THE MAN WHO ROBBED THE PIERRE; The Story of Bobby Comfort and the Biggest Hotel Robbery Ever

Ira Berkow

ISBN 10: 0689119186 / ISBN 13: 9780689119187

Published by Atheneum, New York, 1987

About this Item

Very Good+ in a Very Good+ dust jacket. Light foxing on top text block edge. Light staining on spine heel.; 9.4 X 6.2 X 1.3 inches.

Seller Inventory # 162635

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE MAN WHO ROBBED THE PIERRE; The Story of Bobby Comfort and the Biggest Hotel Robbery Ever
• Publisher: Atheneum, New York
• Publication Date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689119186
• ISBN 13: 9780689119187
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.

About this title

Synopsis

A firsthand look at how jewel thieves work, this book reveals the story behind the heist of New York's famous Pierre Hotel told through the eyes of its mastermind, Bobby Comfort

Reviews

The 1972 robbery of Manhattan's Hotel Pierre, the most lucrative heist of its kind, was exceptional only for the size of the loot (some $11 million) and the smooth expertise with which it was executed. New York Times columnist Berkow (Red, Carew uses the event as the hook on which to hang his biography of the man who masterminded it. Bobby Comfort of Rochester, N.Y., evidently never had an instinct that was not criminal, even as a child. Physically lazy and mechanically inept, he avoided regular employment and turned first to card sharping and then to robbery. He spent years in reform schools and prisons, but through his mastery of the law was able to shorten his sentences. He found robbing hotels (and Sophia Loren) a handy way to make money. But, despite Berkow's dramatic writing, this is not a major true-crime saga. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the pre-dawn hours of January 2, 1972, a group of men wearing tuxedoes robbed the Pierre, an elegant New York hotel, of several million dollars worth of jewelry and cash. The leader of this daring heist was life-long thief Bobby Comfort and this book is largely his story as told to Berkow. It is a fascinating portrait of an intelligent and resourceful crook who saw robbing the rich as a perfectly honorable way to make a living. Berkow, a New York Times sportswriter and author of Red Smith, has obviously taken some liberties, since sections of the book consist of dialogue in quotes, but the result is a corking good cops-and-robbers tale that should find favor with public library patrons. Jack Ray, Loyola/Notre Dame Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.