Mobster Admits To Stealing ‘Wizard of Oz’ Red Slippers

Unless you have been living under a rock, there’s this beloved film you may have heard of called The Wizard of Oz. Storytime… The 1938 classic fantasy adventure stars Judy Garland as this girl named Dorothy who, along with her little terrier, is whisked away by a tornado, to well, Oz, and she meets a few magical friends, and the rest is history. Oh, one more thing. Dorothy wore these ruby red shoes that gave her the ability to escape back to Kansas … 

Now back in the real world, like not Hollywood, those iconic ruby red slippers are nearly priceless. Like $3.5 million CASH. There was a smash-and-grab robbery back in 2005, and finally, the case has been cracked. A stone-cold mobster named Terry Jon Martin confessed to stealing one of the most iconic cinema props ever. The button man admitted to the heist. Check this: he did it with a simple hammer to, as mentioned, smash a display case that was housing the slippers. Who’s idea was that? Anyway, this guy thought the bedazzled slippers were REAL rubies, you know, jewels, and that motivated him to attempt the caper. He’s not a complete tool, with all due respect to the gangster, as the shoes were, in fact, insured for a cool $1 million bucks. 

Back in 2018, the slippers finished dancing around the fencing circuit and were recovered. So, Martin was eventually arrested and pled guilty to the theft.  He’s 76 and isn’t going to jail. He’s in a hospice and has maybe six months before he departs, no pun intended, so the judge took it easy on him and pretty much let him slide. In any event, the case is solved.