www.roadandtrack.com /car-culture/a40166920/we-asked-a-former-jewel-thief-about-his-ideal-getaway-car/

We Asked a Former Jewel Thief About His Ideal Getaway Car

Bob Sorokanich 5-6 minutes 6/14/2022

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Animation by Andrew Boyle

Allow one of America's most notorious jewel thieves to unravel everything Hollywood taught you about getaway cars.

“It’s not about speed,” Larry Lawton says with a chuckle. “You’re never gonna outrun anybody. It’s not Baby Driver.”

This story originally appeared in Volume 11 of Road & Track.

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Lawton was born into New York City crime. He sold sports tickets for wiseguys, then graduated to bookmaking and loan-sharking. He took a stab at the straight life in the Coast Guard but drifted right back into the arms of the Gambino crime family. His first jewelry-store robbery was a mob-orchestrated insurance job, but the thrill was real, and so was the payoff. By the mid-Eighties, he was knocking over jewelers up and down the East Coast, stealing around $18 million worth of jewelry and other merchandise. In 1996, Lawton was arrested in an FBI raid on charges stemming from a heist in Pennsylvania. For dozens of others, he was never caught.

So how did he get away with so many jobs? Part of it comes down to an old criminal adage: If you’re going to break the law, first follow the rules.

“We always liked a four-door,” Lawton says, the more nondescript the better. “It would never be an SUV. It would never be a bright-colored car, nothing that would really stand out. Your every-day car you see going down the street.”

larry lawton

Andrew Boyle

In fact, Lawton used rental cars for every heist. “Always. You don’t wanna use your car. You don’t wanna use a friend’s car. You don’t wanna steal a hot car.” Remember, you’re not out for a lurid chase scene—the goal is to melt into the crowd, Lawton says. “If you’re caught with a stolen car, then what?”

Lawton’s friend would rent the car with a credit card and list him as a co-driver. Everything on the up-and-up—almost. “The morning of, you steal a plate, and you usually try to get one [from] around that kind of car,” Lawton says. Swap on the bogus plate and head for the heist. Park just out of sight.

The next step, of course, is to rob a jewelry store. You walk in nonchalantly. Lawton says he never fired a gun on a job, one big reason he’s not rotting in prison today.

Loot secured, you’re back in the car. As soon as you can, pull over and change back the license plate. Now you’re just some guys in a rental; nobody’s chasing you. “It’s an unbelievable high, better than any drug I’ve ever done,” Lawton says, “because you just beat the system. Once you changed the plate, it was perfect. Then you start thinking, I wonder how long it took the cops to get there.”

So no chases, huh? “That’s all movie shit. Are you kidding?” If the cops are chasing you, the game’s already up. “If they put up a helicopter, they’re gonna get you,” Lawton says.

You’re probably thinking, set the cruise at 55. “Go the speed limit? No!” Lawton says. “If you go the speed limit, the cops look at you like, what is he, drinking and driving? They see it’s two young guys, not two old ladies. That can go downhill real quick.” Stick with the flow of traffic. Use the fast lane. Blend in.

After every job, most of which were in Florida, Lawton’s crew drove straight through to New York City. They fenced the goods, got the money, and returned the rental. “Be on time,” Lawton says. “You don’t want anybody putting out that a car was stolen.”

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This was Lawton’s M.O. through nearly a decade. An unforeseen hiccup brought him down. Lawton and his associates were casing a shop in a rental car; a suspicious business owner took down the plate, the legit one. The crew hit a different shop nearby, and when the cops went looking for clues, they found the person who wrote down the plate.

Lawton served 11 years in America’s worst federal prisons. It changed his life. Today Lawton runs the Reality Check Program, which steers at-risk youth away from a life of crime. He’s a motivational speaker, a prison-reform advocate, and an honorary police officer, and he’s been recognized on the floor of Congress. He doesn’t shy away from his past, the unbelievable highs and scared-straight lows alike. His YouTube channel is a must-watch.

Does Lawton consider himself a car guy? “Not at all,” he says with a laugh. “Listen, I have my car [a Mercedes SL500]. I keep it clean and all that kind of stuff. I’m not gonna go get a muscle car, go race on the streets. I’m 60 years old now. Those days are over, man.”

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