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(dramatic orchestral music)
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Argentina was in the grip
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of a ruthless dictatorship
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when the biggest art theft
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in the country's history took place,
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paintings by some of Europe's most famous artists
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of the 19th and 20th centuries.
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For more than 20 years, the works,
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including some by Renoir, Gauguin, and Degas,
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fell into a black hole.
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Nothing was seen or heard of them
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until an American woman walked into Sotheby's in London.
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But where had the paintings been for two decades?
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The robbery triggered dark rumors
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of who might be behind the theft
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and suggestions that the heist was part of
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a huge arms-for-art deal to sustain the junta.
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But why were these paintings targeted?
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It was a mystery that crisscrossed three continents
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and was finally resolved in a Parisian courtroom.
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But would the museum in Buenos Aires
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ever get its priceless collection back?
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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("Silent Night")
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Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
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It's Christmas Eve 1980.
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Argentina is under the yoke
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of a brutal military dictatorship.
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For many years, it has brought fear and apprehension.
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But on this day,
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life in the capital seems as normal as could be.
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While most of the country is getting on
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with the Christmas celebrations,
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an extraordinary robbery is about to take place
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at the nation's greatest art gallery.
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A mysterious gang breaks into
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the Museum of Fine Arts in the city center.
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The treasures held in the museum
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had been left virtually unguarded
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over the Christmas period.
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Sometime after midnight, a car pulls up outside the museum.
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Its mysterious occupants make their way
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towards the rear of the building.
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(suspenseful orchestral music)
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Once inside the museum,
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the thieves seem to have the gallery to themselves.
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They know exactly what they are after.
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Their target is some of the gallery's most precious works.
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Amongst the stolen paintings is
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"Head of a Young Girl with a Blue Ribbon",
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by Auguste Renoir,
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"The Call", by Paul Gauguin,
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and "The Road", by Paul Cézanne.
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In all, 16 Impressionist paintings are stolen,
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together with seven ornaments.
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Their work done, the thieves make their way undetected
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into the Buenos Aires night.
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(light orchestral music)
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With a few exceptions,
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the stolen works had one thing in common,
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they were part of the collection
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of a wealthy Argentinean socialite
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called Mercedes Santamarina.
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The robbery was a devastating blow to the family.
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The reaction of the family
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when the collection was stolen
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was we were very sad, really very sad
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because the authorities were not able
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to put the security measures,
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the necessary or minimum security measures
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to avoid this act.
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It was not one piece of art that was stolen
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but 16 pieces of art,
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so it was an important action of the thieves.
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So we were really very sad and very annoyed.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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The theft was a huge loss to the nation
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and to Argentina's foremost museum.
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The Santamarina collection
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is very, very important
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for our fine-arts museum of Buenos Aires.
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The collection is really, really, very important
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and strong for us
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because it's not only the quality of the paintings
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but also it's also very, very important period.
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In fact, only a small part
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of the huge Santamarina collection
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was stolen in the Christmas Eve heist,
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and many of the most prized pieces
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were missed altogether by the gang.
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All these Degas are exceptional,
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and they're part of the Santamarina collection,
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particularly this one here.
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It is said to be the biggest pastel work
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made by Degas of dancers.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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As well as the paintings,
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the Mercedes collection also included
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other exceptional pieces
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which were left behind after the robbery.
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There's objects and paintings here
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which are more proper of a museum of decorative arts
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than a fine-arts museum.
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But the legacy had it as a condition
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to be exhibited together,
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and we have been trying to keep the atmosphere
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of the 19th century,
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which they wanted when they did donate it.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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How the gang selected
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which paintings to steal isn't clear,
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except, it seems, only the smaller pieces were taken.
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They did take two drawings from Degas.
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Also a pencil drawing by Matisse.
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Also a drawing by Rodin.
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Maybe those were the most valuable things
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that they took, all small pieces,
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which I suppose they were easy to handle and easy to take.
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Of course that was a great loss.
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(light acoustic guitar music)
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The Santamarina collection
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had been brought together over decades by Mercedes.
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She lived in luxury in Buenos Aires,
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but she never married and had no children.
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I remember when I visit
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Mercedes Santamarina's house here in Buenos Aires,
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and it was like visiting a museum.
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I mean, it was, really.
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The house was very tidy.
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Everything was very correct.
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There were no kids in that house,
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so the house was very nice,
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and it was like visiting a museum.
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And I really liked that Renoir very much.
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Mercedes Santamarina had a good eye.
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(light orchestral music)
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She flew to Paris very frequently,
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and she bought many of the painters
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and many of the pieces of art there.
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Also here in Argentina, some of them.
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(light acoustic guitar music)
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During her lifetime,
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Mercedes Santamarina had already donated
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her vast and extraordinary collection
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to the museum of fine art.
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She liked to keep the collection all together,
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and this was one of the main reasons
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for keeping the collection in the country
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in the best museum of Argentina.
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She thought it was the best museum.
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She decided to donate the whole collection
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only with one condition,
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there must be a permanent exhibition of this collection.
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There has to be a specific place
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called La Sala Mercedes Santamarina for that.
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This was the collection
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that was targeted by the robbers.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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(speaking foreign language)
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(alarm ringing)
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The police investigation into the heist
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started on Christmas Day.
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We arrived at the museum on the 25th,
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after lunchtime, when they discovered the robbery.
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I remember very well the floor
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and all the frames around and the police.
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They cut all the frames, and they took the paintings
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but leave the frames on the floor.
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What soon became clear to investigators
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was the absence of any real security at the gallery.
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The entire museum was protected on Christmas Eve
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by just one armed watchman and a fireman.
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The fireman and the guard at some point had dinner
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because it was Christmas night.
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And had dinner and had some cider,
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toasted, and went to bed by midnight.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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Only in the morning,
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they started walking through the galleries
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as they normally did each day,
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and there they found that they had been stolen.
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So it must have occurred after midnight
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and before they made their round the next morning,
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so presumably three, four in the morning
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that must have occurred.
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(speaking foreign language)
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(alarm ringing)
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When the guards woke up,
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it was already too late.
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The thieves had escaped with the 16 paintings
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and seven decorative objects.
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All this new part of the museum
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was being built at the time,
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and the new galleries were being refurbished.
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So the safety conditions at the time were quite low.
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Police found that they came through
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this part of the building, and they could easily jump in.
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(light orchestral music)
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There were no alarms.
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There were no, really, security measures
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that could have restrained the theft.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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(footsteps thudding)
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(engine revving)
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But who could have been responsible
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for this audacious robbery?
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(speaking foreign language)
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In 1980, Argentina had been living under the rule
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of a military junta for four years.
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Thousands of political activists,
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trade unionists, and students disappeared, presumed dead.
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Torture and state-sponsored killings by death squads
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were commonplace.
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The police and the security forces were above the law.
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So who would uncover the truth
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about the theft of the paintings?
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(speaking foreign language)
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At that time,
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the Argentinean criminal justice system
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was controlled by the military,
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and the police were under the army.
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So any possibility of a thorough investigation was denied.
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With a military regime in Argentina,
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the atmosphere was very heavy.
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A very dangerous job was to be a journalist at that time.
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For us that,
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personally, I was a political correspondent.
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The robbery was the priority number 12,000.
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With 30,000 people disappearing,
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to investigate who robbed the Impressionists
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was my last priority.
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Under this climate of fear,
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no one came forward to provide information
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about the robbery.
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But there was one unnamed witness
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who claimed to have seen something
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that was enough to scare away anyone interested in the case.
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(suspenseful orchestral music)
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(speaking foreign language)
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One of the very few
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witness accounts said that,
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at the time when the robbery occurred,
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there was a green Ford Falcon parked outside the museum
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with four people inside it.
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(speaking foreign language)
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The cars in which
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the plainclothes intelligence agents operated
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were the green Ford Falcons.
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Those were the cars they used
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to detain their political enemies,
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the people who would later end up dead or disappeared.
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The Ford Falcon was a horrendous image.
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For us, was an image of terror,
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with someone with a gun ordering all the cars to move away.
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I was working in front of one of these police departments
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that apparently was a concentration camp,
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and I will never forget this fear
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each time that we saw a Falcon verde.
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Really, as the history tell you,
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was a symbol of terror in Argentina.
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(speaking foreign language)
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It is widely suspected
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that the area where the museum is located was liberated.
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In Argentinean police jargon,
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this means that before a crime occurs,
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an agreement is reached with the authorities
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in charge of the area where the crime will take place
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so that they turn a blind eye
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while the crime actually is taking place.
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(suspenseful orchestral music)
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So the rumors at that time were
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that probably behind the robbery
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was the secret service.
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It made sense.
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The secret service was perhaps the only organization
276
00:15:46,850 --> 00:15:49,223
that could get away with such a brazen heist.
277
00:15:51,260 --> 00:15:53,360
But if they were responsible,
278
00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,143
who was going to take the blame?
279
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,670
A scapegoat needed to be found and found quickly,
280
00:15:59,670 --> 00:16:03,643
and the easiest solution was to go for the softest target.
281
00:16:09,306 --> 00:16:12,973
(speaking foreign language)
282
00:16:14,359 --> 00:16:15,673
The main suspects for the robbery
283
00:16:15,673 --> 00:16:18,350
were the two security guards who were at the museum
284
00:16:18,350 --> 00:16:19,773
on the night of the robbery.
285
00:16:25,770 --> 00:16:27,840
Some of the personnel of the museum was taken
286
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:31,223
and tortured to confess if they had done it.
287
00:16:33,310 --> 00:16:36,400
After a terrible but brief ordeal,
288
00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:38,300
the security guards were freed
289
00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:40,563
and returned to their normal lives.
290
00:16:42,273 --> 00:16:45,824
(speaking foreign language)
291
00:16:45,824 --> 00:16:47,900
They were quickly cleared of any charges
292
00:16:47,900 --> 00:16:50,670
because even under the dire situation at the time,
293
00:16:50,670 --> 00:16:53,743
it was clear that the poor guys had nothing to do with it.
294
00:16:57,350 --> 00:16:59,500
But who was responsible, then?
295
00:17:00,954 --> 00:17:03,530
For years, the robbery from the fine-art museum
296
00:17:03,530 --> 00:17:04,983
fell from public view.
297
00:17:06,450 --> 00:17:10,850
(speaking foreign language)
298
00:17:10,850 --> 00:17:14,820
But in 1982, the junta invaded the Falklands,
299
00:17:14,820 --> 00:17:17,600
a British territory in the South Atlantic.
300
00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,490
An international arms embargo was imposed.
301
00:17:20,490 --> 00:17:23,483
British forces retook the islands in months.
302
00:17:25,290 --> 00:17:27,710
The junta was humiliated by the defeat,
303
00:17:27,710 --> 00:17:30,963
and within a year the military regime was gone.
304
00:17:32,350 --> 00:17:34,690
It was only after the junta collapsed
305
00:17:34,690 --> 00:17:37,933
that information about the art robbery began to leak out.
306
00:17:39,910 --> 00:17:43,220
Amid infighting amongst shadowy intelligence groups,
307
00:17:43,220 --> 00:17:45,290
a high-ranking kidnapping took place,
308
00:17:45,290 --> 00:17:48,623
aimed at settling old scores between different factions.
309
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,590
A man suspected of being a double agent
310
00:17:52,590 --> 00:17:54,930
was abducted and tortured.
311
00:17:54,930 --> 00:17:57,183
His name was Patricio Kelly.
312
00:17:58,578 --> 00:18:02,245
(speaking foreign language)
313
00:18:03,490 --> 00:18:05,060
During the kidnap,
314
00:18:05,060 --> 00:18:07,083
Patricio Kelly was almost killed.
315
00:18:07,980 --> 00:18:10,310
The case was highly publicized.
316
00:18:10,310 --> 00:18:12,120
In this case, the kidnapping had not
317
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:13,680
been motivated by money,
318
00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,550
but for personal revenge, springing from the fights
319
00:18:16,550 --> 00:18:18,420
between the different intelligence services
320
00:18:18,420 --> 00:18:20,003
that existed in Argentina.
321
00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:23,060
The man behind the kidnapping
322
00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:24,710
was Anibal Gordon,
323
00:18:24,710 --> 00:18:27,110
who worked for the most infamous intelligence service
324
00:18:27,110 --> 00:18:29,423
operating at the time, the SIDE.
325
00:18:35,260 --> 00:18:36,500
Gordon was sent to prison
326
00:18:36,500 --> 00:18:38,383
for eight years for the kidnapping.
327
00:18:39,430 --> 00:18:41,300
And it was in jail that evidence
328
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:42,700
implicating him in the robbery
329
00:18:42,700 --> 00:18:45,610
from the fine-arts museum came to light,
330
00:18:45,610 --> 00:18:47,683
allegedly from his own mouth.
331
00:18:52,628 --> 00:18:56,295
(speaking foreign language)
332
00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:59,950
When Anibal Gordon was already in prison
333
00:18:59,950 --> 00:19:02,210
and dying from terminal cancer,
334
00:19:02,210 --> 00:19:03,680
he told another prisoner
335
00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:05,723
that he had been behind the robbery.
336
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:07,650
This was the man
337
00:19:07,650 --> 00:19:09,563
who Gordon apparently confessed to.
338
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,740
His name was Juan Carlos Perez.
339
00:19:13,740 --> 00:19:16,080
He was a prisoner with privileges.
340
00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,200
He used to deliver food and clean the cellblock.
341
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:20,700
He was a common prisoner,
342
00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:23,730
a former bank robber who had access to the part of the jail
343
00:19:23,730 --> 00:19:26,820
where the people accused of state terrorism were held.
344
00:19:26,820 --> 00:19:29,163
The prisoner told me this story personally.
345
00:19:30,176 --> 00:19:33,843
(speaking foreign language)
346
00:19:39,342 --> 00:19:40,640
A person who was on the brink of death
347
00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,890
as Gordon was, as he was suffering from terminal cancer,
348
00:19:43,890 --> 00:19:45,590
doesn't tend to lie.
349
00:19:45,590 --> 00:19:48,140
He is meant to have complained of receiving too little money
350
00:19:48,140 --> 00:19:49,630
for stealing the paintings,
351
00:19:49,630 --> 00:19:52,383
following instructions from somebody else above him.
352
00:19:55,130 --> 00:19:56,680
Perez is the only source
353
00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:58,763
for Gordon's confession to the robbery.
354
00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,050
After his release from prison,
355
00:20:02,050 --> 00:20:05,800
Perez was interviewed on television in 1993.
356
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:07,770
Within two years he was shot dead
357
00:20:07,770 --> 00:20:09,633
trying to rob a hardware store.
358
00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:14,930
As for Gordon, he died in 1988.
359
00:20:14,930 --> 00:20:18,470
And if he was responsible, he took to the grave his motives
360
00:20:18,470 --> 00:20:20,423
and who ultimately stood to gain.
361
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,420
I link this robbery with the infighting
362
00:20:28,420 --> 00:20:30,000
in the military junta
363
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,660
between two groups that want to be president
364
00:20:33,620 --> 00:20:36,990
and need money for make that possible.
365
00:20:36,990 --> 00:20:39,410
So I believe that is the reason,
366
00:20:39,410 --> 00:20:41,080
because they rob the museum
367
00:20:42,150 --> 00:20:45,653
and try to sell the pictures abroad and fail.
368
00:20:49,230 --> 00:20:51,340
So eight years after the robbery,
369
00:20:51,340 --> 00:20:53,330
the pictures were still missing
370
00:20:53,330 --> 00:20:55,830
and the only suspect was dead.
371
00:20:55,830 --> 00:20:57,943
The trail had run cold.
372
00:20:59,252 --> 00:21:02,919
(dramatic orchestral music)
373
00:21:09,500 --> 00:21:12,940
But in 2001, there was a sudden breakthrough
374
00:21:12,940 --> 00:21:14,750
6,000 miles away
375
00:21:14,750 --> 00:21:18,423
in one of the art-dealing capitals of the world, London.
376
00:21:19,310 --> 00:21:23,360
At the city's heart is the famous auction house Sotheby's.
377
00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,950
It's no stranger to dealing with unusual customers
378
00:21:25,950 --> 00:21:27,760
from all over the world.
379
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:29,653
Today was no exception.
380
00:21:31,410 --> 00:21:33,720
At around 11 a.m. the doors opened
381
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,230
to welcome a blond-haired Texan woman.
382
00:21:36,230 --> 00:21:39,213
She introduced herself as Gabriela Williams.
383
00:21:40,380 --> 00:21:42,390
She was a rather extraordinary sight.
384
00:21:42,390 --> 00:21:44,140
She's not very tall.
385
00:21:44,140 --> 00:21:46,640
She had hair down to her waist.
386
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:50,593
A huge amount of jewelry, and very expansive.
387
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,010
From her handbag she produced 16 photos
388
00:21:56,010 --> 00:21:57,760
of paintings and drawings
389
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:00,430
by some of the giants of Impressionist art,
390
00:22:00,430 --> 00:22:04,983
Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Degas.
391
00:22:06,090 --> 00:22:08,920
She said she represented two linked charities,
392
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:13,880
her own was based in Texas, called Humana Way International,
393
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,310
and a second charity based in South America,
394
00:22:17,310 --> 00:22:20,223
the De Lavor Trust, which owned the art.
395
00:22:24,010 --> 00:22:27,240
The trust had already put a price tag on the collection,
396
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,603
a staggering $350 million.
397
00:22:30,660 --> 00:22:32,160
But she wanted Sotheby's
398
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,923
to make their own independent valuation.
399
00:22:38,430 --> 00:22:41,150
She said she then intended to take them to a bank
400
00:22:41,150 --> 00:22:43,300
and use them as security for a loan
401
00:22:43,300 --> 00:22:44,840
to raise funds for the charities.
402
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,860
This whole scheme of hypothecation,
403
00:22:48,860 --> 00:22:52,710
which means taking art to a bank
404
00:22:52,710 --> 00:22:55,913
or some other organization who will lend money on it,
405
00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:00,250
was developed as a scheme
406
00:23:00,250 --> 00:23:03,120
in order that they could get hold of some money
407
00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:06,586
before the art was actually sold.
408
00:23:06,586 --> 00:23:10,350
(suspenseful orchestral music)
409
00:23:10,350 --> 00:23:12,700
Sotheby's agreed to give Gabriela Williams
410
00:23:12,700 --> 00:23:14,930
her valuation, but first they needed
411
00:23:14,930 --> 00:23:17,140
to see the pictures in the flesh
412
00:23:17,140 --> 00:23:18,940
to be sure they were the real thing.
413
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,340
Williams then made a surprising revelation.
414
00:23:23,340 --> 00:23:24,660
The collection was in storage
415
00:23:24,660 --> 00:23:27,353
on the other side of the world, in Taiwan.
416
00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:30,960
It emerged that the president
417
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,350
of the South American De Lavor Trust,
418
00:23:33,350 --> 00:23:35,920
a timber merchant called Arthur Lung,
419
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,840
was Taiwanese, and that he'd stored the pictures
420
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:39,973
in his home country.
421
00:23:43,410 --> 00:23:46,440
Unperturbed, Sotheby's decided to send an expert
422
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:47,750
from their Hong Kong office
423
00:23:47,750 --> 00:23:50,333
along with their representative in Taiwan.
424
00:23:52,260 --> 00:23:54,720
Gabriela Williams also flew out,
425
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,700
and completing the gathering was Arthur Lung himself.
426
00:23:58,700 --> 00:24:03,700
They were taken by a confusing route to a warehouse,
427
00:24:04,340 --> 00:24:07,120
which also had some form of office in it,
428
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:11,363
and these drawings and pictures were laid out in a drawer.
429
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:16,760
The pictures were brought out
430
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,030
for the Sotheby's staff to inspect,
431
00:24:19,030 --> 00:24:21,530
and they started to take photos for their records.
432
00:24:22,444 --> 00:24:24,900
But when they came to the loose canvases
433
00:24:24,900 --> 00:24:27,570
no longer pegged out on their wooden stretchers,
434
00:24:27,570 --> 00:24:30,523
they realized this was no ordinary viewing.
435
00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:35,840
(camera shutter clicking)
436
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:37,230
They weren't framed.
437
00:24:37,230 --> 00:24:38,730
They weren't on display.
438
00:24:38,730 --> 00:24:40,633
They were clearly being concealed.
439
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:45,520
But the collection was a goldmine.
440
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,500
There were three small oil paintings by Renoir,
441
00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:51,380
all less than 50 centimeters across.
442
00:24:51,380 --> 00:24:53,700
Two Cézanne watercolors on paper,
443
00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:56,550
including one trademark still life.
444
00:24:56,550 --> 00:24:59,800
Two Degas sketches of the familiar ballerinas.
445
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,000
A Tahitian scene by Gauguin.
446
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,980
A line drawing by Matisse.
447
00:25:03,980 --> 00:25:06,583
And watercolors by the sculptor Rodin.
448
00:25:11,870 --> 00:25:15,270
The Sotheby's staff confirmed that the works were genuine
449
00:25:15,270 --> 00:25:18,520
and added a price tag of over $4 million,
450
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,400
a lot less than the charities' own estimate
451
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,083
of $350 million.
452
00:25:29,740 --> 00:25:31,490
As a routine precaution,
453
00:25:31,490 --> 00:25:34,730
Sotheby's in London then contacted Julian Radcliffe
454
00:25:34,730 --> 00:25:36,510
at the Art Loss Register,
455
00:25:36,510 --> 00:25:38,790
a business set up to allow the art trade
456
00:25:38,790 --> 00:25:41,663
to check whether works put up for sale are legitimate.
457
00:25:44,630 --> 00:25:49,210
We register about 10,000 stolen items a year,
458
00:25:49,210 --> 00:25:54,210
and we have on our database about 180,000 stolen items.
459
00:25:54,650 --> 00:25:59,650
And we check over 300,000 items being sold every year,
460
00:26:00,370 --> 00:26:03,250
and we match about three a week.
461
00:26:03,250 --> 00:26:05,210
So we have at any one time
462
00:26:05,210 --> 00:26:08,983
well over 150 negotiations under way.
463
00:26:16,330 --> 00:26:18,130
When the call came in from Sotheby's
464
00:26:18,130 --> 00:26:21,300
with details of the 16 pictures in Taiwan,
465
00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:23,150
staff at the Art Loss Register
466
00:26:23,150 --> 00:26:24,530
began checking the descriptions
467
00:26:24,530 --> 00:26:27,333
against the list of missing artwork on their database.
468
00:26:28,410 --> 00:26:32,030
Their searches soon produced a number of close similarities
469
00:26:32,030 --> 00:26:35,003
with an entire collection listed as stolen.
470
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:39,573
The alarm bells began to ring.
471
00:26:42,630 --> 00:26:44,800
Our staff immediately realized
472
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,100
that they had been registered with us, after the theft,
473
00:26:48,100 --> 00:26:50,520
by the Argentinean museum,
474
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:52,880
and we were able to make a very simple match
475
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,590
because they were all together.
476
00:26:55,590 --> 00:26:58,630
And we then immediately contacted the police--
477
00:26:58,630 --> 00:26:59,980
I think we've got a match here.
478
00:26:59,980 --> 00:27:02,490
The museum in Argentina--
479
00:27:02,490 --> 00:27:04,218
Yes, for the Renoir.
480
00:27:04,218 --> 00:27:07,434
And we also, obviously, notified Sotheby's.
481
00:27:07,434 --> 00:27:11,101
(dramatic orchestral music)
482
00:27:17,100 --> 00:27:20,130
In Argentina, the National Museum of Fine Arts
483
00:27:20,130 --> 00:27:22,080
in Buenos Aires were amazed
484
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:23,760
to discover that their missing paintings
485
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:25,623
had turned up in Taiwan.
486
00:27:26,676 --> 00:27:30,343
(speaking foreign language)
487
00:27:32,230 --> 00:27:33,930
The director of the museum at the time,
488
00:27:33,930 --> 00:27:36,980
Jorge Glusberg, received the news with some surprise
489
00:27:36,980 --> 00:27:38,550
because this theft was considered to be
490
00:27:38,550 --> 00:27:40,910
one of the robberies of the century.
491
00:27:40,910 --> 00:27:42,830
So he took things slowly and sought advice
492
00:27:42,830 --> 00:27:44,840
from his superiors and from lawyers
493
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,182
as to the next steps to follow.
494
00:27:47,182 --> 00:27:50,230
(speaking foreign language)
495
00:27:50,230 --> 00:27:51,860
I was very excited because
496
00:27:51,860 --> 00:27:52,970
to recover that loot
497
00:27:52,970 --> 00:27:54,670
was a great thing for the country.
498
00:27:57,256 --> 00:28:01,650
(light acoustic guitar music)
499
00:28:01,650 --> 00:28:03,450
The pictures had finally emerged
500
00:28:03,450 --> 00:28:05,750
after 20 years in the shadows.
501
00:28:05,750 --> 00:28:07,640
It was crucial to seize the moment
502
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,113
before they disappeared from view once again.
503
00:28:12,190 --> 00:28:15,650
Top of Radcliffe's list was a meeting with the Texan woman
504
00:28:15,650 --> 00:28:16,483
who had set the ball
505
00:28:16,483 --> 00:28:20,030
rolling in Sotheby's, Gabriela Williams.
506
00:28:20,030 --> 00:28:22,730
Two weeks and a few phone calls later,
507
00:28:22,730 --> 00:28:26,650
Radcliffe located her in Spain, where she was on holiday.
508
00:28:26,650 --> 00:28:28,020
She agreed to talk,
509
00:28:28,020 --> 00:28:30,823
and Radcliffe jumped on the next plane out of London.
510
00:28:37,150 --> 00:28:38,820
Gabriela Williams revealed
511
00:28:38,820 --> 00:28:41,440
how her involvement with the paintings began,
512
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,023
and even handed over documents to back it up.
513
00:28:45,300 --> 00:28:48,013
But she insisted she had acted in good faith.
514
00:28:49,570 --> 00:28:51,000
Her explanation was
515
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,630
that she was trying to raise money for charitable purposes.
516
00:28:54,630 --> 00:28:56,800
And she said that she'd been contacted
517
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,600
by a number of people in the States
518
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:03,110
who had been asked to help hypothecate
519
00:29:04,150 --> 00:29:06,433
or raise money from these pictures.
520
00:29:07,293 --> 00:29:10,130
(dramatic orchestral music)
521
00:29:10,130 --> 00:29:12,820
It was a complicated chain of introductions,
522
00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:15,290
but at the end of the line was Arthur Lung,
523
00:29:15,290 --> 00:29:17,380
president of the obscure charity,
524
00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:19,040
the De Lavor Trust,
525
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,083
based in the small South American country of Suriname.
526
00:29:23,810 --> 00:29:26,240
Lung was looking for a partner to front a bid
527
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,440
to raise money from the pictures.
528
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,030
Williams, it was said,
529
00:29:30,030 --> 00:29:32,123
was looking for funds for her charity.
530
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:35,130
There is no evidence to suggest
531
00:29:35,130 --> 00:29:38,143
that Gabriela Williams acted other than in good faith.
532
00:29:39,310 --> 00:29:41,320
By March 2001,
533
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,420
Williams and Lung had a deal signing a series of agreements
534
00:29:44,420 --> 00:29:47,370
appointing each other to the boards of their two charities.
535
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,230
A month later she was in London
536
00:29:52,230 --> 00:29:53,970
for her meeting at Sotheby's,
537
00:29:53,970 --> 00:29:57,030
armed with a set of documents provided by Lung
538
00:29:57,030 --> 00:29:59,940
in which a series of apparently eminent individuals
539
00:29:59,940 --> 00:30:02,103
endorsed the collection as legitimate.
540
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,293
Suriname and Arthur Lung were Radcliffe's next targets.
541
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,870
I contacted Arthur Lung in Suriname
542
00:30:19,290 --> 00:30:22,620
and explained to him that the pictures were stolen
543
00:30:22,620 --> 00:30:25,340
and that I wanted to go to Taiwan
544
00:30:25,340 --> 00:30:28,230
in order to arrange for their surrender.
545
00:30:28,230 --> 00:30:31,160
I explained that they would never be able to sell them
546
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,520
and that if they did not cooperate in their surrender,
547
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,570
then we might well be able to
548
00:30:36,570 --> 00:30:41,190
get the police interested in their travel activities.
549
00:30:41,190 --> 00:30:44,250
And I knew that Arthur Lung had a house in Los Angeles,
550
00:30:44,250 --> 00:30:47,390
so I knew that he would not want to have any question
551
00:30:47,390 --> 00:30:48,683
about his passport.
552
00:30:49,650 --> 00:30:52,210
He then told me that his brother would like
553
00:30:52,210 --> 00:30:53,440
to see me in Taiwan
554
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,190
and gave me every indication
555
00:30:55,190 --> 00:30:57,376
that the pictures would be surrendered.
556
00:30:57,376 --> 00:31:00,890
(dramatic orchestral music)
557
00:31:00,890 --> 00:31:02,720
Negotiations then began
558
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:04,353
to visit Arthur Lung's brother, Yunhuei Lung,
559
00:31:06,010 --> 00:31:07,963
the keeper of the pictures in Taiwan.
560
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,900
In January 2002, after a series of delays,
561
00:31:12,900 --> 00:31:16,323
he finally agreed to a meeting in the capital, Taipei.
562
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:24,000
Radcliffe set off from London,
563
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,673
optimistic about the fate of the pictures.
564
00:31:33,958 --> 00:31:37,625
(dramatic orchestral music)
565
00:31:40,810 --> 00:31:43,090
In January 2002,
566
00:31:43,090 --> 00:31:46,180
Julian Radcliffe arrived in Taiwan to deal with the man
567
00:31:46,180 --> 00:31:48,490
who apparently had possession of the paintings
568
00:31:48,490 --> 00:31:50,970
stolen from the fine-art museum in Buenos Aries
569
00:31:50,970 --> 00:31:53,260
more than 20 years earlier.
570
00:31:53,260 --> 00:31:56,030
Julian Radcliffe met Yunhuei Lung
571
00:31:56,030 --> 00:31:58,423
in the lobby of his hotel in Taipei.
572
00:32:00,830 --> 00:32:02,210
When I was in Taiwan,
573
00:32:02,210 --> 00:32:05,393
it was clear that Lung was really after money.
574
00:32:06,350 --> 00:32:09,370
He was very truculent.
575
00:32:09,370 --> 00:32:14,370
He said that the West had raided the civilization in China,
576
00:32:15,188 --> 00:32:17,360
which is true, and looted a lot
577
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:18,980
of Chinese national treasures
578
00:32:18,980 --> 00:32:21,750
which are now all over Western Europe museums,
579
00:32:21,750 --> 00:32:25,093
and, therefore, why should they surrender these pictures?
580
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,710
And he pretended that he had bought them in good faith.
581
00:32:28,710 --> 00:32:30,360
He wouldn't provide any evidence
582
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,080
that he had bought them in good faith,
583
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:33,503
so I knew he hadn't.
584
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,450
Radcliffe returned empty-handed.
585
00:32:39,450 --> 00:32:42,273
But he felt his trip had not been a complete failure.
586
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:45,310
During their conversation,
587
00:32:45,310 --> 00:32:47,630
Lung had let slip a piece of information
588
00:32:47,630 --> 00:32:49,300
which Radcliffe felt could unlock
589
00:32:49,300 --> 00:32:51,780
one of the darkest mysteries of the case,
590
00:32:51,780 --> 00:32:55,603
the strange connection between Argentina and Taiwan.
591
00:32:58,450 --> 00:33:01,610
I asked him what would encourage him
592
00:33:01,610 --> 00:33:03,020
to surrender the pictures
593
00:33:03,020 --> 00:33:06,810
besides a payment, which we didn't want to make.
594
00:33:06,810 --> 00:33:09,940
He said that if he was told by the government of Taiwan
595
00:33:10,850 --> 00:33:14,300
to surrender the pictures, then he would do so.
596
00:33:14,300 --> 00:33:18,250
I then asked him which ministry he was referring to,
597
00:33:18,250 --> 00:33:21,134
and he said the Ministry of Defense.
598
00:33:21,134 --> 00:33:24,580
(suspenseful orchestral music)
599
00:33:24,580 --> 00:33:25,740
The military connection
600
00:33:25,740 --> 00:33:27,320
made a fascinating tie-in
601
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,053
with one of the early rumors back in Buenos Aires.
602
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:33,580
(footsteps thudding)
603
00:33:33,580 --> 00:33:37,120
It might explain the car seen outside the museum.
604
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:40,250
And it might suggest that the Argentine secret service
605
00:33:40,250 --> 00:33:43,313
had originally been involved in the theft of the paintings.
606
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,270
At that time when the robbery happen,
607
00:33:50,270 --> 00:33:54,370
the links between Taiwan and Argentina were quite intense.
608
00:33:54,370 --> 00:33:58,165
I don't know why the robberies went there to Taiwan,
609
00:33:58,165 --> 00:34:03,073
but usually the link between the Taiwanese officials
610
00:34:04,050 --> 00:34:05,660
and the Argentinean officials
611
00:34:05,660 --> 00:34:07,523
were very intense at that period.
612
00:34:11,219 --> 00:34:12,300
There was a possible basis
613
00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:14,580
for this intense relationship.
614
00:34:14,580 --> 00:34:16,082
Argentina needed arms
615
00:34:16,082 --> 00:34:18,120
at the time of an international arms
616
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:19,920
embargo against the junta.
617
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,110
Argentina was under a military embargo
618
00:34:23,110 --> 00:34:25,010
during the military times,
619
00:34:25,010 --> 00:34:27,900
especially from the United States and from Europe,
620
00:34:27,900 --> 00:34:30,050
and they don't have any possibility
621
00:34:30,050 --> 00:34:32,240
to buy arms anywhere.
622
00:34:32,240 --> 00:34:36,980
So they used Taiwan a lot as a triangulation for arms, okay?
623
00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:39,240
So the arms went generally to Taiwan,
624
00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:42,603
and then Taiwan can sell to Argentina.
625
00:34:43,570 --> 00:34:45,630
(air horn blowing)
626
00:34:45,630 --> 00:34:48,380
Radcliffe soon had his own theory.
627
00:34:48,380 --> 00:34:51,030
Perhaps the paintings found their way to Taiwan
628
00:34:51,030 --> 00:34:52,913
as payment for an arms deal.
629
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,310
I wondered whether some of the arms
630
00:34:57,310 --> 00:35:00,430
might then have been sold on for the Falklands War
631
00:35:00,430 --> 00:35:03,440
when Argentina was finding it very difficult
632
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:05,480
to obtain weapons,
633
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,163
and Taiwan was not abiding by the United Nations sanctions.
634
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,400
I don't think anybody is saying
635
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:17,400
that there was a predetermined theft to supply arms.
636
00:35:18,090 --> 00:35:20,580
But what one suspected was
637
00:35:20,580 --> 00:35:23,350
that the Argentinean military junta,
638
00:35:23,350 --> 00:35:28,020
who continued to control these pictures
639
00:35:28,020 --> 00:35:30,940
some years after the theft, we believe,
640
00:35:30,940 --> 00:35:34,230
may have decided to use them to try and get arms
641
00:35:34,230 --> 00:35:37,113
when they needed foreign exchange to do so.
642
00:35:40,340 --> 00:35:43,030
I think it's a very good adventure to tell,
643
00:35:43,030 --> 00:35:45,063
but I don't know if it's true or not.
644
00:35:46,630 --> 00:35:48,670
Whatever the truth of these theories,
645
00:35:48,670 --> 00:35:51,570
the fact was that the 16 valuable paintings
646
00:35:51,570 --> 00:35:55,553
were still under lock and key in the Lungs' vault in Taiwan.
647
00:36:05,260 --> 00:36:08,640
(dramatic orchestral music)
648
00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:10,650
But then, four months later,
649
00:36:10,650 --> 00:36:13,590
another city was added to the growing list of locations
650
00:36:13,590 --> 00:36:15,033
embroiled in the case.
651
00:36:16,950 --> 00:36:19,660
Paris, where Mercedes Santamarina
652
00:36:19,660 --> 00:36:21,800
had bought the pictures originally,
653
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,763
now became the setting for a dramatic new development.
654
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,620
On May 15, 2002, a Taiwanese businessman
655
00:36:36,620 --> 00:36:38,550
walked into one of the many art galleries
656
00:36:38,550 --> 00:36:42,363
located in St. Germain, the artistic quarter of Paris.
657
00:36:44,710 --> 00:36:47,880
The gallery's owner, Pascal Lansberg,
658
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:49,493
recognized him at once.
659
00:36:51,810 --> 00:36:55,820
I know this man since the '90s
660
00:36:55,820 --> 00:37:00,280
because he used to buy some Chinese paintings from me
661
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:02,243
in the middle of the '90s.
662
00:37:03,230 --> 00:37:05,190
He always mention that his uncle
663
00:37:05,190 --> 00:37:09,070
have a collection of Impressionist painting in Taiwan
664
00:37:09,070 --> 00:37:11,200
and called me and asking me
665
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,440
if I can make some estimation for those paintings
666
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,070
because this uncle was ready to sell a few of them.
667
00:37:19,940 --> 00:37:22,800
That day, Pascal Lansberg's client
668
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:24,280
arrived with a portfolio
669
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,943
containing three items from his uncle's collection,
670
00:37:28,260 --> 00:37:29,577
Renoir's oil painting
671
00:37:29,577 --> 00:37:31,947
"Head of a Young Girl with a Blue Ribbon",
672
00:37:33,310 --> 00:37:35,263
Gauguin's drawing "The Call"
673
00:37:39,460 --> 00:37:42,167
and Cézanne's watercolor "The Road."
674
00:37:45,050 --> 00:37:46,730
Unknown to Lansberg,
675
00:37:46,730 --> 00:37:49,190
all three were from the stolen collection
676
00:37:49,190 --> 00:37:51,913
now in the hands of the Lung brothers in Taipei.
677
00:37:54,260 --> 00:37:55,890
I was surprised
678
00:37:55,890 --> 00:37:57,660
not for the drawing and the water paper,
679
00:37:57,660 --> 00:37:59,630
but I was surprised for the painting.
680
00:37:59,630 --> 00:38:03,110
He come with the painting without any frame, without,
681
00:38:03,110 --> 00:38:05,300
just canvas, you know?
682
00:38:05,300 --> 00:38:07,860
And this make me feel a little bit strange,
683
00:38:07,860 --> 00:38:10,890
but I don't mention anything to him.
684
00:38:10,890 --> 00:38:11,840
I make a receipt.
685
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:13,403
I keep the painting with me.
686
00:38:16,330 --> 00:38:18,210
The man trying to sell the paintings
687
00:38:18,210 --> 00:38:19,760
was Yeh Yeo-Hwang,
688
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,230
a Taiwanese concert promoter.
689
00:38:22,230 --> 00:38:24,840
Perhaps he deliberately chose the small gallery
690
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:26,940
believing that it would not have the resources
691
00:38:26,940 --> 00:38:28,400
to run a check.
692
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,633
If so, it was a major miscalculation.
693
00:38:34,650 --> 00:38:36,170
I start to make my research.
694
00:38:36,170 --> 00:38:38,060
And the Renoir I knew.
695
00:38:38,060 --> 00:38:39,220
I saw it in the catalog.
696
00:38:39,220 --> 00:38:42,047
But for the Cézanne, I don't have the book
697
00:38:42,047 --> 00:38:43,690
to check all the aquarelle.
698
00:38:43,690 --> 00:38:47,403
As well for the Gauguin, I didn't know anything.
699
00:38:48,950 --> 00:38:51,180
I have a close friend of mine who is Phillipe Cazeau,
700
00:38:51,180 --> 00:38:52,870
who is specialist in Impressionist
701
00:38:52,870 --> 00:38:53,970
and modern painting,
702
00:38:53,970 --> 00:38:57,053
so asking him to check if he can find something.
703
00:39:00,530 --> 00:39:01,987
And one day he called me to say,
704
00:39:01,987 --> 00:39:03,907
"Pascal, something's strange
705
00:39:03,907 --> 00:39:07,637
"because this drawing is supposed to be in the museum.
706
00:39:07,637 --> 00:39:10,547
"So it's a fake one or it's stolen.
707
00:39:10,547 --> 00:39:12,477
"Something wrong with this drawing.
708
00:39:12,477 --> 00:39:15,100
"It cannot be the one of the museum."
709
00:39:19,543 --> 00:39:20,376
(phone ringing)
710
00:39:20,376 --> 00:39:22,470
Lansberg's friend advised him
711
00:39:22,470 --> 00:39:25,230
to contact the Art Loss Register in London
712
00:39:25,230 --> 00:39:27,993
to double-check that the Gauguin was not stolen.
713
00:39:32,497 --> 00:39:36,414
(suspenseful orchestral music)
714
00:39:37,690 --> 00:39:40,020
And immediately, one hour after,
715
00:39:40,020 --> 00:39:42,370
I receive a call, the boss of the company.
716
00:39:42,370 --> 00:39:43,457
He say, "Okay, I come tomorrow.
717
00:39:43,457 --> 00:39:45,178
"I have a big problem.
718
00:39:45,178 --> 00:39:46,011
"I have to talk to you.
719
00:39:46,011 --> 00:39:46,844
"I come immediately.
720
00:39:46,844 --> 00:39:47,777
"Tomorrow I am here."
721
00:39:48,980 --> 00:39:50,270
These three pictures
722
00:39:50,270 --> 00:39:52,690
were three of the more valuable pictures
723
00:39:52,690 --> 00:39:55,340
out of those stolen from Argentina,
724
00:39:55,340 --> 00:39:57,250
and we informed the French art dealer
725
00:39:57,250 --> 00:39:58,503
that they were stolen.
726
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:03,370
Radcliffe also told Lansberg his own theory
727
00:40:03,370 --> 00:40:05,870
about the stolen paintings being somehow tied up
728
00:40:05,870 --> 00:40:07,773
in a clandestine arms deal.
729
00:40:14,810 --> 00:40:17,410
At this moment I start to feel a little bit scared
730
00:40:17,410 --> 00:40:19,400
because he's asking me to keep the painting.
731
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:23,590
And I say, well, please bring me some police.
732
00:40:23,590 --> 00:40:27,550
I don't want, you tell me about seller of weapon.
733
00:40:27,550 --> 00:40:31,246
I don't want to be killed to keep those paintings.
734
00:40:31,246 --> 00:40:33,170
You must find something official
735
00:40:33,170 --> 00:40:36,310
to not authorize me to give back
736
00:40:36,310 --> 00:40:40,423
because I don't want anything dangerous for me.
737
00:40:41,477 --> 00:40:45,330
(dramatic orchestral music)
738
00:40:45,330 --> 00:40:47,640
Radcliffe alerted the French authorities
739
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:49,550
and then asked Lansberg to arrange for him
740
00:40:49,550 --> 00:40:52,113
to meet Mr. Hwang in person at the gallery.
741
00:41:06,420 --> 00:41:11,420
I was shown upstairs and met the Taiwanese individual
742
00:41:11,610 --> 00:41:13,923
who had brought the paintings in for sale.
743
00:41:16,867 --> 00:41:18,287
The owner of Art Loss Register came,
744
00:41:18,287 --> 00:41:19,327
and he show his passport,
745
00:41:19,327 --> 00:41:21,897
and he say, "I'm Mr. Julian Radcliffe.
746
00:41:21,897 --> 00:41:24,827
"I'm the boss of this company.
747
00:41:24,827 --> 00:41:26,627
"And can you show me your passport?"
748
00:41:27,570 --> 00:41:31,113
Client say, "No, I don't have to show you anything."
749
00:41:31,113 --> 00:41:35,420
He became very nervous and angry
750
00:41:35,420 --> 00:41:36,683
and jumped up and down.
751
00:41:38,130 --> 00:41:40,280
He said that it was outrageous
752
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,350
that we were going to seize the pictures
753
00:41:43,350 --> 00:41:45,933
and that the pictures weren't stolen,
754
00:41:45,933 --> 00:41:49,720
and he tried the same arguments which Mr. Lung
755
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:51,140
had used on me,
756
00:41:51,140 --> 00:41:53,930
that they had been bought legitimately by Mr. Lung,
757
00:41:53,930 --> 00:41:56,423
even though no evidence was ever provided.
758
00:41:57,270 --> 00:41:58,850
My client was not scared at all.
759
00:41:58,850 --> 00:42:00,616
He said, "I don't know.
760
00:42:00,616 --> 00:42:01,449
"We have everything.
761
00:42:01,449 --> 00:42:02,427
"We own the painting."
762
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,550
He don't feel any scared.
763
00:42:05,550 --> 00:42:07,240
He call his uncle in Taiwan.
764
00:42:07,240 --> 00:42:08,740
They talk in Chinese together.
765
00:42:09,700 --> 00:42:11,170
And I explain to him
766
00:42:11,170 --> 00:42:13,200
that I cannot give back the painting like this
767
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,360
because the police will be involved,
768
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:17,750
the court will be involved.
769
00:42:17,750 --> 00:42:19,350
So my client accept.
770
00:42:19,350 --> 00:42:20,183
He say, "Okay.
771
00:42:20,183 --> 00:42:21,016
"Wait.
772
00:42:21,016 --> 00:42:22,847
"We know that we own the painting.
773
00:42:22,847 --> 00:42:24,457
"We have the proof.
774
00:42:24,457 --> 00:42:25,290
"It's okay."
775
00:42:27,860 --> 00:42:29,930
Pascal Lansberg was then asked
776
00:42:29,930 --> 00:42:30,880
by the French courts
777
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:32,760
to hold on to the three pictures
778
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:34,943
while legal proceedings got under way.
779
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:37,010
I have it in storage.
780
00:42:37,010 --> 00:42:40,020
There was the piece together in a carton,
781
00:42:40,020 --> 00:42:43,810
and I feel scared a few time because this very small carton
782
00:42:43,810 --> 00:42:44,840
was in my reserve.
783
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:46,230
We always move, we always,
784
00:42:46,230 --> 00:42:48,836
and sometimes I say, where are those paintings?
785
00:42:48,836 --> 00:42:50,374
(laughing)
786
00:42:50,374 --> 00:42:53,874
(upbeat orchestral music)
787
00:42:57,600 --> 00:42:59,410
Meanwhile, contact was made
788
00:42:59,410 --> 00:43:02,793
with the museum in Buenos Aires to give them the good news.
789
00:43:03,966 --> 00:43:08,120
(speaking foreign language)
790
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:09,580
We were asked to urgently send to Paris
791
00:43:09,580 --> 00:43:11,810
the documents proving the museum's ownership
792
00:43:11,810 --> 00:43:12,833
of these paintings.
793
00:43:13,770 --> 00:43:16,650
I took part in preparing all the documentation,
794
00:43:16,650 --> 00:43:17,540
the deed of transfer
795
00:43:17,540 --> 00:43:19,860
for the donation of these paintings to the museum
796
00:43:19,860 --> 00:43:21,173
by Mercedes Santamarina.
797
00:43:22,390 --> 00:43:24,590
This was presented immediately to the court.
798
00:43:28,860 --> 00:43:30,480
Now based in Paris,
799
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:33,610
Argentinean journalist Maria Laura Avignolo
800
00:43:33,610 --> 00:43:35,110
had also received a tip-off
801
00:43:35,110 --> 00:43:37,053
about the discovery of the paintings.
802
00:43:38,070 --> 00:43:40,039
The Argentinean ambassador in Paris,
803
00:43:40,039 --> 00:43:42,463
Archibaldo Lanús, called me one day
804
00:43:42,463 --> 00:43:45,270
and tell me that we have to have tea
805
00:43:45,270 --> 00:43:47,453
because he have a great story to tell me.
806
00:43:48,690 --> 00:43:50,800
The paintings, the Impressionist,
807
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,363
come up, apparently, in Taiwan.
808
00:43:54,330 --> 00:43:57,600
Archie, as we call him, love art,
809
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,080
was a great ambassador here,
810
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:02,740
and he love culture, and everybody know that.
811
00:44:02,740 --> 00:44:04,490
So I make an agreement with him saying
812
00:44:04,490 --> 00:44:05,750
that I will not publish
813
00:44:05,750 --> 00:44:10,170
if he was telling me, step by step, what we were doing.
814
00:44:11,512 --> 00:44:15,179
(speaking foreign language)
815
00:44:17,670 --> 00:44:19,430
It was a detective's role
816
00:44:19,430 --> 00:44:20,970
that was the fun part of it
817
00:44:20,970 --> 00:44:23,630
between Radcliffe, who is a well-informed man
818
00:44:23,630 --> 00:44:25,460
with loads of personality,
819
00:44:25,460 --> 00:44:28,350
and this mystery owner who never showed up.
820
00:44:28,350 --> 00:44:30,480
It made an entertaining affair.
821
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,023
Back at the embassy, we don't really handle cases like this.
822
00:44:38,391 --> 00:44:40,110
(light acoustic guitar music)
823
00:44:40,110 --> 00:44:41,750
Ownership of the three paintings
824
00:44:41,750 --> 00:44:43,693
would now be left to the courts.
825
00:44:47,050 --> 00:44:50,790
Meanwhile, Julian Radcliffe embarked on a bold bid
826
00:44:50,790 --> 00:44:53,460
to lure the rest of the collection to Paris.
827
00:44:53,460 --> 00:44:55,450
He installed himself in a hotel
828
00:44:55,450 --> 00:44:58,200
in a quiet side street of central Paris,
829
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:00,023
then invited Hwang to meet him.
830
00:45:03,830 --> 00:45:08,580
Our strategy was to say to the Taiwanese man
831
00:45:08,580 --> 00:45:10,623
in Paris, Yeh Yeo-Hwang,
832
00:45:11,540 --> 00:45:15,570
that he should bring all the other pictures
833
00:45:15,570 --> 00:45:17,560
from Taiwan to Paris
834
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:20,713
and surrender all of them to the Argentinean government.
835
00:45:21,660 --> 00:45:24,470
And one of the points of pressure we brought on him
836
00:45:24,470 --> 00:45:26,100
was to point out that he'd smuggled
837
00:45:26,100 --> 00:45:28,030
three pictures into Paris
838
00:45:28,030 --> 00:45:30,880
and that the French authorities wouldn't like that,
839
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:32,730
but if he brought all the others in,
840
00:45:32,730 --> 00:45:35,460
then they might be prepared to accept
841
00:45:35,460 --> 00:45:38,400
that he had done something technically wrong
842
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:39,673
but not pursue it.
843
00:45:42,700 --> 00:45:44,530
When Hwang was negotiating with us,
844
00:45:44,530 --> 00:45:47,200
it was clear that they wanted cash
845
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:49,350
if they were going to surrender the pictures.
846
00:45:49,350 --> 00:45:53,550
We had to make them understand that there was no way
847
00:45:53,550 --> 00:45:57,600
in which we were prepared to pay any money to them
848
00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:58,750
for the surrender of the pictures
849
00:45:58,750 --> 00:46:01,510
unless they gave us the full intelligence
850
00:46:01,510 --> 00:46:03,780
about how they'd obtained them.
851
00:46:03,780 --> 00:46:06,390
They were not prepared to do that because they knew
852
00:46:06,390 --> 00:46:07,970
that if they gave us that information,
853
00:46:07,970 --> 00:46:09,520
it would show that they had no title
854
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:10,903
to the pictures whatsoever.
855
00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:22,790
The negotiations were in deadlock,
856
00:46:22,790 --> 00:46:25,683
and both sides handed it over to their lawyers.
857
00:46:29,990 --> 00:46:31,720
Radcliffe met with the French lawyer
858
00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:33,630
representing the Taiwanese.
859
00:46:33,630 --> 00:46:35,200
He was increasingly confident
860
00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:37,170
of recovering the remaining pictures.
861
00:46:37,170 --> 00:46:39,620
He was a sophisticated operator,
862
00:46:39,620 --> 00:46:42,330
and we thought that he was a man of the world
863
00:46:42,330 --> 00:46:44,920
who would be able to persuade the Taiwanese to do a deal
864
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:46,283
and surrender the pictures.
865
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:52,620
But fate had a last bizarre twist in store
866
00:46:52,620 --> 00:46:55,163
for the ill-starred Santamarina collection.
867
00:46:58,950 --> 00:47:00,170
Radcliffe might have thought
868
00:47:00,170 --> 00:47:02,760
he was getting nearer to the stolen paintings.
869
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:04,140
But the French lawyer
870
00:47:04,140 --> 00:47:07,400
in whom Radcliffe seemed to be investing so much hope
871
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:10,280
turned out to not be quite what he seemed.
872
00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:13,947
(speaking foreign language)
873
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:16,470
One day we went to a meeting
874
00:47:16,470 --> 00:47:18,300
to negotiate a final settlement
875
00:47:18,300 --> 00:47:21,960
and get the paintings back, and he just didn't show up.
876
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:22,793
And then we learned
877
00:47:22,793 --> 00:47:25,373
he had been arrested for some issue in Africa.
878
00:47:27,340 --> 00:47:30,810
He become involved in some African dealing
879
00:47:30,810 --> 00:47:35,683
with diamonds and gold, and they put him in jail.
880
00:47:39,260 --> 00:47:42,490
And Mr. Hwang went back to Taiwan,
881
00:47:42,490 --> 00:47:45,850
and we had nobody who we could negotiate with.
882
00:47:45,850 --> 00:47:48,740
And although the pictures had been seized by the court,
883
00:47:48,740 --> 00:47:50,597
they weren't prepared to actually
884
00:47:50,597 --> 00:47:53,170
hand them over to the Argentineans
885
00:47:53,170 --> 00:47:55,903
until they'd had some contact with the Taiwanese.
886
00:48:02,970 --> 00:48:04,310
For three years,
887
00:48:04,310 --> 00:48:07,940
the whole process once again ground to a standstill.
888
00:48:07,940 --> 00:48:12,020
The 13 pictures in Taiwan had again slipped out of reach,
889
00:48:12,020 --> 00:48:15,353
and even the three in Paris were tied up in legal red tape.
890
00:48:19,224 --> 00:48:22,391
(upbeat guitar music)
891
00:48:23,490 --> 00:48:27,640
In desperation, Julian Radcliffe tried to speed things up,
892
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:29,683
bypassing the whole legal process.
893
00:48:30,530 --> 00:48:33,210
One day Mr. Radcliffe called me
894
00:48:33,210 --> 00:48:37,460
and said that the ambassador of Argentina will be in Paris.
895
00:48:37,460 --> 00:48:40,350
He tried to push me to give back those paintings.
896
00:48:40,350 --> 00:48:41,390
I don't understand because
897
00:48:41,390 --> 00:48:44,780
I said, I have a responsibility to keep the paintings.
898
00:48:44,780 --> 00:48:48,360
I don't have any order from the court, from the police.
899
00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:49,453
I have to keep them.
900
00:48:51,590 --> 00:48:52,883
He never called me back.
901
00:48:53,940 --> 00:48:54,773
Never.
902
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:02,040
I realize that his job is to recover paintings stolen
903
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:03,263
and to get commission.
904
00:49:05,210 --> 00:49:06,943
He work like a bounty hunter.
905
00:49:10,820 --> 00:49:13,520
So Lansberg refused to hand over the paintings
906
00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:16,010
until the legal go-ahead was given.
907
00:49:16,010 --> 00:49:18,963
But it was six months before a decision seemed imminent.
908
00:49:21,540 --> 00:49:24,600
(upbeat guitar music)
909
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:26,930
Only then did the authorities in Argentina
910
00:49:26,930 --> 00:49:28,887
at last snap into action.
911
00:49:32,710 --> 00:49:36,120
They appointed to the case a prominent investigating judge
912
00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:38,513
to go to Europe to get the paintings back.
913
00:49:42,510 --> 00:49:45,820
With him went an agent from Interpol Argentina,
914
00:49:45,820 --> 00:49:47,740
Marcelo El Haibe,
915
00:49:47,740 --> 00:49:50,010
and on behalf of the Ministry of Culture,
916
00:49:50,010 --> 00:49:53,670
Americo Castilla, now director of the Museum of Fine Arts
917
00:49:53,670 --> 00:49:54,823
in Buenos Aires.
918
00:49:57,770 --> 00:49:59,800
In November 2005,
919
00:49:59,800 --> 00:50:02,460
the three men flew to Paris to recover the pictures
920
00:50:02,460 --> 00:50:04,670
which still languished in the safe room
921
00:50:04,670 --> 00:50:06,893
at the Darga & Lansberg Galerie.
922
00:50:09,020 --> 00:50:10,180
A hearing was convened
923
00:50:10,180 --> 00:50:11,540
in the grandiose surroundings
924
00:50:11,540 --> 00:50:13,280
of the French police headquarters
925
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:14,900
in the center of Paris,
926
00:50:14,900 --> 00:50:16,560
and Radcliffe was summoned to appear
927
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:18,403
before the Argentinean judge.
928
00:50:19,740 --> 00:50:22,520
The judge sat at the end of the table
929
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:27,520
with a set of black gloves in front of him, dark glasses,
930
00:50:27,532 --> 00:50:32,493
looking somewhat strange, if not menacing.
931
00:50:33,810 --> 00:50:36,100
He was impressed by the end
932
00:50:36,100 --> 00:50:38,860
of the question-and-answer session
933
00:50:38,860 --> 00:50:41,110
that we were able to give
934
00:50:41,110 --> 00:50:44,240
very full and detailed accounts of what had happened.
935
00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:47,742
We had nine volumes of files that I took to Paris
936
00:50:47,742 --> 00:50:50,690
so that we could check all the facts
937
00:50:50,690 --> 00:50:52,440
so that the French authorities
938
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:54,780
and the Argentineans were confident
939
00:50:54,780 --> 00:50:57,530
that the pictures could be handed over with no problem.
940
00:51:01,350 --> 00:51:03,393
The police said to me,
941
00:51:03,393 --> 00:51:07,000
"Now we will give back the paintings to the museum."
942
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:10,850
So they came in the gallery to take the painting,
943
00:51:10,850 --> 00:51:13,267
and they do it legally, yeah.
944
00:51:18,430 --> 00:51:21,050
On November 14, 2005,
945
00:51:21,050 --> 00:51:22,450
the three pictures were handed over
946
00:51:22,450 --> 00:51:24,983
to the Argentine delegation in Paris.
947
00:51:32,504 --> 00:51:36,370
(dramatic orchestral music)
948
00:51:36,370 --> 00:51:39,860
Within days, the paintings were on their way back home,
949
00:51:39,860 --> 00:51:42,793
protected by the man from Argentine Interpol.
950
00:51:44,570 --> 00:51:48,237
(speaking foreign language)
951
00:51:50,475 --> 00:51:52,530
The paintings traveled back in our hands,
952
00:51:52,530 --> 00:51:54,900
me, the judge, and the secretary,
953
00:51:54,900 --> 00:51:57,710
passing them around depending on the situation.
954
00:51:57,710 --> 00:51:58,980
But we never left them alone,
955
00:51:58,980 --> 00:52:01,270
and we never let them out of our sight,
956
00:52:01,270 --> 00:52:02,970
so that we didn't lose them again.
957
00:52:13,580 --> 00:52:15,880
Finally, nearly a quarter of a century
958
00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:17,610
after the original theft,
959
00:52:17,610 --> 00:52:19,420
the pictures arrived back inside
960
00:52:19,420 --> 00:52:21,963
the Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.
961
00:52:22,799 --> 00:52:25,440
(audience applauding)
962
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:29,720
A ceremony was held to welcome the long-lost paintings home.
963
00:52:29,720 --> 00:52:32,887
(audience applauding)
964
00:52:35,740 --> 00:52:37,630
Despite the long absence,
965
00:52:37,630 --> 00:52:39,440
the staff searched the stores
966
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:43,040
to see if the original frames could still be found.
967
00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:46,373
So here's the three pieces we recovered last year.
968
00:52:47,250 --> 00:52:50,733
There's a Gauguin, a Renoir, and a Cézanne.
969
00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:56,230
Personnel from this museum kept the frames,
970
00:52:56,230 --> 00:52:58,830
as if waiting for them to come back.
971
00:52:58,830 --> 00:53:01,530
That frame which says Gauguin,
972
00:53:01,530 --> 00:53:03,897
and the name of the painting is "The Call."
973
00:53:05,436 --> 00:53:09,938
I like to imagine it was called by the museum to come back.
974
00:53:09,938 --> 00:53:13,355
(light orchestral music)
975
00:53:16,070 --> 00:53:17,803
Same thing with the Cézanne.
976
00:53:18,700 --> 00:53:20,971
But those two are the original frames that came
977
00:53:20,971 --> 00:53:24,033
with the donation from the Santamarina family.
978
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:28,373
The only frame which wasn't found was the Renoir.
979
00:53:34,090 --> 00:53:35,960
We were not notified, nothing.
980
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:38,360
We heard about it just in the paper.
981
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:39,880
We were very happy with this.
982
00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:41,362
Very happy.
983
00:53:41,362 --> 00:53:42,410
In particular I was very happy
984
00:53:42,410 --> 00:53:44,130
with the recovery of the Renoir.
985
00:53:44,130 --> 00:53:44,980
It was very nice.
986
00:53:49,810 --> 00:53:50,800
I feel proud.
987
00:53:50,800 --> 00:53:54,472
I feel finally, you know, it was nice to be Argentinean
988
00:53:54,472 --> 00:53:56,620
and to be part of an operation
989
00:53:56,620 --> 00:53:58,210
that were recovering something
990
00:53:58,210 --> 00:54:00,783
that is part of our history.
991
00:54:08,930 --> 00:54:10,760
To have recovered these three
992
00:54:10,760 --> 00:54:13,470
is like a symbol of the importance of our museum
993
00:54:13,470 --> 00:54:15,463
and our care for what we have.
994
00:54:17,070 --> 00:54:17,943
A great joy.
995
00:54:29,540 --> 00:54:31,460
But despite all the fanfare,
996
00:54:31,460 --> 00:54:35,180
the fate of the 13 missing paintings is still unclear.
997
00:54:35,180 --> 00:54:38,650
Among them, rare works by Matisse, Cézanne,
998
00:54:38,650 --> 00:54:40,603
Renoir, and Degas.
999
00:54:41,650 --> 00:54:42,913
Will they ever be found?
1000
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:47,265
I don't believe that the government will recover
1001
00:54:47,265 --> 00:54:50,600
more paintings because they will have to pay,
1002
00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:52,300
and they are not interested.
1003
00:54:52,300 --> 00:54:54,730
So I believe that the robbery of the Impressionists
1004
00:54:54,730 --> 00:54:57,610
reflects of a country with instability
1005
00:54:57,610 --> 00:55:00,130
because they'd been robbed during the dirty war,
1006
00:55:00,130 --> 00:55:01,820
nobody looked for them.
1007
00:55:01,820 --> 00:55:03,470
And now, with the democracy,
1008
00:55:03,470 --> 00:55:06,870
nobody is interested in them anymore.
1009
00:55:06,870 --> 00:55:07,930
There are three there,
1010
00:55:07,930 --> 00:55:11,473
and nobody remember the other ones that are still in Taiwan.
1011
00:55:13,050 --> 00:55:15,700
The other 13 are somewhere,
1012
00:55:15,700 --> 00:55:18,880
probably under the control, directly or indirectly,
1013
00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:20,460
of the Taiwanese.
1014
00:55:20,460 --> 00:55:22,400
One day they may try to sell them,
1015
00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:24,300
and that's probably when we find them.
1016
00:55:25,766 --> 00:55:29,433
(dramatic orchestral music)
1017
00:55:30,298 --> 00:55:33,965
(dramatic orchestral music)
77410
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