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| First Person: Point of View |
A Cat Burglar's Tale
Bill Mason
09/01/2004
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Bill Mason, a successful real estate investor, maintained a lucrative secret
life for many years as a jewel thief. The law finally caught up with him, and he
spent time in prison. He now insists he has gone straight. His new memoir,
Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief (with Lee Gruenfeld; Villard/Random House,
2004) provides some insight into the type of man who seeks to separate us from
our treasures, and what we can do about it. Mason now lives in New York with his
wife.
The high society folks in Cleveland, where I grew up, now know it was me who
stole Florence Mandel’s jewels—$1 million worth of diamonds, rubies, emeralds
and other gems—in 1980. Her husband, Joseph Mandel, was a founder of Premier
Industrial Corp., and their daughters are friends of my wife’s younger sister.
They don’t talk to me much. But since I was arrested in the mid-1980s and the
stories came out about the unlikely romance between my heiress wife, Fran, and
me, and especially now that I have written a book about my life as a jewel
thief, a lot of people seem to be intrigued with the fact that I robbed some
famous people. Everybody is intrigued with Elizabeth Taylor, and with Phyllis
Diller, whom I robbed twice.
 I used to go to a lot of black-tie parties and
charity balls, prospecting. I would wander in late at night when everybody had
had a few drinks, dressed formally, and nobody ever questioned me. This sounds
vain but I used to be very nice looking, and when you are nice looking, people
want to talk to you. I knew how to blend in. Many of the women would be wearing
valuable jewels, and I had a sort of sixth sense for who had the best jewels.
One of my techniques was to make small talk with likely targets. I would ask
simple questions, like “Oh, you live on the beach, which building?” Since I
might be a neighbor, it sounded innocuous.
As a backup strategy, I had a card
printed claiming I was with United Press International—I still have the card in
my wallet, though it is about 40 years old and very dog-eared. I would carry a
camera, and if I saw someone who was interesting and I could not figure out her
name, I would say I was taking photos for a story. Then I would say, “Give me
your address, and I will have a copy of the picture sent to you for approval.”
People were always happy to do that.
| People get complacent when they live in buildings that are supposed to have tight security. The security at the top was not adequate. |
Now that I have gone straight, a former
police officer who used to chase me in Florida has suggested that we go into the
security business together. I just might do it. The first things I would tell
people who have valuable jewels are obvious.
Society magazines with pictures
of women in jewels were like a candy store to me, but there are certain women
who will not let their jewelry be photographed. They wear it at the festivities,
but take it off for the photos. This is a very good idea because you never know
who is going to be checking out the pictures.
A safe is a good investment. It
should not be a wall safe behind a painting. That is too obvious. The best kind
is a barrel safe that you put into the floor. First the thief has to find it,
and then most thieves cannot get the back out because it is stuck in the cement.
I have broken into a barrel safe, but I know how to open them. Normally you have
to get to the back of them, which is difficult.
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