The Untold Story of the WTC Building 4 Underground Vaults
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Little is known about the Scotia-Mocatta Depository at WTC building 4. Here's what we are told concerning the treasure vaults, deep in the bowels of WTC 4.
In the basement were stored:
- About 30,000 silver bars (1,000 Troy oz each) or 1000 tonnes (!) This is about 1/4 of the world supply of silver
- About 3,800 registered gold bars (100 Troy oz each) or 12 tonnes
- Unknown quantity of US minted Gold and Silver Eagles
- Unknown quantity of platinum and palladium
- Caches of drug
- Boxes of FBI evidence, including firearms
- Thousands of Godiva chocolates
In the Basement?
The basement vault was about 70 feet underground, sitting on the bedrock of Manhattan.
Attempted Theft
Scorch marks around the basement door to the vaults suggests that there was an attempt to break in and steal the metals belonging to the Bank of Nova Scotia. Although the bank denies any attempt, police have gone on record saying that a blowtorch and crowbar was used at the vault's entrance, sometime prior to October 30th. Because of the difficulty of getting on site and down to the vault, it is suspected that it was an inside job. Yes, you read that right... inside job.
Relocation
It has been estimated that it would take full 50 tractor trailers to transport the 30,000 bars weighing 1,000 Troy oz per.
NYBOT and Scotia-Mocatta said that the metals had been relocated:
All of the silver, gold, platinum and palladium stored in the vaults at 4 WTC had been successfully relocated y an Exchange approved carrier to a newly Exchange licensed Brink's Inc depository in Brooklyn.
Emergency workers uncovered the vaults on October 30th, 2001 and got the first glimpse at the gleaming booty worth at that time an estimated $230 million. All this treasure sat in the rubble for over a month. One has to wonder... is thermite hot enough to melt chocolate?
Silver Angels of Courage
Arthur Piccalo, The chairman of the Manhattan neighborhood betterment group, contacted the Bank of Nova Scotia who owned the silver and made a request: could he purchase some of the 935 tonnes of recovered silver to make Christmas ornaments as tribute to the fallen?
Scotia bank provided 38 silver bars (237lbs), valued at about $17,000 for the ornaments. Morvillo & Sons of North Providence, melted the silver bars into a sheet, buffed it into a mirror finish and stamped angel shapes to make ornaments. They are about as long as a brick and about an inch thick, each weighing about 2 Troy Oz.
The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and the Bank of Nova Scotia donated the silver used to create the 427 angels that honor the fallen uniformed officers who served on September 11th. Each officer's name has been engraved on an angel and the ornaments will be later given to the family members. At this time, the Angels of Courage memorial is the only authorized use of metal recovered from Ground Zero.
In all 427 Angles were made for the New York Christmas Tree near Ground Zero. Additionally, 50 were made for each US State, which were presented to President Bush for the White House Christmas tree. 5 were presented to the Mayor of New York, 5 for the police commissioner of New York and 5 for the fire commissioner of New York. 13 were presented to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, one for each province and territory as a gift to the people of Canada.
Sources:
http://www.rense.com/general16/inside.htm
https://www.dawn.com/news/6748
https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/media-advisories?id=11738
