On this day in history, October 29, 1964, two men broke into the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and made off with millions of dollars in jewelry.
The theft was the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.
Among the 24 pieces of jewelry stolen by Alan Dale Kuhn, 26, and Jack Roland Murphy (also known as “Murf the Surf”), 27, was a 563.35-carat sapphire, the Star of India was included. Delong Star Ruby, a 100.32 carat ruby. And the Midnight Star is a black his sapphire weighing 116 carats.
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The Star of India and Midnight Star are the largest sapphire and black sapphire, respectively. The DeLong Star Ruby is considered the “world’s most perfect” ruby, says Smithsonian Magazine.
The robbery revealed the shockingly lax security at the American Museum of Natural History.
Jack Roland Murphy, also known as “Murf the Surf,” was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing 24 pieces of jewelry from the American Museum of Natural History. (Getty Images)
Murphy and Kuhn were able to enter the museum after climbing a fence and fire escape. The pair climbed onto the fire escape and tied a rope to a pillar above one of the windows in the JPMorgan Gem and Mineral Hall, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
According to the magazine, one of the thieves used a rope to “swing toward an open window and use his foot to lower the sash.”
“We jumped in there and picked up supplies.”
Their theft was also extremely low-tech, with the pair using glass cutters and duct tape to break into three display cases, and a squeegee to collect the loot.
They then split up and took separate taxis to avoid suspicion, the Smithsonian said.
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“For us, it was nothing,” Murphy said. “We jumped in there and picked up supplies.”
It was later discovered that the batteries in the exhibit’s burglar alarm had been dead for months, a fact unknown even to the museum’s curator of geology. Additionally, there were no security alarms installed in any of the windows, the Smithsonian said.
Star of India (left) and DeLong Star Ruby (center) at the Mignone Hall of Gem and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. These two of his pieces were among his 24 pieces of jewelry stolen on October 29, 1964. (Nina Westervelt/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The magazine added that the museum simply stopped locking up night guards with precious jewelry.
Even though Murphy and Kuhn were young and had little criminal experience, they left little behind at the scene for investigators to use. No fingerprints were taken from the display case, the Smithsonian said.
However, they fell victim to their own desires, which led to their arrest.
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Plainclothes man James Walsh, an unscrupulous gambler, receives word from an informant that Kuhn, Murphy, and getaway car driver Roger Frederick Clark have thrown a lavish party at a hotel not far from the Natural History Museum. Ta.
“I think we got something out of it,” the informant told Walsh. “There’s three guys upstairs in this place… spending money like wild. You’d think they’d make money on machines.”
The story of a New York City jewelry heist was made into a movie in 1975 called “Live a Little, Steal a Lot.” (LMPC via Getty Images)
According to the Smithsonian, detectives obtained a search warrant for a hotel suite where they found marijuana, a museum floor plan and a book about jewelry.
While police were searching the room, Clark entered the room and informed police that Kuhn and Murphy had fled to Florida.
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Kuhn and Murphy were eventually captured and arrested, and the three were tried for the jewelry robbery.
The recovered stones are still on display.
In January 1965, the New York Times reported that some of the stolen jewelry was recovered from a Miami bus terminal. The Star of India was among the jewels recovered, but the Delong Ruby remained missing.
It was reported at the time that the DeLong Ruby was finally recovered in September 1965 after the person who had acquired the jewelry agreed to return it in exchange for a $25,000 ransom.
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Clark, Kuhn, and Murphy pleaded guilty for their roles in the jewelry heist, and the three were sentenced to three years in prison at New York’s Rikers Island Correctional Facility on April 6, 1965.
The story of this heist was made into a movie called “Murf the Surf,” also known as “Live a Little, Steal a Lot.”
The American Museum of Natural History also significantly increased its security procedures, and the recovered stone remains on display to this day.
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