The Silver Thief: a smart burglar who perfected his craft | Hacker News Reader

The Silver Thief: a smart burglar who perfected his craft

stephenjdubner.com

127 pointsadamhowell26 comments

Summary: Guy from unfortunate family background becomes a highly successful silver thief, stealing millions in antique silverware from high-end homes in the Northeast. He evades capture for years, as he is meticulous, patient and leaves no trace behind. Eventually he is caught through a series of small breaks. People close to the thief speculate that his motivation was more for the thrill of stealing than for the money itself.

My key takeaway: he did a careful analysis of what he should go after, using good insight and careful risk/benefit analysis.

This guy concluded that silverware was the sweet spot. It was quite valuable, easily transportable, unlikely to be hidden, and likely to be located in obvious places downstairs, where there was less risk of waking up the residents.

We should not steal. But we should note the benefits of good cost/benefit analysis.

I'm not sure what in the world this has to do with HN, but I will tell you that it was one of the better stories I have read.

I want to meet this guy.

He found an easily movable good (silver stemware), located in an reasonably accessible part of most every house (downstairs, usually in the dining room), using a crime whose punishment has lessened in severity b/c of its decline in perpetrators (cat burglary) & that he had mastered (stayed in great shape, was meticulous, taunted cops, etc).

Kind of hacked the system if you ask me. Of course he still got caught...

Stemware?

Candlesticks, goblets and the like.

1) Buy a big house.

2) Keep a lot of silver downstairs.

3) ???

4) Meet Nordahl.

Great story. A real life 'To Catch a Thief'. To relate it to HN, I think it shows the power of dominating a niche by obsessive attention to not just planning but execution.

"He leaned back and sighed. I began to think that perhaps it wasn't the stealing that was the thrill for Nordahl so much as the escaping. He said, "If you were being chased by a bear, your adrenaline's going to be pumping, you know what I mean? Later, you might not really say, 'Gee, that was fun.' But, at the same time, if nothing else really was going on, it might have added flavor to the day. As long as you got away from the bear. But, of course, if you got caught by the bear, you know, it's another story."

He even merits a brief wikipedia article, which indicates he was sentenced to 8 years in 2004. Maybe he's already out?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blane_Nordahl

Oh nice, that led me to find this Masterminds episode "The Silver Bandit":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-TF2e0IHo

Thanks, that looks like a pretty interesting series.

No, he's still in jail. Looks like his earliest release date is November 19th, 2010.

http://nysdocslookup.docs.state.ny.us/GCA00P00/WIQ3/WINQ130

A fascinating story about thievery but so very long and so difficult to read due to the layout, colors and styling.

Agreed! It was a pleasure to read in the original issue of the New Yorker.

Check out http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/

This is the first article that I've actually used Readability on, and it worked wonderfully.

Wow, you just saved me the headache of just stripping out the offending White on Black css using a devtool.

Thanks much!

Article was interesting. Finding Readability... fantastic. Thanks, callahad.

Re: Color/Styling - Tell me about it, I just came back to the HN screen, and after staring at black for so long, everything looks _very_ washed out. Here's hoping my eyeballs recover...

[Edit: No, seriously - My MacBook Pro's screen (10 minutes later) _still_ looks all washed out. Adjusting the brightness doesn't seem to work. This is after taking a two minute break. Something about reading long fiction for 30 minutes on that black screen really caused an impact]

I have a Mac so I just hit Control + Option + Command + 8 to invert screen colors. It makes reading light text on a dark background bearable.

This trick is also useful...

* for working on airplanes - easier on the eyes in the low light and your batteries last longer.

* for messing with anyone with a Mac. Just walk over and invert their colors. :)

for messing with anyone with a Mac. Just walk over and invert their colors. :)

If you do it fast enough and they are newb enough they'll spend a couple minutes trying to figure out how to undo it. ;)

> "We'll say, 'We know he's fencing here, and when we arrest him he's facing a life term and he'll turn on you.' Within a week, we'll find Blane in a drum in the East River, because that's how these guys play."

It surprises me that i'm not entirely opposed to that idea, but I really have to wonder if it's legal.

It wouldn't be too hard to phrase it in such a way that it seems completely legitimate. For example, pull one of the Russian Mafia guys in and offer him a deal to inform, but tell him it's a limited time offer "because we'll have this guy soon and he'll squeal".

(Also even if there are hints of illegality juries are generally unlikely to convict cops).

This reasserts that one cannot be perfect from the get-go.

Amazing story. No doubt this will be a movie for sure!

wow, a long but pleasant read. thanks for sharing.

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