Don Levers
Don Levers is a Vancouver-born author living near Edmonton, best known for the true-crime book "The (Almost) Perfect Heist" about the 1977 Vancouver Safety Deposit Vaults robbery, and the bestselling children's book "Ogopogo: The Misunderstood Lake Monster."
2
APPEARANCES
2
PODCASTS
Aug 23, 2026
Don LeversGUEST
The almost part... is did they get away? And, you know, other major heists in England and Nice, France, and a lot of these other places, these guys are all caught.
Don LeversGUEST
There is a number of other Canadian stories, like the gold heist in Winnipeg in 1966 by the flying bandit, Ken Leachman.
7 MINS LATER
Richard KrauseHOST
His new book, The Almost Perfect Heist, the incredible true story of the Vancouver safety deposit robbery, is available now wherever you buy fine books.
Jill BennettHOST
What is it about this case, do you think, that still captures so much attention?
Don LeversGUEST
Well, after writing the Lute for the Taking, which was a book inspired by the actual heist, because when I started writing it in 1988, there weren't the internet options available to research it any further.
Don LeversGUEST
But when I finished the book in 2017, I reached out to one of the men who was involved in the heist, and he was actually... going to, he was on trial for a string of armored car robberies in Montreal at the time.
Don LeversGUEST
The first time I got a letter back from the Corrections Canada after he went to jail and they said it was my, I sent him a copy of the book and they said it was considered contraband.
Don LeversGUEST
I sent him another letter a while back, a while later, and I heard back from him and I was all excited.
Don LeversGUEST
opened his letter at the mailbox and it said, here, Mr. Leavers, I have no self-interest in talking about this story.