It is extremely easy to acquire a Tom Brady jersey in Massachusetts. Brady is a god in all of New England, but in Massachusetts — especially Foxboro and the surrounding areas — you can stumble into basically any store that sells clothing and get some type of Patriots jersey that has the number 12 on it and “BRADY” across the back.
But for one brave Rhode Islander, going to a Dick’s Sporting Goods or a Kohl’s or something was not nearly enough. Instead, Zanini Cineus wanted to right to the source: The Patriots’ Hall of Fame, where there is a signed Brady jersey that he wanted. So, according to ESPN, Cineus took it off of a display, wore it, and tried to leave.
Police say the 33-year-old was wearing the jersey under his jacket when he was apprehended Thursday still in the vicinity of the hall of fame.
Police say the signed jersey is worth $10,000. The team says it had not been worn in a game.
There were some obvious tactical mistakes here. The main one was that Cineus should have figured that the Brady jersey in question would have been very closely monitored so that if anyone tried stealing it, they’d be discovered quickly. Also, you can’t put the jersey on under your jacket. You have to have a much better plan that is not “wear it and put a jacket on underneath it.”
All in all, this wasn’t a great heist. It lacks a lot of the main elements a good heist — no reported getaway van, no one having to navigate a collection of air vents to get into the room where the thing you want to steal is located, motion-sensing lasers, black turtlenecks (I assume) — and was set up to fail from the start.
