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| First Person: Point of View |
A Cat Burglar's Tale
Bill Mason
09/01/2004
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Ultimate Sport
Though I sold the jewels to a fence, it was not the
money that made me do it. I was earning a good living in real estate. I had
a wife and three great kids. It was an adventure to me, addicting, not unlike
climbing mountains. I specialized in high-rise luxury apartment buildings and
hotels. It might be easier to break into a house, but I was not looking for
ease, I was looking for the higher mountain to climb, the bigger adrenaline
rush. In Cleveland, in Saratoga, and all over south Florida, I got into
buildings.
Sometimes it took six months to plan a job; every building is
different and I would have to check it out to see how to get in. I might use a
rope and climb up a balcony to the floor, or take the stairs up to the roof and
come down on a rope. What I did takes a lot of agility. But it was often as easy
as just walking in; I could just walk into a building if I dressed
appropriately.
People can get complacent when they live in buildings that
are supposed to have tight security. Sometimes the security up at the top, or
close to the top, was not adequate. Sometimes the door was unlocked and the
alarm was not activated, or the door to the balcony was open. I’d often find the
jewelry in the top dresser drawer or on top of the dressing table. It would have
been smart to put some of the best jewelry in the freezer or the laundry room;
at least then I would have had to spend time looking for it.
I could walk out
during the day, with the jewelry in my pocket or a briefcase. Usually I had some
tools with me in case I had to open a safe, though not a great many. I always
went in unarmed, and I made sure that the residents were out. I suppose if you
were going to be robbed, you might prefer to be robbed by me. I always left the
place as neat as it was when I came in, unless I drilled open a safe or
something.
Nature and Nurture
No one influence turned me into a jewel
thief. I was born in West Virginia in 1940, which was a great place to climb
trees. Six-year-old boys love being in the woods. When I was 8, we moved to
Shaker Heights, near Cleveland, where my father managed two luxury apartment
buildings. I hated apartment buildings from the first time I saw them, but then
I adapted and started climbing buildings instead of trees. I saw the rich people
in the buildings demand a lot of my father, so I think I developed some
animosity. Still, at Shaker Heights High School I fit in with the rich kids,
although I also hung around with some of the hoody guys from the other side of
the tracks. I played football and dated the homecoming queen, who was from a
rich family.
I am not particularly a con man; I just have an ability to
adapt to the situation. Certainly now I do not resent people with money. I like
nice people, in general, which is why I never could let myself get to know the
people I robbed. I did meet Carol Channing, and she was such a nice lady I
decided not to rob her. But Phyllis Diller was a very nice lady, too. The New
York Times interviewed her about me and she said, “At my age, I can’t hold a
grudge,” and wished me well. Talk about a way to make you feel guilty.
I do
feel bad about taking heirloom pieces. I took a pile of jewelry from Johnny
Weismuller’s Florida condo, and in it was his gold medal for the 400-meter
freestyle swim at the 1924 Paris Olympics. He worked so hard for it. I mailed it
back to him.
Photograph by Abe Frajndlich.
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