Suspects: Louvre Mastermind Wasn't Happy With $100M Haul

The man alleged to have orchestrated a spectacular jewel theft at the Louvre apparently walked away unimpressed. Two suspects in custody told French investigators the supposed mastermind grumbled that they "could have taken more" than the $100 million in Napoleonic-era jewels lifted from the museum's Apollo Gallery last October, Le Monde reports. The pair, identified in French media as Abdoulaye N. and Ghelamallah A., say they were to be paid between $17,000 and $23,000 for the job, depending on the size of the haul, notes the Guardian. They said they were recruited days before the break-in, shown a video of the display cases, and told simply to "break windows and retrieve jewelry from inside the display cases."

"Yes, it was me, it fell out of my bag," said Abdoulaye N. in admitting to dropping and badly damaging a 19th-century crown worn by Empress Eugénie. The men claim they handed the rest to the client, whom they refuse to name, citing fear of reprisals. Investigators have not confirmed that a mastermind exists. The two suspects, meanwhile, apparently got out of the building with just seconds to spare.