Ad Choices, The untold story of the Transy Book Heist is one part, Donald Trump to Evangelicals: You Cant Break Up With Me Because Im Breaking Up With You First, Reality Is Submerged in Fantasy: The Villages Is a Boomers UtopiaAnd Demographic Time Bomb, Maybe instead of being one among many, [this film] will make me the one, a fresh-faced Rob Lowe told us in 1984. Spencers life story and his practice are indelibly linked, thus the works he has created are a highly personal meditation on the journey Spencer Reinhard experienced. [Beckman] said, B.J., a nickname her friends and colleagues used for her, she told officers. Lifting a technique straight from the film Reservoir Dogs, Warren assigned code names based on color. Copyright 2023 The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited. We had a few pitchers, feeling each other out. It is more important to get a plan down, as flawed as it may be, and then continue to work on it as the entrepreneur would work on their business over time. Who do we trust?. When I get up there, B.J. He was told to look for a bearded, heavyset man in a solid-blue sweater. They climbed onto dorm roofs, where they'd stake out the library for hours at a time, marking down the comings and goings of teachers, students, and security personnel. They jump in the van and peel out around the loop.. Having told their parents that they were going on a ski trip to West Virginia, that weekend they loaded the loot into Erics Ford Explorer and took off on the 12-hour drive to New York for their Christies appointment. It was during his studies at Transylvania University that Spencer became aware of John James Audubons work, The Birds of America. I had so few distractions to take me away from my work, and only by bettering myself could escape the belief that I was losing my best years. Darren Matthews. April 20, 2022. Despite the differing temperamentsand the disapproval of Spencers parentsthe two were best friends from the age of eight, a friendship that revolved largely around soccer. They tried to come up with some link the cops could make between them and the theft, but they couldn't. What becomes apparent, as first faintly and then irreversibly, is the painting as a negative apotheosis of color and form, which Reinhardt defended himself against. The contact, who identified himself only as Barry, stipulated that Warren had to bring $500 in good-faith money. It was just funny because weve been in a lot of places that theyve been, Eric says. Before rendering her decision, the judge made preliminary findings that each of the boys was equally culpable, that the value of the books stolen would include only those physically removed from the building, and although Gooch suffered no bodily injury, the stun pen was in fact a dangerous weapon. They said that this set, Birds of America, sold for $12 million. I said, Twelve million dollars, just sitting there? The phone number was registered to a Gary Reinhard of Lexington, Kentucky. My world view actually expanded. That was the point all along. When they arrived on campus in the replacement G.T.A.V., they couldnt find a parking space anywhere near the library. Because no one would go to Christies with stolen books to get them appraisedthats how we did a lot of stuff, like, we would smoke weed directly under the [security] camera on the Transy campus, park a car right underneath it and then smoke for like an hour. Afterward, he was to call Eric up to haul the books in two trips to the G.T.A.V., which was to be driven by Chas. agents were sitting behind them the whole time, listening to their every word. A female detective went undercover as a Transy student, tailing Spencer while a team staked out the yellow bungalow. So we ate at Pazzos pizza pub. Because the boys pleaded guilty, many of the cases crucial details remain unknown even to law enforcement. Ad Choices. And one thing led to another and we were just like, Let's put this behind us. And once we get past all of that, we started talking about this plan that he and Spencer have. still young, Warren says. [Warrens] like, Come on up, Eric remembers. He was still enrolled, but only nominally, and remained on the fringes of campus life. In the early evening, they say they smoked some celebratory Kentucky Bluegrass weed they had stashed away for the occasion. So we ate at Pazzo's pizza pub. Chas backs up [the van] and almost hits the woman as Eric comes around to the door. No response. They climbed onto dorm roofs, where theyd stake out the library for hours at a time, marking down the comings and goings of teachers, students, and security personnel. The day of the heist was to be Thursday, December 16, one of the last days of final examsthe library would be nearly empty. That's what we were doing, kind of living this little Matchstick Men, college kind of life.. Whilst Spencers life path may have been unorthodox at times one can only but admire what it has led him to. Spencer, feeling increasingly disaffected with school life himself, readily accepted the offer. She offered to take his place. 2021 Spencer Reinhard all rights reserved. He focused above all on painting, gaining admission into a prestigious Lexington arts program. Now the hard partwe have to steal them. I was nervous. Its often considered a mistake in the art world to have multiple styles, but I have to go wherever my inspiration takes me. They had reserved a room in the same Midtown Hilton that Spencer and Warren had stayed in nearly a year earlier. We had a few pitchers, feeling each other out. After high school I chose to attend Transylvania University where I would continue to play soccer and study art. Warren and Eric got out of the G.T.A.V. That night Chas snapped, they say, fearing the Christies book appraisalthe Jesus bolt holding Warrens entire heist plan togetherwas in danger of falling through. (Spencer had had to do a rush job on them because his art-history final had run long.) The partnership flourished, with Warren as the face of the operation and Eric in charge of ID production, until the two had an argument over $2,000 that went missing from Erics drawer. On the second-floor landing, Chas, in high-end flannel pajamas and thinking they were being robbed, pulled out a derringer, only to drop the weapon at the last moment. Because no one would go to Christie's with stolen books to get them appraisedthat's how we did a lot of stuff, like, we would smoke weed directly under the [security] camera on the Transy campus, park a car right underneath it and then smoke for like an hour. We figured, All right, well, now we just got what we thought would be impossible . Spencer called himself Mr. Stephens. . When Warren arrived, he saw a man fitting that description seated with three other men. (Having seen their fair share of heist movies, they knew how dangerous it was to leave a paper trail.) The phone number was registered to a Gary Reinhard of Lexington, Kentucky. Mass Market Paperback. They also did considerable research on the Internet, using such key terms as auction house appraisals, stun guns, and Swiss bank accounts. For inspiration, they watched heist movies like Oceans 11 and Snatch. Mr. Beckman now wanted these books appraised. The plan is to continue using birds as my subjects but bringing back some of my earlier prison styles to take my work to the next level. The whole operation would have to be completed by 12:30 P.M., as the boys say Chas needed to return the Dodge Caravan to his mother in time for her to sell it, and Spencer and Eric had to get to their final exams in sociology and tennis, respectively. As a precautionary measure, they left the books in the car. 214 E Main StLexington, KY United States 40507, (Shift + Enter to play/pause. They stopped talking entirely and disbanded. Eric had propped the folios on the steps with his foot when the librarian appeared at the top of the stairs, beside herself with rage after finding Gooch hog-tied in the Rare Book Room. Back at Warrens that afternoon, the boys were transfixed by local coverage of the Transy Book Heist.. Spencer elected not to consider his consequent incarceration as the loss of his best years, but rather sought to salvage his fledgling artist career by utilising his time to develop his practice and to consider new methods and media. I was expecting to play soccer quite a lot, but the coach was a completely different person once I got on the team, he tells me. The thieves left no fingerprints behind, and there were almost no witnesses. By that point Warren, Eric, and Spencer knew for certain they were going down. Chas turned the G.T.A.V. Chas not only lived in the yellow bungalow but also was a part owner of it with his father, a prominent Lexington real-estate investor. Boom. We did the robbery as a way to escape, Eric says. To have time to properly apply the disguises, he tried to reschedule his art-history final for later in the day on the 16th, but was unsuccessful. This story was recently documented in the feature film American Animals. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. from an unsuspecting friend and got his hands on zip ties, a wool cap, electricians tape, and bedsheets. Sign up for The Gleaners morning and evening newsletters. Although the two hadn't really been in contact in the first few months of school, Warren knew that Spencer's artistic talents would be an asset. Once the boys were inside the library, students stared at the ridiculous old-man disguises. "It's often considered a mistake in the art world to have multiple styles, but I have to go wherever my inspiration takes me. What they would tell me, then, is their version of eventsand the only complete account of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the heist. (Big Warren declined to comment on the gambling accusations at the time.) After becoming disillusioned with the college experience, I rebelled from the sterile, privileged life I was leading by committing six felonies which famously landed me in prison for 87 months. But before long they were put to chase once again, this time by two local thugs. And so I see Warren go back. They jump in the van and peel out around the loop.. The Lexington Police Departments commercial-burglary squad was assigned to the case. Eric dropped the books, and he and Warren made a run for it. New film American Animals tells the story of one of the most audacious heists in U.S. history when three well off friends Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen decided to try . All four were brought to Lexington police headquarters and individually interrogated by F.B.I. They stuffed some of the smaller books Gooch had pulled out for them into their backpacks. The fourth, Charles Chas Allen II, had been transferred to a federal medical center in Lexington.) They were 20 steps ahead [of the librarian]. It was the sense of redemption that I hadnt anticipated. Wedged in among the other houses on Beaumont Avenue, a quiet residential street near the U.K. campus, is a beaten-down yellow cinder-block bungalow, with two bedrooms on the second floor and two on the first. Only cannabis-smoking goalkeeper Warren Lipka . In seeking to find a voice of ones own the obstacles are myriad, and often many succumb to the inevitable pressures of life and abandon their practice. Between studying for his first semester's finals, working out, and painting, Spencer made time to scope out the Special Collections section of the Transy library, reporting back to Warren weeks later that there was zero security other than an old lady librarian named B.J. agent discovered the stolen books, all undamaged, as well as the five-page typed plan for the heist, an accounting ledger, wigs, instructions for opening a Swiss bank account, and stun guns, which had apparently arrived after the robbery. Oh, yeah, he almost got shot, says Eric, laughing. The two boys sought cover from the cops in the sprawling grounds of the housing projects. Realizing that the only way out was through the main floor, they took the elevator up once again and carried the books into a back stairwell that led to another exit. When I get up there, B.J. I'm expecting when I get up there it's going to be taken care of and I'm just going to start lifting books. 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