The name on the letterbox outside a private, gated estate on Via Manzoni on the outskirts of Milan says L. Alfredo — which stands for Alfredo Lindley.
Signore Lindley, who owns a four-storey villa (with a swimming pool) inside the exclusive development — where he lived with his wife and four children — made his money, at least on paper, from running a number of garages and automobile businesses in the area.
The collection of cars on display at his home included, at one time, a £58,000 Audi, a £55,000 Porsche Cayenne and a £24,000 BMW.
Signore Langley has done a lot for himself by every measure.
But, his neighbours didn’t know that this was his true name. Nor was he a ‘respectable businessman’.
The man who resided here — his family left barely three weeks ago — was a Serbian-born criminal who had stolen the identity of a leading Peruvian lawyer (the real Alfredo Lindley) and was living in Italy using his name and date of birth.
‘Alfredo Lindley’ was in fact Ljubomir Radosavlejic. Radosavlejic was the mastermind behind raids that took place in London at celebrity homes during December 2019. The Mail has now revealed this after tracking him down across Europe, to his latest hideout in Milan.
Jay Rutland, Tamara Ecclestone and other celebrities were the victims of multimillion-pound raids in December 2019.
British Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone and footballer Frank Lampard, as well as Christine Lampard, the wife of Christine and Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, were among the many victims.
The break-in at Ecclestone’s 55-bedroom mansion alone was the highest-value burglary in English legal history.
The crime spree, over 13 frenzied days in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, netted £25 million in cash and jewellery which has never been recovered.
Shortly afterwards, members of the gang were caught on CCTV celebrating with a £750 lunch including bottles of Chateau Ruinart rosé champagne at the Zuma Japanese restaurant on Raphael Street, Knightsbridge.
Today, three men were convicted for the burglaries.
But Radosavlejic, 40 — the so-called ‘fourth man’ — is still at large and is now the subject of an international manhunt. It has been said that his ‘career’, culminating, allegedly, in the high-profile celebrity raids, could be turned into a Hollywood movie.
The break-in at Ecclestone’s 55-bedroom mansion alone was the highest-value burglary in English legal history
This would certainly appeal to Radosavlejic’s vanity.
His criminal activities have allowed him to inhabit a world of almost unimaginable opulence and extravagance epitomised by the diamond-studded Rolex which can usually be seen on his wrist (one of a number of Rolexes he owns) and high-rolling trips to the casino where his father once blew a million euros (£856,000), given to him by his son, in a single night on the tables and roulette wheel.
According to those who know him back in his native Serbia, he is ‘obsessed’ with the Ocean ‘casino heist’ films and models himself on George Clooney’s character, master thief Danny Ocean.
According to an old Radosavlejic family friend, the haul, which contained a Cartier bracelet belonging to Tamara Ecclestone was smuggled out the country by a group of talented young escorts. They were dressed in designer clothing and flew business class.
The gems, he said, were concealed — how can we put this — in a rather delicate part of their anatomy.
A European manhunt is under way for a man accused of one of the biggest burglaries in English legal history, a BBC investigation has found.Alfredo Lindley is said to have led a series of burglaries on the luxury homes of three celebrities in December 2019 – including a £25m raid on the home of F1 heiress Tamara Ecclestone
Radosavlejic’s methods and his progression through the criminal underworld, from his Roma upbringing in the impoverished village of Obrenovac near the Serbian capital Belgrade to his inclusion on Scotland Yard and Interpol’s ‘most wanted’ list of fugitives, undoubtedly has a cinematic quality in the same way that, say, the Italian mafia — with whom he has strong connections — does.
‘Alfredo Lindley’ was just one of at least 19 aliases he used to evade the authorities down the years while raiding the homes of the rich and famous, not just here but all over Europe.
Locals in his home town joked that he changes his name ‘like you would a pair of socks’ and has the power to ‘baptise himself as he wishes’.
They meant that Radosavlejic was rumored to have been protected by his connections with Serbian politicians, police and other officials.
His clan is known for its reputation in Balkans.
Radosavlejic was named for his grandfather Ljubomir Radosavlejic. This legendary Fagin-esque character in Serbia taught children how to steal. Then, he sent them all over the Continent robbing and stealing from the well-to-do.
Dragan, Dragan’s son, spent three years in jail in Greece after he robbed a cache of jewellery made from gold in the 1980s.
‘Dragan would come back from abroad and say, “Look, I robbed a few houses and look what I’ve got,” ’ a close acquaintance in Belgrade recalled.
‘He would show his children loads of money and tell them if they wanted to be a success and have money they would have to do the same as him.’
Friends told me that Ljubomir the youth would be brutally beaten if he returned empty-handed from his burglary mission.
After his parents had moved to Italy, Ljubomir Jr was ten years old when he was arrested for breaking and entering. He was never the same.
Even his closest family members could not have predicted that he would become one of Europe’s most desired men.
The Radosavlejics of Italy made contacts with organized crime and the mafia. They also built a criminal network that supported a series of shell companies including dealerships for cars.
‘He always wore a suit and looked like a very smart, respectable businessman,’ said a neighbour in the luxury gated community where he was known as ‘Alfredo’.
His Peruvian name, Alfredo Lindley was the company’s registered owner. He is actually a partner at a prominent Lima law firm and a former employee of the World Bank Group. The necessary paperwork was completed using his personal details (e.g., Miraflores where he was born). One ‘dealership’ is listed at No 30 on Via Luigi Galvani, in Bollate, a municipality in north-west Milan, a few miles from his villa. We found that No 27 was the actual street number.
Among the items stolen in the raid at Ecclestone’s Kensington home were precious rings, earrings and a £95,000 Cartier bangle wedding gift, pictured. Beautiful young women dressed in high-end designer clothes flew business class and smuggled the entire haul from London’s raids including the bangle out of country.
According to police, Radosavlejic along with associates carried out burglaries on the entire continent. The targets of their burglaries were rich and well-known.
The London raids, it is claimed, were far from the first time celebrities had been on their radar.In 2009, Radosavlejic’s network is suspected of burgling the homes of then Inter Milan footballers Sulley Muntari and Patrick Vieira, the former Arsenal star and current Crystal Palace manager, before stealing £2 million worth of jewels from Maria Luisa Gavazzeni, the widow of Italian designer Nicola Trussardi.
Rarely have any gems or valuables been found. Perhaps one reason could be found in the smuggling of proceeds throughout Europe. Young women, invariably Roma, are trained how to safely hide the proceeds on their person, so to speak, in the same way as drug mules, revealed a source with knowledge of the gang’s modus operandi. They are then given a business or first-class ticket to various locations on the Continent where a ‘contact’ will be waiting to collect and fence the haul.
‘For a job as big as the one in London they will have used women, it is their preferred method,’ the source said. ‘They get paid a few thousand euros, they travel in style and always alone. They look great in designer clothing. They don’t stop. No one will find it.’
A large amount of the treasure may have gone through Via Monte Bisbino, northern Milan’s Roma camp. Police sources from Italy suggested that the Ecclestone-related gold might have been melt down at this site.
The camp was discovered with gems that were once part of a collection owned by Eva Peron, the ex-first lady of Argentina. This happened two years after the theft. Francesco Giustolisi of Milan’s flying squad, a specialist in armed robbery, said that no force could enter without at least 40 men. This was after an officer had been killed and run over at the camp a few years back.
‘We cannot be sure but it is very likely that the jewels have transited through the camp,’ he said. ‘But a lot of these pieces are unique so melting them down would devalue them.
They are most likely to be transported from Europe, according to me. I think we will see them pop up at some point and re-enter the market through someone who has bought them believing them to be legal and then tries to auction them, for example.’
Either way, Radosavlejic’s ill-gotten wealth was impossible to miss whenever he returned ‘home’ to Obrenovac.
Christine and Frank Lampard were robbed of around £50,000 worth of valuables from their home
‘He once turned up in a Ferrari, on other occasions, he was in a Maserati,’ said a villager. ‘He has Rolexes studded with diamonds as well as Patek Philippe watches. It was amazing to see.
‘With sharp suits and everything else, Danny Ocean is very much his image. All Ocean movies are watched by him.
‘He’s always in the casinos and throws big parties full of beautiful women when he is back. You might make 200 Euros in Obrenovac. [£170]One month. He would never think of spending 10,000 Euros per month. [more than £8,000]At a restaurant
‘Many Romas see Ljubomir as a hero but others are frightened of him. I’ve met him, and I can tell that he’s not a great man. He’s not Robin Hood. He robs the rich and pays himself.’
In 2017, Radosavlejic seemed finally to be caught by justice. He was seized with his assets and cars. A bar in Baranzate he had owned was also taken. However, he wasn’t jailed. He continued living in luxury gated communities.
The homes of Tamara Ecclestone and Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, as well as the Lampards’ were burgled two years later. They were the main story.
Alfredo Lindley, the real Alfredo Lindley, contacted authorities after reading about his identity in an Italian newspaper report regarding the London burglaries. He was then informed by officials that his personal details were used for official documents. Mr Lindley told us he feared his data may have been stolen in a computer hack, adding: ‘What worries me most is that I’m a lawyer and my reputation is vitally important.’
Radosavlejic is not known to have been at his Italian villa since those thefts. However, his family was still there until his wife loaded furniture in a van about three weeks back.
Radosavlejic is believed to have returned to Obrenovac.
The raid took place on the Knightsbridge house of Mr Srivaddhanaprabha (pictured at Walton Place) on December 10. This raid occurred more than one year after Mr. Srivaddhanaprabha was fatally injured in an air crash following a Leicester City match.
A former associate said he did not think he would be foolish enough to try to leave his homeland — which does not have an extradition treaty with the UK — while such a high-profile fugitive.
‘In Serbia, he can pay politicians, he can pay the police, he can stay safe. He has never caused trouble in Serbia.’
Radosavlejic’s nephew Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24, will be sentenced alongside Italians Alessandro Maltese, 45, and Alessandro Donati, 44, at Isleworth Crown Court today. All three of them pleaded guilty in connection with the burglaries. The extradition agreement will see them serving their sentences in Italy.
When the Mail knocked at Radosavlejic’s family home in Obrenovac there was no answer, but a blue Fiat with an Italian number plate was parked outside. Francesco Giustolisi of Milan’s flying squad was aware that the car had been owned by Radosavlejic. However, no trace was found of Ljubomir Radoslav Radosavlejic.
He was last seen by police on CCTV, sipping champagne in Knightsbridge Restaurant the day following the London raids.
They’ll be looking forward to seeing him again.