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Paris Art Heist - Entrapment Come to Life

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  • Paris Art Heist - Entrapment Come to Life

    In the dead of Wednesday night, as the Eiffel Tower cast its golden beam from across the Seine, a man emerged from the shadows to break into the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Dressed in black and with a mask covering his face, he cut a padlock on the gate and smashed a window to get inside. Once there, he set to work.

    By the time museum guards noticed something amiss, shortly before 7am, the lone thief was long gone – and with him a stunningly valuable haul of artworks worth hundreds of millions of euros.

    Today, as French police began their effort to find both the robber and the loot, the break-in at the museum in western Paris was being described as one of the biggest art heists in recent history.

    Five paintings, including Pablo Picasso's Le Pigeon aux Petits-Pois and La Pastorale by Henri Matisse, were taken from the galley's permanent collection, located in one of the richest parts of the capital, just south of the Champs-Elysées.

    Those two works alone are estimated as being worth €23m (£20m) and €15m (£13m) respectively, and, while the museum itself has suggested that the stolen paintings are worth about €100m (£86m), the Paris prosecutor's office has said the total value could be five times as much.

    "This is a serious attack on the heritage of humanity," said Christophe Girard, deputy culture secretary at Paris city hall, standing on the steps of the museum amid a swarm of television cameras. Listing works by Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani and Fernard Léger, Bertrand Delanoe, the city's mayor, urged that everything be done "to recover these masterpieces".

    Girard said it remained unclear whether the thief, who removed the paintings from their frames and rolled them up to so that they could be carried away easily, had been acting alone or with a team.

    Sources pointed out that if the thief had had people waiting for him, he would have been able to make a speedy getaway, thanks to the museum's proximity to the fast-moving traffic of roads running along the side of the Seine.

    What rapidly became clear after the theft was that the museum's security system had failed catastrophically. Although the intruder was caught on camera by the CCTV network, the break-in triggered no alarm. The three watchmen on night duty had "seen nothing and therefore did not react" until they noticed the broken window at 6.50am, said Girard.

    Heaping further embarrassment on the museum, Delanoe's office confirmed tonight that a "technical malfunction" had been detected in the alarm system – and that, although it had first been reported on 30 March, it had not been fixed adequately.

    The mayor said he had ordered an administrative inquiry to establish whether "technical or human deficiencies" contributed to the theft.

    The BRB, the organised crime unit of the Parisian police, has been put in charge of the investigation, which today saw officers cordon off the scene of the crime as they searched for clues. And, as the prestigious modern art museum struggled to come to terms with the audacious heist, speculation mounted about the motivations of the thief or thieves.

    "Every time this happens, we wonder why they do it, because it is so difficult for them to sell [the paintings]," said Stéphane Thefo, a specialist in stolen art at Interpol, the global police body based in Lyon.

    He said the instigators of big art thefts often panicked after realising how incriminating it was to have such famous and expensive works in their possession. "They have works on their hands that are burning their fingers," he said. "Can you imagine carrying a Picasso around?"

    Of the various hypotheses swirling around the tree-lined boulevards of the chic western 16th arrondissement, the most headline-grabbing was that of a "made-to-order" theft for an unknown collector.

    However, Thefo said he believed that was unlikely. "Experience has shown that the theory of a private collector is usually fantasy," he said.

    Jean-Marie Baron, an art critic, said it was possible that the thieves were seeking to exploit sale opportunities in parts of the world which were less likely to snub stolen goods. Some commentators hinted at darker motives, pointing out that art thefts committed from the inside are not unheard of.

    "It will be interesting to find out how much the paintings are insured for: if they were not properly insured, it would be a very bad surprise for the museum," said Baron.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...icasso-matisse

    I was watching the news last night and thought this story was just so wild. The Paris MOMA has three guards on duty all night, and various other security systems in place. To think that a dude got in there and made off with millions of dollars worth of paintings just feels like it came straight out of a movie.
    So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

  • #2
    I guess I can't edit the title? It should say heist!
    So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

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    • #3
      This will make for a good movie plot, not that it's never been done before but basing it off of actual events makes it even better (just ask Law and Order). If anything, having a piece of art stolen makes it even more valuable. Hasn't the Mona Lisa been stolen multiple times?

      On a side note, I live less than one mile from that museum and never visited it. That's a shame (even though I'm not huge on art), but I guess I got to see many others.
      "Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessing of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, “spectator discipleship” is a preferred if not primary way of worshipping." -Pres. Uchtdorf

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      • #4
        Originally posted by MarkGrace View Post
        http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...icasso-matisse

        I was watching the news last night and thought this story was just so wild. The Paris MOMA has three guards on duty all night, and various other security systems in place. To think that a dude got in there and made off with millions of dollars worth of paintings just feels like it came straight out of a movie.
        Except all he did was cut a padlock and break a window. Where's the rappelling and spraying stuff to reveal the laser alarms, and the looped security video?

        Some drunk guy named Buster just made off with $100 million in artwork.
        If we disagree on something, it's because you're wrong.

        "Somebody needs to kill my trial attorney." — Last words of George Harris, executed in Missouri on Sept. 13, 2000.

        "Nothing is too good to be true, nothing is too good to last, nothing is too wonderful to happen." - Florence Scoville Shinn

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        • #5
          Sheesh. 3 guards on duty all night long, and no one gets up to make the rounds every hour? What are they doing--drinking coffee and chatting all night?

          If all you're going to do is watch closed captioned cameras, you only need one guard.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by SoCalCoug View Post
            Except all he did was cut a padlock and break a window. Where's the rappelling and spraying stuff to reveal the laser alarms, and the looped security video?

            Some drunk guy named Buster just made off with $100 million in artwork.
            Didn't you see The Bank Job? those guys just drilled through concrete and used walkie talkies, but that movie was exciting enough.

            In this case, the initial heist is just the opening scene. The real star is the cranky/brilliant detective who tracks down the elusive thieves. Look out for the surprise twist ending!
            Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

            "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

            GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

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            • #7
              Originally posted by falafel View Post
              Didn't you see The Bank Job? those guys just drilled through concrete and used walkie talkies, but that movie was exciting enough.

              In this case, the initial heist is just the opening scene. The real star is the cranky/brilliant detective who tracks down the elusive thieves. Look out for the surprise twist ending!
              He tries to sell a Picasso and a Matisse on Craigslist?
              If we disagree on something, it's because you're wrong.

              "Somebody needs to kill my trial attorney." — Last words of George Harris, executed in Missouri on Sept. 13, 2000.

              "Nothing is too good to be true, nothing is too good to last, nothing is too wonderful to happen." - Florence Scoville Shinn

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Katy Lied View Post
                Sheesh. 3 guards on duty all night long, and no one gets up to make the rounds every hour? What are they doing--drinking coffee and chatting all night?

                If all you're going to do is watch closed captioned cameras, you only need one guard.
                "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill


                "I only know what I hear on the news." - Dear Leader

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by il Padrino Ute View Post
                  That made me chuckle

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