HELLO AMERICA!  Some of the most glamorous areas of Los Angeles, including Bel Air, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and much of Beverly Hills, are under siege by gangs of burglars who have made off with tens of millions of dollars in bounty.  The thieves are making fools of many private security companies responsible for installing detectors and alarms. 

Michael Schnayerson (security) noted: "Most of these band of thieves are Mexican, Colombia, Russian or Cuban. They come into the country illegally, having false papers, and it is nearly impossible for law enforcement to identify them." 

Bill Bratton, L.A. Police Chief, indicated that there are not enough police covering neither the poorest or the wealthiest parts of Los Angeles.  "We only have 9,000 cops in L.A.," he said.  "In New York they have 35,000 but here there are a lot more square miles to cover."

Al Radi who founded ACS Security said: "It wouldn't surprise me if one of the thieves have the nerve to rent a home in the area that he's burglarized.  Part of me says this guy does it just to have fun.  He's stolen close to $4000,000 in cash possibly and he suddenly gets cocky. Hey, you'd think he might take a vacation for a little while or something."

Most peple involved in security, agree that it is difficult to drum up any kind of sympathy for many of the, sometime, spoiled and pampered victims.  Radi said, "One of the biggest security risks are all the servants, gardeners and tradesmen employed on these estates.  No matter how high the walls are or the number of trees that shadow a place, many times it only makes it easier for the burglar to get what he or she is after."

Jewelry designer, Loree Rodkin, offered that many of the new rich kids on the entertainment block are easy marks. "They are so excited about their sudden thrust of bucks in their bank accounts,they lose all sense of the reality and responsibility that should come with it.  Then too, many of these young kids come from poor backgrounds, not use to anything, and suddenly they are faced with having to make decisions about millions.  Naturally, this would confuse anybody.  I feel that some of these people believe that having tons of bucks protects them, when all it does is make them easy marks for the thief."

Victims of the more than 70 burglaries in the last year have included Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing, William Fiedkin, Clippers basketball star Cuttino Mobley and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. 

The most recent Bel Air burlaries were caught on video, but unfortunately the photos were blurred.  "There's a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thieves involved," said Lt. Ray Lombardo of the Los angeles Police Department. Police are not sure if the intruders in the video are connected to other break-ins, but there is hope they will be identified soon, before another mansion is cleaned out.