In April 2017, a routine insurance appraisal of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s rare book collection revealed 321 missing items, including atlases, maps, plate books, photograph albums and manuscripts valued by experts at around $8 million. Since the news broke, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been on the case, recovering fragments and intact volumes worth an estimated $1.6 million. Last week, a 1615 Geneva Bible similar to one brought from Europe by Pilgrims traveling aboard the Mayflower joined the collection of rediscovered tomes.
According to CNN’s Lauren M. Johnson, authorities found the 404-year-old Bible in the possession of Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, director of the Netherlands’ Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. As Bangs tells Johnson, he purchased the volume from a seemingly “reputable dealer in antiquarian books” for inclusion in an upcoming exhibition on texts owned by members of Plymouth Colony. During a news conference, district attorney spokesperson Mike Manko said that Bangs paid $1,200 for the Bible, now valued at closer to $5,500, in 2015.
“From a dollar-figure sense, [the Bible] is not priceless,” FBI agent Robert Jones said at the conference. “[But] from a history perspective, it is priceless.”
Known as a “Breeches Bible” for its inclusion of the term in the Genesis’ description of Adam and Eve sewing fig leaf clothes to cover their nakedness, the text was translated by English Protestants who fled to Geneva during the reign of Catholic Queen Mary I.

The trove of missing items is valued at an estimated $8 million
The trove of missing items is valued at an estimated $8 million (Courtesy of the F.B.I.)
Pennsylvania investigators first alerted Bangs to the Bible's questionable provenance in 2018. After studying the case alongside Dutch police, he agreed to yield the artifact to an expert tasked with bringing it to the country's American Embassy.
The F.B.I.’s Art Crime Team took over from there, The New York Times’ Karen Zraick reports, safely transporting the Bible to the agency’s Pittsburgh offices. As District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. tells the Associated Press’ Ramesh Santanam, the F.B.I. will give the recovered manuscript to Allegheny County prosecutors who will, in turn, return the book to its rightful home at the Carnegie Library.
Last year, prosecutors charged library archivist Gregory Priore with allegedly smuggling hundreds of artifacts to local book dealer John Schulman, who then re-sold them to unsuspecting clients. Priore was the sole archivist in charge of the library’s rare book room from 1992 until his firing in June 2017. According to Shelly Bradbury of thePittsburgh Post-Gazette, authorities believe Priore and Schulman, a once-respected member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America who formerly led the organization’s ethics committee, conspired to sell cannibalized and intact texts, many of which the archivist simply carried out of the library and into the bookseller’s shop, since the late 1990s.

A Stolen Painting by Signac, Worth More Than $1 Million, Is Recovered in Ukraine

Officials are investigating whether the same gang suspected of stealing the painting by Paul Signac could been involved in further art crimes.

A Ukrainian police officer guards the painting "Port de la Rochelle" (1915) by French artist Paul Signac. Photo by Sergei Supinsky/ AFP/Getty Images.
Ukrainian police have recovered an oil painting by the French Pointillist painter Paul Signac that was stolen from a French museum last year. The 1915 painting, which is valued at €1.5 million ($1.68 million), was cut from its frame during a theft at the Museum of Fine Arts in the northeastern city of Nancy in France last May.
Police discovered the painting Signac’s La Rochelle, which depicts boats entering the French port, in the Kiev home of a Ukrainian man who is wanted on suspicion of murdering a jeweler. All suspects related to the theft have been detained, according to a report in AFP. Officials confirmed that several other works of art have been discovered.
Signac’s painting will be returned to the museum in France at the end of the investigation, according to Ukraine’s interior minister Arsen Avakov. He unveiled the recovered work of art accompanied by the French ambassador to Kiev, Isabelle Dumont.
“We received information about a group of people looking for buyers for paintings stolen in Europe last year,” said police official Sergiy Tykhonov according to Le Monde.
A video presented by the police at the event in Kiev on April 23 shows the alleged thief confessing that the work was “stolen only because it was very simple,” Monopol reports. In the video, the suspect also advised France to check its museum security measures.
Ukrainian officials said they are working with Austrian authorities to investigate whether the same gang was involved in the theft in Vienna of a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. artnet News reached out to the Dorotheum to confirm if it is the landscape study by Renoir that was stolen from the auction house last fall but they replied that they “don’t know anything about it.”

Professional burglar Daniel Locke jailed after targetting antiques at Victoria Road, Kingsdown

A “professional burglar” who swiped Corinthian-style silver candlesticks and expensive antiques from a woman’s home has been jailed.
Daniel Locke, 19, was traced after leaving a blood stain after raiding a home in Victoria Road, Kingsdown, near Deal.
Judge James O'Mahony said the silverware and other items, costing to the tune of £5,000, were targeted because they could “easily be knocked out on the black market.”
He said: “This was a professional burglary where they knew what they were taking.
“You chose a rural place thus reduced the risk of detection.
“The items were undoubtedly much loved by the owner no doubt collected over the years.
“It was stuff that you could easily be knocked out on the black market.
“Taking all of this into account this offence is so serious that immediate custody is inevitable.”
Locke, of Jennifer Gardens in Margate, became visibly upset during prosecutor Ian Foinette’s summing up.
The barrister told Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday how a neighbour alerted police after a routine check on the detached bungalow.
“(The neighbour) saw a curtain flapping about in the breeze.
“They found out it had been ransacked and saw various items spread across the premises.
“Police were called and the owner turned up.
“The crime team noticed a red mark on a chest of drawers in the bedroom.
“When it was swabbed it came back as matching the defendant’s DNA,” he said.
Among the items taken were Corinthian style silver candlesticks, a solid silver tray and art deco solid silver coffee pot.
A large silver soup ladle, small spoons, napkin rings, silver cruet set, coin collection and antique ivory elephant were also swiped.
"Not only did Locke violate the victim’s privacy, he caused significant damage to their property and stole items of sentimental value..." - DC Andrew Dale
Mitigating, Locke’s barrister argued her client was an immature 17-year-old at the time of the offence in December 2017 and he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
She added a brain injury following a hit and run in 2016 contributed to Locke’s impulsiveness and anger.
However no official evidence of the injury was presented to the court.
Locke’s previous history included theft, three counts of burglary and handling stolen goods, the court heard.
He was handed a 27-month prison sentence to be served at a Young Offender Institution.
Investigating Officer Detective Constable Andrew Dale said: "Burglary can have such a detrimental impact on people’s lives.
"Not only did Locke violate the victim’s privacy, he caused significant damage to their property and stole items of sentimental value.
"I hope his sentence sends a message to other criminals and helps to act as a deterrent to those who may be considering this type of criminality."

Art forger Eric Hebborn linked to mafia boss, film-makers say

Rights to memoir of artist who died in 1996 secured for ambitious TV drama


Film-makers have unearthed evidence that Eric Hebborn, the greatest art forger of modern times, was working for the mafia towards the end of his life and may even have been murdered by them.
The British artist’s death has remained a mystery since 1996, when he was found with a fractured skull on a street near his home in Rome. He was 61 .
Writers Kingston Trinder and Peter Gerard have secured the rights to Hebborn’s memoir from 1991, Drawn to Trouble, and are planning an ambitious eight-part TV drama about the art forger.
They have been collaborating with some of the forger’s closest friends, who have never spoken publicly about him before and who have revealed details of Hebborn’s “mafia-related” dealings.
Their accounts suggest that he was creating his “old masters” for the mafia after he was outed as a forger in 1978, and that he became so desperate for money that his sources were “increasingly questionable”.
Trinder told the Observer: “We think a mafia connection may ultimately have played a role in Eric’s death. We’ve been hearing a lot of suspicions about what was going on in the circumstances leading up to it.”
Gerard added that Hebborn had been “fearful of a certain violent dealer” and that he confided to friends he feared “something violent” would happen to him.
The film-makers were astonished to discovered that immediately after Hebborn’s death, his flat was ransacked. They believe there is a link with the threats he received, and that someone needed to destroy incriminating evidence.
They were also surprised to learn that there was never a police investigation into Hebborn’s death.
In his memoir, Hebborn made a passing reference to a portrait for “a mafia boss”, writing that he produced “preliminary studies closely watched by four silk-suited gunmen”.
Hebborn humiliated the art world, deceiving galleries and auction houses with his forgeries in the style of masters such as Rubens and Van Dyck. He claimed to have passed off about 1,000 forgeries as the real thing.
“Only a handful have been exposed,” according to Christopher Wright, a leading art historian, who said last month that he believes a 15th-century painting in the National Gallery is by Hebborn.
The reasons for Hebborn’s death remain a mystery. Gerard, however, said: “We believe that he was murdered. A lot of people wanted to keep him quiet.”
He added that one of Hebborn’s closest friends has given the film-makers the name and photograph of someone believed to have been responsible.
“That particular person does have a mafia relationship. We’re hesitant to name names. There are names we’re going to have to change in our production. Nobody’s discouraged us from filming this story.”

4 of 6 individuals, believed to be tied to a Pink Panther operating cell, head to trail in the jewel heist at the Doge's Palace in Venice.

Following up on the museum jewel heist which occurred during the "Treasures of Mughals and Maharajas" exhibition at the Doge's Palace in Venice in January 2018.   
On January 3, 2018 jewelry worth an estimated €2m (£1.7m) was stolen from a display case at the museum palace of the Doge of Venice during a brazen, broad daylight, robbery which occurred shortly after ten in the morning on the last day of the exhibition. Taken during the theft were a pair of pear-shaped 30.2-carat diamond earrings in a platinum setting along with an equally weighty 10 carat, grade D diamond and ruby pendant brooch.  Both items belonged to His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, who is the first cousin of the current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.  
According to a report first published on Twitter by Mediaset Journalist Clemente Mimun, the Italian authorities had long suspected that the thieves behind the museum theft might have had inside help and were likely part of a criminal network made up of associates from the former Yugoslavia, sometimes referred to as "the Pink Panthers".  This network, working in small yet coordinated cells, are believed to be responsible for some 200+ robberies spanning 35 countries over the last two decades.  Some thefts, like that at the Doge's palace, have been discreet, 60-second affairs.  Others have been armed robberies or have involved automobiles being rammed into glass storefronts.  In total the thieves are believed to have made off with an estimated €500 million in jewels and gemstones, much of which has never been recovered.
But everyone knows that good police work sometimes requires patience. 
Following months of investigations by the mobile squad of the Venice Police Headquarters and the  Central Operational Service of the Central Anti-crime Directorate of the State Police, working alongside prosecutor Raffaele Incardona, six suspects were ultimately identified by the Italian authorities. Between November 7 and November 8, 2018 five of these men, including four Croatians and one Serb, were taken into custody in Croatia in a coordinated action involving Police Directorates in Zagreb and Istra based upon European arrest warrants issued for the suspect's related to their alleged involvement in the Venice museum theft. 

Five of those named by Italian authorities are believed to have visited the Doge's Palace in Venice on two test-run occasions prior to the actual theft.  Their first visit occurred on December 30, 2018 and their second on the day before the robbery.   Each time the team apparently tried to steal jewelry from the exhibition without success or were practicing in advance of the final event. 
Vinko Tomic
The brains behind the heist is purported to be 60-year-old Vinko Tomic, who goes by several other names, including Vinko Osmakčić and Juro Markelic.  No stranger to crime Tomic has already been connected with other million dollar hits.  Tomic has been implicated in the thefts of $1m worth of diamond watches in Honolulu, the heist of the $1m Millennium Necklace in Las Vegas, the filching of three rings, collectively worth £2m in London, and other high value jewel heists in Hong Kong, Monaco and Switzerland.  
When appearing in court in connection with one prior offense, Tomic made a statement to the presiding judge that he was a war veteran originally from the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina who was wounded in battle in 1995 and who fled, first to Croatia and later to Germany.  There,  unable to find work, he stated he eventually turned to a life of crime, though he managed to provide for his family and put his brother through school. 
For Italian law enforcement their biggest break in the case came as a result of a slip up on the part of the gang's leader.  According to chief prosecutor Bruno Cherchi, the Venice police chief Danilo Gagliardi, and Alessandro Giuliano, director of the Central Operational Service of the Central Anti-crime Directorate of the State Police, who spoke at a press conference on the investigation, officers identified a Facebook photo of Tomic wearing an identical ring to the one he was wearing when captured on CCTV footage at the Doge's Palace in Venice. 
Tomic's alleged accomplices to the Venice jewel theft are listed here:
Zvonko Grgić
Zvonko Grgić (age 43) whose now static Facebook profile lists him as an armed security contractor available for global security around the world. 
Želimir Grbavac
Želimir Grbavac, (age 48), who, according to Croatian news sources appears to have lived a discreet existence, operating an electrician business. 
Vladimir Đurkin (age 48), also Croatian.

and two Serbs, Dragan Mladenović (age 54) and Goran Perović (age 48).

Tomic, Grgić, and Grbavac were arrested on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 in Zagreb, while Đurkin was brought in for questioning in Istria. Mladenović was initially apprehended near the Serb-Croatian border and detained in Croatian police custody, only to escape while in police custody via a bathroom window on November 8, 2018.  How this happened while he was in police custody has been subject to controversy. 

On the basis of their European arrest warrants, three of the Croatians, Tomic, Grgić, and Grbavac were quickly transferred to Italy to stand trial. 
A month and a half after their arrest in Croatia, on December 23, 2019 Tomic, Grgić, and Grbavac made their initial appearance in Italian court before preliminary investigations judge David Calabria and maintained their right to remain silent.  Vinko Tomic was represented by lawyers Guido Simonetti and Simone Zancani.  Zvonko Grgić was represented by lawyer Marina Ottaviani and Želimir Grbavac was represented by lawyer Mariarosa Cozza.  
Fighting his extradition, Vladimir Đurkin was finally transferred to the Italian authorities on February 8, 2019.  The presiding judge has ruled that all four defendants will remain in custody at the prison of Santa Maria Maggiore in Venice pending the outcome of their upcoming trial. 
Serbian Dragan Mladenović and the final identified accomplice, Goran Perović, are believed to be in Serbia where they are untouchable by a European Arrest Warrant, a Convention which governs extradition requests between the 28 member states that make up the European Union (EU).  With no agreement between Italy and Serbia on judicial cooperation, there seems little chance that these two remaining accomplices will be extradited to Italy to stand trial.
And His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani's jewels? 
International insurers Lloyd's of London has indemnified the Al Thani Foundation, as the owner of the stolen brooch and earrings and has payed out a claim of 8 million and 250 thousand dollars making the firm the owners of the jewellery, should they be recovered.  As a result the insurers will likely become a civil party in the future trial of the alleged perpetrators.
Unfortunately the "Treasures of Mughals and Maharajas" have never been found. 
By:  Lynda Albertson