The Heist of the Century - Fraumünster
On 1 September 1997, five men in a stolen van disguised as a Telecom vehicle drove into the yard of the Fraumünster post office, just behind this famous Chagall church, and escaped with 53 million francs in minutes; the robbers were all caught, but roughly half the money has never been found.
Sobre este lugar
The Fraumünster, founded in 853 by King Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard, was once the seat of abbesses so powerful they held the right to mint Zurich's coins, and today visitors come from around the world for its five luminous stained glass windows by Marc Chagall, installed in 1970. But on the morning of 1 September 1997, the real drama played out just south of the church, in the service yard of the Fraumünster post office. At 10:37, a stolen delivery van with a Swiss Telecom sticker was waved through the barrier, five men jumped out with toy pistols and unloaded weapons, and within a few minutes they had heaved five chests of cash bound for the Swiss National Bank into the van: 53 million francs, at the time the biggest post office robbery anywhere in the world. The getaway was flawless; everything that followed was not. A waiter saved the espresso cups two of them had drunk from, one robber dropped a photograph with his fingerprints at the scene, and the inside man at the post office was soon in custody. Police made 18 arrests within ten days, and the last robber, Domenico Silano, was caught in Miami in December 1998. Yet only part of the money was ever recovered, and roughly half of the loot is still missing.
Datos clave
- 53 million francs — Stolen in a few minutes on 1 September 1997, at the time the biggest post office robbery anywhere in the world.
- 18 arrests — Made within just ten days, helped by DNA on two espresso cups that a waiter saved for the police.
- 2 cash boxes left behind — The getaway van was so full that the robbers had to leave two chests of money on the loading dock.