Pierre Hotel Robbery - Planning and Execution

Planning and Execution

Samuel Nalo and Robert Comfort were professional burglars and thieves. They had previously stolen $1,000,000 in jewelry and cash from the Sherry Netherland Hotel and performed major robberies/burglaries at the Regency Hotel, the Drake Hotel, the Carlyle Hotel and the St. Regis. Nalo was the main planner behind all the heists but Comfort was also a major organizer. It was not until December 30 in the back room of Nalo's night club, the Port Said, that Nalo brought the team together and informed them of their intended target. The team consisted of Lucchese crime family associate Robert "Bobby" Germaine, whose job would consist of prying open lock boxes maintained for guests in an open vault; Ali-Ben, a Turkish-Albanian contract killer who worked primarily for the Turkish Mafia; Al Green, the brother-in-law of Ali Ben; a hotel burglar only identified as "Petey"; Alan Visconti, a Lucchese crime family mob associate; and freelance contract killer Donald Frankos.

This group arrived at the Hotel Pierre at 3:50 a.m. on January 2, 1972. Ten minutes later, Green, dressed in a chauffeur's uniform, drove a black Cadillac limousine up to the 61st Street entrance. Robert G, with "Pete" and Visconti, got out and told the security guard, "Reservations, Dr. Foster's party." The security guard called the registration desk and confirmed that a Dr. Foster---Comfort's alias—had paid for a room, and the guard unlocked the door. They held the guard at gunpoint as they entered the hotel. Green remained on watch outside.

The date of the robbery was perfect. Most of the hotel's guests were soundly sleeping off their escapades from the previous New Year's Eve extravaganzas, which they had attended wearing their finest jewels. The jewels were kept in safety deposit boxes downstairs until more secure bank vaults re-opened at 9:00 that morning. Also, because of the holiday, the hotel had only a skeleton crew, including guards.

The men quickly rounded up all the staff. Frankos guarded the 61st Street entrance, handcuffing anyone who confronted him and leading them to Visconti, who brought the hostages to a large alcove near the registration desk, where he ordered them to lie face down on the floor. The number of hostages grew steadily, ultimately totaling nineteen, but the robbers had brought three dozen pairs of handcuffs to deal with the situation.

The robbers were all dressed in disguises. Nalo wore a huge wig, fake nose and eyeglasses, and all the burglars wore gloves and carried guns. Nalo forced the hotel auditor to provide the index cards that matched the boxes to depositors. They only broke into lock boxes of people whose names they recognized, which included Harold Uris, Tom Yawkey, and Calliope Kulukundis. The burglars did not handcuff anyone who looked ill or sick, and referred to their hostages as "sir" and "miss", never raising their voices.

The entire robbery took two and a half hours. Within that time Bobby G and Comfort were able to break into close to one quarter of the 208 lock boxes in the vault. At 6:15, Bobby Comfort informed the hostages that they were leaving and to not tell the police if they were able to identify anyone or they would be murdered. Before departing Comfort gave a $20 bill to each hotel employee that they had detained, except for the security guards, and they all left at 6:30, just ahead of the hotel's incoming 7:00 a.m. shift.