art heist

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This Art Heist Bombing Went 'Too Well'

Thieves destroy gallery, leave damaged Andy Warhol prints in street in 'amateurish' job

(Newser) - Thieves blew open the door of an art gallery in the southern Netherlands and stole two works from a famous series of screen prints by American pop artist Andy Warhol and left two more badly damaged in the street as they fled the scene of the botched heist, the gallery...

'Gentleman' Thief Who Stole Munch's The Scream Dead at 57
He Stole The Scream,
Hid It in Living Room Table
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 6, 2024 12:00 PM CDT

He Stole The Scream, Hid It in Living Room Table

Ex-soccer player Pal Enger, who pulled off 1994 heist on opening day of Winter Olympics, dies at 57

(Newser) - Pal Enger, a talented Norwegian soccer player turned celebrity art thief who pulled off the sensational 1994 heist of Edvard Munch's famed The Scream painting from the National Gallery in Oslo, has died. He was 57. Tina Wulf, press officer at Valerenga Fotball, an acclaimed Oslo soccer club for...

The Saga of a Stolen Painting Worth as Much as $100M Ends

On Oct. 8, de Kooning work will once again hang in the University of Arizona Museum of Art

(Newser) - After a Willem de Kooning painting worth millions was brazenly stolen in 1985 from an Arizona museum, the staff clung to the hope that it would turn up one day. But nobody could have predicted "Woman-Ochre" would find its way back through the kindness of strangers in a neighboring...

The Paintings Remain Missing, but Authorities Say There's DNA

Nils M has been charged in the Netherlands

(Newser) - His resume fits: a Dutch man identified as Nils M spent five years behind bars in connection with the 2012 theft of a 17th-century church vessel from a museum whose doors he blasted open. Prosecutors allege he struck again following his release. The 59-year-old was arrested in April and stands...

Months Later, Arrest in Brazen Pandemic Art Heists

Man accused of stealing two paintings from two different museums in the Netherlands

(Newser) - More than a year after a Van Gogh was stolen from a shuttered Dutch museum early in the COVID-19 pandemic, an arrest has been made in that case—as well as another art heist that also took place in the Netherlands, at a different museum, months later. A 58-year-old Dutch...

Spectacular Raid Doesn't Turn Up the Missing Jewels

More than 1.6K police descended on locations thought to be tied to 2019 museum heist

(Newser) - In what sounds like a scene worthy of any big-budget heist film, a Berlin neighborhood was overrun with 1,638 officers and special forces personnel in a pre-dawn raid on 20 apartments, two garages, an eatery, and a number of vehicles. The New York Times reports three German men in...

$500M in Art Vanished. Now, 'the Viper' Has Too

A vital contact in the the Gardner Museum heist has disappeared

(Newser) - A detective trying to solve the world's biggest art heist has a problem: his key contact is gone—which puts an estimated $500 million in stolen art by the likes of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, and Manet even further out of reach, the Guardian reports. The sleuth, Charles Hill, is...

Video Shows Thieves Using Axe in Museum Heist

They made off with around 100 pieces of jewelry from priceless collection

(Newser) - The raid on Dresden's Green Vault early Monday took just a few minutes, authorities say—but it was long enough for the thieves to make off with jewelry believed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Surveillance video released Monday shows two thieves using an axe to break...

Thieves Raid Europe's Largest Collection of Treasures

Authorities are still trying to assess what was taken from the Green Vault in Dresden, Germany

(Newser) - Early Monday, firefighters in Dresden, Germany, rushed to the scene of a fire at a power distributor. Not long after, another call came in: The Gruenes Gewoelbe museum, or Green Vault, had been robbed. Now authorities say they're trying to figure out if the two incidents are connected, as...

Thief Strolls Out of Gallery With $20K Dali Etching

Employee at San Francisco's Dennis Rae Fine Art says it happened in a flash

(Newser) - No dead of night needed for this art heist: A thief sauntered into a San Francisco gallery in the middle of the afternoon, lifted a famous Salvador Dali piece worth $20,000, and walked right back out, all in just over 30 seconds, per KGO . The framed mid-'60s etching...

Thieves Thought They Had a $3.4M Painting. Not at All

Mayor of a small Italian town breaks the news that night

(Newser) - This is embarrassing: Thieves who thought they'd stolen a $3.4 million painting really had a fake on their hands, the Guardian reports. The mayor of Castelnuovo Magra, a small Italian town, made the announcement Wednesday. "Rumours were circulating that someone could steal the work, and so the...

Mobster May Be Key to Finding $500M in Stolen Art. He's Not Talking

To be released from prison, Robert Gentile still 'has no idea where the paintings are'

(Newser) - When FBI agents searched Robert Gentile's Connecticut home in 2016, the aging mobster was adamant that they were barking up the wrong tree. "They ain't gonna find nothing," he said through his lawyer , as he was serving a 54-month prison sentence for drug and gun charges....

Yet Another Odd Twist in the Case of a Stolen Picasso

Writer thought she had been led to the painting. Apparently not

(Newser) - For a brief moment, there was hope that a lost Picasso—one of seven artworks stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2012—had been found. Instead, it was seemingly another odd twist in an odd story. Mira Feticu, an author who penned a novel inspired by the...

Inside the Truly Weird Heist of a Salvador Dali Painting

It was stolen from Rikers Island

(Newser) - Perhaps the only thing weirder than the fact that a Salvador Dali painting hung for decades in Rikers Island jail complex is the heist that took the piece from its walls. James Fanelli has the story for Esquire , and goes back to the start: In 1965 Dali had agreed to...

Unsolved $500 Million Art Heist Gets a Podcast

The theft of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum still perplexes authorities

(Newser) - A famously unsolved art heist will be the subject of a podcast that is sure to be the next big hit among true crime fans. In a statement released Thursday, WBUR and the Boston Globe announced they've teamed up for a series on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft...

Time Running Out for Huge Reward in Famous Art Heist

Help return lost works to Boston's Gardner Museum and get $10M, but only through 2017

(Newser) - Anyone who knows someone who knows someone who might know something about the notorious Gardner Museum art heist in Boston in 1990 might want to speak up quickly. A $10 million reward leading to the recovery of 13 works of art expires at midnight on Dec. 31. Actually, a reward...

His 'Cool' Find at Estate Sale Was a Stolen Masterpiece

Painting by de Kooning is returned to University of Arizona 31 years after heist

(Newser) - "I just thought it was a cool painting," David Van Auker tells the Arizona Republic . He has good taste. It turns out the painting—which he purchased at a New Mexico estate sale—is a Willem de Kooning that was stolen 31 years ago from the University of...

Sleuth Following 2 Leads in Biggest US Art Heist

The leads have been followed before, but Arthur Brand has a track record

(Newser) - A Dutch art sleuth with an impressive track record says he's following two possible leads in the largest art heist in US history. Arthur Brand thinks a decision last month to double the reward to $10 million for information could prompt the return of 13 works stolen from Boston'...

'Born Burglar' Details How He Pulled Off Van Gogh Heist

Octave Durham spills all the details on 2002 theft in new documentary

(Newser) - "I'm a born burglar," says Octave Durham, per the New York Times , which looks at a new documentary about Durham's notorious theft of two Vincent Van Gogh paintings. Set to be broadcast Tuesday on Dutch TV, the 45-minute special by filmmaker Vincent Verweij gets the inside...

Guy Says He Threw $100M Worth of Stolen Art Away

But no one's really buying Yonathan Birn's story

(Newser) - A co-defendant in one of the world's biggest art heists testified in court Monday he destroyed and threw away five art masterpieces worth more than $100 million that were stolen by a thief nicknamed "the spider-man" by French media. Yonathan Birn, accused of receiving stolen goods, was among...

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