“Expect surprises right up to the last minute,” says our critic of the new Netflix drama about the attempted diamond heist at the Millennium Dome.
Say what you will about the criminals, they're not lacking in ambition or audacity.
Stars: Luke Philpott, Tuncay Gunes
Nor is director Guy Ritchie, whose captivating new true-crime documentary, The Diamond Heist, masterfully brings to life a criminal gang's extraordinary attempt to steal one of the world's most expensive gems from the Millennium Dome in 2000.
Extraordinary, yes, but in the eyes of the Metropolitan Police's famed Flying Squad, who were aware of the heist's planning from the very beginning. Thus begins three fascinating episodes of shenanigans between police officers and would-be thieves.
“They were trying to pull off the biggest heist in history, and we needed to catch them red-handed,” said John Swinfield, head of The Flying Squad, who led the delicate surveillance operation.
The glittering gem, weighing some 200 carats, was owned by De Beers.
Tom Thorn, its head of security, also participated in the operation.
"I was very excited that these criminals were caught, so to speak, in the act," he enthused.
It was almost inevitable that The Millennium Diamond Heist would get the Hollywood treatment, even as a documentary. The only mystery was why it took so long. Perhaps all it took was gangster specialist Guy Ritchie (Layer Cake, Lock Stock… and The Gentlemen) to step in as executive producer.
While this is a true-crime documentary, the cops and robbers are also dramatized from start to finish, along with Ritchie's trademark quick cuts and dark humor.
Prepare for surprises right up to the last minute.
This is a gangster story with all the typical ingredients. There's a tight-knit gang of thieves, the prospect of a huge payout, a charismatic team leader (Lee Wenham) facing off against a wily police officer (Swinburn, or "Swini"), all culminating in a daring escape plan involving a speedboat on the Thames. Very James Bond-esque.
The police even acknowledged the audacity of the heist. Swinburn said, "You wouldn't believe it in the movies, but it's real."
The story is told through the recollections of Swinburn and convicted criminal Lee Wenham, one of the masterminds of the robbery. Wenham, who possesses a great sense of style, was born into a family of Traveller Gypsies and reveals how he followed his father into a life of crime.
Lee's first real crime, he recounts in the film, was stealing a JCB, ironically the same key piece of equipment he used on the day of the heist. When Lee was looking for a way into the Dome, he thought of the JCBs: "They're like a tank," he said.
So he went and stole one. Again.
Wenham made several visits to the Dome, one of them with his two daughters, who were largely unaware of their father's adventures.
"We never asked him what he did," said Beth, his eldest daughter.
The documentary begins with Lee Wenham looking at photos of the famous Dome. He explains:
"Seeing the Dome brings back a lot of memories. It was a really crazy time in my life." Lee adds: "I've never talked about what happened."
And he speaks with complete candor about the whole adventure.
"I wanted to do something really big," he explained, after another major robbery went wrong. Just four months before the Dome robbery, the theft of a security van would have netted £9 million for Lee and his gang, but the police thwarted it.
So he and his criminal partner Ray Betson took charge of the Millennium Diamond robbery and began forming a gang.
Wenham was like Michael Caine assembling his crew for The Italian Job. There was Kevin (The Ferryman) for the quick escape across the Thames, Bob (The Builder) to open the safe, Bill (The Muscle, "if it all goes wrong"), Aldo (The Technician), and Terry (The Experience), someone who's already done it all.
There were other links to fictional gangsters, too.
Carol Brocklesby, who shadowed Wenham, was from SO11 and recounts in the film: "Ray Betson [said to be the boss] reminded me of Tony Soprano, someone not to be messed with. He was a man in control."
But why do it in broad daylight? Lee revealed his reasoning.
"The best time to get in is when the door's open," he said with a smile.
On the day of the robbery, not everything went well for the thieves, who were unaware of the Mobile Brigade lurking nearby.
In the final minutes of the documentary, a philosophical Lee Wenham returns to the crime scene at the Dome: "I thought there would be a blue plaque or something, but there was nothing!"
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