$2 million in diamonds vanish from 47th Street
Jewelers say the thieves cut through a basement wall overnight and left no prints, only a single red glove.
Somebody walked away with $2 million in loose diamonds from a vault on West 47th Street overnight, and the only thing they left behind was a single red glove.
Staff at Feldman & Sons found the vault door locked and the safe-deposit drawers empty when they opened at 6 a.m. Police say the thieves came in through a 2-foot hole cut in the basement wall of the empty storefront next door.
"There was no alarm, no broken glass, nothing," said Ira Feldman, 64, whose family has run the shop since 1971. "They knew the building better than the landlord."
Detectives from the Midtown North precinct spent Sunday morning photographing the tunnel. A police source told the Bugle the cut was made with a diamond-tipped saw over at least 5 hours.
The glove
The glove was found on the vault floor, palm up, about three feet from the drawers. It is red, size large, and of a stretchy material that one detective described as "costume-grade." The NYPD has not said whose it is. The Bugle's publisher has said whose it is, in a memo, in capital letters, and has asked that it be printed on the front page.
“They knew the building better than the landlord.”
Ira Feldman, jeweler
It is the third break-in on the block since June. In August, thieves took $400,000 in gold chains from a shop two doors down. Nobody has been charged in either case.
The tunnel
The empty storefront next door has been vacant since a nail salon closed in the spring. The landlord told the Bugle the basement was locked and "nobody should have been in there." Detectives found a folding chair, a thermos and a box of granola bars beside the hole.
"Whoever this was, they were comfortable," the police source said. "They had snacks."
The block
Jewelers on the block say they have asked the city for overnight patrols twice this year. A spokesperson for the NYPD said the department "is reviewing deployment in the Diamond District."
Feldman said the shop would open on Monday regardless. "We've been robbed before," he said. "In 1986 they came through the roof. In 2003 they came through the front door with a note. This is the first time anybody brought a thermos."
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