Albert Spaggiari; ‘Sewer Gang’ Heist Mastermind

HYERES, France — Albert Spaggiari, 57, mastermind of the spectacular “sewer gang” bank heist and on the run for 12 years, died and his body was left outside his mother’s house on Saturday.

Police said Spaggiari’s body was brought to his mother’s home in this Riviera city early Saturday by two men who fled.

Jacques Peyrat, Spaggiari’s lawyer, said his client died of lung cancer on Friday.

Spaggiari formed the gang of “sewer rats” who tunneled their way into the Societe Generale bank in Nice and, over the weekend of July 17-19, 1976, opened 337 safe deposit boxes and took gold, jewelry and negotiable paper worth about $6.8 million.