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Plot
In 1971, British Security Services (MI5) have taken interest in a safety deposit box in a particular Lloyd's Bank branch. Belonging to black militant gangster Michael X, it contains compromising photos of Princess Margaret,[7] insurance to keep the British authorities off Michael's back. Martine Love, an ex-model romantically involved with MI5 agent Tim Everett, is caught smuggling drugs into the country, and to avoid going to jail, she makes a deal with the authorities to retrieve the photos.
Martine approaches her friend Terry, a struggling car salesman with criminal contacts, and tells him that if he can assemble the gang to help her rob the bank, he will be richly rewarded, but does not tell him about the photos in the deposit box. Terry's team includes his close friends Eddie (one of his employees), Dave, and Kevin, as well as trusted criminal associates Bambas and Guy Singer. While scouting the bank, Dave runs into gangster Lew Vogel, for whom he made pornographic films.
The gang rents a leather goods shop near the bank, tunnels below the vault, then uses a thermal lance to break through the floor into the vault. They loot the safety deposit boxes, but Terry notices Martine's interest in box 118 and discovers the photos. The police are alerted to the robbery by a ham radio operator who overhears the gang's walkie-talkie communications, but by the time they locate the bank, the gang has already fled. The robbery rattles important figures who used the bank, including Lew Vogel, who kept a ledger of police payoffs inside. He notifies Michael X in Trinidad, who deduces Gale Benson—the lover of his associate Hakim Jamal—is spying for MI5, and murders her. Vogel decides Dave’s presence outside that bank was not a coincidence, and has him kidnapped and tortured for information. Dave gives in, and Lew has Gerald Pyke and Nick Burton—two policemen working on his payroll—kidnap Eddie at Terry's garage. Meanwhile, Terry discovers explicit photographs of government officials among their loot and uses them to secure passports and new identities for the gang.
Vogel's men track down and murder Bambas and Guy Singer. Eddie refuses to cooperate with Vogel, who has Gerald execute Dave and threatens to kill Eddie unless Terry surrenders the ledger; Terry agrees to meet up with Vogel at Paddington Station to exchange the ledger and Eddie. He arranges for the meeting to happen at the same time as he will be picking up the new passports and immunity from prosecution from MI5 and Lord Mountbatten in exchange for the pictures of Princess Margaret. Meanwhile, Terry sends Kevin to honest cop Roy Given with a page torn from the ledger. Spooked, Vogel tries to flee, but Terry attacks and beats him—only for he and Eddie to be arrested by the police. After speaking to Everett, Given has Terry, Eddie and Kevin released and uses the information they supplied to arrest Lew, Gerald and Nick. Michael X is arrested as well and after Benson's body is found, his house is burned down. The surviving gang gets together one last time to mourn Dave. Eddie inherits Terry's car dealership, while Kevin and Martine prepare to begin separate new lives with their respective shares of the money. Terry and his family leave England.
Vogel's ledger causes Scotland Yard to undergo a major corruption purge in the police force. The activities of Sonia Bern's brothels make several senior officials resign. Michael X is hanged in 1975 for the murder of Gale Benson and his file in the British National Archive remains classified until 2054. Lew Vogel is sentenced to 8 years in prison. Hakim Jamal is murdered in 1973. The murders of both Bambas and Guy Singer are never solved. The loot taken from the robbery consists of £4 million.
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