Bling Ring 'mastermind' Rachel Lee revisits crime spree in a new doc. Take a look back at the case that rocked Hollywood.

Retelling the story of the so-called Bling Ring — a group of entitled fashion- and celebrity-obsessed L.A. teenagers who burgled the Hollywood homes of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan and other stars — apparently never goes out of style.

HBO has a new documentary The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring debuting on Oct. 1. The Erin Lee Carr-directed project tells the story through the eyes of Rachel Lee, the alleged mastermind behind the late 2000s thefts. It's the first time Lee has given an in-depth interview about the crimes, which made her and her sticky-fingered friends household names for lifting an estimated $3 million in stolen high-end goods. She was 19 when she was arrested and pleaded no contest to stealing $25,000 worth of items from Audrina Patridge's home.

Now in her 30s, Lee, who served a fraction of her four-year prison sentence, attended Wednesday's premiere of the doc in New York City looking like a star in a beaded gown with a thigh-slit.

Carr told Vanity Fair she hopes Lee is able to "release the shame" she's carried over this for the last decade and that she'll finally be understood. "We are not equal to our best or worst action," the director said.

What's the Bling Ring?

Between 2008 and 2009, a group of teens from the Calabasas, Calif., area broke into the homes of Hollywood stars and took their clothes, jewelry, art, cash, drugs and a gun worth more than $3 million. They used the internet, specifically social media and celebrity websites, to track the comings and goings of their targets, based on their attendance at high-profile events, and then struck when they were away from their home. Often, the residences were not secure, giving the teens easier entry. Dubbed the "Bling Ring" by the Los Angeles Times, the group was eventually busted because they not only wore what they stole, but they bragged about it and posted photos of themselves in the high-end designer goods on social media.

Who were the members?

Lee and Nick Prugo (now Nick Norgo) were fashion-loving and celebrity-consumed classmates at a remedial high school, Indian Hills, in Agoura Hills, Calif. They started breaking into fancy cars, which were often unlocked, and using the cash and credit cards they found to buy clothes at high-end stores in Beverly Hills. Their classmates, Alexis Neiers (now Alexis Haines) and Diana Tamayo became involved as did Lee's longtime friend Courtney Ames. Later, the teens used Johnny Ajar, a nightclub promoter, and Roy Lopez, a bouncer, to try and sell the stolen items they didn't keep.

Who were the victims?

There were a lot, leaving Hollywood stars on edge. Hilton was the first hit with Prugo, a former child actor, telling Vanity Fair that she was targeted because they thought she was "dumb." They found a key to her Hollywood Hills mansion under her doormat — and they kept going back, as many as 10 times, getting more brazen each time. Hilton didn't call police until December 2008 when close to $2 million worth of her jewelry was taken. Also lifted: clothes and purses as well as semi-nude photos of the star, which were later recovered at Lee's home.

Other targets included Patridge, whose home was ransacked while she was at an Oscars party in 2009. An estimated $43,000 worth of clothing and heirloom jewelry as well as her laptop and a passport were stolen. She helped break open the case by posting surveillance video online. Yet the gang kept stealing.

The teen crew burglarized The O.C. star Rachel Bilson's home six times in April and May, via an unlocked door, taking nearly $130,000 in property including clothing, jewelry (her mom’s engagement ring), makeup, purses and the actress's size 5 shoe collection. Lee felt so comfortable in the house, she reportedly used the bathroom.

In July, they hit Bloom and then-girlfriend Miranda Kerr's home and spent three hours going through their things. To gain entry, they cut through a security fence to get onto the property and then opened an unsecure door to the master bedroom. Neiers, an aspiring reality TV star, was with them that time when close to $500,000 in Rolex watches were taken as well as Louis Vuitton luggage, clothes and art.

In August they broke into Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox's home, via a doggy door, swiping the Jennifer's Body actress's wardrobe. They also stole the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum's Sig Sauer .380 semi-automatic handgun and jewelry.

That same month, Lohan left her home for just a couple hours and returned to find it ransacked. She said the front door was unlocked and the thieves helped themselves to watches, an Hermès bag, paintings, a custom fur coat and other things amounting to over $130,000. She also provided security footage, which was posted by TMZ, leading to loads of tips.

The group reportedly tried to burglarize the home of Ashley Tisdale, but fled at some point when seen by a houseguest. They had other celebrity targets in mind, reportedly, including Hilary Duff, Zac Efron and his then-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens.

How it shook out legally

While police worked to connect the dots, Neiers called in an anonymous tip to police that Prugo was at the center of the thefts. Eventually, he started talking to police and search warrants for the other Bling Ring members were issued with police turning up stolen goods.

• Lee pleaded no contest to the burglary of over $25,000 worth of valuables from Patridge's home and was sentenced, in 2011, to four years in prison. She served one year and four months.

• Prugo pleaded no contest to the burglaries of Patridge and Lohan and was sentenced, in 2013, to two years in prison. He served one year.

• Neiers, who was arrested while taping the pilot for her E! reality show Pretty Wild, pleaded no contest to the burglary of Bloom's home and was sentenced, in 2010, to six months in jail, serving 30 days. She had to pay a $600,000 fine to Bloom.

• Tamayo pleaded no contest to having burgled Lohan's house and was sentenced, in 2012, to probation and community service.

• Ames pleaded no contest to having burgled Hilton's home and was sentenced, in 2012, to probation and community service.

• Ajar, nicknamed “Johnny Dangerous,” pleaded no contest to three felony counts, including possession of cocaine for sale, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and receiving stolen property and was sentenced, in 2010, to three years in jail. He served less than a year.

• Lopez pleaded no contest to stealing over $2 million of jewelry from Hilton and, in 2012, was credited for 100 days served in jail and given probation.

How it played out at the time

The 2000s were a really weird time in pop culture. The rise of blogs made celebrity coverage a 24/7 operation — and an army of paparazzi grew to feed that beast. The exploits of stars like Britney Spears, LiLo and Hilton were infamous during that era, and people couldn't get enough of where stars were going, who they were with and what they were wearing. Especially if they were exhibiting bad behavior. Add in the boom of celebrity-centric reality shows (where stars opened the doors of their homes to the outside world) and social media (where they not just posted their whereabouts at a given moment but flaunted their possessions) and very quickly it was like the world had an all-access pass into celebrity-dom.

The Bling Ring participants apparently wanted more, stealing the red carpet looks of the stars, and went on to become famous themselves for it. After their arrests, their lives were written about and looks commented upon. In this 2009 New York Times story, a Hollywood lawyer said the thieves “look like the cast of Twilight," the mega-hit film at that time. Prugo told his story on Good Morning America in 2010. He — along with Neiers — also spoke to Nancy Jo Sales for her Vanity Fair article the same year called “The Suspects Wore Louboutins." The story detailed the crime operation, but also their obsession with celebrity and fashion. After it came out, Neiers infamously called Sales to correct reporting on the heels she wore to court. The moment went viral after it was included in Pretty Wild, Neiers's short-lived show which centered around Neiers’s Bling Ring involvement.

Sales's article was the basis for Sofia Coppola's 2013 film, The Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson as the Lee character. Part of the film was shot in Hilton's actual home and Hilton appeared as herself in the film. There was also a 2011 Lifetime movie, also called The Bling Ring. Austin Butler played the Prugo character.

In 2013, Bloom called it "tragic" that "in America, something like robbing somebody's house can be celebrated." He called the experience a "really awful thing to have happen to you." (He told a grand jury he initially suspected someone close to him for the thefts.)

Where are they now?

Last year, there was a three-part Netflix doc, The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist, in which Neiers and Prugo participated and talked about how they got there, both pointing to drug troubles. Prugo's troubles continued, including a stalking conviction in 2016. According to the doc, he's now married and runs an online business with his husband. He's applying for a certification of rehabilitation and a Governor’s pardon for his Bling Ring crimes. Victim Patridge also participated in the Netflix doc, reliving her experience of coming home and having to hide in a closet, fearing the intruders were still there.

When the Netflix doc came out, Neiers did an Instagram Live with her sister Gabby Neiers, who admitted she was involved with a Bling Ring robbery at Bilson’s house. (Gabby was never charged in connection to the burglaries, and the statute of limitations has expired.) The sisters appeared on Bilson's podcast in October and the actress confronted them over the violations. Neiers, who was arrested for heroin possession in 2010, marked 12 years of sobriety this year. She's a divorced mom of two and hosts the Recovering From Reality podcast.

This new HBO doc tells Lee's story. She's now 30 years old and says she lives with the anxiety of people discovering her past. After prison, Lee graduated from cosmetology school for hairstyling. She previously told Us Weekly that prison was a "blessing in disguise." Also, she claimed she saw Watson at a 2017 Super Bowl party and introduced herself.

Ames — who was reportedly in a relationship with Ajar at the time of the crimes — went on to study psychology, speech and child development at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. after completing her probation. In 2016, she filed papers to legally change her name, but it's unclear whether she did.

Tamayo, who feared being deported at the time of her crimes as an undocumented immigrant, preferred a life out of the spotlight after completing probation. As of 2018, she was a personal trainer and happily married.

The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring debuts Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and will be available to stream on Max.