Truth: Stranger than Fiction...

Police: Bizarre jewel heist was inside job

New York (CNN) -- Two men have been arrested in a bold and bizarre jewelry store robbery involving crooks who disguised themselves in Hasidic Jewish attire, complete with hats and false beards, police announced Tuesday.

But all was not as it seemed, according to police. The heist was actually an elaborate inside job set up by the store's owners, who were $1 million in debt and six months behind on their rent, police said.

It's a cunning twist: rather than a simple robbery with an odd disguise, it's an insurance scam with an alleged robbery. It's not even certain if there ever was a robbery at all - the alleged thieves spray-painted over surveillance cameras at the onset, so it's only the word of the store owners as to what was actually taken.

And, as usual, greed and stupidity were the store owners' undoing:

But police said Tuesday that investigators became suspicious of the incident when it was discovered that Shah and Kankariya got a new insurance policy just before the apparent robbery.

Yeah, getting a new and improved insurance policy immediately preceding a major heist is a pretty big red flag. If they'd been less greedy - settling for a smaller score or more patient - waiting a year or two before the scam - they might have gotten away with it. Instead, they borrowed a scene from "Snatch" and got pinched.

Greed: While it may be good, it is one of the seven deadly sins...

That is all.