truTV: Not Reality. Actuality.

A good thief always takes advantage of a timely distraction. And a war makes for one honey of a distraction. While the Lebanese capital of Beirut was in the throes of a civil war in early 1976, the thieves took advantage of the bedlam and blasted through the wall of a Catholic church next door to the bank. Then, safecrackers opened the vault and cleared out safe deposit boxes full of cash, gold, stock certificates and jewelry. Grand total of the heist: roughly $50 million. And not only were the contents of the vault never recovered, but the identity of the thieves still remain a mystery. Was it the PLO? Disgruntled British SAS soldiers? The Corsica mafia? Whoever it may be, they're the cunning perpetrators of what the Guinness folks have called the world's largest bank heist.

Thieves tend to give up creature comforts as they begin their prep work to rob a bank: late hours, backbreaking labor and numbing surveillance all make it a real slog. But the crooks who tunneled more than 250 feet under and into Brazil's Banco Central decided the lead-up to their crime would be more luxurious. Their tunnel, which took over three months to dig, featured such amenities as wooden paneling, full electricity and even air conditioning to help combat the sticky Brazilian summer. Breaking through the 3.6-foot thick, steel-reinforced concrete floor, the thieves made off with nearly $70 million worth of Brazilian currency, which weighed 770 tons. But having that kind of cash on hand can lead to some dangerous situations: the mastermind of the plot, Luis Ribeiro, was held for ransom, and then promptly executed once it was paid. And though Brazilian officials have arrested nine people in connection with the robbery, more than $60 million remains missing.

Boston Police officer costume rental: $49.95. Fake mustache: $3.95. Twelve stolen Impressionist period masterpieces: Pricele…actually, about $300 million, according to insurers. And all stolen without brandishing a weapon. Two thieves dressed as Beantown cops, complete with bushy mustaches, strolled up to the museum in the middle of the night and, claiming that they were responding to reports of a disturbance, convinced guards to unlock the front doors. Once inside, the counterfeit cops quickly overpowered the guards, tied them up in the basement and then helped themselves to museum's masterpieces, including works by Vermeer, Degas, Manet and Rembrandt (including his only seascape, pictured left). Though authorities have worked every lead, the paintings have yet to be recovered.

Some crooks just can't catch a break—even if all your accomplices stay quiet, your lunch can give you away.

The Antwerp thieves had what seemed to be an airtight heist, managing to disable every security feature of the fabled World Diamond Center, sometimes called the "Fort Knox of Europe." Once inside the vault, they looted almost $100 million in diamonds, along with the gems' official paperwork, to help render their booty almost completely untraceable. The theft wasn't discovered for 36 hours. Authorities were initially baffled, until a bag of rubbish turned up by the roadside, miles away. Inside were discarded envelopes and security camera tapes from the Center, as well as a half-eaten salami sandwich. Police were able to extract DNA from the snack and connect it to Leonardo Notarbartolo, a diamond merchant who rented office space in the Centre. Though unable to tie him directly to the heist, police believed he was part of the team of robbers, and Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The other members of the team remain at large and the diamonds have yet to be recovered.

This da Vinci code took authorities more than two years to crack before the trusting thief led them right to the purloined painting. The picture was reported missing from the Louvre in early hours of August 22, 1911 and immediately ignited a firestorm of conspiracy theories and wild accusations: was it stolen by Germany in hopes of demoralizing France? Perhaps it was a cover-up by the museum to conceal its accidental destruction. Could it have been an anarchical act perpetrated by a madman?

Investigators from all over the world joined the case but two years passed before it was solved. The thief, Vincenzo Perugia, attempted to sell the Mona Lisa to curators at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and was immediately apprehended, with the painting recovered undamaged. Perugia was an Italian immigrant who worked as a laborer at the Louvre and had simply waited until the museum had emptied out. Then he rolled up the painting and walked out with it under his smock. Perugia claimed that Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece belonged in Italy and during his trial, he became a folk hero to the Italian people. He was sentenced to only seven months in jail.