Empire State Building stolen in 90 minutes!

The NY Daily News reports they “stole” the NY Empire State Building, valued at $2 billion and boasted, “…it wasn’t that hard.”

The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property.

Some of the information was laughable: Original “King Kong” star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton.

The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city’s system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions.

The building was returned to its owners within 24 hours, reports the NY Daily News.

I feel the press should just be pointing out such deficiency. Carrying out the same methods that fraudsters use is excessive and irresponsible and only done for sensationalism and for the additional publicity it would bring.

If a member of the press robbed a bank to show how easy it is, I doubt Federal Authorities and the bank would be so forgiving. I don’t think the authorities should be in this case either.

What do you think? Does the press have the right to use such tactics just to punch up a story? Is it responsible journalism?

[It took 90 minutes for Daily News to 'steal' the Empire State Building]