Have The Big One stories really been tweaked?

In a recent announcement, Alexis Kennedy claimed that (I quote)

So, full of hope and already picturing myself moving in a comfortable Guest Room at the Brass Embassy (who’s much warmer and therefore valuable for me than my Lofty Tower), I decide to rob my future hosts (I’m sure they won’t mind, this is wicked, isn’t it?).
There are, that is true, two new options for building the robbery, BUT have I been disappointed when I finaly succeed: nothing except the usual: genuine Souls, Infernal contracts, etc…
Where are the Brilliant Souls, the Muscaria Brandy promised? Snif.
I can’t believe I’ve been played like this! Or is it some king of misunderstanding?

I’d made this mistake too. But as Nigel Evans wrote in the thread on hard-to-find items:

“The rewards from the previously available robberies haven’t changed in this update. However, you might find that there are delicious new options for your larcenous talents.”

Hummm. So the announcement was false, and the real info was somewhere else. That’s almost as wicked as my original plan.
Oh! well, I guess someone has talk in my gang, and the Brass Embassy made some arrangements to hide the most valuable items elsewhere. Good move, fellas, but I’ll be back, as soon as I’ll manage to identify the informer - the poor thing doesn’t know he’s already dead, I almost feel sorry for him.

As well as the regular Big One robbery storylets, you should now see “Thefts of Particular Character” when your Casing hits 5. That’s the option with the new rewards.

Yes, I just saw it a minute ago. So the precious Brilliant Souls where actually en route to Hookman House while I was foolishly seeking them in the Brass Embassy. My mistake.

But indeed, “Why is the Ministry of Public Decency collecting them in the first place?”

Can anyone confirm the number of casing change points gained by using the “Set your gang of hoodlums to business” option? Is it worth going through the trouble of getting a gang together (or at least making it a higher priority - I must have one eventually, but 8 Use of Villainy is quite the grind) or is it nearly as efficient using the new “Well planned villainy” option instead?

It’s 18cp - 3cp more than using 5 regular actions. In other words, yes, it is worth using it. If you’re going to get a gang at some point, then getting it now would give you more of a benefit than leaving it for later.
I spent a decent chunk of time checking and double checking this, so I’m pretty confident of my figures. I didn’t test the ‘well-planned villainy’ option, although I suspect that it’ll give either 16 or 17cp.
On a related note, stealing an Antique Mystery costs 32cp.

I can confirm that ‘well-planned villainy’ gives 10 CP for 3 actions. So 3.33/action vs 3.6/action from 'Set your gang of hoodlums to business’.