http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Tucker/Where%20We%20Live%2009-13-2011.mp3
An FBI database lists more than 6,000 pieces of stolen and missing artwork.
In 2004, the FBI created an art crime team dedicated to recovering stolen or otherwise missing paintings, sculptures and cultural artifacts from around the world.
Thirteen pieces in that database were taken from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In 1990, that’s where one of the most notorious art heists of all-time occurred.
Today, we’ll talk with the head of security at that museum who has written a new book on art theft. We’ll also ask the director of a local museum what they’re doing to prevent art crime, which has a rich history right here in New England.
We’ll also check in with WNPR’s Diane Orson who has been following the case involving Van Gogh’s Night Cafe, which can be seen in Yale’s Art Gallery.