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In the autumn of 1969, after an evening of heavy storms and thunder, a caretaker got here dashing out of a baroque church within the previous metropolis of Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily. In tears, the girl had simply found {that a} priceless Caravaggio portray that hung over the altar had been lower from its body and stolen.<\/p>\n
More than half a century later, the destiny of Caravaggio\u2019s Nativity With St. Francis and St. Lawrence,<\/em> painted in 1609, stays one of many artwork world\u2019s best unsolved mysteries. Long believed to have been taken by the Italian mafia, the portray, estimated to be value no less than $20 million, is listed by the FBI among the many world\u2019s high 10 artwork crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, greater than 50 years after the disappearance of the grasp work, authorities could have their finest probability in a long time to get well the Caravaggio. And in a dramatic twist, it’s coming within the type of a shadowy determine whose personal freedom is at stake. A 69-year-old Anglo-Hungarian artwork supplier named William Veres<\/strong> wants to resolve one of many coldest chilly circumstances in artwork crime historical past or face jail himself. Veres was arrested at his residence in London in 2018, accused by prosecutors in Sicily of working a pan-European smuggling ring made up of tomb raiders, counterfeiters, fences, and frontmen\u2014a few of whom are suspected of getting connections with the Sicilian mob.<\/p>\n But Veres, an professional on historical cash identified to these within the commerce as \u201cThe Professor,\u201d says he met with Italy\u2019s anti-mafia police, the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA), who advised him they may put in a superb phrase with prosecutors if he can discover the Caravaggio portray. And maybe, if discovered responsible, he says he might be spared some 20 years in jail. (The DIA didn’t return a request for remark.)<\/p>\n \u201cIf I managed to recover something, they would speak to the prosecutors,\u201d Veres advised me.<\/p>\n Over the previous three years, I\u2019ve adopted Veres on this unlikely quest, which is the topic of my new podcast, The Professor: The Hunt for the Mafia\u2019s Missing Masterpiece.<\/em><\/a> Together, we traveled throughout Europe, assembly with former mafia hit males and turncoats, retired cops, and shadowy artwork world figures. As we adopted clues to the portray\u2019s whereabouts, we went additional than Italy\u2019s police have ever gone.<\/p>\n During his profession, Veres has handled middlemen linked to the mafia no less than as soon as earlier than. The Sicilian mob has lengthy performed an necessary function within the illicit artwork commerce. Now Veres is pulling on these connections to find the Caravaggio.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some stage, somebody within the mafia will be making a decision on whether\u2026to give it back, or how to give it back, under what terms to give it back,\u201d Veres stated.<\/p>\n