Do Go On - 500 (Part 3) - The Antwerp Diamond Heist with Wil Anderson and Rhys Nicholson

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

In honour of our 500th show, we had to include one of our favourite genres of report - a classic heist! In 2003, a group got away with $100million worth of diamonds from a vault in Antwerp. But the best bit? How they got caught ... This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 05:12 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).For all our important links: https://linktr.ee/dogoonpod Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.wired.com/2009/03/ff-diamonds-2/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp_diamond_heisthttps://allthatsinteresting.com/biggest-heists-in-history/3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, everyone, Dave here letting you know that I am in Sydney this weekend, Saturday, May 24, 2025. That's right. If you're listening to an older episode, it's still this weekend, Saturday, May 24, live at the Chippo Hotel, 2.30pm. A fun afternoon show. I'm doing Dave Warnocki Dates the Entire Audience with my pal, Sammy Peterson. And you can get tickets at dogoonpod.com. and you can get tickets at dogoonpod.com. Welcome back to the final part, part three of our live 500th extravaganza. We've had a lot of fun over the last couple of days

and hearing these mini reports that we did, we're about to hear the final one. We're gonna hear the crowd go wild. There was definitely a standing ovation at the end of this show. So if that doesn't fully come across just in sound alone. That's on you. That's on you and your lack of imagination.

Yes. You know, come on. Made us up. Made us up. Five, please. Use your imagination. Yes. But please now enjoy. Sit back and relax as we go back to the Capitol Theatre for part three.

Welcome back to part three of Dooga One episode 500. How are you doing out there? We are overwhelmed with the support we've received by the listeners of the show over the nearly ten years we've been doing this show. So we thought to show some appreciation with the listeners, you know, 500 episodes, we thought for the final part we'd get a couple of listeners out here to be part of the show tonight. So I've just chosen two at random, I went through all the listeners and I picked, you'll never believe it, Will Anderson and Reese Nicholson everyone! Hello. Just a couple of listeners. Just a couple of listeners. They didn't believe you at all, Dave. The front row were like, yeah, yeah, bring out the celebs.

I am enough of a listener though that I did like, I was like, I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular.

I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular.

I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to go with the one that's going to be the most popular. I'm going to were like, yeah, yeah, bring out the celebs. I am enough of a listener though, that I did like, I have a parasocial relationship with you guys, to the point where when I did an episode for the first time a few weeks ago, I was so mean to Matt early on. Like it came real natural, like Jess isn isn't here I guess we're calling him old and dumb. It felt right. Yeah yeah. How is the dementia test going? Can you draw a clock yet?

I'm such a listener of this show that they asked me backstage they're filming some stuff backstage and they asked me, can you remember the first episode you were on? And I was like, I feel like I've been on every episode. Because I say stuff like just out loud as I'm on my walk, as if I'm joining in on the conversation. Also, to get this out of the way, 131332. Okay.

I've learned what lisping is tonight, which is fun. And yeah, right up close with a couple of the big names of it. Yep. It's pretty gay. What we've learned is it's not dick that makes you lisp. Which if ever I get to do a story on the show, that will be my topic. I also fit Jesus. I was standing next to him when it happened.

I knew it was loud, but I didn't know it was loud enough that you guys had heard it. Like, because there's a curtain and stuff, so you'd think you'd probably like a little bit protect it. Yeah, no. It was like the most, like there was just no thought, you just went, Jesus. Jesus.

Loud and clear. Well, we don't know what Jess is gonna talk about, so get ready to possibly say it again. Is it Jesus? I'm gonna do a report on Jesus. That, no, sorry. Again, we have nine minutes left and I've written too many words.

So I'm probably gonna- But if anyone's gonna do a nine minute report, it's not this cut. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. LAUGHTER CHEERING Reece just said backstage that, you know,

cos they were on an episode that I was not there, and they were like, tell you what, Jess does keep it tight. LAUGHTER In many ways, no. LAUGHTER I did not say that. Go for a walk, Mum. Go for a walk. LAUGHTER Anyway, I'll get us onto the topic.

The first, it's a two part question. First part is for the audience. What is the best kind of crime story? A heist! And a question for Dave. Animal set, oh. Sorry. Let's turn his mic off.

A question for Dave. Where is Poirot from? From? Belgium. Definitely from Belgium. Belgium. It's a Belgium heist. Oh!

Oh! The little gray things. All right. On a cold weekend in mid-February 2003, a small group of thieves entered an impenetrable vault situated two floors underground in the Antwerp Diamond Center in Belgium. This theft would later be called the Antwerp Diamond Heist. That's good writing. It's good stuff. And would be dubbed as every fucking heist is the heist of the century.

And just like every heist story I've ever done, it was the largest ever heist in history. They're all the biggest. You just keep topping it every time. It's awesome. Every single one. And it was the largest one. And you get there was another one the next year. That was the largest one too. But this, I think it's because they get very specific. This is the largest ever diamond heist. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, that's it.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I get it now. All right. That's what it deserves. Diamond juice, all right. Do it, do it. All right. All right.

That's the name of the show. I don't actually listen. Yeah. I genuinely thought I was doing Will-O-Sophie. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What, Rhys, do you have a philosophy Genuinely thought I was doing Will-O-Sophie. LAUGHTER What, Rhys, do you have a philosophy or a guiding sort of principle in your life?

LAUGHTER Just eat, pray, fuck. LAUGHTER The worst punchline I could have thought of then. Well, you might have missed the last episode. Nah, I heard it. Jesus. So a robbery like this is certainly no easy feat.

The building holding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of precious materials is under tight security. The three-ton steel vault door alone had six layers of security. Joshua Davis writes for Wired, there was a combination wheel with numbers from 0 to 99. To enter, four numbers had to be dialled and the digits could be seen only through a small lens on the top of the wheel. There were 100 million possible combinations.

They're just rocks. Diamonds. Yeah. Settle down. Yeah, it's dumb. Yeah, yeah. Can we cut that out AJ, please? That was good. That was really good. Yeah. You can use you and AJ. I don't have time for this shit, mate. Get on with the story. Thank you, Will. Finally. We've got episodes of Specs and Specs to film.

So the vault door, so it's got a hundred million combinations. Power tools wouldn't do the trick. The door was rated to withstand 12 hours of non-stop drilling. Is that all? I was really hoping you'd be sitting next to me for that. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so glad two people dressed up. Yeah.

Actually, you know, Will looks pretty good. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, and Dave does as well. I get it. Nah. The thing is, Reese, for you, you're not dressed up. No, this is actually, I'm in my pajamas.

I live here. I'm wearing your business' merch. What? Why? Oh, no, I said what? Oh, the hat. I said what, Mr Stewart? Are you having a good day?

We need to do something about Dad. Yeah. I'm thinking about having one final breath and... Fuck. Fuck! Okay. Oh, I hate that I have to keep this on track. How much do you get charged for going over?

I'm not sure. I don't want to find out. Well, we'll see. So, okay, I'm just on the vault door. LAUGHTER Okay, there's a seismic alarm. There's also metal plates, one on the door, one on the wall. When armed, the plates form a magnetic field. If the door's open, the field breaks, triggers an alarm.

They've got a lot of alarms in place. Alarm to the plates form a magnetic field. If the door's open, the field breaks, triggers an alarm. They've got a lot of alarms in place. And finally, the lock required an almost impossible to duplicate foot-long key. I don't know why it has to be so long. Foot-long key. If I had a nickel every time. Why does it have to be so long?

Why does it have to be so long? Why does it have to be so long? I also just love that they feel like they need, like when is enough enough? Like a hundred million combinations you're like no but we also need a long key. A really long key. And who's carrying that? Does someone have that? And can you get it cut in a mall? Well it's almost impossible to duplicate. Almost. Oh. So that's just to get through the vault door.

Thieves would also have to contend with security cameras, thick concrete walls outfitted with motion, heat and light detectors, and there's also the safe deposit boxes inside the vault. All of those were made of steel and copper and required a key and a combination to open. How big was the key? That one was a small key, but the combination, they each had about 17,000 combinations.

Not 100 million, but still quite a few. So if a group of thieves are gonna attempt to break in here, they'd have to be a pretty ballsy group. Or dumb. LAUGHING There's a thin line between those two things. Lots of people came and went from the Diamond Centre. People from all around Europe had held their business there, there were offices there and stored valuables there, including Italian diamond merchant Leonardo Notabattolo.

I am not a battolo. LAUGHING You'll never think, not a batolo. I am not a batolo. You'll never think I'm a batolo. I have never been a batolo. How dare you accuse me of being a batolo. Your mother was a batolo. Oh, oh, see. Va bene. Allora.

Allora. Quanti anni hai? Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, Sometimes I do it twice in a day. Me too. Mum, I reckon just go home. Anyway, so Leonardo Nottobotolo, he has an office that he rents in the building and he stays several times a month on business. Except Leonardo Nottobotolo was not a diamond merchant. I know. Not a botolo or a diamond merchant. Did he come up with that as a fake name? Not a botolo.

It's got, I have to really read it every time because I'm like, no, I must be so, oh no, that is how it is, okay. But he was posing as one and that gave him 24 hour access to the building, access to a safe deposit box in the vault and plenty of opportunity to scope the place out. His story is that he was approached by a diamond dealer

to attempt a robbery for him. And he says, Nortopatolo says he snuck in a pen camera into the vault, little pen out of the pocket. You looked at me then as if I was gonna have something Notapotolo says he snuck in a pen camera into the vault, little pen out of the pocket. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. You looked at me then as if I was gonna have something to say about that. Ha ha ha.

It was just nice to see you enjoying it. I'm having a great time. I have a parasocial relationship with you. Ha ha ha. We've toured together. Yeah. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Okay, that's new to me I was not you okay because he's like it's sound like it was demented as well is that what you say that's not right I'm gonna nothing makes you seem not demented than remembering someone calling you demented that didn't happen. Or did it? No one's accusing you of anything, Matt. Are you alright?

Are you alright? You're sounding crazy. He keeps accusing us of gaslighting us. I don't think that's even a term. No. I think he's making that up. Gaslighting, that takes me back to childhood. That's how we... Oh, I'm old. I want to have a piss. Alright, I'm going to get through some. So he's snuck in a pen camera,

and he pretends to get something from his own safe deposit box, takes a bunch of photos, gives those photos to the dealer. Five months later, the dealer contacts him again, and the two meet up, and the dealer has gathered a crew and built a life-size replica of the vault

for them to practice in. Oh! It's Ocean's Eleven, baby! Yes! That's Eleven, baby. That's badass. Yeah. Authorities aren't so sure about this story. They think that Leonardo is the mastermind and ringleader,

and he's made up this story about a diamond dealer as a bit of a diversion. But I had to mention that there was a life-size replica. That's sick. It's awesome. It's like the opposite of an escape room. Like it's a break-in room. This is the newest thing. This should be a new thing.

You can go and do like a simulated break-in. Yeah. Oh my God. Edit this out, Ajay. Edit this out. This is my idea. Edit it out. Well, I want to invest. That's such a... Oh my God. Because I'm such a pussy that I would never actually break into someone's house. But fuck I want to go!

Can you call the company, Will You Get In? And you know how the great thing is? Because Matt's not here, we don't have to cut in. Yes! Or we make him pay for it and then make him forget about it. LAUGHTER LAUGHTER Well, either way, I am genuinely worried about Matt, though.

I know, yeah. It's a slow... It happens slowly, but then every now and then you kind of go, oh, shit, you're really losing it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's like visiting family, do you know what I mean? You get back to the house and you're like, oh, we've got to do something about this,

but then work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also don't care. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, it makes me look better back in Paris and I couldn't say the word Frank before. People have forgotten that because of him. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it is good to have him around. Yeah. It's oddly the one thing that he can remember for some reason, do you know what I mean? Frank. You guys don't see him just socially. He just sits there and mutters, Frank. I don't know what to tell you.

Anyway, so what, so... The irony of you not being able to get on with it even when he's not here. Oh no, am I the new man? There's always one. Just watching the little time in the corner going fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. But I'm having a good time. So they're about to attempt a pretty crazy sounding robbery so who are these crooks they're mainly known by nicknames Wow Wow. The Brunswick faith lift. Didn't have a lot to work with out there to be honest, but this um.

Did you go to a shop? Yeah. Yeah, I did make a quick stop off at the Aldi around the corner and I've got everything I need there. Oh my god. Like, Matt looks like Matt if he was in a band, I hate it. Yeah. He looked like someone you would have had to have played on Triple J and now see politely at festivals. You're like, oh, do you own a pub in Fitzroy now? Cool. Oh yeah. That's even better.

Oh yeah. Someone's got boys in the crawl space. Oh, okay. Now we know what Matt looks like at a court appearance. It's funny because I thought I was dressing up more like Zach Ruane, is that how you see him as well? That is in no way Zach Ruane. Zach's cool. So back to the characters. Nicknames. Nicknames, they're known by their nicknames. There's four of them you guys can find amongst yourselves of which one you want to be. So we have Speedy, Dave. And not because he's a fast runner. He have a drug problem.

Speedy is described as an anxious and paranoid man. Longtime friend of Leonardo. Most likely the alias of a man named Pietro Tavano. Then we have the monster, described as tall, muscular. Is there one called the faggot? There is, but I wasn't going to say it. Not for me to say. He was apparently an expert lockpicker, electrician, mechanic and driver and was very strong. Most likely the alias of Ferdinando Finotto.

Then we have the genius, a specialist in alarm systems, most likely the alias of Elio DeNorrio. Oh my God, I just read that out loud for the first time. Holy shit, Elio DeNorrio. He was an electronics expert known to be linked to a series of robberies. And then finally we have The King of Keys. An older man, he was just... I'll tell you this one good news will you're the genius

I like the idea that at the heist is you going hold on hold on you've already tried that one. The 30 centimetre key's gotta be around here somewhere. To those listening to the podcast, I was just very funny. The king of keys is described as one of the best key forgers in the world. And his true identity is unknown. So after around 18 months, yeah I appreciate the ooh but I've got to keep moving, after 18 months of casing the joint a little past midnight on the 16th of February the gang snuck in via a garden at the rear of the building. It was one of the few places in the district that wasn't under video surveillance so using a ladder

that he'd previously hidden there the genius climbed up to a small terrace on the second floor. What a genius move. Let's just leave a ladder there. Last time we were there. If you like that, you'll love this. A heat-sensing infrared detector monitored the terrace, but he approached it slowly, holding a large homemade polyester shield in front of him just holding up a shield the low thermal conductivity of the polyester blocked his body heat from reaching the

sensor I'm imagining it like a Captain America shield personally yeah he would look like a fucking idiot on the security camera. Yeah. Real slow. But he's holding it here so you can see his face. So they get in, he disarmed an alarm sensor on the balcony window and they climb in undetected. They descend to the stairs to the darkened vault antechamber. They cover the security cameras with black plastic bags and flipped on the lights. Just put a bag over the camera. Anyway, the genius

used his custom slab of aluminium to reposition the magnetic field away from the vault, so getting rid of that magnetic sensor. King of Keys had made a replica of the vault key just based on video footage they'd sneakily managed to get. He is the king of keys, it's true what they say. It's a footlong and impossible to replicate it, he looks at some pictures, replicates it. But when it came time to get into the vault he thought he might investigate a bit of a hunch because on the videotapes he noticed that just before opening the vault the guards usually went into this little utility room. So he goes into the a bit of a hunch, because on the videotapes, he noticed that just before opening the vault, the guards usually went into this little utility room. So he goes into the utility room and there's

the key hanging there. It's just like, I'll probably just use that one. Probably just use the real one then I guess. I'd still be tempted to use the made one. The same you got it right. There'd be a part of me that was like, we have to know. And you know why he didn't? Because he didn't want the safe, the vault makers to know that you could actually replicate the key. Yeah, okay.

Which, you know, maybe was smart, but maybe he's just being kind. Like, they've really, like, they've tried really hard here and good on him. Just the thought of the key maker going like, oh, nah, it's all right, just use that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe on the way out we could just test mine.

That's all right. I mean, I just did mine off seeing it, so it might not work. It was my daughter's birthday. Um... Um, yeah. It was meant to be at the park, but I made the key. I mean, I guess I didn't even need to come if someone else could have just... Yeah.

You didn't need the kinky keys. Anyone could just get the key off the wall. Because you must have noticed the guy go in without a footlong key and... and come out with one. Yeah. I'm also...I'm also pretty good at cobbling. Anybody need anything cobbled? I also have a weird cabinet of brooches for some reason. So they just unlock the vault. That's so good. Fairly easily. The monster bypassed the vault's security system and then covered the light sensor with tape rendering it

useless. It is a sense of Achilles heel. Yeah. For the safe deposit boxes, Akiaki's unloaded a homemade hand cranked drill and fitted it with a thin shaft of metal. He jammed the shaft into one of the locks and cranked drill and fitted it with a thin shaft of metal. He jammed the shaft into one of the locks and cranked for about three minutes. All right, laughed for a long time. Cool. Snaps open the safe deposit boxes. They take turns repeating this, eventually getting around 123 of the 160 safe deposit

boxes open. It's actually quite easy. So shortly before dawn, they finished and they leave, taking the security tapes with them, putting the bags in a getaway car, which not a Patolo, drives to a nearby apartment and the rest head there on foot. And the plan was to meet up in a couple of days

and divide the loot amongst themselves and the diamond dealer, who probably doesn't exist. But the important next step in their plan went a little bit awry. This is from Wired. It was February 16, 2003, a clear, frozen Sunday evening in Belgium. Nottobotolo took the E19 motorway out of Antwerp. In the passenger seat, the man known as Speedy fidgeted nervously, damp with sweat. They hadn't slept in two days. The others on the team hadn't wanted Speedy in on this one. They said he was a

liability. Not a batolo could see their point but out of loyalty he defended his friend. Speedy could handle it he said and he had. They'd executed the plan perfectly. No alarms, no police, no problems. The heist wouldn't be discovered until guards checked the vault on Monday morning. The rest of the team was already driving back to Italy with the gems. They'd rendezvous outside Milan to divvy it all up. There was no reason to worry.

Thanks for coming out, everyone. Have a good night. No, no, no. No, no, no. Nottobotolo and Speedy just had to burn the incriminating evidence sitting in a garbage bag in the back seat So he finds a spot to pull off on the highway down a dirt road into a dense pocket of trees

He gets out of the car. He's having a bit of a look around He's sussing out a spot to to burn off this rubbish this evidence and there's no houses or buildings around So he's like, alright, this is a good spot He turns to go back to the car to get the garbage to settle on fire and finds Speedy freaking the fuck out. From why? This sounds, yeah, I'll do this. Let's see if you can do this, Dave. The contents of the garbage bag was strewn amongst the trees.

Speedy was stomping through the mud, hurling paper into the underbrush. Spools of videotape clung to the branches like streamers on a Christmas tree. She's become an installation artist. Oh no, Speedy. Can I have a quick process question as a fan of the podcast? Yeah. Did you add the like a Christmas tree bit or did that come?

No, that's from an article. Okay. Did you like it? I liked it. That was me. Okay. Did you like it? I liked it. That was me. Yeah. Thank you.

Currency skidded past a half-eaten salami sandwich. That was me. The mud around the car was flecked with dozens of tiny glittering diamonds. Speedy had panicked, feeling like someone was coming, and his solution was to spread the rubbish out. So they get back in the car, they speed off, they're pretty comfortable that like,

it's in the middle of nowhere. Who the fuck's gonna find that? Cut two. A man named August Van Camp. Here I am. Here I am. A retired grocer who liked to hunt rabbits on a narrow strip of land he'd purchased in 1998 that happened to run alongside the highway. While hunting one morning, Monday 17 February to be exact, Van Cab was incensed

to find yet another pile of junk in the underbrush. Not an uncommon occurrence as those dastardly youths often hung out and made a mess on his land. Those fucking kids. He'd called the police multiple times for these occurrences. They rarely did much about it. This time though, as he listed off things he'd found, wine bottles, videotapes, white envelopes that had Antwerp Diamond Center written on them.

These bloody kids. Bloody doing dimes now. These fucking kids. This time the cops were like, what was that last one? So they turned up pretty quickly. Amongst the rubbish, they found an invoice for a low light video surveillance system.

The buyer, Leonardo Notapetolo. The lab techs also bagged a half-eaten salami sandwich. They found antipasto Italiano salami packaging nearby and sent it along to the Diamond Squad headquarters. Oh yeah, the team of cops that look after this small area of Antwerp are called the Diamond Squad headquarters. Oh yeah, the team of cops that look after this small area of Antwerp are called the Diamond Squad. Yes. That's pretty funny.

Four days later, the detectives executed a search warrant on the apartment Notapetolo rented in Antwerp. In a cupboard, they found a receipt from a local grocery store for antipasto Italiano salami. They were undone by a frickin' sandwich. Why are you keeping that receipt? Yeah. Does anyone return a sandwich?

Or just in case. You're just gonna claim it as a work experience. Exactly, exactly. Gotta keep those receipts. That's for the accountant. So Notapetolo was found guilty of orchestrating the heist. He's considered to be the leader of a ring of Italian thieves called La Scuola di Torina, which is the school of Turin,

who carried out the crime. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, was released on parole in 2009, violated his parole, was arrested again in 2013, and was in prison until 2017. Tovano, Speedy, Genius, and The Monster each got five years in prison, but the identity of the King of Keys has never been discovered,

and is the only member of the crew to escape apprehension by police. Well, have I got news for you. I mean, it would be great if it was Matt, it was Matt. Like if it actually was Matt. And you've been hiding out as a podcast host in Australia for all this. I knew this day would come. And you had to reveal it. Well I am actually, yeah, 1.16th was Italian, so that makes some sense. So yeah. That checks out. Just finally, like I said, Heaton Ottobitolo claimed in an interview that a diamond merchant hired them for the heist

and that they only got away with $20 million worth and that it must have been a setup for other people to commit insurance fraud. Like they knew the robbery was gonna happen so they took out their diamonds and then they claimed that the diamonds were stolen. That's what he reckons it was. But experts don't

believe his story at all. And the estimated value of the robbery is more than $100 million, most of which has never been recovered. Oh my gosh. It's still out in the Alps. Wow. If you look up at the roof of this very building. All the guy that kept complaining about the trash has suddenly stopped complaining about the trash. People keep leaving their fur coats at my front door. This is okay to sound like this, okay?

I think that's fine. It's on the border, I bet it's fine. Yeah, see. It's on the border, but it's fine. Yeah, yeah. I live on the border now, I'm rich. I'll give you a pass, Rhys. What's happened to you anyway? Oh, that means it was not good. Why am I so, I really like you.

I'll be honest, Rhys, I get it. Yeah. I get it. Yeah, it just kind of happens. Yeah. I understand. But that is the story of the Antwerp Diamond Heist. Give it up for James. Yes. Thank you so much.

And only 20 minutes over. Really? Yeah. Not bad. Yeah. Oops. Oops. Help.

Well, we've had some fun here tonight. But all good things must come to an end. And we're gonna kill Matt. Yes. Please must love. Episode 500, would you please give it up for Will Anderson and Rhys Nicholson. But all good things must come to an end. Am I gonna kill Matt? Yes, please, that's right. Episode 500, would you please give it up for Will Anderson and Rhys Nicholson. Hey!

Hey! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And we'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who came out to our 500th episode at the Capitol. Will you please give yourselves a big round of applause? To you and everyone listening at home, we would not be doing this show for 500 weeks in a row if people weren't listening, so we really appreciate you coming out. Thank you so much. And can we please thank the capital itself and all the great staff here, they're all fantastic. We were going to take a photo in front of the crowd.

Do we have time for that? I reckon. Bec's probably lurking backstage. Oh my gosh. Would you mind if we take a photo with you beautiful people in this lovely, it's beautiful, it's theatre. And then I promise you get to go home and enjoy the rest of your lives, I swear, I swear after this. Sure, you'd say thanks while we're waiting, thanks to Stubed Old Studios for filming tonight.

Yes, give it up for Stubed Old Studios! Jan, Simon, Bec, Wayne, all the beautiful people, thank you so much. Emma as well. Bec says do you want the guests as well? I said nah fuck them. Have they had 500 episodes? Fuck them. I would have said I love them. Alright, everybody! Ready? Smile! ready yeah smile We're professionals. Well, you don't want that, right? I don't know.

Last one. Ready? Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, Thank you so much! Alright, amazing guests! Meeble Meeble! Oh my god! Thank you so much! Hi there! How are you doing? Okay, that's it. Thank you so much.

Good night. Wow, we did it. That's the end of it. Wow. I kind of never wanted it to end. I know. But at the same time, I wanted to go home. Yeah.

Three days straight. I'm exhausted. Who? Have you heard that some people will do this? They'll work three days a week. No, that's not true. Sorry, in a single week? Yeah, on a single job.

Consecutive days. Yeah. For how long? Well, I don't know. Probably not too much longer than what we're, what did we just do there? Half an hour? Yeah, okay. That's probably about what they do, I guess.

Far out. That's still a lot. Yeah, it's too much. Some people have it tough, don't they? Yeah, I know. much. Some people have it tough, don't they? Yeah, I know. I doubt their work is as hard as ours, you know, physically. Yeah, or mentally, or emotionally. Yeah, sitting, talking. Yeah, two people you find very funny. I assume you both find me very funny.

Opening up your heart and your soul. Is that how you open your heart? Yeah. Okay. They break my ribs. Yes. You open them up, like and your soul. Is that how you open your heart? Yeah. Okay. They break my ribs. Yes. You open them up. Open up. Like a little door. Yeah. And then we can see your heart. They've actually put hinges on my ribs now. Yeah. What did you think that sound was? I wasn't sure and I thought it was impolite to ask. I didn't want to know either. Whenever you hear it, I'm about to say something like, do you like me? Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr up again. So we're in everyone's favourite section of the show. I think a lot of you probably have been skipping to this part for however long we've been doing it. Not quite 500 really, but you know, basically. And yeah, this is where we thank our great supporters.

If you want to be one of these supporters, hey, why not go to patreon.com slash to go on pod. Those people keep this show going. They've kept us going for 500 episodes and here's to 500 more. And yeah, there's a bunch of different things you can get involved in there. You get to vote on topics. You get to hear four bonus episodes a month, including a D&D campaign, a movie club podcast, a bonus report, and another thing like a quiz or something like that, which is always a lot of fun, is where Who Knew It with Matt Stewart was born and Dave's done a bunch of things as well like Fact Finder and we've done Am I a Dead Woman?

The franchise that is sweeping the nation in our Patreon group. Yes. So you can get involved there. But one of the things if you sign up on the Sydney Schomburg level, you pretty much get all of those things, but also you have to be involved in the fact, quote or question section, which has a jingle, actually go somewhere like this. Fact, quote or question. Ding.

Oh, that felt nice. Just move on. Never again. That was your one shot. Move on before I punch you in your heart. So in this section, people on the Sydney Shambig level or above get to give us a fact or a quote or a question or a brag or a suggestion or really whatever they like. Then I read them out on the show for the first time on the show.

I don't pre-read these. And this one comes from Mick McCray, aka SirSawLegs. And Mick's writing a thank you quote. That's quite full on. That's why I've never said quote before. Quote, quote. I'm like, now I'm this is no longer me. This is now Mike.

Don't worry, this isn't me. Quote. M-I-C now, would you say Mike or M.I.C.? Mike, right? Like microphone. Yeah. Mike writes, I'm home now after my trip to Melbourne for episodes 500. For episode 500, but I guess also true. Yeah, that's right. You're here now too.

And I would like to say a very big thank you to everyone. Every person I spoke to during the weekend was nice. Truly the hospitality of your city is unmatched. Thank you to the other patrons and fans who helped me feel welcome and the strangers who helped me feel less stressed out when my hotel was changed last minute. Thank you to Matt W, that's Blonde Matthew for the wonderful walking tour.

My legs are very sore from all the walking I did, but it was absolutely worth it. And finally, thank you to Matt, Jess and Dave, the guests, not spoiling who, just in case it's a secret at the time this is read out. It is not. Not anymore. We know now. Also, AJ Beck and the Stupid Old Studios crew and everyone else who made the night so special. I promised I'll try to make my next Fact Quota question submission a short one. Cheers. That was-

I mean, that was very nice. That was very nice. That wasn't too long. That was perfect. I don't think one word was wasted. No, you nailed it. Mike, you nailed it. A perfect reminder as well that, you know, we would love to thank Beck and Simon and

Jam from Stupid Old Studios who were there, who were filming, Wayne who was filming as well and all of the crew at the venue. They were amazing. So lovely. Just a nice little shout out to those people as well. 100%. We love them. Made the night possible.

Yeah. And everyone who came, people came from interstate, overseas. It was so lovely. So cool. And then we all ended up, well not all of us, we wouldn't have all fit, but a bunch of us ended up back at the Comedy Republic, Reese's Comedy Club and had a lovely time. And yes, thank you so much, Mike. And the next thing we'd like to do is shout out

to a few of our other great supporters. Jess suddenly comes up with a game based on the topic of the episode. Well, this one was about diamond heists, so I'm thinking like what kind of product they're heisting. Great, I think that's fantastic. All right, well, do you want me and Dave to do some of that creative? No, I got it's fantastic. Ah, good one. All right. Well, do you want me and Dave to do some of that creative?

No, I got it. Okay. Well, I'll say thank you so much to, from address unknown, can only assume from deep within the fortress of the moles. Thank you so much to Ronel. Ronel is the mastermind behind the maple syrup heist. Oh my gosh. Oh wow.

Wow. Someone wow. Wow. Someone's gone down. I think someone went down for that and it turns out, Renell you diabolical mastermind. Yeah. Renell's on the run. Took the fall for you. Renell on the run. Is that something?

Is that something? That's so good. I think it is definitely. From Green Bay in Wisconsin in the United States, thank you so much to Keith Keskinen. Oh, that's a fantastic name. Keith Keskinen, of course, is behind that famous heist of sunflower seeds. Oh no. Surprisingly, very valuable.

Very valuable seeds. Especially in the quantity that they took. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my god. Nearly bankrupted the industry. Huge. Yeah. And when they got done for it, they tried to swallow them, which was dangerous.

Bad idea. Because they were allergic. And now sunflowers are going to grow in your tummy. Yeah. If an episode of Rugrats is to be believed. And I do believe it. The watermelon one? Yeah, it still scares me when I eat watermelon.

Dave, do you want to thank you for the third and final one this week? Thank you so much to someone who is also in a location unknown to us, probably deep within the fortress of the moles. Thank you to Matt Verite. Nail polish heist. What made you think of that one? Nothing. Nail polish heist and it was like such a large quantity that- Global.

It was really worth a lot. They took the world supply. Yes. Held it to ransom. Yes. Yes. Held it to ransom. Yes. Wow. You think about like, how many- Matt, you go a bollock of- You look up like nail salons just in a five kilometre radius.

There's a fuck tonne of them, OK? There's so many. There's so many. And you think about how many bottles of different colours they all have and he- Matt's got all of it. Whoa. Wow. Hey, can I have some?

It's actually going to have a huge ripple effect. Oh my gosh. Matt. Please give it back. Please give it back, but also great effort. Yeah, huge. That's a lot. Impressive.

I think obviously you've done the wrong thing, but also it has to be respected. That's right. Yep. And thank you so much for your support. And that just means we've got the Triptych Club, our final inductee for the 500th episodes. Now, Dave explains the Triptych Club better than anyone. This is our clubhouse hall of fame, a place where we put your name up on the honour board. These are people that have been supporting the show on the

shout out level or above for three consecutive years. And now they're going to be enshrined in greatness and also locked inside this club forever. But why would you want to leave? Because we've got everything you could ever imagine. Yeah. It's so fun in there. We could call it the Triptych Sarcophagus. If I'm saying that word right and using it correctly. I love that. OK. Welcome to the- I know you couldn't tell from using it correctly. I love that.

Okay. Welcome to the- I know you couldn't tell from my face, but I loved it. Welcome to the Triptych Sarcophagus. Because I love the word sarcophagus. Now get in. Yeah, I think it's great. Oh.

You know what? My dream would to be buried in a sarcophagus in Saskatchewan. We can make that happen. Yep. I love Saskatchewan as a name. Have never been there. Will you ever go there? Yeah, I hope so. Let's do it. Let's go do a Canadian tour to Saskatchewan as a name. Have never been there. Will you ever go there? Yeah, I hope so. Let's do it.

Let's go to a Canadian tour to Saskatchewan. I think we can get sarcophaguses. Yeah. Imagine getting sucked off in a sarcophagus in Saskatchewan. Imagine. You almost did well then. I reckon I almost didn't say a single one of those words, right? Funnily enough, he said sucked off perfectly, didn't he? Had plenty of practice saying that, hadn't he? Until you realised that's not what I was trying to say.

I was trying to say something else. So this topic was set in Belgium, right? So I've got some Belgian food. Right. Including mussels and fries. Mussels from Brussels. Belgian beef stew. Whoa.

Chicken or fish stew. What is waterzooi? And also Belgian waffles. Nice, you've come home strong. You might, yeah, you might want to skip to dessert. The others are not good. Not because they're not good in Belgium, because I have never had them and I was kind of making them up.

You can't make a stew, now you've got three. I can't, I know, I can't, like why am I making a beef stew? I don't eat meat. I don't know how to fucking cook it. Well, you have been. Can I just get a temperature check? I'll just check the stew. Hang on, I'll just take the lid off the stew. What's that sound like when you take a lid off a stew? We'll take it off and I can hear it. Okay, here we go, I'll just check. I'm just putting a temperature in. Okay, here we go. Just check. I'm just putting a temperature in.

Oh, the thermometer has actually melted. Oh my god, that's like lava. The thermometer has actually melted. I'm just going to put the pot back on. So I think that might actually be a bit too hot. I might have to... Clunk. That was weird delayed sound. It's a heavy lid though.

A heavy lid. Heavy lid. No, it's got to contain a lot of stew. I also always book a heavy lid though. It's a heavy lid. Heavy lid. No, it's got to contain a lot of stew. I also always book a band. Yes. Or a musical artist. And you're never going to believe this. Like I said, third one for the week.

This morning, I'll be honest with you, I didn't have anything. Sure. When I woke up to the email, they've come back to me all the way from Tanzania. Whoa. From back here. The Tanzanian bongo flavour recording artist. The first African based artist to reach 900 million views on YouTube. Please welcome after this Diamond Platinumz.

Whoa. Did you say that was the genre bongo flavoured? Yeah, Tanzanian bongo flavour. Oh my God. I thought that was the name of the band at first. Which was already good. Yeah. bongo flavour. Oh my God. I thought that was the name of the band at first. But jeez. Which was already good. Yeah. Bongo flavour.

The fact that there's a whole genre of this that we can dive into. I'm into it. Apparently that's the nickname for Tanzanian music. Cool. Bongo flavour. Honestly, so pumped to hear them. Like that just immediately I'm like, this is going to be a fun party tonight. It's going to be so much fun.

I'm going to have a bit of stew. Oh, oh. I told you. I told you. Did you? It was so much fun. I'm going to have a bit of stew. Oh, oh, fuck. I told you. I told you. Did you? It was not ready. I don't remember that. I said it was too hot.

That was crazy. The thermometer melted in that, mate. You were eating metal. Oh my God. Oh my God. No, this is not my fault. Oh, fuck. This is not my fault.

What the hell? Dave, help me wrap this up because he obviously can't speak now. Oh my, he's going to- he has to- I'll go read a name. Read out one name. Oh, Dave, help me wrap this up because he obviously can't speak now. He has to. I'll go read a name. Read out one name. Oh, yeah. This is our one inductee today. Oh. They're going to run. Matt's going to pick up the Velvrope. He can do that. Oh, I'll pick up the Velvrope.

I actually pre-recorded this. I'll just let me get the tape. Great. So Matt's going to hit the play on that and then I'm going to hype this person up and Jess is going to hype me up. I'm going to hype you up. From Anchorage in AK, maybe Arkansas. I think it's Alaska. Alaska.

Anchorage. It's Alaska. We were all recorded in the pre-recorder. You corrected me in the pre-recording. Why don't we just pre-record it? From Anchorage in Alaska in the United States. What are the odds I get two states with AK? Why don't we just re-record it? From Anchorage in Alaska in the United States. What are the odds I get two states with a K?

Please and thank you and welcome Liz Dean! Liz Dean, the quiz queen! Oh, that was a really good day. Thank you, thank you. Welcome Liz, my associate Zach from this week. We might need to get you to a doctor. Yeah, well we'll see if Matt makes it back from this week. We might need to get you to a doctor. Why? I didn't know you were up. Yeah. Well, we'll see if Matt makes it back for next week.

Oh my God. I don't have a tongue. You might need to have a couple of weeks off, I think, after this. Yeah. I don't know if I know. In my professional medical opinion. I know. I'll take it from here, but it's okay. If you need me, I'll be in a sarcophagus. Okay, great. Go have fun being sucked off in a sarcophagus in Saskatchewan.

Nailed all three. Thank you again. That was actually really impressive. Thank you so much. Just a, yeah, sincere thank you to everybody who came to the 500th show. It was so much fun. To all of our wonderful guests, who did we have? Nick and Cass and Kirstie and Soren and Nick-

Will and Race. Will and Race. Well, if you hadn't fucking interrupted me, I was getting there. Well, you should have said Nick twice. That's true. I thought I was saving you. Rhys Nicholson is where I think I got Nick again. Anyway, we love them very much and really appreciate them coming and doing our show. And thank you for listening.

This has been a really fun 500th extravaganza. We'll be back to normal programming next week. I can't wait. Can you believe it? Yeah. Dave, boot this baby home. Thank you again. 500 episodes.

We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much. Until next time, we'll say goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Oh, call an ambulance. Yeah. Wee-whoop. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are Oh, call an ambulance. Yeah, we'll come to you, you come to us. Very good. And we give you a spam-free guarantee.