Albert Spaggiari - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

French authors René-Louis Maurice and Jean-Claude Simoën wrote the book Cinq Milliards au bout de l'égout (1977) about Spaggiari's bank heist in Nice. Their work was translated in 1978 by the British author Ken Follett as The Heist of the Century (also published as The Gentleman of 16 July and Under the Streets of Nice). To the outrage of Ken Follett some publishers brought it out as a new Ken Follett book, while it was in fact little more than a rushed through translation.

Three movies were produced which were also based on the Nice bank robbery:

• Les égouts du paradis, a French movie directed by José Giovanni (1979).
• The Great Riviera Bank Robbery (also known Dirty Money and Sewers of Gold), a British movie directed by Francis Megahy (1979).
• Sans arme, ni haine, ni violence, a French movie directed by Jean-Paul Rouve (2008)

The Canadian television series Masterminds created an episode reenacting the story of the robbery. A Czech movie Prachy dělaj člověka contains a reference to the heist, suggesting that one of the characters participated in it.