01x06 - The Museum of Natural History Heist

[bunniefuu]

It's 1964,
and three beach boys

turned cat burglars
attempt one of

the biggest heists ever

by going after
the biggest jewels ever.

[dramatic electronic music]

These gems are so expensive

that they're
actually priceless.

The thieves' bold plan
calls for some

death-defying acrobatics,

and that's just to break in.

They're young.
They're athletic.

They can't help themselves.

They want
the bragging rights.

It's all about getting away

with the most precious gems
in the world.

The thrill,
the glory, the money.

This is the caper
of the century.

♪ ♪

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.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

The American Museum
of Natural History.

It houses more treasure than
any bank vault in the world

without world-class security.

If these thieves can get away
with the diamonds, rubies,

and sapphires in this hall,

it'll be the biggest
jewel heist of the century

at a time when competition
for that distinction is fierce.

♪ ♪

The 1960s is considered
the golden age of jewel heists

in American history
because jewel heists

were happening, on an average,
every 32 seconds.

High-profile thefts
make headlines everywhere,

but one location has a massive
collection of priceless jewels

all under one roof,

and they're not hidden away
in any impenetrable vault.

♪ ♪

They're on display
for all the world to see.

♪ ♪

The American Museum
of Natural History

is one of the most famous
museums in the world.

It is one of the biggest
in New York City.

It's about a 2-million
square-foot museum

just opposite Central Park.

About five million
people on average a year

go and visit the museum.

It houses everything from
meteorites to dinosaur bones.

♪ ♪

What makes it
the most incredible

is the JP Morgan
Gem Collection,

which houses some
of the most precious

and oldest gemstones
in the world.

The JP Morgan Collection
is stored

in the Morgan Memorial
Hall of Gems.

That's what it was called
back in 1964.

The Hall of Gems was
located on the fourth floor.

It was about 100 feet long
and 60 feet wide,

and it had 20-foot ceilings.

Along the perimeter wall,
there was a row of 20 windows.

On the opposite wall
were two doors

covered by a decorative grate.

They were locked at night
to secure the space.

Dozens of freestanding
glass cases

filled the hall,
luring visitors in

for a closer look
at the giant gems.

The alarms
protecting the cases

seemed state of the art
to a casual observer,

but what's
state of the art in 1964?

Does it have the security
that it has today?

Absolutely not,
but there was security.

There was alarms on the glass.

It was
double-paned glass,

meaning it's very thick.

It's very hard to break.

Museum security guards moved
through the building

locking doors,
turning off lights.

And then,
throughout the night,

they would do periodic patrols
starting on the hour

and patrolling
an assigned area.

It's a tantalizing target
with just enough security

to discourage most thieves.

♪ ♪

But down in Miami,
there's a talented trio

of young jewel thieves who've
just started working together,

and they're already
on the hunt for bigger game.

♪ ♪

These guys
are bold, and bright,

and brimming
with confidence...

♪ ♪

none more so than
their charismatic leader,

Jack Murphy,
aka "Murf the Surf."

Jack Roland Murphy
was born in 1937

in Oceanside, California.

He comes from
a middle-class family.

He's charming,
he's intelligent,

and, befitting
his place of birth,

he's a total beach boy.

He actually rises
to prominence

as a nationally
renowned surfer

in the late '50s
and 1960s.

Oh, Murf the Surf.

He's trim.
He's fit.

He's clean cut.

He's got hair that
bleaches blond in the summer.

He's not afraid of things,

and he picks up that vibe

and brings it with him
to Miami.

♪ ♪

One of Jack Murphy's
first forays

into a life of crime is that
he joins a bunch of friends

to rob $15,000
from this mansion,

and the gears go in motion
for him to start thinking,

"I want to go into business
for myself again,

but not
a legitimate business."

While Murphy is working
in upscale Miami hotels,

so he can more easily pick

the pockets
of unwary tourists,

he meets a young man
from the Bible Belt

with a sharp mind for crime,

Allan Kuhn, the mastermind.

Allan Kuhn was born
in West Grove, Missouri.

He grows up really poor.

When he's 15 years old,
he gets arrested

for breaking into
the neighbor's homes.

He joins the Navy.

And then after that,
he goes down to Miami,

and he becomes
a swim teacher at one

of the beachside hotels.

When Allan Kuhn
and Jack Murphy meet,

they have a lot in common.

They're both working
the entire hotel circuit.

You know,
scrubbing pools

and handing towels
is not cutting it.

Honing their skills
as a team,

the two begin robbing mansions
all over South Beach.

When the job calls for
a getaway driver or a lookout,

they have the perfect
go-to guy for that as well,

Roger Clark,
the Jack of all Trades.

Roger Clark is
from Meriden, Connecticut,

and he's
a high-school lifeguard.

He serves a stint
in the Navy,

and then he goes down to Miami

where he paints houses
and works

a bunch of other odd jobs.

Roger's role,
he's the getaway driver.

He's also the lookout,

and, if need be,
he's their muscle,

if push really comes to shove.

The team gets bolder
and better,

and Kuhn starts
to think about stepping up

to the big leagues.

Allan Kuhn is,
without a doubt,

the mastermind
of the American Museum

of Natural History heist.

This is really a dream of his.

Murphy,
who always dreams big,

loves the idea, too,

so the three partners in crime
decide to take

their show on the road.

♪ ♪

So Murphy, Kuhn,
and Clark traveled to New York

in October 1964
for the express purpose

of casing the museum
and looking

for other places
to burglarize...

any place where they think
that they can score

and not be caught.

But soon,
Murphy and Kuhn begin casing

their real target...

the Museum of Natural History.

They went in
acting as tourists.

They went in
on a different schedule

so that they would not
be all seen together.

They're kind of surveying

what's at the museum,
what's in this collection

that they might want to take.

The highlight
of the collection

is the Star of India sapphire.

It displays
the six pointed star,

and that star pattern
is very, very rare.

It's a huge stone,

really the size
of a golf ball,

over 500 carats.

Then you have
the Eagle Diamond,

which is the largest diamond
ever found in America.

It's more than 15 carats,
and it was found

in Eagle, Wisconsin
back in 1876.

Another highlight
of the collection

is the DeLong Star Ruby.

It looks like
a piece of candy.

It's over 100 carats

and also has
the asterism star pattern.

And then there's
a Midnight Star,

which is often described
as a black sapphire.

And it's about 116 carats,
and it was found in Sri Lanka.

A huge potential payday
from a handful of small rocks

is all the motivation
they need.

The three men begin planning

their most ambitious
heist ever.

♪ ♪

While they're eating,
sleeping, and breathing,

they're researching
and casing this heist,

they're also having fun.

You've got to remember,
they're in their twenties.

You're in New York
in your twenties.

They're going out.
They're drinking.

They're having parties
in their hotel room.

The men are not
just living it up.

They're also bragging
to anyone

who might be impressed.

They are not covering up
their tracks,

and they make themselves
vulnerable to being revealed.

It's at one of these parties
that Kuhn finds himself

a different kind of partner.

♪ ♪

Janet Florkiewicz is
a 19-year-old stenographer,

and she's in New York
staying at the same hotel

as the thieves.

And while she's there,
she and Allan Kuhn

strike up a bit of a romance,

and they kind of
become an item.

♪ ♪

The second time
they case the museum,

Kuhn is laser focused
on the mission.

Allan Kuhn, in particular,
is especially fascinated

by the Hall of Gems,

and he spends hours
in there at a time.

In fact,
there's one instance

where he takes
Janet Florkiewicz with him

on a date to the Hall of Gems.

Kuhn notices
that the battery packs

that are connected
to the security system

are corroded, and there
may not be an alarm.

It's kind of
an unknown still.

For weeks,
the men have been partying

and flashing cash
all over town.

One night at a bar,
someone recognizes Jack

as the nationally renowned
pro surfer

Murf the Surf,

and it rattles him.

Right before the heist,
Murphy gets cold feet.

♪ ♪

He finally realized,
"Oh, wait a minute.

"Maybe we talk too much.
Maybe we did too much.

Maybe we
shouldn't be doing this."

♪ ♪

But Allan Kuhn, he really
has his heart set on this,

and he is not going to let
Jack Murphy ruin this for him.

At this point,
this would really be

a betrayal,
for Jack Murphy to back out.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

It's a week before

the Museum
of Natural History heist,

and Murf the Surf
wants to bail out,

but Allan Kuhn is in too deep
to just let him walk away.

Murphy and Kuhn are arguing.
They're going at it.

Kuhn really feels betrayed
by Murphy's sudden reticence

about all of this.

In the back of his head,

he's probably
saying to himself,

"There's too much heat on us."

He starts
second guessing everything.

If Jack Murphy drops out,
the dream is dead.

♪ ♪

Kuhn reminds Murphy

they've already
spotted a weakness

in the alarm system.

All they need to do
is find a way in.

Kuhn urges him to case
the museum one more time.

Jack Murphy being in or out,
it makes all the difference

between being able
to pull this off,

and having to just give it up
and go home.

♪ ♪

Murf agrees
to one more look,

and the guys return
for one last recon mission,

keeping their eyes out
for any way

into the Hall of Gems
after hours.

These three guys
weave in and out of the hall

throughout the day.

They split up and kind of
divide and conquer.

These guys are smart.

They know they can't
just walk through the doors

of the Museum
of Natural History

for a multitude of reasons,
and one of them is because

there's an iron gate
outside the Hall of Gems.

Once it's shut,
you're not getting in.

So the only way in

is through
those giant windows.

There are 19 windows
in the Hall of Gems,

and every single one of them
is left open

about two inches at the top.

For ventilation purposes.

I mean, these are old days

before
central air conditioning.

So they're thinking this is
going to be their way in,

but it also means that this
is going to be

incredibly
physically demanding

because they're going to have
to get up to those windows.

♪ ♪

While Kuhn
is spying a way in,

Murphy and Clark are clocking
how the guards patrol.

And they realize
that the security guards

come through the hall
once every hour on the hour,

and they stay there
for just about five minutes.

With a way in
and ideas on how to beat

the alarms and the guards,

Kuhn and Clark
love their chances.

Now they just need to know,

does Murphy want
to go big or go home?

Murphy caves.

He's on board.
They're going to do it.

♪ ♪

The night before the heist,

the men hash out
the plan to grab the jewels.

They know they need
a lookout

and they need a driver.

So Roger Clark,
he's the guy

that's going to let them know

what's going on
outside the museum walls.

He's also the getaway driver.

Clark will drop off
Murphy and Kuhn

on the 81st Street side
of the museum.

They need to climb a fence,
sprint across the grounds

without being seen,
and scale a fire escape

up to the fifth floor.

They chose the fifth floor
because there's a ledge

that runs around
the back of the museum

from the location
of the fire escape

over the gem room.

♪ ♪

The plan is to repel down
from the fifth floor

to the fourth floor
and swing

from one window to the next.

The stakes are high...

125 feet high, to be exact.

They have great confidence
in their physical abilities

to pull this off.

♪ ♪

Once inside,
it will be all about stealth,

as they play a cat
and mouse game

with the guards.

Between each patrol,
they should have

a 45-minute window
to break into

the display cases.

They have a tool kit.
It's glass cutters.

It's hammers.

It's all sorts of things
that you're going to need

to bust open a jewel case.

After they grab the jewels,
they need to climb up the rope

and do it all in reverse,
rendezvous-ing with Clark

at the edge of Central Park.

There's a lot of jumping.
There's rope climbing.

There's vaulting.
There's running.

I'm kind of out of shape.
I couldn't do it.

♪ ♪

Shortly after sundown,
on the night of the heist,

the three men
gather their tools

and get dressed for success...

or, in Murphy's case,
for failure.

You'd think
these guys would want

to put on the usual
all black,

maybe a ski mask,
a little inconspicuous,

but Murphy has
this personal philosophy

that if he's going
to get caught,

he's going to look good.

♪ ♪

So he's got on
this dark green velour jacket.

He has
a turtleneck sweater on,

corduroy pants,

And he is ready to look good
if he gets caught.

♪ ♪

Murphy and Kuhn
have broken into dozens

of hotel rooms, homes,

and even
a jewelry store or two,

but they're about
to attempt the biggest,

most daring heist
of their lives...

breaking into
an iconic museum

to steal
the world's rarest gems.

The last three weeks
have led to this moment,

and the heist is on.

♪ ♪

Now it's showtime.

♪ ♪

And they get in Kuhn's
white Cadillac convertible,

and they drive down
to 81st Street

and Central Park West.

They're going to approach
the museum

near the planetarium.

♪ ♪

Murphy and Kuhn hop out,

and they head
right to the museum.

Clark parks the car
around the block,

then takes up
his lookout position

on the edge of the park.

He has a walkie-talkie
to communicate

with Kuhn and Murphy.

Once Murphy and Kuhn
are on the museum grounds,

there is a spike fence
that they need to hop over.

♪ ♪

But the problem
is that there's a 14-foot drop

on the other side
down into a sunken courtyard,

and they've got
that upper body strength

from being swimmers,
so they kind of

just vault over it
like gymnasts.

♪ ♪

Murphy and Kuhn

jump the fence
and go down a driveway.

As they get down the ramp,

they see the fire escape

that they are intending
to climb.

The fire escape then
helps them get to a ledge.

♪ ♪

And the ledge
is going to bring them

to those giant windows
that they saw

that lead them
right into the promised land,

the Hall of Gems.

But the ledge
is so narrow and so long

that it's going to take
all their core muscles,

all those things
that they have been working on

on the surfboard,
they're applying

the same muscles
to this ledge.

♪ ♪

But this isn't the ocean.

They're 125 feet
above hard, dry land

and several yards away
from the Hall of Gems.

Murphy is so focused.

There is nothing
that's going to stop him.

He's just so hell bent
on getting inside the museum

that he doesn't notice
the small gathering

of pigeons on this ledge.

He startles them.

They fly away.

They in turn startle him,

and he's now rocking
on this ledge

and could fall at any moment.

One false move,
this heist is finished

before it even started.

♪ ♪

Jack Murphy and Allan Kuhn
are 125 feet in the air,

clinging to the side

of the American Museum
of Natural History,

as they edge their way
toward the Hall of Gems.

This is a horribly
treacherous, nerve-racking way

into the museum.

As he's shimmying across
this narrow ledge,

he encounters
this flock of pigeons.

I've spent enough time
on 77th Street

to know that pigeons
are an obstacle.

These pigeons take off,
and Murphy loses his balance,

and his whole upper body
is kind of,

like,
swaying off of this ledge,

more than 100 feet in the air.

He's now
rocking on this ledge

and could fall at any moment.

Then at the last minute...
somehow...

he manages to swing
his upper body back around

against the wall
of the museum,

just like a surfer
catching his balance again...

and he's OK.

He's a little bit
more conscious

of his surroundings now,

but he sees these
giant windows

that he's been dreaming
about getting in.

Murphy sees that
the window is still open,

so he is fairly certain
that there's

no alarm
that's going to activate

when he lowers the window.

Murphy has a rope,
and he ties it to a pillar.

He's going to have to lower
himself from this ledge

down into one of those windows
that's in the Hall of gems.

And remember, Murphy is
carrying an airline bag

containing the burglary tools
as he's lowering himself down.

He puts his foot on the sash,
and the window goes down...

Far enough so that they
can slide into the window

without breaking the glass,

and then
they're off to the races.

♪ ♪

Jack Murphy and Allan Kuhn's
daredevil act works,

but before they rush over
to the JP Morgan Collection

and get to work,
they need to answer

a multimillion dollar question.

Do the night guards
follow the same patrol schedule

as the day shift?

They hide out
in a dark corner of the hall,

waiting to see when
the security guards come by.

How often?
Is it still an hourly rotation?

They take their time.

They've taken enough time
to plan this heist.

What's a couple more hours?

And that's what they do.

They wait until
that security guard is gone,

down the hall, somewhere else.

And then they're
feeling, like, OK,

they can finally
make their move.

Murphy and Kuhn learn that
the guard's patrol pattern

is different
from the day shift,

but it's good news.

The night guard
doesn't even enter the hall.

He just peers through
the night gate

with his flashlight
and moves on.

It's go time.

They're in position now,
right in front

of the Star of India.

They're staring at it.

It's so beautiful,
and it's almost theirs.

To see if the case's alarm
is truly off,

they perform one last test.

Allan Kuhn
has this rubber hammer,

and he hits the case,

and the glass doesn't break,
because it's double-paned,

but it does make this sound,
almost like a g*nsh*t,

reverberating around
the whole hall.

And so he grabs
all of his stuff.

He thinks this is it,
that someone's going

to come running for them,
but nobody does.

No security guard comes.

So this tells him, one,

it's probably
not that well guarded,

and two,
that that alarm on the case

really isn't working.

To make sure
they haven't tripped

any silent alarms
elsewhere in the museum,

they check in
with their lookout.

They're in communication
with Clark,

who's on the ground,
via walkie-talkie.

He's like,
"I don't hear anything."

So they just keep going.

Murphy and Kuhn
break out their burglary tools

and set to work,
confident they're minutes away

from getting their hands
on the biggest jewels

they've ever seen.

One of those devices
is a glass break.

It has a suction cup
that attaches to the glass,

a rod,
and then a scoring device.

And then they make
a perfect circle scoring

around the center of the case,

but it doesn't break out
as easily

as they had hoped it would,
because it's double-paned,

laminated glass.

So it takes them
a lot longer

than they had anticipated
to cut through.

After 30
frustrating minutes,

finesse isn't getting
the job done,

and the clock is ticking,

so they try
a different tactic...

brute force.

They take duct tape,

and they tape over
the circular area

that they want to punch out.

And this will muffle the sound,
and it will also prevent,

if the case breaks out,
the shards of glass

go crashing down to the floor
and make a lot of noise.

Because of how loudly
the hammer rang out last time,

Kuhn and Murphy
need something to mask

the noise of breaking glass,

and they find
just what they need

among the relaxing, natural
sounds of nighttime New York.

[jet engine whooshes]

The museum is in the flight
paths of both the JFK Airport

and the LaGuardia Airport.

The airliners come in
on the Upper West Side,

and turn and go
into LaGuardia.

So they timed
the breaking of the glass

to the arrival
of an airplane overhead.

[glass shattering]

Murphy carefully
reaches inside

the broken case and removes

the 563-carat sapphire,

the Star of India.

Not sure if they've
tripped any other alarms,

they retreat to their
hiding spot and radio Clark

to tell him they've
got one of the stones.

They are
synchronizing their work

on the cases with
the movement of the guards.

As a guard comes
through on patrol,

they stop work, stay quiet.

The guard will come by,
maybe shine

his light in through the gate,
and then move on.

Once the guard
is far enough away,

they head straight
for the DeLong Star Ruby.

They repeat the process
on the next glass case...

score, tape, smash,

and grab the goods.

♪ ♪

With the Star of India
and DeLong Ruby in hand,

it's already
a very lucrative score,

but these guys didn't come
all this way

for just two stones.

The Eagle Diamond is really
important for the thieves

because a rough diamond
is easily cut,

and so from there,
they can cut the stone down,

losing just
a little bit of weight,

and sell the piece
as a faceted diamond.

They're stealing not just
the three that they planned

to steal, but when they see
how easy it is,

it seems to me that
they decided we're going to

stay here as long as we can
without being caught.

We're going to continue
to smash the cases

and take
as many gems as we can.

They decide
to push their luck

and try for the Midnight Star
and the many smaller gems

displayed alongside it.

So far, everything's
been going smoothly,

but hours have gone by.

Something is destined
to go awry.

Murphy and Kuhn approach
one of the gem cases,

and then, just out of
the corner of their eye,

they see
a little flash of light.

It's the guard,
and he's early.

Kuhn and Murf can't make it
to their usual hiding spot

without being seen.

Instead, they sprint
towards the corner

next to the gate as
the guard rakes his flashlight

around the hall.

So if the light
captures them, the jig is up.

♪ ♪

More than four hours
into the heist,

Jack Murphy and Allan Kuhn
have their hands

on three of the most
valuable gems in the world.

But while trying
to snatch even more,

they're surprised
by a night watchman.

It's a security guard
who's just a little bit early

for one of their rotations.

So they quickly make a beeline
to a dark corner and hide out.

The guy flashes
his flashlight.

You know, if they're spotted
by the guard,

then the jig's up,

and they might have
to scamper out of there.

The two men huddle
motionless in the corner

counting on the guard
to get on with his rounds.

To anybody else,
that might be frightening,

but they are a lot cooler
than most of us.

♪ ♪

You're just expecting
sudden disaster.

♪ ♪

And then,
when that doesn't happen...

♪ ♪

It feels like
this magic trick.

The security guard moves on.

The two men
could make a getaway,

but decide
to get back to work...

[glass shattering]

Breaking into
the Midnight Star's case.

They've got
the Star of India sapphire,

the DeLong Ruby,
the Eagle Diamond,

and the Midnight Star.

But they didn't
just come for clout.

They also came for cash.

And so now
it's time to take things

that they can really sell.

Inside this last case
is a rainbow-colored

assortment of smaller gems...

emeralds, aquamarines,
opals, and more.

These should be
much easier to fence

than four of the most
famous stones in the world.

You can't cut
the Star of India.

You can't cut a star sapphire.
It won't shine anymore.

It won't...
it won't have a star,

and it will be of no value.

Nearly five hours
after the heist began,

Murf the Surf and Allan Kuhn
are finally satisfied.

With more than two dozen gems
tucked into their tool bags,

it's definitely
the biggest score

of their lives.

All that remains
is a clean getaway.

They go back out
the way that they came in.

So the rope
that they shimmied down,

they're now going
to climb back up.

It's a much more difficult
task climbing up a rope

than it is climbing down
a rope,

particularly with their bag
of tools and gems.

Back outside
on the ledge,

they once again have to inch
their way along the length

of the building.

If they fall,
all the hard work

they just did is for naught.

So it's pretty treacherous
for these guys.

And they know that.

They go back over
to the fire escape

and down the face
of the building,

and they're back
in the courtyard.

I cannot imagine
what was going

through these guys' heads
when they make it back

to the courtyard, because
they've just pulled off

the biggest heist
in New York history,

they haven't set off
a single alarm,

and they don't have
a single guard

coming after them,
as far as they know.

So they're feeling pretty
darn good about themselves.

It's this feeling
of euphoria.

We did it.
We're in the clear.

We pulled off the impossible.
- They had a great plan.

They got in quickly,
they got out quickly.

Once they were
over the fence,

they radio Clark
with the good news

and tell him to clear out.

There's just one last bit
of business to take care of.

So they're
in the bushes,

and they start dividing
the jewels.

The purpose of this was,

if one of the guys
does get caught,

the other guys
can fence the jewels,

get some money for bail,

and try and help
each other out.

♪ ♪

Once Kuhn and Murphy
leave the museum,

they decide
they're going to split up.

They hope that this makes it
less likely

that they're going
to get caught.

It kind of becomes
an every man

for themselves scenario.

As Murphy walks
away from Kuhn,

he marvels at his own success,
the heist of his life,

a pocket full of rare jewels,
and not

a single police officer
in sight.

At least,
that's what he thinks.

As Murphy is leaving
the museum grounds,

he encounters a whole group
of police officers

gathered together.

Now he's freaking out.

Did we trigger a silent alarm?

Were we too loud?
How did Clark not call us?

Is Clark backstabbing us?

Like, all of the worst fears
that could happen in a heist

are beginning
to bubble in his head.

Here they are.
They're just waiting for me.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Jack Murphy
and Allan Kuhn

have just escaped
the Natural History Museum

with millions in stolen gems
and no alarms raised.

Then, suddenly,
Murphy is face to face

with a dozen NYPD officers.

Murphy happened
to encounter a gaggle of cops.

He thought, "OK,
maybe the jig is up."

Being Jack
"Murf the Surf" Murphy,

and a guy who manages

to get himself out
of every situation,

he sees someone
walking their dog.

And remember, he's not dressed
like a cat burglar.

He's dressed like a tourist.

So he tries to remain calm,
play it cool.

And he whistles so that
the dog jumps up on him,

and he starts to strike up
a conversation

with the dog owner
so that,

as the police officers
are walking past,

he can just kind of say,
"Good night, officers."

♪ ♪

Murphy was
so focused on this museum

that he never actually
studied the neighborhood

around the museum.

There's these two police
precincts just blocks away.

And then, luckily,
a cab pulls up

alongside him at a stoplight.

So he just slides in
and slips away.

After the heist,
Clark immediately

drives to his parents' home
in Connecticut to lie low.

Back at the hotel,
Murphy and Kuhn

are preparing to get the gems
and themselves back to Miami.

The plan is that
we're going to fence

the jewels after the heist.

We're going to make
some money,

and we're going to open a bar
or a club in Miami

called the Star of India.
And that's documented.

That was really their plan.

Early the next morning
they head to the airport,

and they decide to travel
with more

than just the stolen jewels.

Their next move
is probably

as cavalier
as the actual heist.

Kuhn was dating a girl,
an innocent bystander

named Janet Florkiewicz.

What she doesn't know
is that they're about

to draft her to work
as a courier.

♪ ♪

She agrees to go to Miami,

but he says "You have to use
a fake name.

"You have to pretend
not to know us.

Oh, and can you carry this bag,
and don't ask what's in it."

And of course, the bag
has all of the gems,

unbeknownst to her.

While they're
flying to Miami,

the museum staff discovers
the Hall of Gems in shambles.

Within minutes,
the NYPD and the FBI

are scouring the crime scene.

What evidence
is left behind?

Not a whole lot.

There's broken glass,
and I don't think

they said anything else.

The value of the stolen gems
is difficult to calculate.

They're estimated
at $410,000,

roughly $3.9 million
in today's dollars.

But other experts say
the jewels'

one-of-a-kind nature

makes them ten times
more valuable.

The gems were not insured
at the time of the robbery.

The museum director
stated that the insurance

was too expensive,
because they were

considered to be priceless.

The embarrassments
for the museum

pile up when investigators
realized their night guard

missed spotting the thieves.

And that was just one
of many security lapses.

For all practical purposes,
the museum

had no functioning alarm system

in the gem collection
at that point.

There were no alarms
on the windows.

And in the gem case where the
Star of India was on display,

there was an alarm system,
but the batteries

were all corroded on that

and hadn't been changed
in years.

♪ ♪

Less than 24 hours
after the heist,

investigators catch a break.

Murphy and Kuhn's
pre-heist party

and liquor-fueled bragging
catches up with them.

There was a young man
at the party

who, for one reason
or another,

informed on these guys to
a uniformed police officer

at the local precinct
by the museum.

With this lead,
NYPD detectives

obtain a warrant to search

the thieves' suite
at the Cambridge Hotel.

Detectives find
some of the burglars' tools.

They find
books about the gems.

They find the floor plan.

26 hours
after the heist,

Roger Clark has no idea
the police are onto them,

and he returns
from his parents' home

to the Cambridge Hotel
to retrieve his things.

Although it's
the middle of the night,

detectives are still in
the suite gathering evidence.

For Clark, the jig is up.

And Clark starts
to sing almost immediately.

And it didn't take long
for all of this

to start to unravel.

The next morning,
law enforcement in Florida

rushes to intercept
Murphy and Kuhn

before they can fence
the gems.

They become people
of interest for the police,

but now the FBI is involved.

And the FBI
raid Kuhn's apartment.

They come in, and they
are looking in every

nook and cranny
for these gems.

After a flawless heist
in New Yorkc]

and a smooth getaway to Miami,
it takes less than two days

for the FBI to link
the Natural History theft

to Jack Murphy and Allan Kuhn.

The FBI tear up Allan Kuhn's
apartment in Miami

after the heist,
and they don't find a thing.

When Kuhn returns home,

they arrest him
and demand that he reveal

where he's hidden the stones.

The gems
haven't been fenced yet.

They're still in the
possession of Kuhn and Clark.

But where are they?
The FBI can't find them.

But Kuhn keeps mum.

And when Jack Murphy
gets back to the apartment,

he too stays cool
under pressure.

According to Jack Murphy,
they hid the jewels

in a trash can
inside the apartment.

According to Kuhn,
he had hid them

in the ceiling in
the hallway of the apartment,

but the FBI is none the wiser.

Clark's confession is enough
to arrest Murphy and Kuhn

and fly them back to New York,

but with no gems
as physical evidence,

the two men are free to go.

Meanwhile, the Museum
of Natural History heist

is becoming one
of the most sensational

news stories of the decade.

The press and the public
love these guys.

They're tan.
They're handsome.

They're charming.
They're bold.

Everyone is eating it up.

When the media learns
of Murphy, Kuhn, and Clark,

they become folk heroes.

They are lavishing
in their celebrity.

How do I explain
this to my family

and...and my...and my friends
all over the country?

And the same
with Jack and Roger?

We...we didn't care
for all this.

The men denied
taking part in the heist,

but they're also talking
too much to the media.

I think
it's a shame that they don't

concentrate their efforts
up there in the city

where this happened.

If I was their lawyer,

I'd say,
"Just shut your mouth."

But that's not in their nature.

Murf and Kuhn's
newfound fame

in New York
rankles Manhattan prosecutor

Maurice Nadjari,
who works this case

with laser-focused tenacity.

Maurice was motivated.

And he would be damned
if he wasn't

going to solve this case.

It was not going to be
the heist of the century.

He views this as a crime
against the people

of New York,
and he sees these three

pompous jerks almost
thumbing their nose

at him and authority,
and it's driving him mad.

♪ ♪

So he starts looking
back through the records

of other jewel thefts

both in New York and in Miami.

He comes across
a theft that involved

the actress Eva Gabor.

She's robbed of her jewels.
She's p*stol whipped.

At the time,
it makes headlines.

So he sees this story,
and he goes

and has a chat with Eva Gabor.

He shows mug shots,
and she's able to point out

that it's Jack Murphy
and it's Allan Kuhn.

Gabor's testimony sends
Murphy and Kuhn to jail,

and the judge sets bail
at 150,000 each.

They can't pay.

So they're taken to the
Manhattan Detention Complex...

aka "The Tombs."

Suddenly, being associated
with the heist

isn't much fun anymore.

It didn't take
more than a day

or two for Kuhn to come
forward and say,

"OK, I want to cooperate.

I'll go to Florida
and recover the gems."

Based on intel
from Kuhn,

Maurice Nadjari
recovers the Star of India

and the Midnight Star,

along with
several smaller gems,

from a bus station locker
in Miami.

The Eagle Diamond
is not so fortunate.

This is probably an item,

because it was
a rough diamond,

that it immediately
was sold and recut,

and it's now gone forever.

The DeLong Star Ruby
is recovered.

John D. MacArthur,
the billionaire,

pays a $25,000 ransom
to get that back.

About six months
after the heist,

Allan Kuhn, Jack Murphy,
and Roger Clark

plead guilty to burglary
and grand larceny.

They're each sentenced to
three years at Rikers Island.

♪ ♪

After prison,
the three friends

go down very different paths.

Roger Clark
moves back to Connecticut,

and he lives a quiet life.

He had his thrill
in the underworld,

and it was more
than enough for him.

Allan Kuhn, on the other hand,
he gets in trouble again.

He serves one year

in a California
federal penitentiary.

And after that,
he actually goes back

on the straight and narrow.

Jack Murphy
does not go straight.

He enters, in fact,
a darker chapter

of his criminal history.

In 1969, he's convicted
of a double homicide,

and he says
he didn't do it,

but he gets
a double life sentence.

And then, in 1986,

just 17 years
into that double life sentence,

he gets paroled.

Each of the thieves
has since passed away...

Roger Clark in 2007,

Allan Kuhn in 2017,

and Jack Murphy in 2020.

As for the Hall of Gems...

It still houses
the DeLong Star Ruby

and, of course,
the Star of India sapphire.

So anyone can go
and see these two gems.

♪ ♪

In 1964, Jack Murphy,
Allan Kuhn, and Roger Clark

pulled off a perfect heist

using their physical strength, agility,

and a whole lot of luck.

And they looked good doing it.

From the high profile
of their priceless targets,

to their bold style
and the media frenzy

it inspired, the American
Museum of Natural History caper

will always remain among
history's greatest heists.

♪ ♪