Burglar proves keeping fit can lead to a huge payday

1973

Crime spree

This was a year of spectacular — though, thankfully, non-lethal — crimes. Every year The Press chronicles the comings and goings of con artists, car thieves, robbers and burglars. But in October and November the arrest of a daring terrace-hopping cat burglar and a bungling bunch of jewel thieves got streamer headlines.

The 50th Precinct was aglow with success after lifting fingerprints from the scene of one of the terrace burglar’s crimes. Detectives William Novotny and Floyd Miclo tracked down the perpetrator, Willis Sample, to what they described as “his luxurious lair at 1515 Macombs Road in the Bronx.”

The police described the “real pro” as a six-foot-two athlete who had been responsible for 35 to 40 burglaries in the borough from June to September, netting $50,000 in cash and jewelry.

The terrace burglar enjoyed a long run before being tracked down, but for a trio of wouldbe jewel thieves in Kingsbridge, the crime spree ended almost as quickly as it began.

Julio Jove and his employees were getting ready to close Jove’s Jewelry Store on Broadway near West 231st Street when three guntoting robbers burst through the door. The masked leader of the gang ordered Mr. Jove to open the cash register and hand over jewelry. But Mr. Jove kept enough composure to inch toward the front of the store, then ran out yelling, “Help, police!”

Spooked, the robbers all ran off in different directions.

Fast-responding police had already arrived at the jewelry store. “It was so quick,” Mr. Jove said. “All they asked was ‘which way did they go.’”

Three officers gave chase, cornering two of the bandits on the rooftop of a West 230th Street apartment building.

At first, the third bandit got away, but he made a foolish mistake. He had used his own station wagon as the get-away car. When he reported it stolen, he led police right to his own address.