To Steal from a Thief (2016) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

El Uruguayo was secretly hired by the governing political party, not the thieves themselves. His real task was to retrieve sensitive data from safe 314 belonging to Gonzalo Soriano, a former government official currently in a coma. The supposed bank robbery was a cover for this political retrieval job.

Foreshadowing: Early in the film, El Uruguayo's vague references to "a special box" hint at his true motive.

• el peruano
• governin party
• gonzalo soriano
• safe 314
• political conspiracy

Safe 314 contained politically sensitive data belonging to Gonzalo Soriano, a former government official who is in a coma after an accident. The governing party wanted this data recovered, which is why they secretly contracted El Uruguayo to target that specific safe during the heist.

• safe 314
• gonzalo soriano
• hard disk
• political data
• coma

Heavy rain began to flood the tunnel that the gang had dug as their escape route. This was an unexpected natural obstacle that drastically reduced their exit options and trapped them inside the bank with limited ways to escape.

Foreshadowing: The storm warning mentioned earlier in the planning stages foreshadows this disaster.

• tunnel
• flooding
• storm
• escape route
• rain

Loco made two major errors. First, in a panic he accidentally erased all the vital data from the hard disk they retrieved from safe 314. Second, his anxiety caused him to unknowingly expose their location during the escape, endangering the entire operation and the crew.

Foreshadowing: Loco's erratic behavior during the planning phases hinted at his unreliability under pressure.

• loco
• hard disk
• deleted data
• mistake
• exposed location

With the rain finally subsiding, the gang faked a hostage situation by approaching the bank's front entrance with hostages. However, instead of surrendering, they slipped away through the flooded tunnel they had dug, using it as their actual escape route to elude capture.

Foreshadowing: The tunnel was initially meant as their planned exit, making this reversal a clever tactical move.

• escape
• hostage situation
• tunnel
• fake surrender
• bank

The data was completely lost. Loco accidentally erased the contents of the hard disk during his panic, leaving El Uruguayo and El Gallego with only an empty hard disk to use as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with the Spanish secret services.

• hard disk
• data
• erased
• loco
• safe 314

Mellizo was the Head of Security from the Spanish secret services. After Loco erased the data, El Uruguayo and El Gallego attempted to negotiate with him, using the empty hard disk as leverage to try to secure their escape and perhaps gain something from the failed operation.

• mellizo
• spanish secret services
• negotiation
• security head

A police officer who was involved in the negotiations leaked critical information to the press about the hard disk's existence and the governing party's direct involvement in the heist. This created serious political fallout and unresolved consequences for all parties involved.

• police officer
• leak
• press
• information
• political fallout

After the heist, El Gallego gave the bank manager a handful of diamonds to appease her and prevent her from disclosing details of the robbery to the authorities. It was intended to secure her silence and protect the gang from further investigation.

• el gallego
• bank manager
• diamonds
• bribe
• silence

During their escape, Loco met a girl and was instantly charmed by her. Despite being a thief, he showed a surprising tender side and decided to share some of their stolen money to help her with her financial troubles.

• loco
• girl
• money
• kindness
• escape

The heist was actually tied to government corruption. The governing political party had secretly hired El Uruguayo to retrieve sensitive data from Gonzalo Soriano's safe. When the operation went wrong and information leaked, it exposed the party's involvement in what appears to be a corrupt scheme tied to Soriano's data.

Foreshadowing: The press officer of the Prime Minister learning about the target's political nature hinted at the broader conspiracy.

• government corruption
• conspiracy
• governing party
• political scandal
• exposed