Man behind huge theft at Yogi Berra Museum shares his story on '60 Minutes'

Thomas Trotta, a notorious thief with a penchant for targeting museums including Yogi Berra's in North Jersey, unveiled the intricate details of his daring heists on Sunday's episode of "60 Minutes."

In an interview on the CBS show, Trotta disclosed how his criminal journey began in his hometown outside Scranton, Pennsylvania. He reminisced about his youthful days running with a crew of neighborhood friends, who eventually became his alleged accomplices. What began with petty thefts, including robbing payphones, escalated into full-fledged burglary operations, making theft his primary occupation. Marrying his passion for sports with his criminal pursuits, Trotta embarked on his first sports memorabilia heist in 1999.

Over the years, Trotta's crimes included smashing through a window in the U.S. Golf Museum in New Jersey in 2012, pilfering Ben Hogan's prestigious trophies, and in 2016, driving to the Roger Maris Museum in North Dakota to abscond with an MVP plaque belonging to the Yankees slugger.

However, his most brazen act unfolded in October 2014 when Trotta, a self-professed Yankees fan, orchestrated the theft of nine of Yogi Berra's World Series rings from the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls. The indictment against Trotta revealed that two MVP plaques and seven additional championship rings were also snatched during the heist.

"We were a second away from getting caught," Trotta admitted during the CBS interview, detailing how he and his crew meticulously cut and melted the stolen rings inside a rural Pennsylvania garage. The extracted gold and gemstones were promptly traded in Manhattan's Diamond District for a meager sum of $12,000.

Despite the staggering value of the stolen memorabilia, estimated to exceed $1 million according to the indictment, Trotta confessed that much of the loot was melted down to avoid detection.

Trotta's reign of thievery came to an end in 2019 when he was apprehended by police for speeding outside Scranton. Upon searching his vehicle, authorities uncovered incriminating evidence, including gloves linking Trotta to the 2016 theft of an ATM, which he had forcibly ripped out of a grocery store using a snowplow.

During his time in custody, Trotta cooperated with investigators, disclosing crucial information about several unsolved museum heists, including the theft of Yogi Berra's World Series rings and valuable artwork by Andy Warhol. In exchange for his cooperation, Trotta received a reduced sentence. He served more than four years behind bars.

“My family is grateful that those responsible for the theft have been apprehended, and deeply saddened that none of those pieces of sports history will be recovered,” said Lindsay Berra, granddaughter of Yogi Berra and a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees, in 2023. “I remember when my grandfather first heard about the robbery, his main concern was that the museum was still safe for kids to come and visit. Educating the next generation was always his priority for the museum.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yogi Berra Museum theft center of '60 Minutes' interview