Shadowing Practice: The Escape of Europe’s Smartest Criminal - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
It was gone.
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It was gone.
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In a single morning, more than $40 million had just disappeared from one of France's biggest banks.
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When the police finally got into the vault, it was obvious that this was no ordinary bank robbery.
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Instead of breaking into the bank itself, the thieves had tunneled all the way from the sewers and straight through the concrete walls of the vault.
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When inside, they ransacked the safe deposit boxes, taking gold, cash, and precious jewels before vanishing back into the sewers.
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It's not every day that you suddenly decide to rob a bank, But in September 1974 that's exactly what happened to Albert Spaggiari.
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He had just become a customer of the Société Générale and went to drop off some money into a safe deposit box.
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When he was inside the vault, he noticed that there wasn't a single alarm in the entire vault.
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To make sure he was correct, the next day he placed an alarm clock inside his safe deposit box and set it to go off at 1:00 AM If there was an alarm surely the sound of his clock would trigger it.
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That evening Albert waited in a bar across the street and when 1:00 AM arrived, nothing happened.
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At this point, he knew he was going to rob the bank but he still had no idea how.
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Then, when he was scoping out the exterior of the bank, he overheard a conversation.
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Suddenly, it clicked in Albert's head.
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Nice used to have a river running through its center where many of the old sewer lines fed into.
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But after decades of building on top of the river this area was now completely underground and enormous tunnels had been built to handle the river during a flood.
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If one of these sewer tunnels went anywhere near the bank, it could allow Albert to dig his way into the vault without anyone noticing.
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Albert managed to get his hands on blueprints of the city's sewer system.
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According to these, there was a ramp underneath the convention center that led down into the city's main sewage tunnels.
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From there, a service road inside the tunnel followed the old river until it reached the Masséna Plaza.
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Then a smaller sewage tunnel broke off and ran underneath the streets and crucially right past the bank.
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Being the well-connected criminal that he was, Albert quickly pulled together a team of around 20 men.
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He had tunneling experts, plumbers, electricians, welders.
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These guys were professionals, and all they needed now was the equipment.
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To be extra cautious Albert traveled all across France and Europe buying things in small quantities to leave no obvious trace.
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The idea was that all of the equipment left behind after the heist would lead the police on a wild goose chase, one that would ultimately lead them nowhere.
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With everything bought the sewer rats could now start digging.
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Some of the team entered the sewers via the ramp and drove over a mile to reach the sewage tunnel.
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From there, they had to walk around 300 m to reach the crucial digging point.
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The rest of the gang entered the sewers through an access room in an underground parking garage.
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From there the crew ran an enormous electrical cable from the outlet in the parking garage down into the sewers, giving them power for lights and tools.
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Like a well-oiled machine, they started drilling, removing tons of rock and piling it up in an unused part of the sewer.
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To avoid any suspicion from the town's sewage workers, they cemented up the entrance of their tunnel to make it look identical to the other tunnel entrances.
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Once they were done for the night, they'd leave all of their equipment covered up inside a hole in the tunnel and quietly make their way out.
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For 2 months, the team went down into the sewers and worked on their tunnel.
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Many of the crew were above ground on lookout with radios that allowed them to warn the crew if anyone was entering the sewers.
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The whole operation was so professional and after 2 months of straight digging, they knew they had to be getting close.
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Then one night in July the crew finally hit the concrete walls of the vault but the timing was terrible.
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That weekend, the president of France had made a last minute visit to Nice and there were enormous amounts of police and security in the city.
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It was not the time to be robbing a bank.
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Albert decided to call off the heist until the following weekend which was a holiday weekend.
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This meant that the bank would be closed, giving the crew more time to break in and get as much as possible.
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In the meantime, Albert had some other matters to attend to.
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Since he was the mayor's photographer, he was actually a guest at the president's event.
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Just hours before this picture was taken, Albert was down in the tunnel digging his way to the city's biggest bank.
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He was managing the whole operation incredibly well and it was all thanks to Odoo.
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Just kidding.
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Odoo is an all-in-one business management software that offers entrepreneurs more than 45 apps to help with managing their business from sales, invoicing, accounting, website creation, and so much more.
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What makes Odoo really powerful is that the apps are integrated into one centralized platform, so you don't waste time juggling external tools or programs that don't work together.
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For example, your sales are directly linked to the accounting app and inventory management as well as your website.
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Odoo even adapts everything to your country.
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Taxes, currencies, rates, and regulations are all automatically adjusted so you don't have to worry about it.
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Odoo automates as many operations as possible, freeing you from the boring administrative tasks and simplifying the daily management of your business.
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Best of all, Odoo's interface is simple and super intuitive.
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No matter what type of business you have, Odoo's apps will fit into your workflow without adding any more complications.
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To get started with Odoo, check out the link in the description.
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The first Odoo application is free for life, including unlimited hosting and support.
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After that, as your business grows, you can easily add more apps when you need them and have access to all the applications at an affordable subscription.
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It's Saturday, the 17th of July.
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After hours of chipping away at the reinforced concrete, the sewer rats now had their first glimpse inside the vault.
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The bank would be opening up on Monday morning, so the crew had just over 30 hours to get in, take as much as possible, and leave through the sewers without getting caught.
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Later that evening, the hole was finally big enough for the gang to enter the vault.
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After months of digging, it was time to start the heist.
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Over the next 30 hours, the gang went crazy, prying open the safe deposit boxes and taking as much as they could.
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They found everything.
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Stacks of gold bars, cash, jewels, stock certificates, and even some saucy photographs of high up politicians, which the crew hung on the walls of the tunnel.
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After 30 hours, the crew finally took a break, had dinner inside the vault, and celebrated with bottles of red wine.
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But time was almost up, and at 5:00 AM on Monday morning, they packed up the last bit of treasure and left the vault, leaving behind one final message on the wall.
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They loaded the stash into the getaway car and disappeared into the city just before sunrise.
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A few hours later, at 8:00 AM, the bank was getting ready to open.
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One of the workers went to open the vault door, but surprisingly, it didn't move.
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The lock mechanism was working perfectly, but the door just would not open.
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As it turned out, just before the crew had left the vault, they had welded the door shut, buying them some extra time.
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After several hours of confusion, the bank decided to drill their way into the vault.
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And only then was it obvious what had happened.
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It might seem like the police had a lot of evidence.
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Equipment had been littered across the vault and in the sewers.
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Surely something would lead to one of the thieves.
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But amazingly, not a single fingerprint was found.
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The crew had worn gloves the entire time.
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Even the urine came back with no results since multiple people had urinated in every single bottle.
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Albert and his crew had thought of everything.
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But what he didn't know was that the events that would lead to his arrest had already taken place 2 weeks before the heist.
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Up in the mountains, the police were called to a villa.
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Normally, this villa was empty, but the neighbor had seen a suspicious group of men constantly leaving and entering the villa.
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When the police questioned the men, they simply said that they had permission from the owner to use the villa.
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Something wasn't right, but there was nothing more the police could do.
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So they took down the names of the men and left.
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But when the heist later became headline news all over the country, the police officers couldn't shake their suspicion that the villa had something to do with the heist.
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And so they got a search warrant and returned to the villa.
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After 100 days of the investigation leading nowhere, they were about to get their first clue.
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Inside the villa, the place was full of tools, equipment, and dirty clothes, all identical to those found in the sewers.
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Two of the men from the villa, Alain Bournat and Francis Pellegrin were arrested and almost immediately, they told the police everything, even naming Albert Spaggiari as the mastermind behind the whole thing.
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The police were finally getting somewhere.
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Now they had to find their biggest target.
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But Albert was gone.
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Just a few days after the heist, he fled the country and spent the next 2 months traveling through Guatemala and the US.
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When he was there, he even made a phone call to the CIA and admitted to being the mastermind behind the heist.
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He was getting overconfident and eventually returned to Nice and continued living his life.
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Then one morning, while having lunch with his wife in a cafe, Albert was approached by the waitress.
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When he walked out, he was instantly surrounded by police officers and arrested.
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Over the next 36 hours, the police interrogated Albert but he refused to give them any information.
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It wasn't until his first court appearance that he finally started to talk.
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Very little of what Albert said in court was accurate.
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He was just playing with the police and wasting the judge's time.
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Over the winter, Albert went to court every week and continued to give vague and inaccurate information.
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But on his 20th visit to the court, things would go a bit differently.
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As always, Albert was taken up to the judge's office where the police uncuffed him and locked the doors.
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The week before, Albert had promised the judge that he would give him a detailed description of how the heist went down.
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And so, Albert pulled out a piece of paper and put it on the judge's desk.
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Suddenly, Albert ran to the nearest window, threw it open, and jumped out.
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He landed on a ledge, rolled, and jumped onto a car that was parked below, making a giant dent in the roof.
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Right beside the car was a motorbike with the rider revving its engine.
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Albert hopped on, and in just a matter of seconds, he was gone.
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The French borders were closed and all flights leaving the country were cancelled but it was too late.
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Albert had vanished.
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As it turned out, Albert had fled to South America.
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And with the help of plastic surgery and a wig, he was now living in disguise.
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A few months after his escape, he sent a picture of himself to a local newspaper saying, "Greetings from Albert." He even sent the owner of the car that he damaged, $600, and an apology note.
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In France, the courts had sentenced him to life in prison, but he still managed to come back every now and then and visit his mom and his wife.
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In the end, just four men were convicted and only served about 6 months in jail.
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Albert lived the rest of his life as a free man until he eventually died of cancer in 1989.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, learners will engage with a thrilling story about a sophisticated bank heist carried out by Albert Spaggiari. As you practice your english speaking skills, you will explore intricate details of the heist, focusing on vocabulary related to crime and strategy. This engaging narrative offers an excellent opportunity to improve your English pronunciation and comprehension, essential skills for effective communication. Listening to the transcript allows you to practice your shadow speech, making it a valuable addition to your IELTS speaking practice.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Bank robbery - an act of stealing money from a bank.
- Safe deposit box - a secured container in a bank where you can store valuable items.
- Heist - a robbery, especially one involving a lot of planning.
- Blueprints - detailed plans used for construction or design.
- Sewers - underground systems for removing waste and stormwater.
- Criminal - a person who commits illegal acts.
- Tunneling - the act of digging a tunnel; often used in heists.
- Surveillance - monitoring of a place or person, often used in preventing crime.
Practice Tips
To effectively utilize the shadowing technique with this video, listen carefully to the pace and tone of the narration. Since the content has a conversational yet suspenseful rhythm, start by repeating phrases immediately after hearing them. Focus on mimicking the intonation and emphasis to improve your english pronunciation.
For optimal practice, try breaking the transcript into smaller segments. After shadowing each section, pause to reflect on the vocabulary and ensure you understand the context. This process not only enhances your grasp of the material but also builds your confidence in speaking comprehensively about complex topics—an essential skill for IELTS speaking practice.
Finally, record yourself while shadowing and listen back to identify areas for improvement. By using these strategies, you will significantly enhance your English speaking practice as you seamlessly integrate new vocabulary into your conversation skills.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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