'Dumbfella' iPad Thieves Needed a Better Lookout
New York police arrested a man over the weekend who served as a lookout while two accomplices stole nearly $2 million in iPads from JFK Airport in Queens last week. Even worse, the crook is now being mocked by The New York Post for the ease with which he gave himself away. The paper reports that airport employee Renel Rene Richardson aroused suspicion by constantly asking co-workers when a new shipment of iPads might arrive and also asked where he might find a spare forklift. Richardson reportedly served as a lookout while two other thieves loaded two pallets of unopened iPads onto a waiting truck and drove away.
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They were also apparently confronted by another worker before making their escape, suggesting that Richardson couldn't even get the lookout part down correctly. He was arrested by the FBI and is allegedly helping them search for his accomplices and the missing truck. Officials have apparently already tried Craigslist, where numerous suspicious "must sell" iPad 3 ads are being flagged for removal.
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The theft called to mind the infamous Lufthansa heist of the 1970s, that was the centerpiece of the gangster movie Goodfellas. That robbery, which took place at the same airport cargo warehouse as the iPad theft, was the most the most lucrative robbery in American history at time. (The mobsters got away with more than $20 million in cash and jewelry in today's money.) That one turned out slightly worse for some of the thieves, as many of the robbery's participants ended up getting murdered by their accomplices.
