The Perfect Crime

LAPD Detective Michael Woodings was involved in the Calderón and Zamora-Suárez capture. He is the nation's leading expert on the South American Theft Groups. "These gangs are fueled by a constant tide of new people from Bogotá. Holes in the [immigration] system allow them to come and go from the U.S. on fraudulent visas, or "wet' through Nogales. They disappear in the major cities." The gangsters do not bother to disguise themselves when they make a hit. Their fingerprints are usually not on file; they trade identities with ease. They seem to operate quite independently of other South American gangs in the United States that specialize in different forms of crime, such as selling narcotics. The jewel thieves come to America because, to echo bank robber Willie Sutton, "That's where the money is." And, more important, they are unlikely to be caught.

"They rob because they can," says Woodings. "San Francisco has a huge concentration of high-end jewelry stores and wholesalers: the Brannan Street area, Union Square, Chinatown, the Marina."

The very nature of their business has made those dealers vulnerable. Jewelry is not a commodity that can be sold well from a catalog or on the Internet. Buyers want to touch the metals, to watch light refract inside the gems, to search for imperfections with a loupe. Salesmen, who usually work on commission, must often carry hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise for buyers to inspect. Except for the larger companies, jewelry firms can't afford a lot of security. And that makes them irresistible targets to thieves.

The bandits who prey on them are extremely mobile and disciplined. Operating in teams of eight to 12 men and women, the robbers set out from Southern California barrios on monthlong hunting trips. Each criminal is trained to perform a role. For example, a "spotter" will traipse the long, airless halls of San Francisco's Jewelry Mart trolling for salesmen. They are not hard to identify. They usually carry an attaché case or knapsack. They tend to be very watchful of the people around them as they go from store to store.

Once a salesman is marked, "stalkers" follow their victim, sometimes for days, noting security weaknesses. When the time is right, they use cell phones to call in an attack team, which closes in, ready for the mark to make the inevitable slip. For example, en route to visit a customer, the target may stop to eat lunch, go to the bathroom, or visit an ATM.

At that vulnerable moment, the thieves strike quickly. One car swoops in, one or two attackers leap out, brandish a gun, break a car window, then speed off with the jewels -- all within seconds. Often they will demand the victim's cell phone to stall him from calling the police. Meanwhile, the team of robbers typically hands off the loot to a team in another car, which puts it into pre-addressed FedEx or DSL cartons and drops them off at pickup points within minutes of the hit. Then both teams melt into the urban landscape.

Overnight the jewelry is shipped overseas, where it is dismantled by fences, the gems are recut, and the gold, silver, and platinum are melted. The hot merchandise is recycled back into the world's mainstream jewelry industry -- transformed and untraceable. For their efforts, the SATGs reap about 10 to 15 cents per dollar on the wholesale value of the product from the fences.

The victim, on the other hand, is often forced to absorb the loss. A salesman knows his insurance policy won't cover precious goods left unattended in the car -- and he will leave them anyway.

Vic Ash, owner/operator of Katra Designs, has been in the business since 1975. He maintains "a mode of constant alert" on the road. Last year, in broad daylight, Ash was 15 steps from his vehicle, headed toward a cash machine, when he heard a car window smash. He turned and saw a man yank his briefcase out of the car. It contained $23,000 worth of precious stones and fancy wedding rings. Unlike Ian's insurer, Ash's insurance company refused to pay him a dime.

"I had to eat it," Ash remembers, still distressed. "I was not supposed to leave the briefcase, but what if I took it with me and these people came after me?" Leaving the jewels in the car meant less risk to Ash's life and limbs. And he had good reason to worry.