How partying Millwall fan robbed Bank of England with help from US mafia & Pablo Escobar in Britain’s biggest-ever heist

HUNTED down by the FBI for robbing the Bank of England, Keith Cheeseman ponders whether a beingness of transgression truly does pay.

Labelled an “old-fashioned villain” by London gangland associates, helium did clip alongside the US Mafia’s astir feared godfathers for his portion successful Britain’s biggest-ever heist.

Today Keith, 82, insists successful an ­exclusive interrogation with The Sun: “In a way, transgression does pay.

“I was having a hellhole of a life, ­driving a Lamborghini, the president of a shot club. I was a spot of a celebrity.

“I could enactment astatine the champion hotels, person the champion suits. I could person immoderate I wanted.”

For five-times joined Millwall instrumentality Keith, that meant vats of champagne and perpetually chomping Montecristo cigars.

Between wives, helium dated ­glamour exemplary Fiona Richmond.

The planetary conman and fraudster was recruited to assistance ­launder £292million of bonds stolen from the Bank of England successful 1990.

Such was the enormity of the crime, it drew successful the world’s astir ruthless transgression groups, including the Mafia, the IRA and Colombian cause lord Pablo Escobar.

Yet the robbery seemed to person been compromised by a “grass” wrong the cognition from time one.

Two of the gangland figures embroiled successful the heist were “whacked” — some changeable doubly successful the head, execution-style.

The individuality of the mastermind down the robbery remains a enigma to this day.

Now Cheeseman has told his singular communicative for the archetypal clip successful the publication How To Rob The Bank Of England.

‘Hooky accounts’

Laced with Keith’s wideboy humour, it reads similar a Guy Ritchie transgression caper script.

Unsurprisingly, the movie rights person already been snapped up.

Keith was calved successful Luton during the Blitz successful 1942, and his dada ran a concatenation of TV repair shops.

After serving for six years successful khaki with the Royal Artillery, helium went into concern moving a gathering firm.

When 2 banks cancelled his overdraft installation — contempt the ­company having £7million of enactment — it near him with a burning tendency to get his ain back.

Then Keith bought Dunstable FC and launched a footballing coup by getting Manchester United icon George Best to play for the club.

Best — past 28 — was 1 of the top footballers successful past and Dunstable were bottommost of the Southern League Division One North.

Keith besides recruited erstwhile England and West Brom striker Jeff Astle.

It each seemed excessively bully to beryllium true. And it was.

Keith had opened dozens of hooky slope accounts successful the names of immoderate of his players, borrowing to the tune of astir £300,000.

Arrested, helium served astir 4 years of a six-year sentence.

He boasted of regular vodka parties successful his “lovely cell”, with an armchair and stereo, wrong Parkhurst prison.

Soon helium had made a sanction for himself successful the transgression underworld arsenic idiosyncratic who could displacement bearer bonds [unregistered insubstantial certificates for indebtedness involvement that tin beryllium cashed successful by the idiosyncratic holding them].

Shortly aft 9.30am connected May 2, 1990, a messenger carrying a briefcase containing millions successful Bank of England bonds was held up astatine knifepoint.

Keith — 6ft gangly with the girth of idiosyncratic who has lived the bully beingness — takes up the story: “Messengers utilized to transportation fortunes astir the City successful briefcases.

"Billions of pounds successful bearer bonds each day.

“So idiosyncratic successful the transgression ­system decided to drawback a briefcase.”

Not progressive successful readying the ­robbery, Keith says helium was asked to assistance launder the bonds by a ­disbarred lawyer educated astatine 1 of Britain’s apical nationalist schools.

Detectives initially believed it was an opportunist mugging.

Later, it emerged that petty transgression Patrick Thomas had been hired to marque it look similar one.

Never charged with the robbery, helium would beryllium recovered dormant connected his South London doorstep with 2 gunshot wounds to the caput successful December 1991.

Police went nationalist to uncover the stolen briefcase contained 292 bearer bonds worthy £291.9million.

Except, Keith insists, it didn’t.

When a transgression syndicate — which Keith says included himself, a Swiss-based banker, a London gangster, an Irishman and the debarred lawyer — did a count-up of the bonds, the full came to £427million.

Who, Cheeseman wondered, stood to marque connected the other £135million successful ­unrecorded bonds?

Immediately, Keith told the assembled mob helium could determination £200million done an Indonesian interaction for a instrumentality of £50million connected the look value.

But the pack wanted more.

Instead, helium was fixed conscionable 5 bonds worthy £5million successful full to launder.

Soon Keith had struck a woody with an Amsterdam-based fraudster nicknamed Mr Big.

He would instrumentality 3 of Keith’s bonds successful instrumentality for £1.2million.

Cheeseman and an subordinate took the Harwich to Hook of Holland ferry successful a achromatic BMW to personally present the bonds.

As they joined the enactment of postulation for the ferry, Keith noticed Customs had pulled a achromatic BMW from the queue and began thoroughly searching the vehicle.

‘It was the stench’ 

The queue inched on and past Customs pulled implicit different achromatic BMW.

Keith pulled the bonds from his overgarment pocket.

He cautiously ripped disconnected the serial numbers and hid them wrong his necktie to beryllium helium hadn’t pulled a accelerated one.

Then helium tore the £3million of bonds into small pieces.

The dad-of-two remembered: “I enactment it successful a Styrofoam cupful truthful it wouldn’t stroke away, got retired the car and conscionable dropped it successful a bin

"£3million gone. I was crying astatine the time.”

The adjacent shave seemed to underline Keith’s suspicions that a writer was astatine work.

Meanwhile, different bonds from the heist had been turning up.

Three Irishmen with links to the IRA were stopped astatine Heathrow with £77million of the bonds.

And successful 1991, 2 telephone books were intercepted successful Miami by US customs with £71million successful Bank of England bonds stuffed inside.

They were destined for cocaine king Pablo Escobar.

Keith told 1 of the robbery pack helium had a interaction successful Texas — Mark Lee Osborne — who could launder bonds.

Osborne, a crooked erstwhile enslaved broker, arranged to merchantability 10 bonds to a New York Mafia don called Tony Dipino.

The brace met astatine a Manhattan barroom and a woody was struck.

Back successful Texas, Osborne called Keith to archer him the bully news. He’d sold the 10 bonds for $2million.

What Keith didn’t cognize was that Mafia hood Dipino was a high-ranking FBI operative who did a decent Marlon Brando impression.

The FBI past convinced Osborne to crook snitch successful instrumentality for a lighter sentence.

He made calls to Keith and the London gangster, which the FBI tapped.

“Mark called and said helium had the money,” Keith remembered.

“It was silly of maine to instrumentality the call. I said, ‘Great, wherever is it?’.

"And helium said, ‘I’ve got it successful sacks successful the footwear of my car’.

"And I joked, ‘Well, get it retired of the mode then’. Or words to that effect.

"And that’s connected portion and the FBI gave that accusation to the ­London Old Bill.”

Two weeks later, Keith received a telephone from Osborne’s girlfriend: “She said Mark had been shot.

“They didn’t find his assemblage for days. He was stuffed successful the footwear of his car.

"And Texas is hot. I accidental it was the stench radical noticed.”

Osborne had been executed with a double-tap — 2 bullets — to the backmost of the head.

The personalised fig sheet connected his Cadillac work “Adios”.

At 6am connected November 27, 1990, Keith woke to his beforehand doorway splintering arsenic London detectives and US Feds barged into his flat.

An FBI serviceman pointed a Smith & Wesson astatine his cheek.

“It was similar thing retired of Starsky And Hutch,” Keith recalled.

Law enforcement made a ­thorough hunt of the level — but missed the 2 bonds from the batch Keith had received that were stashed successful a book.

The Brits had nary grounds to complaint him, but the Americans wanted to extradite him aft the wiretap of his speech with Osborne.

Keith was bailed — past did a runner.

Travelling connected a fake ­passport, helium fled to Paris and past Tenerife, wherever a person had a flat.

On January 19, 1992, the instrumentality yet caught up with him and helium was yet extradited to basal proceedings successful the US the pursuing March.

Devilish grin

He was held astatine Manhattan’s ­Metropolitan Correctional Center connected the high-security tenth floor, wherever Mafia godfathers were caged.

Jon Gotti — brag of the Gambino transgression household — was locked up 2 cells from Keith.

Meeting successful the workout yard, Gotti asked the Brit: “So, you’re the Big Cheese? You cognize who I am?”

Keith joked: “You’re the adjacent Bigger Cheese. Parmigiano Reggiano?”

Gotti liked the chopped of Keith’s jib and the brace would dine unneurotic with different Mafia dons.

In instrumentality for serving his six and a fractional twelvemonth ­sentence successful Britain, Keith aboriginal pleaded blameworthy to ­laundering the bonds.

“They made maine retired to beryllium the genius,” helium said of the heist.

“I wasn’t the caput honcho. I conscionable had peripheral involvement.”

So who was the existent Mr Big?

The London gangster from the transgression syndicate appeared astatine the Old Bailey connected charges of laundering bonds successful 1991.

The prosecution offered nary ­evidence due to the fact that “it was not successful the nationalist involvement to bash so”. No different mentation was given.

Today Keith — surviving the bully beingness successful a villa successful Turkey with 5th woman Sarah Hancock — believes the ex-public schoolboy lawyer planned the heist with different figures from the British Establishment.

And what happened to the 2 remaining bonds — worthy £2million — that Keith had from the batch helium was given?

With a devilish grin, helium told me: “I can’t remember.”

•  How To Rob The Bank Of England: Keith Cheeseman Reveals The True Story Of Britain’s Biggest Ever Robbery, by Clifford Thurlow, is retired now.