Stealing is a crime but it’s hard not to want to know more about famous thieves. Why did they do it? How much did they steal? Were they all caught? Are they still active? Interestingly, and frustratingly, some of the greatest thieves in U.S. history have never been identified. Wondering about thieves isn’t too strange. Think about it: Most of us have heard of Robin Hood, the man who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
Unless you’re interested in this world, you probably won’t recognize many of the people on our list. A pair of the most famous thieves nearly everyone knows is Bonnie and Clyde. These two famous lovers were notoriously known for their bank robberies. They were young, only 23 and 25 when they died. While we know a lot about this duo, they actually only stole a small amount of money. In one of their heists, they left with $80.
Honestly, there are more interesting thieves out there. For instance, have you heard of Anna Sorokin? She’s a more modern thief, con artist, and fraudster who fooled people for years. How and why is shocking. Are you interested in discovering more of the greatest thieves in history? Keep reading.
To compile this list of the greatest thieves in history, we scoured the internet using sources like StrawPoll, the Literary Hub, and the FBI website. To make this article more interesting, we’ve included both solved and unsolved cases. The thieves also range in age. Not everything that was stolen was money. Some of these thieves conned thousands of people for resources and fame. (Click here for the weirdest things thieves have stolen.)
Alan Golder
Masked thief using lock picker to open locked door
Golder was also known as the “Dinnertime Bandit.” Unlike some of the thieves on our list, he was caught and sentenced to 15 years in a Connecticut prison in 2008. Golder specifically stole jewelry from unsuspecting people. He would steal jewelry from mansions while the owners were home eating dinner.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
Who hasn’t heard of Bonnie and Clyde? This notorious thieving duo was young, in love, and on the run. Although not very successful thieves, they are household names for a reason. They were both shot and killed during a long manhunt because Clyde was wanted for murder.
David Brankle
David Brankle is not a well-known name, but this impressive thief managed to rob 43 banks in a span of two years across six states. Could you imagine robbing that many banks over such a small amount of time? He took a plea agreement and was sentenced to 21 years in 2003.
Anna Sorokin
Sorokin conned so many people. She stole money, property, and trust. Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey) somehow managed to pose as a wealthy heiress for about four years. During this time she roomed in lavish hotels for free and attended countless New York social and art events. Her story was so interesting that it has been shown in documentaries and books.
John Dillinger
A lot of the best American thieves lived through the Great Depression and Dillinger is no exception. This infamous gangster was born on June 22, 1903, in Indianapolis. He died young at 31 after he was shot when he attempted to flee from Bureau of Investigation agents. Although an interesting thief, he’s best known for his prison escapes. He escaped twice!
Doris Payne
Payne is an iconic jewelry thief and one of the few thieves on this list who are still alive. She was arrested in 2011 at the age of 80 for stealing a diamond ring from a Macy’s department store. Payne was born on Oct. 10, 1930, in West Virginia. Some items the career criminal has stolen over the years include a 10-carat diamond ring, a $22,500 diamond-encrusted ring, and multiple bracelets.
Bill Mason
Have you ever heard of Bill Mason? He is one of the greatest jewel thieves of all time. This unique and quiet jewel thief released a book in 2004 titled “Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief” detailing his many adventures. According to Mason, he stole from people like Phyllis Diller, Johnny Weissmuller, and Armand Hammer.
Ma Barker
Ma Barker was more than just a small, petty thief; she was a ruthless crime matriarch with one of the most brilliant minds of her time. She controlled and planned multiple crimes for her sons in the Barker-Karpis Gang. There are some controversies though surrounding Ma Barker. Some people believe she wasn’t a criminal mastermind and instead, the media exaggerated her role to sell more stories and papers. Ma and her husband Fred Barker died in a 1934 shootout with the FBI at a house in Central Florida.
Jesse Woodson James
Jesse James lived quite the life. He didn’t just steal money, but he also robbed trains. This American outlaw was the leader of the James-Younger Gang based in Missouri. Like many American outlaws of the 1800s, he had a short life. James was shot and killed in 1882 at 34 years old.
Natwarlal
Another fraudster and con artist to make our list is Natwarlal, also known as Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava. He was a unique fraudster who lived a long life, possibly dying at 95. He was active from 1937 to 1996. Natwarlal was cunning and first began stealing iron. After that it was jewelry. Over his career as a criminal, he used 50 different aliases. Although he was arrested, he nearly always escaped. Natwarlal was a lot like Robin Hood. He was nonviolent and stole from the rich to give to his community. He is even said to have “sold” the Taj Mahal three times.
Vincenzo Peruggia
Not everyone who steals wants money. For instance, Peruggia was an Italian artist and thief best known for stealing the “Mona Lisa.” It’s probably the biggest and best art theft of all time. He carefully stole and hid the painting in his apartment in Paris. Although first questioned, he was not a primary suspect. Supposedly, he stole the painting in the name of patriotism, wanting to return it to Italy. Because of this, he received a lenient sentencing and only served seven months.
Anthony Strangis
Strangis is a modern thief. He has been all over social media and news outlets in the last few years. This strange and cunning man convinced Sarma, the owner of Pure Food and Wine, to steal money from her employees and investors. Once people started noticing the missing money, the two fled and were on the run. They even became the subject of a Netflix documentary titled “Bad Vegan.”
Richard Turpin
Turpin was an English robber. A lot of what we know has been dramatized over the years in books, movies and TV shows. Even if not everything isn’t true, it’s still fascinating. Turpin was born in 1705. Originally, he was a butcher like his father, but that didn’t last long. It didn’t take much time for Turpin to turn to a life of crime. He was a horse thief and a highway robber. He may also have been involved in multiple murders.
Stephen Blumberg
It’s hard to imagine someone stealing millions of dollars worth of books, but that’s exactly what Blumberg did. He was so good at it, he was nicknamed the Book Bandit. Blumberg, who lived in Iowa, stole over 23,000 books valued at least $12 million. So, what were some of the books he stole? One of the books in Blumberg’s extensive collection was a first-edition copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly.” He never sold any of the books.
Colton Harris-Moore
Last but not least is Colton Harris-Moore. He stole countless cars, boats, and even a small aircraft. Because of this theft, he became an American fugitive. From Washington, Harris-Moore was known as the Barefoot Bandit and was sentenced to six years in prison. The crimes committed were when he was a teenager and he has since been released from prison. (Interested in learning more about crimes? Check out our article on 22 notorious unsolved crimes in American history.)