Real-Life 'Ocean's 11': Gang of Burglars Strike L.A.'s Celebrities and Tycoons

July 20, 2007 — -- A spate of burglaries in elite Los Angeles neighborhoods has baffled police and created a growing list of celebrity victims, officials say.

Over the last year, the burglars have stolen more than $7 million in cash, jewelry and books, police spokesman Lt. Ray Lombardo told reporters Thursday.

Lombardo said that at least two burglars, possibly three, had been using bricks to break sliding-glass doors, or entering through second-floor windows.

Police have not released the names of the victims, but said mansions had been hit in fashionable homes in Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Bel-Air.

The Los Angeles Times, citing sources, reported that the burglars had targeted the homes of former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing and the Bel-Air mansion of L.A. Clippers basketball star Cuttino Mobley, who reported that $500,000 in cash and jewelry had been stolen.

In April a safe was stolen from the home of Duran Duran guitarist John Taylor and his wife, Gela Nash-Taylor, and the mansion of country-music stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill was hit in February while they were in Tennessee, the Times reported.

A high-ranking executive at the Disney-ABC Television Group was also victimized, the Times added.

Despite the dozens of burglaries, police have relatively little to go on. A security camera at an Encino estate caught a brief image of two muscular, 200-pound-plus men without their masks, police said.

"These guys are a two-man hillside crime wave. They are quick-hit artists," Councilman Jack Weiss told The Associated Press. "They are clearly knowledgeable and sophisticated. They are not hot prowlers, and they focus exclusively on homes that aren't occupied."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.