Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief

This book begins fantastically with a movie-like story of a jewel heist. But as the book goes along, it loses part of its forward push. Part of that is to be expected, it's a memoir not a work of fiction but what's missing from the story of BIll Mason's life as a jewel thief is impetus for all of his crimes. Even after he is caught, the lure of the big score persists. What keeps Mason pulling off jobs? The book doesn't go deep enough to give us a clue except to offer the idea that his thievery is a talent and skill that started very early in his life.The memoir about decades of stealing from celebrities, the wealthy and a mobster or two is full of unlocked doors, open safes and inattentive security guards. It all brings home the message that security devices are only as good as the people using them. It should be basic, if you spend the money to acquire something you should spend the money to protect it. But what happens is that people get complacent and lazy or they think it won't happen to them. Mason learned that a lot of times people who are in places that are supposed to be secure such as skyscrapers, gated communities and hotels are often not as careful as they perhaps should be because they are relying on external forces to keep them safe. That doesn't always work out well. Trust what you can control whether it's your door locks, your safe or your valuables hiding spot. Keep your fun trinkets in the jewelry box but find a better spot for the valuables.The book also gave some clues as to what happens to jewelry once it ends up in the hands of thieves. Certainly most people know about pawnshops and fences but what's interesting and also appalling is how quickly the jewels are broken down into their parts. The process is similar to what happens with some car thefts, the items are quickly dismantled, usable parts are dispersed and other parts are melted down. These days many larger diamonds are laser inscribed which will enable some of them to be traced but gold is easily melted and gone. Mason didn't always break down his pieces, some of them even passed through the major auction houses, stolen and intact. The insider details make this worth reading even if the story itself lags in places.

First hundred or so pages five stars the rest of the book 3 stars so that makes ita 4 star book .Larger than life better than any fiction novel , makes you root for the bad guy anddespise the police.Being a auto-bibliography Mason paints himself as bad but likable ,and the police asdumb, untruthful , bullies, and vindictive.I have read some auto-biographies of famous people and fifty or a hundred years latersomeone does extensive research and writes a biography about said person .The biography usually shows the flaws that the person in their auto - biographyoverlooked or never happened, I would guess that if someone saw fit to dothis years from now Masons version as a never hurt anyone only a little badwould be dispelled.His description of the police & the legal system of the time is right on. In myproductive years I rubbed elbows with lawyers , prosecutors , judgesand police from local to state level, . The time frameof his book there was notmuch oversight of police. and they could make ones life miserableif they chose to.This book was a reference book for "The Burglars Guide To The City"and did a good job of re-enforcing how architecture makes it easy for people likeMason to do what they did.A good read but how he tells it should not be taken as etched in stone truth.

I read this book as it received a lot of publicity on initial release. I didn't find it to be a fast, compelling story of a dangerous jewel thief. Rather, I found it to be a tale of a common thief with a substantial amount of time spent on normal legal proceedings and life as a fugitive. While his life was much more normal than you may expect by reading the title, I still found it to be a very compelling read.Mason starts the book as a teenager who has some minor run-ins with the law while living in Cleveland Ohio. He stumbles in to a life as a jewel thief while marrying, raising kids, and living a fairly normal life as an apartment manager.The book really revs up with a move to South Florida in the 70s. Florida was exploding with drugs, crime, and wealthy northeners living in ocean front condos with expensive jewels. Mason describes some of his successful heists but the more interesting story is his relationship with the police. Also, there is a comical sideline of him buying a small ocean front home to rent where the renters continually turn out to be drug runners using his house as a delivery point.The last part of the book has little to do with jewel thefts and more to do with family and escaping the law. Overall, I found this to be a worthwhile story to read. But "a master jewel thief" is really only about 40% of the story. That may be enough for most readers as it was for me.

This book is an autobiographical work by a jewel thief which I found to be interesting. The book was honestly written however It became a little bogged down describing in detail his incarcerations and prison scuffles.It’s a good read and highlights the ups and downs of a professional thief during a time when security technologies and personal safety precautions left gaping holes that a master thief could use to his advantage. I wonder if it’s even possible for a “cat burglar” to make a living in these digital security times. I imagine it is.

Great read and recommended.

item arrived promptly and as described excellent read

After having read this book, there remains a very clear lesson learned: unless you switch your alarm system on when leaving the house, itŽs useless. Even one of the best burglars ever just had to do very simple things to get what he wanted. The safer you think you are the less safe you are in reality. Fascinating read. Anyway, in the end the author had to suffer the average criminalŽs fate. Of course.

I picked this up out of curiosity and didn't regret it for a second. This is one of those 'you don't put it down until you're done' reads. As the title says, it's a fascinating read and well worth a look.

Thanks.