Gerald Blanchard, Master Thief

This is a movie. Or maybe ten movies. Geeky Canadian kid parachutes into a castle to steal a princess's jewel, robs banks, travels internationally to complete numerous jobs and then gets caught by a pair of Winnepeg policemen.

“Never in policing does the bad guy tell you, ‘Here’s how I did it, down to the last detail,’” McCormick says. “And that’s what he did.”

After spending so much time chasing Blanchard — and then talking to him — McCormick and Levasseur developed a grudging regard for his abilities. And Blanchard grew to admire their relentless investigation. Like a cornered hacker who trades his black hat for white, Blanchard took on a new challenge: working the system from the inside. He provided such good information that McCormick and Levasseur were able to put together an eight-hour presentation for law enforcement and banking professionals. “When those guys hear what Blanchard told us,” McCormick says, “you can hear their assholes pucker shut.”

Update: One of our Gentle Readers expressed the opinion that the link at the top of this post, coupled with the blockquote above, were insufficient citation for the source article. Far be it from me to undercite or to make you actually click on a link to find out what's on the other end of it, so here's the Full Monty:

Bearman, Joshua (2010) "Art of the Steal: on the Trail of the World's Most Ingenious Thief." Wired, 18.4, April. Conde Nast, New York, NY. Online: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/03/ff_masterthief_blanchard/all/1 Accessed March 24,2010