Sledgehammer Gang Hits 30 Jewellers
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 28, 2000
Nicola Cerrone has spent 25 years making his custom-design jewellery business an international success.
Now, the man whose clients include celebrities such as Barbra Streisand has become a prisoner in his workplace after three raids this year that have cost his business $3 million.
A gang which police believe has carried out 30 robberies on Sydney jewellery stores since December has forced him to employ guards at his Leichhardt and Double Bay stores and admit customers only after they are checked out from behind locked iron gates.
But he is more concerned about the human toll.
``It's one thing for people to say `sure you're insured', but suddenly a business built up over 25 years has almost been destroyed. I employ 50 people and some want to leave because of all this. Their lives have been shattered," Mr Cerrone said.
He was speaking after the latest raid on his Leichhardt business, The House of Cerrone, last Thursday, which police said mirrored robberies in Sydney's inner west and on stores in The Rocks and CBD.
In that robbery, Mr Cerrone found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol after rushing to the ground-floor showroom when he heard glass being smashed.
Six customers and 10 staff were already lying on the floor as three bandits, in blue balaclavas and gloves and carrying pistols, screamed at them while a fourth waited outside in a Hyundai Excel.
They had used sledgehammers to smash through two security doors at 8.20pm and ended up with 500 gold and diamond rings bearing the Cerrone brand name and more than 200 Omega and Tag Heuer watches.
On March 14, the same Catherine Street premises were hit at 3am. And at 2pm on January 22, four bandits wearing balaclavas and overalls and armed with pistols and sledgehammers robbed Mr Cerrone's Double Bay store of $1 million in watches and jewels.
Among the robberies being investigated are raids last month on J. Farren-Price Jewellers in St James Arcade by four men wearing balaclavas and carrying sledgehammers and another on Watches of Switzerland in George Street.
Police believe the stolen goods are being fenced overseas.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
