Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
This Surfer Stole Millions - The Murf The Surf story
Sat, 01 Feb 2025
Jack Murphy aka Murf The Surf became a notorious jewel thief and broke into the American Museum of Natural History
How did Murf the Surf start his life of crime?
So this surfer somehow becomes one of the most notorious jewel thieves of all time. Now the guy, people call him Murph. And Murph loves to surf. And one day in Miami, Murph reconnects with some old surfing buddies of his. And these buddies, they're suddenly dressing kind of sharp. Like they used to be bums and now they got that drip. And Murph's like, when did you turds get money all of a sudden?
And that is when one of his buddies explains it. This guy, Alan. Alan explains to him that they all got this new side hustle. Breaking into places and robbing them. Houses, hotel rooms, jewelry stores. Mostly they're looking for jewels. So, they're jewel thieves. And one night, they're about to go on a heist. And they invite Murph along. And Murph's like, sweet, let's get paid.
And so he goes along on this heist and it's successful. They steal some jewels and they sell them and his cut ends up being around 15 grand. And Murph is looking at all this and he's like, well, that was the easiest money I ever made. Let's do it again. And so they keep this hustle going.
Murph and Alan, they surf by day and they cat burgle by night, climbing onto rooftops and jumping between balconies to steal jewelry from old rich ladies and tourists. And they're making a lot of money from this. And soon enough, they get another friend involved. This guy, Roger. And Roger ends up being their lookout and their getaway driver. And this is all working great for them.
But pretty quickly, I guess they get a little bored with Miami. I guess they robbed all the good places already. So Murph, Alan, and Roger, they take a road trip from Miami all the way up to New York City. Because they're trying to see if there are some places up there to rob. And while they're in New York, they take a tour of the famous American Museum of Natural History.
And the American Museum of Natural History, it has one exhibit that's called the Hall of Gems, which houses some of the rarest and most expensive gems in the world. And so this tour, it leads these jewel thieves through the Hall of Gems and they're looking at all these gems on display and they're like, oh yeah, we need to rob this place.
So they put their heads together and they start coming up with a plan to break into the History Museum and take their collection of historical gems. And these guys, they're like professionals at this. So they take the time to map out this whole heist. Like they visit the museum and they observe the guards while they're doing their nightly rounds.
They low-key check the windows in the museum for any vulnerabilities. And lucky for them, they actually see one of those windows is cracked open. And while they're planning out this whole robbery, they're staying in a nearby hotel. And since they have a surplus of money from all their Miami robberies, They're like in this hotel throwing these big ass loud parties in the room with lots of people.
I mean, they're just having a great time. So the big night finally rolls around and Roger drives them to the history museum. And Murph and Alan, they jump the fence and they run across the courtyard. And then Alan climbs up the side of the building, mostly using the fire escape. And then he makes it to the cracked window. And then he lowers a rope down for Murph.
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