Larry Lawton

Lawrence Robert Lawton (born October 3, 1961) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber.

Lawton was born in North Hempstead, New York on October 3, 1961.

His first encounter with organized crime was through his father, a metal worker who delivered bribes to the New York mafia.

In grades one through six, Lawton served as an altar boy at St. Francis de Chantal in The Bronx, where he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest.

Lawton attended Intermediate IS 192 and Lehman High School, but did not graduate.

In August 1979, he joined the Coast Guard and took part in the Mariel boatlift.

Lawton later claimed that he was the biggest jewel thief of the 1980s and 90s operating within the United States of America.

Lawton was offered a three-year sentence in exchange for disclosing his accomplices but did not take the deal.

In 1983, having earned his GED, he left the Coast Guard and began engaging in criminal activity, mostly loan sharking and bookmaking.

Lawton executed his first robbery when he was 28, an inside job to collect insurance money.

He then began robbing jewelry stores along the Atlantic Coast, using his contacts within the Gambino crime family to fence the stolen merchandise.

At one point, he purchased an Italian pizza restaurant in North Lauderdale, Florida, which he later burned down as part of an insurance fraud.

In May 1994, three males robbed a jewelry store in Daytona Beach, Florida, netting $500,000 (over $1,000,000 in 2023) worth of gold and diamonds.

The robbers had dropped off jewelry for repairs, and later returned to rob the store.

Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida.

The two store owners were bound while two individuals robbed the store and a third acted as a lookout and the other as the getaway driver.

The robbers took $480,000 ($910,600.81 in 2022) worth of gold and diamonds making it the biggest robbery in the city's history.

Local police believed there was a connection between this robbery and a robbery that took place in May 1994 in Daytona Beach, and contacted the FBI.

Fingerprint evidence connected Lawton to the October 1994 Palm Bay heist, and he was charged with that crime as well.

Lawton is believed to have hit around 20 to 25 jewelry stores, stealing a self-estimated total of around $15–18 million worth of high-value items, including watches, diamonds, and other gems.

Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996.

He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a motivational speaker, life coach, and author.

He became known as one of America's biggest jewel thieves and made the FBI's most wanted list in 1996.

In 1996, there was a robbery of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.

The robbers had been there the day before and returned asking about a ring.

The robbers drew what police at the time believed were firearms, and restrained the store owner.

The store owner managed to break free and grabbed a .38 caliber pistol and fired five shots at the robbers as they fled.

One bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but struck his brother.

Lawton later said that he used a BB gun during the robbery.

Afterwards, another jewelry store in Lower Bucks County became suspicious of a person they believed was casing the place for a future robbery.

They reported the car's license plate, which linked the car to Lawton.

Lawton was arrested by the FBI on December 2, 1996, in Florida and charged with the Fairless Hills armed robbery.

He received an additional sentence in 2002 for giving false witness.

While in prison, Lawton earned a paralegal qualification and became a gang mediator.

He was incarcerated in many prisons during his sentence, which included Jesup in Georgia, Riker's Island in New York, Edgefield in South Carolina, and Yazoo City in Mississippi.

While recounting his prison experiences he said: "I saw inmates stabbed and friends die" and "I saw young men raped and pimped out as prostitutes for other inmates."

Another time he said: "I had my arms pinned down, and I was beaten and peed on — by the guards. I was kicked. My ribs were broken. I was beaten once a month."

In 2007, he started the Reality Check Program to help educate at-risk youths on the consequences of breaking the law.

He has acted as a spokesman for prisoners and prisoner issues, been a vocal advocate for prison reform, and made appearances in the media as an expert on robberies.

He was sentenced for racketeering and robbery and spent 11 years in prison before being released in 2007.