In the sunny lobby of the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel on Cannes’ famous Promenade de la Croisette, glamour and danger have always mixed together. It was here in 1955 that Alfred Hitchcock filmed much of ‘To Catch a Thief.’ The movie starred Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar and Grace Kelly as the rich woman who falls for him during a series of jewel thefts on the Riviera. The film made the Carlton a symbol for stylish heists in the moonlight.
However, on July 28 2013, life boldly copied the movie. A man with a gun walked out with $136 million in diamonds in less than a minute. It was France’s biggest jewel theft and maybe the biggest in the world, right where Hitchcock’s cameras had once rolled.
The 2013 Cannes Diamond Heist
The target was no ordinary guest. Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s company had set up a private diamond show in a first-floor room. Seventy-two pieces of rings, necklaces, and watches, 34 of them very special, lay in a suitcase ready for display.
The security was light, just three unarmed private guards, two salespeople, and a manager. There were no customers present.
Related: 15 Best Heist Movies And TV Shows, Ranked
Late that Sunday morning, a man wearing a baseball cap, scarf and gloves entered through the French doors, which may have been forced open or left unlocked. He pulled out a handgun, demanded the suitcase and left in about 60 seconds.
“The man broke in through French doors, held up participants of the show with a handgun and fled on foot,” said Philippe Vique, assistant prosecutor in nearby Grasse. A judicial source added simply, “Everything happened very quickly. There was no violence.“
How Did the Thief Escape?
The thief ran toward an open window, jumped down to the Croisette below, stumbled and dropped some gems on the pavement. He picked up the most valuable ones and disappeared into the crowds on foot. Luckily, no one got hurt.
The Leviev company later put out a statement: “Company officials are cooperating with local authorities investigating the loss and are relieved that no one was injured in the robbery.”
French police called the raid “absolutely incredible“. One union official, Frédéric Foncel, criticised the lack of security, arguing that daytime robberies exposed a major problem on the glamorous street. “There are 200 police officers in Cannes; 60 of them are sitting behind desks instead of patrolling the streets. It is staggering,” he said.
In case you missed it: 20 Thrillers So Hitchcockian, You’ll Think He Directed Them
Mystery That Still Remains Unsolved
The links to ‘To Catch a Thief’ were hard to miss: the same hotel, the same sparkling Côte d’Azur setting, the same focus on diamonds that are hard to trace. But where Hitchcock’s burglar was smooth and quiet, this thief was direct and armed.
Investigators soon looked at the Pink Panthers, a group of ex-Yugoslav jewel thieves linked to half a billion dollars in robberies around the world. One top member, Milan Poparic, had escaped from a Swiss prison just days earlier.
A $1.3 million reward was offered, and security images were released, but the gems, which are easy to carry and cut, have never turned up. No one was ever arrested.
More than a decade later, the Carlton heist still stands as the closest real-life version of Hitchcock’s dream. It shows that on the French Riviera, the line between movie glamour and real crime is very thin. The hotel still welcomes rich and famous guests, but the thief, like Grant’s character, remains free. Only this time, no one is chasing him for love.
You might also like to read: Top 10 Classic Hollywood Films Where Love, Lust and Murder Collide
