Borrowed Faces: Forty Million in Two Minutes

Borrowed Faces: Forty Million in Two Minutes

Author: Pretty Wicked | Southern Gothic Media May 20, 2026 Duration: 51:58
In August 2009, two men in tailored suits walked into the most exclusive jewelry store on London's most exclusive street, and two minutes later they walked out with forty million pounds in diamonds. No masks. The makeup artist who'd spent four hours disguising them thought they were working on a music video. The man who planned it all was out on police bail for cocaine, still living at his mother's house. Sixteen years on, not a single stone has been recovered. SHOW NOTES 🖤 FOLLOW PRETTY WICKED New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one. Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast Please leave a rating and review. It really does help small podcasts like this one find new ears. Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda. 🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING Here is everything used to research this episode. 🔗 WEB SOURCES The Cinemaholic - Michelle Hogg: Where Is the Make-up Artist Now? Chris Dennis Talks Makeup - Charles H. Fox turns into Kryolan Store Jack the Ripper Tour - An Interview With Charles H. Fox CBC News - How British drag queen La Voix unwittingly provided the makeup for a $73M jewel heist HuffPost UK - How La Voix Became Embroiled In The UK's Biggest Ever Jewels Heist Hello Magazine - Inside Strictly star La Voix's private life – from tragic loss to 'frightening' diamond heist The Natural Sapphire Company - The Graff Diamond Heist: One of London's Biggest Robberies Art Hostage - Stolen Art Watch: Graff Jewel Heist CBS News - Caught on Tape: Dirty Sexy London Heist France24 - Robbers raid London store in Britain's biggest jewel heist WWD - Graff Robbers Sentenced IDEX Online - First Conviction in Graff Robbery Case The London Daily News - £40 million Graff diamond heist 21 year prison sentence The New Yorker - The Pink Panthers JCK Online - Interview With Director of Documentary About the "Pink Panther" Jewel Thieves CBS News 60 Minutes - The Pink Panthers: Daring heists rake in half-a-billion dollars LCCSA - Graff robbery diamond turns up in Hong Kong pawn shop Professional Jeweller - Stolen Graff jewel turns up in Hong Kong Headspace Group - Laurence Graff: A lifetime with diamonds Bloomberg - Laurence Graff profile ARTnews - Laurence Graff, Top 200 Collector profile Hancocks London - Graff maker profile Thought Economics - A Conversation with Laurence Graff OBE Interview Magazine - Peter M. Brant interviews Laurence Graff Rapaport - The Heart of Graff Graff - House Heritage Graff - London New Bond Street store 🎬 DOCUMENTARY & FURTHER LISTENING Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers (2013, dir. Havana Marking) Little Did You Know podcast (2021), hosted by David McGillivray, episode 12 with Chris Dennis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Ier5pYLRE ABC News original 2009 broadcast featuring the bystander cell phone footage VICE short documentary on the Pink Panthers (2014) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a particular chill that comes from a story told well, a history half-remembered, or a crime that defies easy explanation. Macabrium is built in that space, a podcast where the past isn’t just prologue-it’s an active, whispering presence. Guided by the compelling narration of actors Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, this series from Southern Gothic Media delves into the shadows where true crime, unsolved mysteries, and regional folklore intertwine. Each episode is a deep dive, whether it’s examining a cold case that still haunts a community, unraveling a local legend passed down for generations, or exploring a historical oddity that challenges the official record. The tone here is immersive and thoughtful, less about sensationalism and more about the lingering resonance of these narratives. You’ll find the production favors atmosphere and careful research, allowing the weight of the stories to settle. It’s for anyone who feels that pull toward the unexplained and the eerily beautiful, who understands that the most captivating tales are often those tinged with melancholy and mystery. Listening to this podcast feels like uncovering secrets; some will genuinely surprise you, while others might linger in your thoughts, prompting a second look at the history you thought you knew. New installments arrive every Tuesday to continue the exploration.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 17

Pretty Wicked
Podcast Episodes
Sunday Best: Blood and Betrayal [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Duration: 1:05:41
In the winter of 1959, ten experienced hikers set out on a route rated at the highest difficulty level their country had. One turned back early, and the other nine never came home. When searchers found the camp, the tent…
Vanished: The House on Delmar Street [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:00
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Duration: 1:28:33
Today I'm revisiting one of the most infamous cases in American true crime; a woman the press called the Damsel of Death. Between 1989 and 1990, seven men were found dead along the highways of central Florida, and the pe…
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Duration: 49:24
A married, middle-aged man lies about his age online to chase a girl he thinks is eighteen. But he's not the only one catfishing. The girl he thinks is eighteen isn't exactly who she says she is either. And when a real y…
The Chameleon: An Imposter in the Family [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:01
A 13-year-old boy walks home from a basketball court in San Antonio and vanishes. Three years later, his family flies across the world to bring him home from Spain. There's just one problem. The young man they pick up is…
Three Knocks: An Atlantic Ghost Story [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:04
Forerunners that knock before a death. A fish that spoke the language of the dead. A phantom ship still burning on the same stretch of water two hundred years on. And a woman who walks a beach made of bones. These are th…
Proxies: The Faceless Man [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:28
A birthday sleepover. Three best friends. A game of hide and seek in the woods. By the time it was over, one girl was crawling toward a road with nineteen stab wounds, and the other two were walking toward something they…
Into the Triangle: The Devil's Sea [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:33
Some stretches of ocean don't give people back, and the Bermuda Triangle is the most famous one. Navy squadrons. Cargo giants. A cabin cruiser that called for a tow on a calm December night and was gone before the Coast…