

"Give me your safety
deposit box number,

"and we're not gonna touch it.

"We're also not gonna hurt
your family,

"but in return,
you saw nothing.

You don't talk to the police."

♪ ♪

As the heist crosses
the two-hour mark,

Comfort's fear begins
to overpower his greed.

He wants to pack it up,

but Sammy insists
on more time.

He's telling Sammy,
"We gotta go, we gotta go."

Sammy don't wanna leave.

Sammy's found gold.

He found the boxes.

But Bobby's always thinking
of the time

'cause he knows
the longer it goes,

the better chance I have
of getting caught.

Somebody getting up,

a cop coming in,
change of shift.

He knows his time,
and he's gotta go.

With the clock ticking,

Bobby can't afford
any more hiccups.

So 6:00 a.m.,
there's a knock on the door.

Who is it?

It's the paper delivery guy.

Jesus.
So now it's 21 hostages.

It's like,
when is this gonna end?

They know they gotta go.

Everybody's doing their jobs,
and all of a sudden,

Doc, what does he do?

He says Bobby's real name.

"Hey, Bobby, we gotta go!"

[dramatic music]

Now 21 hostages who have
their eyes and mouths taped,

they all hear Bobby's name.

♪ ♪

It's now less
than 30 minutes

before The Pierre Hotel's
morning shift arrives,

and one of the gunmen
just compromised the heist

by using Bobby Comfort's
real name.

Imagine you're Bobby

and you plan this thing
to the tee.

All of a sudden,
you hear your own name

come out of the mouth
of someone.

It's gotta be like a shock.

You know somebody heard
your name.

Now it's getting
a little sketchy.

"Let's go, let's go!"

You gotta get out of there.

City, Doc, and Country
are the first to leave.

They all piled
into their limousine.

Bobby Comfort stays behind.

The last thing
that Bobby Comfort does

before he leaves
The Pierre Hotel

is address the hostages.

And he says,
"Nobody talk to the police,"

and then he starts
tipping everybody 20s.

You get at 20
and you get at 20,

oh, but except
for the security guards.

They get nothing.

And once he was comfortable
that no one had left

everything behind,
no fingerprints,

that's when Bobby himself
also left the hotel.

♪ ♪

Imagine you have money,
you have it all gone,

you're away from the facility,

you're away
from The Pierre Hotel,

but will you get away
with the robbery?

♪ ♪

At 6:30, the first employee

stumbles across
the handcuffed hostages.

Terrified,
he runs into the street

and flags down
a police officer.

In a matter of minutes,
The Pierre Hotel

is swarming with cops
and G-men.

[siren wailing]

When the cops come in
sweeping the place

for physical evidence,
there's nothing.

No pictures, no fingerprints.

None of the hostages are
willing to describe the gunmen

and are not helpful at all
with the police.

[upbeat music]

Back at Sammy's hideout,

the thieves have
a different focus: their loot.

They get back
to the safe house,

and they put out the jewels.

And the feeling
is unbelievable.

Look, I'm getting chills.

I'm getting chills,

'cause I remember
that feeling myself.

It's amazing to see jewels on
a bed and know it's yours now.

Bobby told me that
there was $887,000 in cash

and close to $10 million
in jewels.

$11 million in 1972

is equivalent
to over $75 million

in today's money.

♪ ♪

They have the cash.
They have the jewels.

They split the cash up,
which is easy,

and now they gotta think about
what they're gonna do

with the diamonds and jewels.

Bobby addresses the crew
after the heist

and says the plan is
that City and Sammy

are gonna hold on to the jewels
for one year.

Everybody's gonna get your cut,

but right now,
we've gotta lay low.

We've gotta disperse.

After the robbery,
this topic

was in the newspaper headlines
on a daily basis.

And the public had no sympathy

for the guests
who were victimized

because they were very wealthy.

They were of high society.

In fact, the public is actually
rooting for the robbers.

In this case,

there's an absence
of physical evidence.

No fingerprints,
no tools left behind.

So what does the PD do?

They have to go to ground.

They have to go to their
confidential informants.

One of the things
they're relying upon

is for someone in this crew
to slip up.

♪ ♪

Just three days
after the heist,

Nalo, in desperation,

calls Bobby and begs
to change the plan.

He owes a lot of money
to the wrong people.

Sammy's
a degenerate gambler.

He's into the mob
for big money.

He needs to sell these jewels.

Sammy's problem is he doesn't
have a fence to go to.

He doesn't have a go-to guy
to get rid of stolen goods.

What Sammy does is he starts
going to different people

to try to sell these diamonds.

One is an FBI informant.

♪ ♪

Bobby agrees to Sammy's plan
to sell the jewels early,

but he says everything's
been too recent.

We can't show our faces.

Bobby has a caveat.

He goes,
"We gotta get a front man,"

and he has a guy
that's gonna represent

selling some of the heist.

Bobby decides to hire
his friend Dom Paulino

to be the front man to go meet

with an independent
jewelry appraiser.

♪ ♪

Bobby Comfort
and Dom Paulino

return to New York City,

and they check in
to the Royal Manhattan Hotel.

Sammy comes in
with a bag of diamonds

worth over
a quarter of a million dollars

for the sale.

Comfort's loyalty
to his partner

overrules his cautious nature,

and he agrees to try
to move the diamonds.

Nalo returns to his
apartment to wait

while Bobby stays
at the hotel.

Dom Paulino leaves
the hotel room

and pays the hotel bill

and keeps the receipt
in his pocket.

He then takes a taxi across
town to the Summit Hotel

where the buyer of the jewels
is waiting for him.

It becomes very clear

when they start working
through the sale

that Dom is going
to have to haggle prices

with the jewelry appraiser.

Dom Paulino begins
to lay out Sammy's jewels

out of his briefcase
onto a coffee table,

and he's suddenly surrounded
by FBI agents.

[dramatic music]

They frisk him,
and they find the bill

from the Royal Manhattan Hotel
that he had just paid.

So Bobby's sitting
at his room

in the Royal Manhattan Hotel.

He's awaiting Dom to return.

He thinks this is gonna be
a quick and easy sale.

He has no idea
what's going on until...

[knocking]

Somebody is at the door.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Five days after pulling off

the largest hotel heist
in history,

Bobby Comfort's
about to be caught

by a simple mistake,
a hotel receipt

that leads the cops
right to him.

He hears a boom,
boom, boom, boom!

♪ ♪

They bust into his door.

Bobby Comfort gets arrested.

The NYPD and the FBI
are very anxious

to announce that they now
have captured the four men

responsible for
The Pierre Hotel heist.

♪ ♪

However, they actually
only have one.

They have Bobby Comfort.

Pierre Hotel heist,
it was perfect.

No prints,
no physical evidence,

no information,
except one thing.

One guy got greedy.

After Bobby Comfort's
arrest,

an informant reveals to the FBI

that Comfort has a partner

whose name
is Sammy "the Arab" Nalo.

♪ ♪

They find out where he lives.

And coincidentally,
when they pull up,

Sammy Nalo is just exiting
the building.

And he's carrying
a trash bag full of evidence,

including a hammer
and a chisel.

When the cops get hold
of Sammy,

he denies everything.

He is making every excuse
or denying everything.

But when they look
into his apartment,

they find a scale.

They find loose settings
from rings.

Think of that.

Talk about a red flag.

And they find
a packed suitcase.

He's getting ready
to go on the lam.

Sammy, who was charged
with the diamonds,

was gonna hold some aside
and double cross everybody,

and that's a low blow.

When Bobby finds out
about the double cross

and everything that happened
with the jewels,

it ends their friendship completely.

But neither Bobby nor Sammy
ever revealed

the true names
of Country, City, and Doc.

I guess there was still
honor among thieves.

And I'm impressed.
I have to be impressed.

They never ratted.

But the interesting thing
about this robbery

is that there's no eyewitnesses.

The people that did see them
aren't talking.

Everybody else had
their eyes taped shut.

So the only thing that the FBI
and the NYPD can pin on them

is second degree burglary.

Bobby and Sammy still, though,
don't want to go to court.

They don't wanna take
that chance,

so they take the plea deal.

♪ ♪

Bobby originally gets
seven years,

but he gets that knocked down
to four years,

which is quite common.

And then he ended up doing
2 1/2 years

because, back in those days,

you got what they called
good time

or game time
in the prison system.

And the reason that happened
is nobody got hurt.

In this case, Bobby stole
maybe $10 million,

took people hostage,

and walks away
doing 2 1/2 years.

I'll do that right now.

Give me the 10 million.

I'll go back to prison
for 2 1/2 years.

After his release,

is never arrested again.

Sammy Nalo commits
more robberies

while on parole, including one
in a jewelry store

where he takes
17 people hostage.

Sammy gets in a lot
of trouble with the mob.

He's got a big
gambling problem.

Gangsters actually tried
to k*ll him in 1974,

but they don't succeed.

But then on October 25, 1988,

Sammy Nalo is shot and k*lled

by members of
the Lucchese crime family.

We don't really know apparently

what happened
to all the jewels.

It was assumed possibly

that City made off
with a lot of the jewels.

We don't really know.

What we do know is that,
for a number of years

after Bobby got out of prison,

he lived very comfortably

in a nice house
outside of Rochester.

But he was a chronic smoker,

and he died of lung cancer
at 53.

♪ ♪

Only $1 million in jewelry

was ever recovered
from The Pierre Hotel robbery.

What happened to the other
$9 million may never be known.

Today, The Pierre remains
one of the most prestigious

and expensive hotels
in New York City,

and considering that the
Guinness Book of World Records

still has it
as the most successful

hotel robbery of all time,

The Pierre Hotel belongs

among history's
greatest heists.

♪ ♪