Read about heists. Takr inspiration, an Australian gang robbed in the nude. No one could ID them as no one could maintian eye contact with a group of naked men.
The show is Deception. It's one of those mismatched buddy cop shows, and had a majority BIPOC cast. The pairing is a disgraced stage magician (and his team) and a skilled FBI agent (and her team). 10/10 recommended.
If the cliched writing advice “write what you know” was actually true, then you’re only option is to select your crew and go steal stuff.
Sensible advice is agreeing with others about watching both real and fictional heists. Going to add the original Italian Job, Now You See Me, and The Sting
David Maurer’s The Big Con, originally published in 1940, does a great job of explaining how “gangs” or groups of con men operated around the turn of the century; The Sting was definitely influenced by it, as has pretty much every other heist film. It’s also a fun read!
If you’re looking for movies, Mamet has some — The Spanish Prisoner, Ronin, and (since it’s there in the title) Heist. Rififi is excellent; Inside Man, The Hot Rock, The Thomas Crown Affair, Sneakers, Sexy Beast, and Out of Sight are all very good
You said heist not con so I'd recommend reading one of Richard Stark's (Donald Westlake's) Parker novels. Don't let the bad movie adaptations fool you. As a portrait of a professional thief at work they're fantastic.
Deffo start with the end result you're looking for and then work backwards. It's one of the reasons I think mystery/heist as a genre is the hardest, you really do need to have the conclusion first.
Also in your head you have a lot of this info anyway. So the research is gonna fire the neurons and huzzah!
(Also I’ve been waiting YEARS for you to finally work on a heist story, so get to it, pal)
Floor plans and architectural spec of the to be hit building . I'd think. Also the skill sets gathered by the "planner" and what sort of person with those skills would say fuck it this is better than my day job.
Sorry, one more: I'm listening to the Economist's Scam Inc podcast at the minute, and it's fantastic for detail on industrial-scale scams. Bleak, but fascinating
Think of a flaw in a system, because the goal is not what's being heisted but the flaw that means you can get it. Put that flaw at the end of a labyrinth. Is the solution to the maze intellect or brute force? Is the way out going through the labyrinth backwards, or is there another route?
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Expert criticisms of heists on TV. Insider's "How Real Is It?" series is good: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Insider%27s+%22How+Real+Is+It%3F%22+heist&t=vivaldi&iax=videos&ia=videos
The most interesting ones are where someone who was involved in the heist gets interviewed.
Sensible advice is agreeing with others about watching both real and fictional heists. Going to add the original Italian Job, Now You See Me, and The Sting
Stupid exhausted brain.
https://www.themodernrogue.com/search?q=Heist&f_collectionId=616ea116cdf8b37cf84a1723
(Also I’ve been waiting YEARS for you to finally work on a heist story, so get to it, pal)
https://www.houseofdeception.com/Con_Artists.html
Two I found really useful as jumping-off points for different, interesting cons (beyond just The Spanish Prisoner, etc):
Maria Konnikova's The Confidence Game
and
Jay Robert Nash's Hustlers & Con Men