Screengrab via YouTube

Ever since I saw The Italian Job remake, I’ve been convinced that all armored trucks are automatically filled with gold. Normally this is not true. For one guy in NYC, though, it was.


On the afternoon of September 29, the guard of an armored truck making a pickup discovered that a five-gallon pail that contained 1.6 million dollars’ worth of gold flakes had been stolen out of the rear of the vehicle, reports Gothamist.

Footage from various security cameras shows the suspect sizing the van up for a little while before making his move: hurrying forward and speed-walking away with the 86-pound pail in broad freaking daylight. The audacity!

The NYPD Major Case Squad Detective Martin Pastor doesn’t believe that the thief knew what was in the pail when he seized it. He told Gothamist, “I think when the lucky charm opened up the bucket, he seen the rainbow and seen the gold.”


The truck’s guard allegedly left the gold unguarded for 20 seconds while he went to fetch his cell phone from the cab.

The thief, meanwhile, carried the pail from a few blocks away to another van parked at 49th Street and Third Avenue.

The walk, which normally would take about 12 minutes, took him an hour. ABC7NY reports that the suspect then got into the van and then fled.

Anyone with information is asked to call 800-577-TIPS or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).