The Criminal Genius of Doris Payne: A Lifetime of Diamond Heists Ends with a Grocery Store Theft

Globally renowned and immortalized in film, Doris Payne was the most infamous diamond thief, plundering jewelry stores for over seven decades—from the glitzy streets of Monte Carlo to the sunny shores of California. She consistently outsmarted law enforcement agencies worldwide, appearing untouchable. However, a theft at a grocery store ultimately forced her to confront her criminal past.

In 2016, Hollywood released the series "Who Is Doris Payne," starring Halle Berry as the legendary con artist herself. Payne personally advised the writers, candidly recounting the major milestones of her challenging life of deception.

The series paints Doris Payne as a sort of Robin Hood in a skirt—stealing only from the wealthy and generously supporting her family and friends. In reality, her criminal talent was born from extreme poverty. Raised in slums, she was willing to do anything for a life of comfort and wealth.

Doris was born in the mining town of Slab Fork as the fifth child in a large family crammed into a plywood shack. Her father took on odd jobs just to afford food and cheap liquor, while hungry children scavenged potatoes from neighbors’ gardens. Her mother, once a beautiful Cherokee woman, suffered from chronic depression, at times nearly taking her own life before being saved by her children. The Great Depression only deepened their hardships.

"It was a miracle we didn’t starve to death," Doris reveals in a documentary about her life.

For young Doris, cinema was an escape from bleak reality. She seized every chance to watch movies, saving spare change to buy tickets. At 16, she was determined to become a Hollywood actress, especially given her striking beauty—tall, slender, well-read, with large almond-shaped eyes—a true dream of the "dream factory."

But Hollywood remained out of reach. Everything changed during a visit to a store. After graduating school, her mother gifted her money to buy an affordable watch. While trying it on, a white customer entered. Due to Jim Crow laws, Black people weren’t allowed to shop alongside whites, making both the clerk and Doris anxious.

She bolted for the exit, forgetting to remove the watch from her wrist. The ease of this accidental theft stunned her—beautiful things and money could be obtained so simply?

Doris began stealing frequently and skillfully, quickly earning enough to move to the bustling city of Pittsburgh. There, to deflect suspicion, she took a fake nursing job while scouting local jewelry stores.

Remarkably, Doris proved to be a talented brand strategist. She crafted a story that she was engaged to a wealthy northern lawyer who spared no expense on her—complete with a personal driver and designer wardrobes.

Under this guise, she executed a major heist, slipping a $20,000 diamond ring into her pocket. That evening, she sold it at a pawnshop for $8,000 and soon bought her mother a real house—the first genuine home, not a makeshift shack.

Her frequent visits to pawnshops introduced her to Harold Bronfeld, a Jewish loan shark. They quickly became lovers, and Harold recognized Doris’s potential to expand her criminal operations geographically. New cities and jewelry boutiques meant more thefts and more confusion for the police.

These "crime tours" lasted a year, allowing Doris to indulge in luxury. She vacationed in Miami and Cuba, hired a personal driver, and bought the latest fashion collections. Later, she had two children with Harold and decided to leave her criminal life behind. After all, didn’t she have the dream life? Yet Doris grew restless.

"I regularly sent checks to my family to ensure their comfortable lives. I owned four homes, including the brick mansion I dreamed of as a child. But I wasn’t made for motherhood and domesticity! A woman stealing jewels worldwide doesn’t stay in one place long," Doris confessed in an interview.

What drove her was the thrill. Yes, money was important, but even more so was the adrenaline rush during thefts and the feeling of omnipotence afterward. "Ha-ha, I fooled you again, fat cats!"

At one point, Doris left her children with their father and bought a one-way ticket to Paris.

Paris, Rome, Florence, Vienna, Zurich, Lucerne... In every new country, Doris swapped fake passports and traded one luxury apartment for another. She posed as an heiress squandering a family fortune—today placing big bets, tomorrow spinning the roulette wheel in Monte Carlo, and the next day attending opera in Milan. Yet she never forgot to visit Cartier and Chopard boutiques in each city.

For example, in Monaco, pretending to be the wife of a shipyard owner, Doris stole a 10-carat diamond ring valued at half a million dollars. She dashed to the airport but forgot to change clothes and was detained at passport control. However, the ring was missing.

Her acting skills, honed by dreams of Hollywood, saved her. At the last moment, she removed the diamond from its setting and swallowed it. When she fainted, staff rushed to help, allowing her to discreetly spit the gem into a handkerchief. Using a needle and thread stolen from a guard, she sewed the jewel into her dress hem. She was taken to a hospital but escaped through the bathroom window.

Remarkably, she repeated this bathroom window escape multiple times, yet Interpol never drew conclusions. It’s said her irresistible charm could talk anyone into believing her sincerity.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Doris sold a jewel for $150,000 and thought she was done with her reckless life. But after five years, she decided to visit Europe "just once." That "once" ended with the theft of rings, earrings, and pendants worth $920,000. The boutique owners were most heartbroken over limited-edition Van Cleef & Arpels watches—unique pieces lost forever in an American pawnshop.

Riding high and intoxicated by success, Doris made a critical mistake: she drank champagne before a theft. Her skills dulled, and she was caught red-handed stealing Rolex watches.

"Diamond Doris" was put on a train to Geneva, home to the American embassy, but she escaped through a bathroom window en route. She broke a leg, several ribs, dislocated a shoulder, and crawled through fields for hours before meeting travelers who took her to Zurich, from where she flew back to the U.S. Despite everything, she escaped lightly.

The FBI finally caught up with Doris in 1984.

"I entered the apartment of a woman who had stolen millions in jewels and couldn’t believe my eyes," an investigator later recalled. "It was a rundown Harlem home, with laundry in basins and clutter everywhere. Sitting by the TV was a disheveled man who looked like a cocaine addict—the woman’s partner. Maybe we had the wrong address. Where was the fortune?"

All the money had been spent—on saving Doris’s elderly mother from cancer, rehab for her son’s addiction, and expensive lawyers. Multiple countries demanded extradition, and ten U.S. states sought to prosecute her.

When funds for costly attorneys ran out, Doris received her first prison sentence—12 years. The "Diamond Queen Thief" served five years. Upon her 2013 release, she had nowhere to go. Relatives had sold all her property, and her daughter Sunny refused to discuss her mother, even forbidding grandchildren from contact.

Doris then decided to sell her life story as a screenplay, uttering a now-famous line: "I don’t regret stealing jewels. I regret getting caught." With her earnings, she moved to Atlanta and rented a room.

It was here, on December 13, 2016, that she committed her last theft—stealing $86 worth of groceries. Curiously, she was under house arrest for stealing gold earrings the previous year and wore an electronic ankle monitor. It took authorities just minutes to track her down. In court, Doris solemnly vowed never to steal again. At 90 years old, the judge showed leniency.

"I promise to end my thieving ways," Doris told FOX News. "I want to dedicate my remaining years to writing my autobiography. Recently, I was offered to make a film about my life. If that happens, I dream of donating all proceeds to a charity helping abandoned children."

Photos: John Bazemore/TASS, Getty Images, East News, Series Stills

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