For more than 20 years, a group of criminals orchestrated a series of high-profile thefts of valuable artwork and sports memorabilia, including Andy Warhol And Jackson Pollockand Yogi Berra’s World Series rings.
Now the United States Attorney’s Office for the Intermediate District of Pennsylvania charged nine suspects in the robberies, which began in 1999 and largely targeted institutions and antique stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and upstate New York. The charges are conspiracy to commit theft of major works of art and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Most thefts were sports-related, but also included Warhol’s The Great Passion and Pollock Spring Winter (1949), stolen in 2005 from Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science and Art in Scranton. Some of the stolen items have since been recovered, but the Scranton artwork is still missing.
“We would love to be able to host an exhibition called: ‘Art Once Stolen, Now Returned,'” said museum director Charles Barber. New York Times.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office showed these images of Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock’s stolen artwork from the Everhart Museum in Scranton during a press conference announcing charges in a series of museum thefts that spanned more than 20 years.
At the time of the crime, the Pollock canvas was worth approximately $11.6 million and the Warhol serigraph was worth $15,000. (The latter is valued at around $100,000 in the new indictment.)
Another high-value target was a million-dollar collection stolen in 2014 from the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey. The alleged thieves snatched nine of his 10 World Series rings, plus two MVP plaques and seven other championship rings won by the famous baseball player.
In 2010, the gang also appears to have hit Scranton’s Lackwanna Historical Societyfleeing with a 1903 or 1904 Tiffany lamp. In 2006, they snatched three antique firearms collectively worth $1 million from Space farms: zoo and museum in Wantage, New Jersey. A decade later, they hit the Roger Maris Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, stealing an MVP plaque and a solid gold, jewel-encrusted Hickok belt.
Among the more than 20 institutions victims of the series of burglaries are also the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, (six championship belts from the 1940s and 1950s stolen in 2015) and the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York (14 trophies won in 2012).
Andy Warhol, The Great Passion. Thieves stole a copy of this serigraph from the Everhart Museum in Scranton in 2005. Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; donated by Carillon Importers, Ltd. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Officials believe the band of thieves melted down the stolen rings and trophies to create easily resalable metal bars. According to the indictment, the thieves earned hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also sold the gold for far less than its true value.
Efforts to recover as many stolen valuables as possible continue. “We will do everything we can to return them to their rightful owners and rightful places,” Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris told a local. FOX affiliate.
Only one or two thieves appear to have been present at each break-in, with a larger team orchestrating the planning of each burglary. A key clue to identifying the suspects was DNA evidence left at the boxing museum when one of the robbers cut himself breaking into a window.
“About three years ago, a forensic link at one of the theft sites discovered by a local police department led us to forensic evidence that linked several of these thefts,” the attorney said. American Gerard M. Karam at a press conference, as reported by the Associated press.
Nicolas Dombek is a fugitive after the government indicted him for his alleged role in a 20-year string of museum robberies. Photo courtesy of the FBI.
Eight of the nine suspects – Thomas Trotta, Frank Tassiello, Daryl Rinker, Dawn Trotta, Ralph Parry, Damien Boland, Alfred Atsus and Joseph Atsus – surrendered to law enforcement and five pleaded guilty. They are all Pennsylvania residents in their mid-40s and early 50s.
Authorities declared the ninth man, Nicholas Dombek, a fugitive. They believe he burned the paint Upper Hudson by Jasper Cropsey, stolen from New Jersey’s Ringwood Manor in 2011, leading to additional charges of concealing or disposing of cultural heritage objects.
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