Why did I become a safecracker? As a kid growing up, my heroes were Mickey Mantle, Chet Atkins, and Alexander Mundy.  Mantle played centerfield for the New York Yankees, Atkins was “Mister Guitar,” and Mundy was the fictional safecracker in the TV series, It Takes A Thief.   Mundy was classy and cool. He could open any safe or vault without getting his hands dirty or mussing his hair.  The ladies always went gaga over him.  Mundy would crack the safe and the gorgeous girl would fall into his arms.  It was formulaic and fun.  And it made my career choice a total no-brainer: I decided at age 15 to become a safecracker.

Under the supervision of Eugene Corey, I opened my first safe in the spring of 1972.  I was hooked, and spent the next decade learning the craft.   In August of 1986 I began writing a monthly column on safecracking for The National Locksmith magazine.  In the fall of 1992, in conjunction with National Publishing, I started The National Safeman’s Organization and have been its Director ever since.  Over the course of the last two decades I have written 16 books on the arcana of safecracking, developing and refining drill points for most of the safes and vaults that have been used in the United States.  After 33 years in this crazy and obscure business, I am still having the time of my life.