The ‘Godfather’ Wars; Catching a Hollywood Super Thief; the Heiress Who Lost Everything

View in browser | Update preferences In this edition of the VF Archive digest, we dive into robberies, Hollywood masters, and thieves who robbed Tinseltown itself. We start with an oil heiress who became the most targeted jewel-robbery victim in America. Plus, the pilot turned pirate who dashed director Peter Jackson's aviation dreams, and the real-life mobsters who helped Francis Ford Coppola create The Godfather. Diamonds Aren't Forever BY MARK SEAL Between 1977 and 1996, an estimated $20 million in jewels were stolen from Carolyn Skelly, the horribly disfigured, wildly extravagant oil heiress who threw endless parties in Newport and Palm Beach. Most were never recovered. The deeper mystery is how America's No. 1 jewel-robbery victim lost her husband, her children, and her beauty. READ MORE Sir Peter and the Airplane Thief BY MARC WORTMAN A dashing American aviator built a fantasy air force for Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. Then planes started to disappear. READ MORE The Godfather Wars BY MARK SEAL In many ways, the men who made The Godfather—director Francis Ford Coppola, producer Al Ruddy, Paramount executives Robert Evans and Peter Bart, and Gulf & Western boss Charles Bluhdorn—were as ruthless as the gangsters in Mario Puzo's blockbuster. After violent disputes over the casting of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, they tangled with the real-life Mob, which didn't want the movie made at all. Mark Seal recalls how the clash of Hollywood sharks, Mafia kingpins, and cinematic geniuses shaped a Hollywood masterpiece. READ MORE Stealing Sunset BY PUNCH HUTTON After waking up to an intruder in the bedroom one night, writer Punch Hutton no longer felt safe in her family's dream home. When they decided to sell, the most prolific thief in Hollywood history saw a golden opportunity. READ MORE Of Vice and Mann BY JAMES WOLCOTT Michael Mann never got the kudos he should have for his 1995 movie, Heat, a compulsively watchable pairing of De Niro and Pacino, and his gutsy TV series Robbery Homicide Division died in its first season. But they reveal the director as a master of LA noir. READ MORE MORE FROM VANITY FAIR POLITICS BUSINESS HOLLYWOOD STYLE ROYALS CELEBRITY This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2025. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.