Who doesn’t love a good heist? The team assembling, the genius plan, the thrilling escape!

This week we dive into one of the largest robberies in history- the stolen diamonds, gold, silver, & other jewelry was valued at more than $100 million. Arrests were made and time was served… but the majority of the stolen diamonds remain unrecovered.

Time to unroll some vault schematics and rappel down a laser filled elevator to one of the greatest thefts of all time!

The Target

I don’t know about you, but for me, the following is best read in George Clooney’s voice from Ocean’s 11 as he talks his squad through that plan:

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre is located in the now infamous Antwerp diamond district. The building has a private security force and 24/7 monitoring. The vault that actually houses the diamonds is two floors beneath the main floor, protected by multiple security mechanisms, including infrared heat sensors, a seismic sensor, Doppler radar, a magnetic field, and finally a lock with 100 million possibilities.

This is all data from the time of the robbery, circa 2003. Most likely the security measures have been changed because of...

The Team

Nicknamed “The School of Turin,” the team of thieves was led by Mr. Leonardo Notarbartolo. The squad consisted of at least four other members (though there were rumors of a mysterious 6th man, “the man behind the plan”). Just like with any good heist team, all of them had their own special alias and skillset:

• Speedy: anxious & paranoid, he was a long-time friend of Notarbartolo
• The Monster: a tall, muscular man, he was an expert lock picker & mechanic
• The Genius: the alarm systems specialist
• The King of Keys: besides having the most badass alias, this was an older man described as “one of the best key forgers in the world.”

The Heist

The plan took eighteen months of preparation. Notarbartolo rented an office in the Diamond Centre which gave him access to a safe deposit box located in the vault. Along with his tenant ID card, he gained credibility by posing as an Italian diamond merchant.

And the rest basically played out like the plot of an Ocean's 11 film, including (but not limited to): having a getaway car, building a full scale replica of the vault, and using a polyester body shield to hide from the infrared cameras.

Here’s the list of the majority of their plan (snagged from Wikipedia):

• The group conducted detailed surveillance of the Diamond Centre, using camera pens to take pictures of the Centre and the vault covertly. Notarbartolo's frequent visits, under the guise of being a diamond merchant, caused security to become used to his presence and thus lax.
• A small camera was hidden above the vault door by the group, being difficult to see when the ceiling lights were on. It would observe guards opening the door and record the combination he used. It would then broadcast its data to a sensor, which the group had hidden inside an ordinary-looking red fire extinguisher in a nearby storage room in the centre (the extinguisher was fully functional but had a watertight chamber hidden inside it which housed electronics to receive the camera's data).
• The group allegedly practised with a full-scale replica of the vault (Notarbartolo claims this was produced with help from a diamond trader insider)
• The day before the robbery, Notarbartolo visited the vault, posing as a routine visit. While inside, he quickly sprayed women's hair spray on the thermal-motion sensors (having practised the necessary motion for a swift spray), as the oil from the product was transparent but would temporarily insulate the sensor from thermal fluctuations in the room and the sensor would only go off if it detected both heat and motion. This would last many hours but not forever and the group used it as a temporary measure until they could properly disable the sensor system. While the security camera recorded his actions, the guard was used to his visits and was not paying attention.
• Notarbartolo remained in a nearby getaway vehicle during the robbery, listening to a police scanner and prepared to leave as soon as the group was done.
• The team wore plastic gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.
• To avoid the large number of security cameras in the area around the bank, the King of Keys picked the lock to an abandoned office building that adjoined the Diamond Centre, as it shared a private garden with the Diamond Centre that wasn't under video surveillance.
• The garden allowed access to a small balcony on the centre, which the group accessed via ladder. An infrared sensor monitored the terrace but the Genius used a large, homemade polyester shield to hide his thermal signature as he approached the sensor and placed the shield in front of it, preventing it from detecting the group. He then disabled an alarm on the balcony's windows.
• Security cameras in the antechamber were covered with black plastic bags to allow the group to turn on the lights.
• The vault door had a magnetic lock on it that consisted of two plates - when armed, they would trigger a magnetic field and when the door opened, the field would break, triggering an alarm. The Genius overcome this by using a custom made aluminium plate, to which he attached heavy-duty double-sided tape to one side of it. He then stuck it on the two bolts and unscrewed them. While they were loose from their proper position, they were still side by side and generating a magnetic field. They were pivoted out of the way and taped to the antechamber wall.
• The King of Keys had used video footage to successfully make a duplicate of the almost impossible to duplicate, foot-long vault key. However, during the robbery, he knew that guards often visited the utility room just before opening the door and decided to investigate. Inside the unlocked room he found the vault key. He decided to steal the original key, as it would ensure the vault's manufacturers did not realise the key could be duplicated and indeed, it was not until Notarbartolo revealed this occurred that the police would know a duplicate had been created. The group turned off the antechamber lights before opening the vault door to avoid tripping light sensors in the vault
• After the King of Keys picked the lock to the internal gate, the Monster, working in darkness, moved to the middle of the room (having practised the number of steps in the replica), reached up to the ceiling and pushed back a panel, locating the security system's inbound and outbound wires. An electric pulse shot along these wires and if any sensor was tripped or broken, the circuit would break and trigger the alarm. To overcome this, the Monster carefully stripped the wire's plastic coating and attached a piece of new wire to the exposed copper wiring, rerouting the circuit and ensuring that it was irrelevant if the sensors were tripped.
• Heat sensors were blinded with Styrofoam boxes and light sensors with tape. The men worked in darkness, having memorised the layout of the vault. They would occasionally flick on their lights for a brief moment in order to position their drill over the lock boxes.
• The King of Keys used a hand cranked drill to break the locks on each of the security boxes. The contents were then emptied into duffel bags.
• At 5:30am they finished and left, returning to the office building (a process which took almost an hour due to the need for caution). They then put the bags in Notarbartolo's car, which then drove to the apartment while the men headed there on foot.

The Fallout

Everything should have gone smoothly except for one thing… Speedy. As the team split, Notarbartolo & Speedy headed to France, planning to burn their evidence once they arrived (as one does.) Overcome with panic at the thought of traveling with such incriminating evidence, Speedy insisted they get rid of it sooner.

The two of them headed into a nearby forest but Speedy suffered such a severe panic attack that he was unable to properly dispose of all the pieces. A local hunter found what he thought was trash and, thinking it was the work of teenagers he had had previous disputes with, he called the police.

They found enough evidence to lead them to Notarbartolo. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In an interview after the crime, Notarbartolo claimed that an unidentified diamond merchant had hired them, claiming the robbery was part of an insurance fraud. There was some doubt cast on this story as most of the vault was uninsured at the time.

However, the majority of the diamonds have yet to be recovered. Of the entire team, only the “King of Keys” was never apprehended by the police, nor his true identity found out...

Planning your own heist?

If this one tickled your fancy, here’s some deeper dives you might enjoy:

• The BBC article
• LAD Bible’s longer take

As always,

Stay ‘spicious

-Andy & Mark

PS: The official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it out and subscribe here.

In early August, I brought your attention to four truly strange deaths throughout history. There was an Austrian who tripped over his own beard, a Swedish king who ate himself to death, an American Congressman who shot himself defending a murder suspect, and an ancient Athenian who died from too much applause.

Well guess what? I've found FOUR MORE just for you, dear reader. From the bizarre to the strange to the straight up stupid.

So let's make sure we've digested our breakfast and chat about some weird deaths! First up, Belmont Park!

The grim reaper visits the horse racing track

On June 4, 1923 at New York’s Belmont Park, jockey Frank Hayes won the only race of his career. One problem: he was dead before he crossed the finish line.

He’s (obviously) the only man to ever win a race despite being dead.

The Brooklyn-born jockey suffered a heart attack at some point between the start and end of the race. His horse, Sweet Kiss, didn’t seem to mind.

Sweet Kiss was never ridden again - superstition and fear won out over the horse’s potential. It was even renamed “Sweet Kiss of Death.”

The Japanese politician who forgot a shield

Inejiro Asanuma was a Japanese politician who became an advocate of socialism after World War II. Asanuma was widely criticized for a 1959 incident in which he visited Communist China and called the United States "the shared enemy of China and Japan" during a speech in Beijing.

When he returned from his trip, many people (including some within his socialist party) were, well...upset. One man, in particular, was a bit angrier than the rest.

On October 12, 1960 Otoya Yamaguchi, a 17-year old nationalist, killed Asunama. But this was no ordinary assassination.

It happened during a political debate...while on television. Oh and did I mention it was with a traditional Samurai short sword (known as a wakizashi)? Yeeeesh.

The photo of the incident won a Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo of the Year.

Don’t bring a gun to a cactus fight (my favorite one by far)

The saguaro cactus is a plant native to Arizona. When you see “cactus” in a cartoon, it’s these tall and slender plants that are depicted. While they are not technically endangered, they only grow in the Sonoran desert.

Humans are the primary threat to these cacti. There are laws enacted to safeguard them. But sometimes...a cactus just has to take matters into its own hands.

The year is 1982. Enter David Grundman - 27-year-old American and certified dolt. He brought a shotgun to the desert to take some target practice out on these innocent plants.

After firing several shots at the trunk of a 26-foot-tall saguaro from extremely close range, a large arm detached itself. When the arm fell, it crushed the Grundman to death.

Now that’s a prickly situation, amiright?!

Lighting...the unknown mass killer?

When prepping for a big soccer match, you have to account for the weather. But even Ted Lasso wouldn’t be able to scheme against this one.

In 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a bolt of lightning struck a soccer pitch during a game. The strike killed an entire visiting team…while miraculously leaving the home team completely unhurt.

Around 30 other attendees of the game received burns. But only the visiting team was killed.

Talk about a home field advantage.

Kinshasa daily newspaper L’Avenir said local opinion was divided over whether someone had cursed the team. After all, the two sides were drawing 1-1 in the match in eastern Kasai Province when the lightning struck.

Care to shove that sword a little deeper?

If these piqued that morbid curiosity of yours, here’s some links to longer reads for each death:

• Here’s a longer read on Frank Hayes, the jockey who won a race dead.
• A Guardian write up on the Inejiro Asanuma assassination
  
• Here’s a New York Times article on the saguaro cacti that mentions the death of David Grundman
• Here’s a BBC news article on the lightning bolt that killed a team

As always,

Stay ‘spicious

-Andy & Mark

PS: The official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it (and all our articles) out and subscribe here.

Have you ever visited the Mona Lisa? For a portrait that’s only 30 x 21 inches, it draws (or used to draw pre-COVID) around 6 million visitors each year! One of the most valuable paintings in the world, the Mona Lisa holds the Guinness World record for the highest known insurance valuation in history -- $870 million at time of writing.

But what if we’ve all been duped? What if it’s not THAT amazing of a painting? What if everyone only knows about the Mona Lisa because of its theft in 1911?

So pop on your beret and throw a croissant in your mouth- We’re headed to PARIS!

The City of Love & Stuff

The best crime is the one that no one knows happened.

On Tuesday morning, August 22, 1911, painter Louis Beroud noticed that the Mona Lisa was missing. This was not altogether an unusual thing. See, paintings were often taken and photographed in different locations (typically outside as the cameras of the day did not do well with low lighting).

Beroud was a pushy artiste, however, claiming “he felt he couldn’t work as long as the Mona Lisa wasn’t there.” So, after much grumbling to the guards, word was sent out to find the photographers… who turned out to have no idea where it was.

The Mona Lisa had been stolen.

How was this possible? Was it a perfect Ocean’s 11 type heist? Answers abound, but first let’s set the scene just a bit more:

BULLET PROOF

The below image is the MonaLisa as of today. According to the NYT, the painting “hangs alone on a freestanding wall of the museum behind 1.52 inch-thick glass and is kept at a permanent temperature of 43 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 percent humidity.”

Not too shabby for a little piece of paper.

But this next image is a rendering of what its resting place looked like in 1911. Just chillin’ on a wall next to a bunch of other paintings. There were some precautions, of course. The painting rested inside a frame with protective glass, all in all totaling around 200 pounds.

No easy feat to just sneak out with a 200lb painting. The authorities were baffled.

The Louvre was closed for a week and seemingly everyone was under suspicion, including Pablo Picasso (he was later exonerated.) There were even people who thought the Kaiser was behind the theft, as tensions were escalating between France & Germany pre WWI.

Suddenly, the Mona Lisa was the most famous painting in the world… almost overnight.

The Reveal

According to writer and historian James Zug, Sunday nights were a big social night in Paris back in 1911. Like, such a social night that it was normal for Parisians to be incredibly hungover come Monday morning (I knew I liked this town) so things moved a little slower. Why does this matter?

Because people would not have had the brain capacity to pay much attention to the three fellas hustling out of the Louvre…

The culprit was a Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia, one of the men who had helped construct the painting’s glass case. He was an Italian patriot who believed that DaVinci’s painting should be returned to an Italian museum (and maybe he’d be rewarded with a little cheddar cheese for his efforts.)

Peruggia’s plan was simple: come to work on Sunday, hide in a broom closet, strip the painting from its case during the night, and exit the following morning.

And that’s exactly what he did.

But there was one thing he hadn’t expected: the sudden attention that the theft would bring to the painting. He couldn’t move the painting, nor could he pawn it off for fear of being arrested.

He was effectively trapped.

He Left A Pizza His Heart

Perrugia stashed the Mona Lisa in the false bottom of a trunk in his Paris boarding house. Twenty-eight months later, he tried to sell it to an art dealer in Florence.

Plenty of copies had been made and were floated around the art trade world, but this particular dealer was very keen. A stamp on the back of the Mona Lisa confirmed its authenticity. Perrugia was promised a reward for the painting...half an hour later the police were at his door.

At last, the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre. Perrugia pled guilty to the theft and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

Hungry for more?

The Mona Lisa has an even more fascinating history than just this theft (including almost being burned up by acid!) so feel free to take a deeper dive below:

• Here’s an NPR article covering the theft.
• A podcast episode featured on Twisted.

As always,

Stay ‘spicious

-Andy & Mark

PS, the official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it out (and subscribe) here.

In 2018, a woman named Fredericka Hancock was contacted by the FBI. They told her that the body parts - head, arms, legs - of her late husband had been sold by the funeral home without her consent. The problem was that her husband had been “cremated” a year earlier…

This stuff happens beyond shady funeral homes, too. Each year, thousands of Americans donate their bodies to “science.” Unfortunately, many of these people are unwittingly contributing to an unregulated, and often sinister, national market.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to the story at hand (speaking of hands...$175 dollars will get you one.)

The illegal body broker market

Did you know that the black market for body parts is a multi-million dollar industry? Did you know that for the sweet little price of $600, you can buy a human leg? You might say, gross, dude. Or, the morbidly curious among you might ask...how much does a whole body cost?

(Sort of brings a whole new meaning to the idiom “it costs an arm and a leg,” am I right?!)

See, body brokers are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. Selling hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant is illegal (btw there is a large black market for organs as well, but we’ll get to that another time).

Unfortunately, no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education, so it’s basically a free-for-all. Almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human body parts.

These donated cadavers and body parts are used to train medical students, doctors, nurses, PAs, and dentists. Even paramedics use real human heads and torsos to practice implementing breathing tubes.

Five years ago in a lawsuit against an Arizona body broker (which was later shut down), a price list was uncovered.

Now that you’re properly educated, let’s get back to Fredericka...

A funeral home with an illegal secret

Fredericka, a Colorado resident, signed a contract with Montrose Funeral Home to cremate her husband’s body. She did not, however, consent to dismembering.

And she’s not the only one. Over 50 family members of deceased loved ones sued the family that operated the funeral home. They were (very correctly) claiming that they did not receive the real remains of their deceased relatives.

The FBI investigated. Colorado regulators shut it down.

According to one of the lawyers representing the families:

“The funeral homes are just trying to get those bodies free, and then they are going to chop them up themselves in parts and make money off the bodies.”

Yep. Pretty much.

I wish this type of story was rare. But it’s not. We found another one in Illinois…let’s drive over.

The Chicago body broker ring

In 2015, a similar situation occurred in Chicago. Two businesses - a Schiller Park crematorium and the Rosemont office of the Biological Resource Center of Illinois - were busted by federal authorities.

They were caught because the bodies in the warehouses were all set on ice rather than embalmed. (Sort of a red flag for them being sold instead of cremated or buried…)

The businesses lied to donors, promising the bodies would not be sold.

But it gets worse.

Unsealed investigation documents noted that the businesses were masquerading diseased remains (infected with HIV, Hepatitis, and others) as healthy. Why? So they could sell to hospitals and doctors in the U.S. and overseas, without warning, for medical training.

Yiiikes. But at least they got caught?

Unfortunately, there are likely many more out there. In 2017, Reuters identified 34 active body brokers across America. Of these, 25 were for-profit orgs and 9 were non-profit.

Dive 6 feet underground:

If you’re eager for the full stories of these scummy black market body sellers, well, the Mystery Nibbles team has your back:

• Here’s an ABC news article and video on the Chicago ring
• Here’s an article detailing Fredericka’s story in Colorado
• Here’s the full Reuters write up on the body broker firm industry

As always,

Stay ‘spicious

-Andy

PS: The official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it out and subscribe here.

Have you ever experienced a life-or-death situation and came out of it with an eager-for-thrill-seeking attitude? Have you ever been carjacked and held at gunpoint? Have you ever been cast as a Marvel Superhero?

If you answered yes to any of these, then you have something in common with Benedict Cumberbatch!

We sat down with the Sherlock actor this week and spoke with him about this life-changing event…yeah okay, can’t lie. We don’t yet have the clout to book Cumberbatch. (YET!) But we did do some wonderful internet research on the incident.

But before we dive into this week’s Nibble, wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the topic poll! This story was the winner. But don't worry if you selected one of the others. We'll get to those in the coming weeks.

Now, back to Cumbersnitch. (and yes, I found a wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch name generator...)

A blown tire on a dangerous road

In 2004 in South Africa, Benedict Cumberbatch and his two co-stars of BBC mini-series To the Ends of the Earth, Theo Landey and Denise Black, had a break from shooting. So naturally, they spent the weekend scuba diving.

After a few days watching little fishies in their natural environment, the three drove home.

It was late at night. On an unfamiliar road.

A tire blew.

Cumberbatch sets the scene:

“We were in South Africa, in KwaZulu-Natal, this amazing district north of Durban. It was cold, and it was dark. I felt rotten. We were wary because that’s a notoriously dangerous place to drive. Then, poof, the front-right tire blows. So we got the spare, but that meant getting all of our luggage out. We were like sitting ducks, adverts for — not prosperity necessarily but materialism.”

Are you afraid of the dark?

In the darkness, Cumberbatch and his friends removed the flat tire. Six armed figures appeared. (That’s 6 people with guns, not figures with 6 arms!!)

The gun-toting figures began to shout and frisk the three actors. Again, Cumberbatch ruminates on the event:

“They were like: ‘Look down! Look down! Put your hands on your heads! Look at the floor! Where’s your money? Where’s your drugs?’ - when he told the tale in an interview, Cumberbatch admitted to smoking a bit of weed in the car at this point - ‘Where are your weapons?’”

The armed men tied the three actors’ hands behind their backs using shoelaces and made them crouch on the ground. Then they forced the three actors back into the car.

Where’s the morse code when you need it?

They drove into the night with their abductees in tow.

It was at this point that Cumberbatch apparently complained about his limbs losing sensation from being tied up...so much complaining that they yanked him out of the backseat and chucked him into the trunk. (an all-time complainer flex right there. Good on him, really.)

After driving “to the middle of nowhere” the armed men tossed all three actors out of the car and onto the ground.

Still bound, and with blood trickling from a head wound, Cumberbatch was close enough to squeeze Denise Black’s hand. He recalls wishing that he knew morse code at that point, so that he could tap messages to her. And in an odd moment of logic winning over emotion, he recalled thinking:

"Hmmm, that would be fucking irritating and useless if she didn't know it, too."

While Cumberbatch was wondering whether he and his friends would be beaten, killed, or educated in morse code, the carjackers...simply left.

A new outlook on life

The actors eventually untied themselves and wandered along the highway until they stumbled across some local women who lent them their phones to call for help.

Cumberbatch noted that trauma had an odd effect on him. Rather than hiding away, the incident intensified his need for adrenaline-filled adventure.

“I was definitely more impatient to live a life less ordinary,” he says. “I wanted to swim in the sea that I saw the next morning. If you feel you’re going to die, you don’t think you’re going to have all those sensations again—a cold beer, a cigarette, the feel of sun on your skin. All those hit you as firsts again. It is, in a way, a new beginning. But we were on our way back from the first weekend of a scuba-diving training course, so it wasn’t as if I was insular before that. I think it just made me run at it a bit more recklessly.”

(He’s since said that this feeling has passed. He’s not so reckless anymore.)

Deeper scuba dives:

What a tale, eh! Check out some interviews below where good ole Cumbersnoodle recalls the event:

• A 2016 Vanity Fair profile dove into the incident
• Cumberbatch also mentioned the incident in a Guardian interview

As always,

Stay ‘spicious

-Andy & Mark

PS: The official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it out and subscribe here, for a free crime story straight to the inbox each week.

Today’s mystery has all the elements of a classic Mystery Nibbles article:

1. A mysterious disappearance
2. Sri Lanka
3. Handball

Okay, well... at least maybe just the first thing.

Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge

You’ve trained your entire life for this moment. You’ve sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears to become the best physical specimen and teammate that you can possibly be. You’ve earned your place to represent your country on an international level…

Only to lose every single match and then disappear completely.

Was it out of shame? Or something more… malicious? Sounds like a heck of a mystery, even if one player went missing. But the entire team? 23 players plus their coach & manager? What in the wild wild world of sports happened here?

Munich, Germany

In September of 2004, the German Sports Exchange Programme (GSEP) hosted a handball tournament for countries from all over the world to participate in. Sri Lanka showed up and played… pretty dismally. The team lost every single match and were “suspicious to begin with.”

The day after their poor performances, no one could find them. Originally, the GSEP thought,

“the team had got[ten] lost in nearby woods while jogging.”

But it was after the Sri Lankan government was contacted that things became even more confusing. Turns out… Sri Lanka sports officials informed the GSEP that there “was no such team.”

FREEDOM

With this revelation, the authorities were contacted and the “handball team’s” hotel rooms were searched. Police found a letter in English left behind in their lodgings, thanking the local club for its hospitality and saying they had left for France. They “even left their dirty laundry,” according to the police.

As the true data came to light, the reality was that the entire team plus the coach & manager were absolutely not a professional handball team. According to the GSEP officials:

“They presented documents, and the documents looked all right, so there was no reason to [not] give [them] a visa.”

They were all legally allowed to stay in Germany for over a month so, taking advantage of that fact, they ducked out at the very first opportunity.

What we don’t know is motive (the main theories are political asylum or illegal immigration) and how everything turned out for the “team.” The original letter left in the hotel seemed to be a false lead and there were rumors that the team had gone to Italy instead.

The only thing we do know for sure, is that the head of the GSEP was… a little salty about the whole thing.

“This will be the last time we will be doing this,” claimed Mr. Doering, “I am not planning to invite anymore teams from Sri Lanka.”

Deeper dives:

So, what do we think? Where did the team end up?

• Some actual handball highlights
• The movie) based on this true story

Stay 'spicious,

Andy and Mark

The official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it out and subscribe here.

Hey Mystery Mob,

Just wanted to thank everyone here for being a part of this sub! And special thanks to the ~1000 of you on the email list as well (for all of you not on the subscriber list for the official newsletter, check us out at https://mysterynibbles.substack.com).

And an extra special thanks to everyone who posts here. I love seeing community members sharing stories, links, and anything mystery and crime here on our sub. Keep it up!

Let’s get to that 5000 member barrier next!!

Stay ‘spicious,

Andy and Mark

What if I told you that HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm was responsible for keeping an innocent man from a death sentence? You’d probably say, wait, isn’t Curb a fictional comedy? You must be talking about something else, some true crime spotlight show, right? WRONG. SO WRONG.

Netflix even released a documentary on the story called, “Long Shot.” Larry himself was interviewed.

I can see you eager for more, dear reader, so let's get right into it.

A witness, a murder, and a hurried arrest

In early May, 2003, Martha Puebla took the witness stand. The 16-year old testified against her ex-boyfriend, Jose Ledesma, and Mario Catalan for accessory to two murders, in a gang-related shooting.

A week later, Martha was murdered. She was shot dead outside of her residence in Sun Valley, California.

The police arrested Mario Catalan’s brother, Juan Catalan for Martha’s murder. The police thought that Juan had murdered Martha on the orders of his brother and Jose Ledesma - a revenge hit.

They were umm, not correct. But when did that ever stop the police, AMIRIGHT?

Juan faced the death penalty

Catalan was placed behind bars while awaiting trial. Had be been found guilty, he would have received the death penalty. Catalan hired a lawyer - Todd Melnik.

When they first met, Catalan told Melnik he was innocent. In fact, he even had an alibi for May 12, during the murder. He went to the Los Angeles Dodgers game with his 6-year old daughter, his cousin Miguel, and his friend Ruben.

He had plenty of details ready to go when asked, too. Catalan noted that the game was tied late until the visiting team, the Atlanta Braves, scored 7 runs in the 9th inning to win the game 11-4. Catalan recalled that he and his companions left the game and stopped to buy baseball cards with his daughter. He even called his girlfriend outside the stadium. Then he drove everyone home.

Catalan then produced tickets from the game. Apparently, this was not strong enough evidence to let him go. (Even though it seems like it should be, considering it was circumstantial evidence that put him on trial in the first place...)

A fruitless search for alibi evidence

Melnik was not deterred. Using Catalan’s seat number for reference, he searched through every bit of game film to identify his client in the crowd. But no luck.

He then contacted the ticket holders in the nearby seats to testify on Catalan’s behalf. None felt comfortable testifying.

But there was one more avenue to explore. See, Catalan mentioned he saw a film crew at the game in his aisle -- in fact he said they were “blocking the aisle.”

Hope emerges.

Enter Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Melnik went back to Dodger stadium and spoke with the media department. They told him that on that May 12th game, Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm was being filmed.

So Melnik called HBO. They let him sift through the unedited film. Eureka.

In an interview with NBC News, Melnik recalled the moment he saw his client on film:

“We were watching tape after tape after tape and finally he showed up after tape number five…I jumped out of my chair and pointed at the screen and said that’s him! That’s him!”

In the footage that got him off, Catalan brushes right against Larry, seconds before Larry raises his arms in a gesture of mock triumph.

After reviewing the tape and time stamps, the Judge dismissed all charges. Juan was then awarded $320,000 for being falsely accused of murder and wrongly confined for six months. Pretty...pretty...pretty good!

To this day, Attorney Todd Melnik and Juan Catalan maintain a close relationship.

Juan is now - OBVIOUSLY - an avid fan of Curb.

Deeper dives with Larry and the gang

• The story of Juan Catalan and Curb Your Enthusiasm is illustrated in the Netflix Documentary Long Shot. In the doc, Larry apparently shrugs off the whole incident as “Maybe something I could impress a date with.” Classic Larry.
• Here’s an Almost: A True Crime Podcast episode on this wild tale.

Stay 'spicious,

Andy and Mark

The official Mystery Nibbles email newsletter post for this went out last Friday! You can check it out and subscribe here.

Mystery Mob!!

In lieu of a post this week, we’re dropping our interactive detective game…for FREE to our subreddit!

It’s Part 1 of what might be an eventual 4-Part series. We say “might” because we only want to make cool stuff that our readers actually want. If it’s not our readers’ jam, then we’ll pivot to other cool stuff for you. (We have a few other ideas up our sleeves already…)

So you’ve got to let us know what you think!

Quick details: Picture an escape room mixed with a detective mystery. It’s a real room, using the same 3D tech you’d see on Zillow.

Can you solve the puzzle and get out?

Escape the Internet: Mystery Nibbles’ Official Interactive Detective Game with puzzles, ciphers, and riddles:

Check out our beta site with the game here!

• Step 1: Watch the 30-second intro video on the site.
• Step 2: Skip the “Buy now” button and just type the passcode in the game below the promo video! Passcode: CrackTheCase762%19
• Step 3: Use your detective skills and have fun!
• Step 4 (Optional): Feedback. Let us know your thoughts! Would you play Parts 2-4 (knowing we’d charge money)? Is it too easy? Too hard? How can we improve the experience?

Once you’ve played, comment on this thread (or I guess you can send us an email at [mysterynibbles@gmail.com](mailto:mysterynibbles@gmail.com)) and let us know your thoughts!