Heist 1: A chocolate for your key? (2007)

Where: ABN Amro Bank, Antwerp, Belgium

When: March 2, 3, or 4, 2007

How much: Approximately $28 million

No one knows his real name, but the staff members at the ABN Amro bank in Antwerp's diamond district knew him as Carlos Hector Flomenbaum. Flomenbaum billed himself as a successful business man, and he'd frequented the bank for at least a year. The bank's employees loved the guy, described as a gray-haired man between the ages of 55 and 60, speaking American-accented English and brandishing an Argentinean passport. He brought the bank's workers boxes of chocolates, talked to them about non-diamond-related matters, and ultimately won their trust to the extent that he was given VIP access to the vault.

At the bank, certain customers are given keys so they can access their diamonds at odd hours. "Flomenbaum" became one of these trusted key holders, and sometime between March 2 and March 5, 2007, he let himself into the vault and walked out the front door with 120,000 carats of diamonds.

The ABN Amro bank has a $2 million security system. But "Flomenbaum" never had to deal with that. He used his passcard to get into the vault, went straight for the area that he knew held uncut diamonds, and emptied five of the deposit boxes. Antwerp's diamond merchants were stunned. It's still unclear how a man with what turned out to be a stolen passport could have passed the bank's background checks.

Among the stolen gems were 41 blue and two extremely rare green stones. In all, the haul was worth about $28 million.

So whether the thieves are using a sledgehammer or a really sincere smile, there are at least a couple of things the big diamond heists have in common. First, a successful heist typically requires inside help. After all, we're talking about the most highly guarded carbon in the world. And second, while the thieves may be caught, the diamonds are almost never found.

THIS close to making history In 2000, thieves attempted to steal $700M worth of diamonds from London's Millennium Dome. Among the intended booty were the world-famous Millennium Star diamond, weighing in at 203.04 carats, and 12 blue diamonds weighing a total of 118 carats, all owned by diamond conglomerate De Beers. The thieves were heavily armed and threw gas canisters into the Dome to cover their entrance. Wearing gas masks, they ran in and smashed the display cases with sledgehammers. They were about to grab the diamonds when police officers, dressed as cleaning crew, rushed in and shut them down. The police had been tipped off before the heist, and had already nabbed the speed boat that was the alleged getaway vehicle.

Learn more about diamonds, diamond thieves and other related topics on the next page.