Intrigue and treasure: What makes museum heists so fascinating?

The story of the biggest jewellery heist in New York City history and the mystery of the gems and people involved.

On the crisp fall evening of October 29, 1964, all was quiet on the Upper West Side of Manhattan when two men scaled an iron fence, climbed a fire escape to the fifth floor of the American Museum of Natural History and then tiptoed along the building’s narrow ledge. Next, they propelled themselves 15 feet down a rope to the fourth floor, slipping through an open window into the JP Morgan Hall of Gems and Minerals. They were about to carry out the biggest jewellery heist in New York City history. The men were violin virtuoso and world-class surfer 27-year-old Jack Roland Murphy, the mastermind better known as Murph the Surf, and his Miami beach buddy 26-year-old Allan Kuhn. Their lookout in the fancy white Cadillac on the street below was 29-year-old Roger Clark, who remained in contact via walkie talkie.