Chapter 8

Summary

• The chapter begins by discussing historical accounts of museum heists, from Vincenzo Peruggia's successful theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, to an elaborate 17-person heist at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1975, to various other attempts around the world.
• It mentions that stolen artwork is difficult to sell or display and is often eventually recovered.
• The book introduces a character named Stéphane Breitwieser, who, along with his girlfriend Anne-Catherine, travels through Switzerland stealing various items from museums. Unlike other thieves, they are refined, dressing in designer clothes to blend in and committing crimes without any form of violence.
• Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine carefully monitor news reports on their thefts to gauge how close the authorities are to catching them. Breitwieser delights in rereading such reports, viewing himself as an "honorable" thief.
• The couple meticulously plans their heists. Anne-Catherine is good at spotting security strengths, while Breitwieser is adept at finding vulnerabilities. They have a rule: stolen artwork must be small enough to discreetly carry out of the museum.
• Breitwieser also goes out alone on solo stealing missions, but he finds that heists performed with Anne-Catherine are safer.
• The couple continues their spree through the spring and summer of 1995, stealing at a rate rarely seen outside wartime.
• Breitwieser is driven not by rank or monetary gain, but rather by a deeply rooted desire to own beautiful works of art, the desire to possess something better than his father's collection, and the hope of filling an emptiness within him.