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(suspenseful music)
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It's January, 2006.
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(upbeat music)
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Police officers from Vienna's Crime Investigation squad
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arrive on the outskirts of a forest.
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For almost three years, they've been working
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to try to recover one of the most important sculptures
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in Renaissance art, the "Saliera" by Benvenuto Cellini.
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It had been stolen from Vienna's History of Art Museum
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during the night, and was worth a cool $65 million dollars.
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But was it just another dead end?
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The thief had already sent two blackmail letters,
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and led the police on a wild goose chase through Vienna,
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leaving handwritten clues as he went.
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The extraordinary trail of the stolen "Saliera"
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would turn out to be one of the most astonishing
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art heists in modern times.
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(police siren blaring)
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(upbeat music)
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(classical music)
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It's late evening in Vienna,
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and there's a festive spirit in the city.
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Skaters are enjoying a last few circuits at the rink
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in front of the town hall, before they close for the night.
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(gentle music)
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By the early hours, the crowds have gone home.
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The streets in the city center are deserted.
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(suspenseful music)
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At the prestigious Museum of Art History nearby,
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the security night shift has been on duty for several hours.
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The museum houses one of the greatest
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art collections in Europe,
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and is a focal point for culture in Vienna.
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Many of the artworks here are priceless.
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It's on par with both the Louvre
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and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
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It is the focal point of not just the great collections
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of the Habsburg Emperors and others,
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but also it's the cultural focal point of a great city.
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Protecting such an important
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collection is critical.
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The museum has state of the art security,
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but like any large building, it can still be vulnerable.
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Intruder alarm systems, electronics,
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they don't stop thieves, that's not enough.
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You also need a building, a structure
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with a very burglarproof outer shell.
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It must be very difficult to get in.
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Because investments in electronics are a waste of money
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if people can get in quickly and get out quickly again.
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It doesn't stop thieves.
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At 3:55 a.m. something catches the attention
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of one of the security guards.
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He notices a small window alarm
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is activated on the 7th floor.
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It continues to ring for another 40 seconds.
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Assuming it's a false alarm,
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he switches it off and resets it.
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The alarm having been triggered,
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and the people in the security room being aware
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of the fact the alarm's been triggered,
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then turn it off because they reckon it's malfunctioned.
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And this is a fairly typical thing to happen.
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In my own experience, it's happened a number of times,
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where security personnel are not well paid
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and they're there on night duty.
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And they assume, because it happened so often
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that false alarms happen,
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that this is just another false alarm.
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(suspenseful music)
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The rest of the night passes quietly.
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At eight o'clock in the morning, the guards
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leave their control room and start to check the galleries.
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As they reach the 7th floor, this is what confronts them.
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First a smashed window, with glass littering the floor.
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Then in the middle of the gallery,
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a cabinet with a glass surround that's also been broken.
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But the unique Renaissance sculpture
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that had been protected inside, has gone.
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The missing sculpture is called
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the "Saliera" or "Salt Cellar".
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It's the only surviving gold work
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by the extraordinary Renaissance artist,
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Benvenuto Cellini, made around 1543.
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It's insurance value is $65 million dollars.
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It's extremely important
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because it's a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
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It came from Cellini, in the Italian Renaissance.
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And there's no other piece of art exactly like it.
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And that's why it was such a tremendous shock
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when this invaluable,
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this priceless piece of art was stolen.
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(suspenseful music)
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The discovery of the theft was catastrophic
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for the museum, the sculpture was unique.
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A hugely important work of art.
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And it's loss might now impact on Vienna's
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profitable art and culture tourism.
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So much of Austrian tourism revolves around culture.
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And art is a big part of the culture here.
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And if somebody stole the "Saliera",
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theoretically it might give somebody ideas
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of stealing something else, a Klimt or a Schiele.
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And the Austrian authorities, the politicians
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and the tourist industry especially,
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didn't want this to get out.
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And so it was imperative that the police
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find who committed this crime.
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(police siren blaring)
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Within minutes of the discovery
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the Austrian police are en route to the museum.
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(dramatic music)
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As Vienna wakes, news of the audacious theft
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of one of the key works of Renaissance art,
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from Austria's greatest museums, is about to break.
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(dramatic music)
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We didn't realize how worth this sculpture was.
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The next day, it was the Monday, the newspapers
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wrote that it is 50 million euros worth.
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With that, it's the biggest theft,
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art theft in Austria we had, ever.
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It was extremely momentous in the fact
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that it opened up a whole plethora of questions
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in itself, how did this happen?
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How could this have happened?
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Why wasn't the security better?
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What was going on in the leadership of the museum?
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And how were the police going to deal with it?
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It was now crucial for the police
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to work out how the thief or thieves
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had got into the museum and onto the 7th floor.
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As well as that, they needed to piece together
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the last 24 hours, in a search for suspects.
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(men speaking in foreign language)
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The night of the theft had been
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an unusually busy evening in Vienna.
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(gentle music)
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Throughout the evening and into the early hours,
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the center of Vienna had been full of revelers.
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The city had put on a festival
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called "The Long Night of Music".
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In front of the town hall, hundreds of skaters
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were enjoying the big night out.
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Well if there's an atmosphere like that,
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the people are skating, having fun enjoying themselves,
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then very often burglaries take place.
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(suspenseful music)
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So it seems thieves make use of that.
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They do their risk assessment.
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I think in general, thieves are better
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in risk assessment then museums.
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The Art History Museum had also stayed open
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much later then normal,
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finally closing it's doors at 1:50 a.m.
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At 2 a.m., the night alarms were set,
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but there had been problems before, with false alarms.
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One thing that's killing for a system,
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is it's frequent false alarms.
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Because then people won't react anymore
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if you have false alarms all the time.
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Look in the streets if there are alarms in cars,
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nobody will react because you hear them very often.
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So false alarms really are killing for the system.
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And there was another unusual factor
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at the History of Art Museum that night.
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Huge renovation work meant the back of the building
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had been covered in scaffolding, right up to the 7th floor.
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The police thought they were now able to track
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just how the thief got in, and at what time.
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The next morning, they staged a carefully planned
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reconstruction of the theft, using a police officer
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and evidence they'd found on the scaffolding.
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They needed to time how long it would take
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to get in and out of the museum.
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Moving to the back of the building,
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the thief was able to get onto the first scaffolding ladder.
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Now he carefully climbs up to the first floor
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and accesses a second ladder.
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From there, he moves on up to the 3rd floor,
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the 4th, until finally he is at the 7th.
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Well when we put up scaffolding normally,
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we make sure there will be alarm systems
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on the scaffolding.
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So as soon as somebody climbs the scaffolding,
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there should be an alarm.
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They didn't even protect the scaffolding.
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So this is what I call this ladder,
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it's just a ladder they put outside, through building.
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Almost an invitation, please get in.
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Now he can skirt round the building
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on the scaffold boards, until finally he reaches
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the 7th floor window outside the Raphael room.
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It's taken him four minutes.
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He rips away the sheeting in front of the window
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and realizes there are two windows.
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One inside and one outside.
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The window alarm goes off,
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and the security guard is alerted.
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But he does nothing, instead he simply resets the alarm.
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Not even the lights are switched on.
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The lights on the gallery would've enabled
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the CCTV cameras to show what had happened.
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(dramatic music)
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Now the intruder heads straight for the glass
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cabinet covering the "Saliera".
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He smashed it, takes the sculpture
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and goes out through the same windows.
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He's been inside the museum for 55 seconds.
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The room is monitored by three motion detector alarms.
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And there is also a camera.
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When the police check it, they see nothing.
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It was too dark to even have registered an image.
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He now exits the building, but this time
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by another route on the scaffolding.
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(dramatic music)
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What became apparent was, is that you were dealing
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with a highly athletic individual.
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Somebody who had a lot of courage.
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Somebody who was able to get behind this netting
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and to get up two or three storeys
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to get through a relatively small window.
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Break through this window, jimmy this window open.
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Jump down to where the floor was, to break this case.
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And then to go all the way back, up to the window
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and back down again, while carrying this priceless
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piece of Renaissance art.
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The access and route into the building seems clear,
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but the security guards' failure to react
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to the window alarm, now puts them right at the center
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of the police investigation.
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Was it simple negligence, or did the thief
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have an accomplice inside the museum?
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I was there professionally, and my instincts
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were straight away, there's something wrong here
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with the response to the alarm.
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And I leapt to the conclusion
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that that's where the trouble must lie.
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That was my instinctive thing,
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was there's got to be something wrong
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with the alarm system procedures.
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Got to be, and the people managing them.
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One must not forget that a high percentage
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of all thefts from museums are insider thefts.
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In the FBI they did a research a few years ago
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and they said of all thefts from museums,
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that they solve, so not all thefts but all thefts
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that they solve, 80% and that's a lot,
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80%'s insider thefts.
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The police interview every security guard.
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They monitor their phone calls and put them
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under close surveillance, but turn up nothing.
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By now, news of the theft, and the police investigation
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is dominating the media in Austria.
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Much of the criticism is leveled at the museum security,
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who are now offering a $75,000 dollar reward
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for the return of the "Saliera".
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But the police are also under huge pressure
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to make an arrest, and find the sculpture, undamaged.
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Well people were amazed, because this was considered
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to be such a brazen act.
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One of the biggest art history museums in central Europe
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that was supposed to have a great security system.
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And along comes somebody, in the middle of the night.
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Not only breaks into the museum, but steals
265
00:14:15,430 --> 00:14:20,000
one of the showcase attractions inside this museum
266
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,053
and then disappears into the night, into thin air.
267
00:14:25,110 --> 00:14:28,470
So far the police have no key suspects,
268
00:14:28,470 --> 00:14:32,623
no clues and no idea where the "Saliera" was.
269
00:14:34,179 --> 00:14:37,480
(cheerful classical music)
270
00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,940
The colorful history of the "Salt Cellar" began in Florence,
271
00:14:40,940 --> 00:14:44,080
in the first part of the 16th century.
272
00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,380
It's creator was Benvenuto Cellini,
273
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a Renaissance goldsmith whose life was beyond belief.
274
00:14:51,470 --> 00:14:55,060
Amongst other things, he'd committed murder at least once,
275
00:14:55,060 --> 00:14:58,430
and had numerous affairs with both men and women.
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00:14:58,430 --> 00:15:01,780
What's more, he reveled in his notoriety.
277
00:15:01,780 --> 00:15:04,710
Well Benvenuto Cellini was one of the most colorful
278
00:15:04,710 --> 00:15:08,530
characters of the Renaissance, and the reason we know this
279
00:15:08,530 --> 00:15:11,260
is because he wrote an autobiography.
280
00:15:11,260 --> 00:15:13,220
Which is a rather unusual thing
281
00:15:13,220 --> 00:15:15,380
for a Renaissance artist to do.
282
00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:18,020
And in that autobiography he gives us
283
00:15:18,020 --> 00:15:21,480
a very vivid account of his life, his achievements
284
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,830
and he's certainly not a modest man, it has to be said.
285
00:15:24,830 --> 00:15:29,830
But his achievements span everything from murder to love,
286
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:35,220
to artistic creativity, to ingenuity and invention.
287
00:15:35,220 --> 00:15:39,260
He really does praise himself to the heights (laughs)
288
00:15:39,260 --> 00:15:42,128
throughout his account of his life.
289
00:15:42,128 --> 00:15:43,120
(gentle music)
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The sculpture was one of the greatest examples
291
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,440
of late Renaissance art, and was designed for royalty.
292
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,306
But it wasn't just decorative.
293
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The object is functional,
294
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it was made as a salt cellar, and in fact
295
00:15:54,380 --> 00:15:56,540
it has facility to have pepper on one side
296
00:15:56,540 --> 00:15:58,000
and salt on the other.
297
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,320
But it is it's decorative qualities
298
00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,170
that Cellini was most interested in.
299
00:16:03,170 --> 00:16:05,940
And in fact, what he's demonstrating here
300
00:16:05,940 --> 00:16:09,520
is his incredible skill in casting,
301
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in particular casting in gold, and enameling with colors.
302
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,120
His travels took him to France,
303
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:18,870
which is where the "Saliera" began
304
00:16:18,870 --> 00:16:22,313
it's journey across Europe, and finally to Vienna.
305
00:16:23,536 --> 00:16:26,450
The "Saliera" was made for the king of France,
306
00:16:26,450 --> 00:16:29,990
and it was given to the Archduke Leopold II,
307
00:16:29,990 --> 00:16:34,502
as a diplomatic gift from the grandson of Francis I,
308
00:16:34,502 --> 00:16:37,760
that was Charles IX, and so it ended up
309
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,443
in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
310
00:16:42,420 --> 00:16:45,023
But why was the "Saliera" so unique?
311
00:16:47,820 --> 00:16:51,040
Well firstly, it's survival is very rare.
312
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,600
There are very few gold pieces that have survived
313
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:54,963
from the 16th century.
314
00:16:57,026 --> 00:17:01,630
I think that technically, it's skill, the skill that Cellini
315
00:17:01,630 --> 00:17:04,040
demonstrates through the technical virtuosity
316
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,100
of the piece, means that it represents the pinnacle
317
00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:09,840
of technical skill, virtuosity.
318
00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:11,600
And I think it's the marrying together
319
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,690
of that sort of virtuosity of skill,
320
00:17:14,690 --> 00:17:19,230
with a rather sophisticated approach to image-making
321
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as it were, coming out of the Florentine milieu
322
00:17:22,130 --> 00:17:24,843
makes the piece rather unique and special.
323
00:17:26,018 --> 00:17:28,601
(gentle music)
324
00:17:34,340 --> 00:17:35,810
It's now just a week
325
00:17:35,810 --> 00:17:38,250
since the "Saliera" was stolen.
326
00:17:38,250 --> 00:17:41,200
But the police aren't the only ones feeling the pressure.
327
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,310
The museum authorities, reeling from the theft
328
00:17:44,310 --> 00:17:47,190
and stunned by criticisms of their security,
329
00:17:47,190 --> 00:17:50,390
decide to call in their own expert to help.
330
00:17:50,390 --> 00:17:54,033
An ex-officer from Scotland Yard's Arts and Antiques squad.
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00:17:55,830 --> 00:18:00,260
The director of the museum rang me, and he asked me
332
00:18:00,260 --> 00:18:03,203
would I come to Vienna and offer my advice to him.
333
00:18:04,270 --> 00:18:05,670
He sounded quite distressed.
334
00:18:06,700 --> 00:18:09,873
This is almost a killer blow to his psyche.
335
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:13,280
Charlie Hill was also intrigued
336
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:15,790
by the alarm system at the museum.
337
00:18:15,790 --> 00:18:18,380
According to him, the infrared detectors
338
00:18:18,380 --> 00:18:20,880
seemed to cover everything in the Raphael room,
339
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,083
apart from the "Saliera" in the center of the gallery.
340
00:18:25,130 --> 00:18:26,900
When I was taken up to the Raphael gallery,
341
00:18:26,900 --> 00:18:30,760
and looked at the point where the plinth was,
342
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:35,550
upon which the Cellini "Saliera" was fixed, and it's case.
343
00:18:36,580 --> 00:18:40,280
I was astonished because the passive infrared detectors
344
00:18:41,250 --> 00:18:46,250
had been set so that they actually went beyond the case,
345
00:18:47,310 --> 00:18:50,010
the plinth on which the "Saliera" was being exhibited.
346
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,260
And so somebody coming in from the window,
347
00:18:53,260 --> 00:18:56,150
who knew about alarms, would have realized that.
348
00:18:56,150 --> 00:18:58,130
So that was the one thing that stuck in my mind,
349
00:18:58,130 --> 00:19:01,000
there's something wrong here, seriously wrong.
350
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,660
But where did this leave the investigation?
351
00:19:03,660 --> 00:19:06,200
It was intriguing information, but Charlie Hill
352
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:08,170
was already looking elsewhere.
353
00:19:08,170 --> 00:19:10,440
He was convinced the "Saliera" theft
354
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,320
had all the hallmarks of organized crime.
355
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,920
His hunch was it had been ordered by warlords
356
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,270
from Serbia or Croatia.
357
00:19:18,270 --> 00:19:21,380
My initial feeling, based on other experiences
358
00:19:21,380 --> 00:19:23,080
over the years that I've been involved in recovering
359
00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:26,990
works of art, is that in continental Europe,
360
00:19:26,990 --> 00:19:31,990
the main thieves of priceless works of art
361
00:19:32,940 --> 00:19:34,820
in the past couple of decades,
362
00:19:34,820 --> 00:19:38,680
have been a variety of groups in the Balkans.
363
00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,210
So not just Serbia, it's not just Kosovo Albanians,
364
00:19:41,210 --> 00:19:45,140
or Albanians or any other particular group.
365
00:19:45,140 --> 00:19:47,833
But by and large people you would call Balkan bandits.
366
00:19:52,329 --> 00:19:53,740
But knowing the reward for the return
367
00:19:53,740 --> 00:19:56,480
of the "Saliera" would be a good bargaining tool,
368
00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:58,563
Hill now flew to Belgrade.
369
00:19:59,722 --> 00:20:02,722
(suspenseful music)
370
00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:07,090
Meetings were arranged, he'd been given names
371
00:20:07,090 --> 00:20:09,080
of criminal high rollers who might know
372
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:10,980
where the "Saliera" was.
373
00:20:10,980 --> 00:20:12,853
He felt he was getting closer.
374
00:20:15,090 --> 00:20:17,750
I spoke to a number of people in Belgrade,
375
00:20:17,750 --> 00:20:19,750
and I told them there was a reward for the piece.
376
00:20:19,750 --> 00:20:21,150
You need to talk business with these guys,
377
00:20:21,150 --> 00:20:24,290
they don't understand you if you don't talk seriously
378
00:20:24,290 --> 00:20:25,780
to them and explain exactly what you want.
379
00:20:25,780 --> 00:20:27,410
You also don't want to lie to them.
380
00:20:27,410 --> 00:20:29,760
So you need something constructive to say
381
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:31,660
and then stick to your word.
382
00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:33,400
And they all said that they'd be happy to help me
383
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:34,690
and used their contacts to see
384
00:20:34,690 --> 00:20:36,500
what they could find out about it.
385
00:20:36,500 --> 00:20:37,920
So that was quite helpful.
386
00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:39,740
And sure enough I got a couple of phone calls,
387
00:20:39,740 --> 00:20:41,710
well maybe this, maybe that.
388
00:20:41,710 --> 00:20:44,030
But nothing ever particularly constructive,
389
00:20:44,030 --> 00:20:45,180
nothing to work on.
390
00:20:45,180 --> 00:20:47,200
The Austrian police meanwhile
391
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,480
were being swamped by leads from all over the world.
392
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,903
Including Serbia and Croatia in the Balkans.
393
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,400
We heard from Quebec
394
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,460
that the "Saliera" should be in Quebec, in Canada
395
00:21:03,460 --> 00:21:07,773
or in Bulgaria, or in Croatia.
396
00:21:08,630 --> 00:21:13,630
And somebody said that Italian Camorra has stolen it,
397
00:21:14,300 --> 00:21:16,630
but still we didn't know
398
00:21:18,441 --> 00:21:20,807
who had really the "Saliera".
399
00:21:22,050 --> 00:21:23,410
But then something the police
400
00:21:23,410 --> 00:21:25,600
had hoped for, happened.
401
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:30,600
On the 22nd of August, 2003, a letter, postmarked Vienna,
402
00:21:30,980 --> 00:21:33,650
was sent to the headquarters of Uniqa,
403
00:21:33,650 --> 00:21:36,910
the insurance company covering the "Saliera".
404
00:21:36,910 --> 00:21:39,350
Inside was a ransom note.
405
00:21:39,350 --> 00:21:43,000
5 million euros, or nearly $7 million dollars
406
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,500
for the return of the "Saliera".
407
00:21:45,500 --> 00:21:47,980
The letter was typed in broken English.
408
00:21:47,980 --> 00:21:50,430
There were also some small enamel fragments
409
00:21:50,430 --> 00:21:52,737
that the writer said, came from the "Saliera".
410
00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:56,350
The letter writer asked that the insurance company
411
00:21:56,350 --> 00:21:59,270
place an ad in a national paper to signal
412
00:21:59,270 --> 00:22:03,080
that they had received the letter and were prepared to pay.
413
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,080
Meanwhile tests were done on the enamel fragments
414
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,887
to discover if they were indeed part of the "Saliera".
415
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,990
The answer was they were.
416
00:22:12,990 --> 00:22:15,530
So now the police realized they were dealing
417
00:22:15,530 --> 00:22:18,960
with the real thief, but there was a problem.
418
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,580
If the insurance company involved the police,
419
00:22:21,580 --> 00:22:24,313
then the "Saliera" would be melted down.
420
00:22:25,700 --> 00:22:27,810
For the museum, people and the police,
421
00:22:27,810 --> 00:22:30,900
it ratcheted up the pressure even further.
422
00:22:30,900 --> 00:22:33,500
Because in these blackmail letters
423
00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:37,400
he alluded to money, and he also alluded
424
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,680
to what he would do to the "Saliera"
425
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:41,140
if he didn't get the money.
426
00:22:41,140 --> 00:22:44,570
And one of these threats was melting it down.
427
00:22:44,570 --> 00:22:49,570
And this caused a great degree of anxiety
428
00:22:50,170 --> 00:22:53,200
among museum officials, the police,
429
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,970
and again the cultural officials here in Austria.
430
00:22:56,970 --> 00:22:59,850
And they wanted to do everything they possibly could
431
00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:03,460
to prevent this man from carrying out this threat
432
00:23:03,460 --> 00:23:05,470
to melting it down.
433
00:23:05,470 --> 00:23:08,300
And they thought he was dead serious.
434
00:23:08,300 --> 00:23:10,560
For Charlie Hill, the ransom letter
435
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:12,320
seemed to fit in with his theory
436
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,350
of a Serbian gang connection.
437
00:23:14,350 --> 00:23:16,630
When I read the letter, it read so much,
438
00:23:16,630 --> 00:23:19,770
'cause it was in English, but broken English.
439
00:23:19,770 --> 00:23:22,670
It read in a manner that was very similar
440
00:23:22,670 --> 00:23:25,860
to a letter I'd received from some art crook in Croatia,
441
00:23:25,860 --> 00:23:27,053
some time before.
442
00:23:28,430 --> 00:23:30,070
Just a matter of months before.
443
00:23:30,070 --> 00:23:33,800
And that the English was so similar in it's broken form,
444
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,583
that I assumed, now I'm absolutely right
445
00:23:35,583 --> 00:23:36,730
that it's gotta be a Balkan,
446
00:23:36,730 --> 00:23:38,980
but maybe it's a Croatian rather then a Serb.
447
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:42,870
At the time they thought it had to part
448
00:23:42,870 --> 00:23:45,300
of an international conspiracy,
449
00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:49,370
that there had to be a team of very highly trained
450
00:23:49,370 --> 00:23:52,590
and experienced art thieves who broke in,
451
00:23:52,590 --> 00:23:55,590
who got this thing and took it out.
452
00:23:55,590 --> 00:23:57,640
In response to the ransom note,
453
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,473
an ad was now placed in an Austrian newspaper.
454
00:24:02,110 --> 00:24:04,720
It was the only chance the police could hope for,
455
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:06,410
to smoke out the thief.
456
00:24:06,410 --> 00:24:09,863
But within hours, their plans were blown apart.
457
00:24:10,890 --> 00:24:13,620
The Austrian media got wind of the ransom letter
458
00:24:13,620 --> 00:24:15,170
and printed it.
459
00:24:15,170 --> 00:24:18,210
Angry and suspicious, the letter writer responded
460
00:24:18,210 --> 00:24:21,300
by saying he was now breaking off all contact.
461
00:24:21,300 --> 00:24:26,300
From this moment on, we had about 150 policemen
462
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,273
that worked on this case.
463
00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,970
The investigation seemed to have stalled.
464
00:24:34,970 --> 00:24:37,220
The letter writer had gone underground
465
00:24:37,220 --> 00:24:40,660
and Charlie Hill's investigation into crime gangs in Serbia
466
00:24:40,660 --> 00:24:44,540
was still ongoing, but hadn't delivered a suspect.
467
00:24:44,540 --> 00:24:46,453
Time was slipping by.
468
00:24:50,500 --> 00:24:54,690
But back in Vienna, a chink of light was about to open up.
469
00:24:54,690 --> 00:24:58,600
The Austrian police were about to get a second crack.
470
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:03,280
The "Saliera" thief was about to break cover again.
471
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,080
Well the police were under amazing pressure,
472
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:08,670
an astounding amount of pressure.
473
00:25:08,670 --> 00:25:13,320
Because they had various parties putting pressure on them.
474
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,370
They had the media, they had the public,
475
00:25:16,370 --> 00:25:19,723
they had the museum and they also had the politicians.
476
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,220
But then in 2005, another letter suddenly arrives.
477
00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:28,130
Again to the insurance company in Vienna.
478
00:25:28,130 --> 00:25:29,580
It's passed on to the police.
479
00:25:32,110 --> 00:25:34,850
It includes a photograph of the "Saliera"
480
00:25:34,850 --> 00:25:36,963
with a dated newspaper beside it.
481
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,410
The ransom money has now gone up to 10 million euros,
482
00:25:43,410 --> 00:25:45,943
equivalent to $12 million dollars.
483
00:25:47,780 --> 00:25:50,730
If they agree to pay, the letter writer instructs them
484
00:25:50,730 --> 00:25:53,437
to put an ad in the paper, with the words,
485
00:25:53,437 --> 00:25:55,910
"Darling, I'll be back soon",
486
00:25:55,910 --> 00:25:58,470
along with a mobile phone number.
487
00:25:58,470 --> 00:26:03,470
It's signed simply "cerveza", but there's a warning too.
488
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,920
Tell the police and the "Saliera" will be melted down.
489
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,920
The writer says no police, no detectives.
490
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:20,200
Only between him and the insurance.
491
00:26:21,930 --> 00:26:24,660
But the insurance said to us,
492
00:26:24,660 --> 00:26:27,913
it's your work, please make it.
493
00:26:30,060 --> 00:26:31,800
Once he spots the ad,
494
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,100
the letter writer tightens the screw.
495
00:26:34,100 --> 00:26:35,840
He now describes a place where part
496
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:37,940
of the "Saliera" has been hidden.
497
00:26:37,940 --> 00:26:42,487
It's the only removable part, the trident or fork.
498
00:26:42,487 --> 00:26:45,487
(suspenseful music)
499
00:26:47,910 --> 00:26:52,310
As we found it behind this electricity box,
500
00:26:52,310 --> 00:26:55,940
under the leaves in a nylon bag.
501
00:26:55,940 --> 00:27:00,197
And then we knew that we have a piece of the "Saliera".
502
00:27:02,890 --> 00:27:06,230
So now the police have the "Saliera" trident back,
503
00:27:06,230 --> 00:27:08,590
but there were still no clues as to who
504
00:27:08,590 --> 00:27:11,280
the mysterious "cerveza" was.
505
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:12,720
The thief's cat and mouse game
506
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,470
was about to move into a new phase.
507
00:27:15,841 --> 00:27:18,674
(traffic humming)
508
00:27:21,290 --> 00:27:23,290
The thief still believes he's dealing with
509
00:27:23,290 --> 00:27:27,070
the insurance company, Uniqa, but it's the police
510
00:27:27,070 --> 00:27:29,720
who have now taken over negotiations.
511
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,720
It's a high risk strategy.
512
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,600
He's already threatened to melt down the "Saliera"
513
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,000
if he discovers they're involved.
514
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,330
Now the Austrian police have to deliver the ransom money.
515
00:27:40,330 --> 00:27:43,210
It'll be anything but straight forward.
516
00:27:43,210 --> 00:27:46,170
The police are about to discover just how determined
517
00:27:46,170 --> 00:27:48,443
and organized the thieves are.
518
00:27:50,730 --> 00:27:53,120
Vienna itself would now become the focus
519
00:27:53,120 --> 00:27:55,480
of an extraordinary cat and mouse game
520
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,700
that would push the police's nerves,
521
00:27:57,700 --> 00:27:59,773
and the thieves, to the limit.
522
00:28:00,710 --> 00:28:04,930
On November 7th, 2005, an SMS text message
523
00:28:04,930 --> 00:28:07,490
comes through to a police mobile phone.
524
00:28:07,490 --> 00:28:09,860
The number had been placed in the last ad
525
00:28:09,860 --> 00:28:12,483
in response to the letter writer's instructions.
526
00:28:13,870 --> 00:28:15,320
In the beginning of the November,
527
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,907
he sent us an SMS and he said, "Now it begins."
528
00:28:21,890 --> 00:28:23,590
Again, the thief believed
529
00:28:23,590 --> 00:28:25,940
he was dealing with just the insurance company.
530
00:28:26,828 --> 00:28:29,828
(suspenseful music)
531
00:28:31,710 --> 00:28:34,413
The message sets out clear instructions.
532
00:28:38,260 --> 00:28:40,430
The money should be put into a backpack.
533
00:28:40,430 --> 00:28:44,040
And the man wearing it should be in recognizable clothes.
534
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,390
He should also be on a bike.
535
00:28:46,390 --> 00:28:49,050
The police assign this man, an undercover
536
00:28:49,050 --> 00:28:51,730
police officer, for the drop-off.
537
00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:54,340
His identity has to be protected.
538
00:28:54,340 --> 00:28:57,907
It's 10 in the morning, the police plan to follow him.
539
00:29:00,110 --> 00:29:02,310
As the undercover detective starts his journey
540
00:29:02,310 --> 00:29:05,253
to the rendezvous, the atmosphere is tense.
541
00:29:06,890 --> 00:29:09,863
No one knows for sure where this will end.
542
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,693
It's the thief or thieves who are now calling the shots.
543
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,970
All the police can do is run with the instructions
544
00:29:19,970 --> 00:29:22,470
until they get a chance to make their move.
545
00:29:22,470 --> 00:29:24,133
And the clock is ticking.
546
00:29:25,270 --> 00:29:28,020
It was very melodramatic, and there was
547
00:29:28,020 --> 00:29:30,480
this cat and mouse game because obviously
548
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:34,440
they were dealing with an intelligent individual.
549
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,223
But also an individual who was very cautious.
550
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,640
The location he's been told to go to is a bridge.
551
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,743
He's also been told he'll find a handwritten message there.
552
00:29:47,020 --> 00:29:48,830
The message he gets, tells him to go
553
00:29:48,830 --> 00:29:51,535
to yet another location nearby.
554
00:29:51,535 --> 00:29:54,285
(dramatic music)
555
00:29:55,910 --> 00:29:59,153
Again, he finds another message, and yet another location.
556
00:30:01,930 --> 00:30:03,860
It's turning into a battle of nerves
557
00:30:03,860 --> 00:30:06,253
for the police, and the thief.
558
00:30:08,850 --> 00:30:13,115
We didn't know with whom we are dealing,
559
00:30:13,115 --> 00:30:18,115
and so we were under real pressure, hard pressure.
560
00:30:19,204 --> 00:30:21,954
(dramatic music)
561
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:26,740
Now he arrives at a bench,
562
00:30:26,740 --> 00:30:29,820
across from the isle of Danube, but this time
563
00:30:29,820 --> 00:30:31,533
the instructions are different.
564
00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:35,653
He's told to wait another half and hour and do nothing.
565
00:30:39,582 --> 00:30:42,520
It wasn't as straight forward as
566
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,140
you just dump the money here
567
00:30:44,140 --> 00:30:47,010
and I'll drop the "Saliera" here.
568
00:30:47,010 --> 00:30:52,010
So obviously you're dealing with a cunning individual.
569
00:30:52,770 --> 00:30:55,000
Somebody who had thought this out
570
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,470
and who was being as cautious as he could be,
571
00:30:58,470 --> 00:30:59,673
to get this money.
572
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,093
Now the psychological game kicks in.
573
00:31:05,045 --> 00:31:07,800
(suspenseful music)
574
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,253
The police are convinced the thief is watching him nearby.
575
00:31:19,009 --> 00:31:20,676
Half an hour passes.
576
00:31:21,970 --> 00:31:24,430
The handwritten message now instructs him
577
00:31:24,430 --> 00:31:26,660
to switch from his bike and catch a bus
578
00:31:26,660 --> 00:31:28,110
from the city center station.
579
00:31:34,930 --> 00:31:37,923
The journey takes him to the outskirts of Vienna.
580
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:42,890
His police colleagues are still trying
581
00:31:42,890 --> 00:31:44,140
to follow his every move.
582
00:31:54,150 --> 00:31:57,273
Getting off the bus, he now has to walk up a hill.
583
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,133
By now the backpack is starting to slow him down.
584
00:32:05,230 --> 00:32:08,020
[Undercover Policeman] It's very heavy, about 25 kilos.
585
00:32:08,020 --> 00:32:12,430
And if you had it on your back about for two or three hours,
586
00:32:12,430 --> 00:32:15,456
your shoulders, you will have problems
587
00:32:15,456 --> 00:32:17,156
with your shoulders and your feet.
588
00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:24,640
He now has to pick up 4th handwritten message
589
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:26,083
from behind a monument.
590
00:32:27,015 --> 00:32:30,348
(gently dramatic music)
591
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,540
Like the others, it's hidden under a stone
592
00:32:35,540 --> 00:32:37,900
in a black plastic bag.
593
00:32:37,900 --> 00:32:40,363
Again there are more instructions.
594
00:32:42,210 --> 00:32:45,070
This time he has to walk 500 yards
595
00:32:45,070 --> 00:32:47,963
up a small track to a church cross.
596
00:32:51,970 --> 00:32:55,053
He has to wait again before picking up another message.
597
00:33:00,090 --> 00:33:03,700
By this time the police are starting to feel the pressure.
598
00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:06,823
The paper chase has been going on for five hours.
599
00:33:09,397 --> 00:33:11,870
[Undercover Policeman] I was very nervous
600
00:33:11,870 --> 00:33:15,300
because no one noticed what's going on now,
601
00:33:15,300 --> 00:33:16,920
or how it will end.
602
00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,700
And I was worried about that the contact
603
00:33:19,700 --> 00:33:22,578
to my colleagues will be cut.
604
00:33:22,578 --> 00:33:25,578
(suspenseful music)
605
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,600
He has to wait 10 minutes
606
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,593
before he can pick up the next message.
607
00:33:52,050 --> 00:33:54,533
This time it's more explicit.
608
00:33:55,515 --> 00:33:57,430
[Undercover Policeman] He say I should take my bag
609
00:33:57,430 --> 00:34:00,270
and go to the wood, and I have to look for
610
00:34:00,270 --> 00:34:02,543
a tree in a special position.
611
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,230
Now the end game seems to be in sight.
612
00:34:08,230 --> 00:34:10,433
But no one can predict the outcome.
613
00:34:12,420 --> 00:34:14,710
The policeman is told to head through a vineyard
614
00:34:14,710 --> 00:34:16,313
and then into the woods.
615
00:34:17,790 --> 00:34:21,253
He's told to look out for a clearing with two fallen trees.
616
00:34:24,220 --> 00:34:27,150
There he finds a final message.
617
00:34:27,150 --> 00:34:28,770
He has to put down the backpack
618
00:34:28,770 --> 00:34:32,163
with the money still inside, and walk away.
619
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,590
But the police who've been following him
620
00:34:35,590 --> 00:34:39,050
are too far behind and can't get to him in time.
621
00:34:39,050 --> 00:34:41,523
He has to stall and buy time.
622
00:34:51,110 --> 00:34:53,190
Finally he puts down the backpack
623
00:34:53,190 --> 00:34:55,923
with the money inside, and moves off.
624
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,550
The money was there and they expected him
625
00:35:02,550 --> 00:35:03,883
to come and get the money.
626
00:35:06,050 --> 00:35:09,040
The police wait but nothing happens.
627
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,033
No one goes for the backpack.
628
00:35:13,930 --> 00:35:16,420
But as the undercover policeman heads back,
629
00:35:16,420 --> 00:35:19,330
he gets a final text message on his mobile.
630
00:35:19,330 --> 00:35:23,750
It says, "Thank you for your help, we will be in touch."
631
00:35:23,750 --> 00:35:26,823
All the police can do is recover the backpack.
632
00:35:28,090 --> 00:35:30,200
It was a hammer blow for the police.
633
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,230
The trail had zigzagged across Vienna,
634
00:35:33,230 --> 00:35:36,383
but they were no closer to catching the thief.
635
00:35:39,108 --> 00:35:41,723
We felt very, very angry and bad,
636
00:35:42,670 --> 00:35:44,310
because we have
637
00:35:46,540 --> 00:35:49,833
laid down the rucksack with the money,
638
00:35:51,070 --> 00:35:55,580
in the forest, and with everything done
639
00:35:55,580 --> 00:35:58,150
what the thief wanted from us.
640
00:35:58,150 --> 00:36:01,930
It smacks slightly of Keystone Coppery.
641
00:36:01,930 --> 00:36:05,520
However, thinking about it,
642
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:07,310
it meant that the Austrian police really
643
00:36:07,310 --> 00:36:09,300
were taking things seriously,
644
00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:11,420
although they weren't being particularly successful.
645
00:36:11,420 --> 00:36:13,610
That when those sorts of undercover operations
646
00:36:13,610 --> 00:36:18,593
don't go successfully, they do smack of farce and disaster.
647
00:36:20,050 --> 00:36:21,950
The police had put huge resources
648
00:36:21,950 --> 00:36:24,600
into a manic paper chase around Vienna,
649
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,563
that after eight hours had got them nowhere.
650
00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:32,320
They were convinced they'd been dealing with a thief,
651
00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:34,580
but why had he pulled out at the last minute
652
00:36:34,580 --> 00:36:37,253
and refused to pick up the backpack with the money?
653
00:36:38,690 --> 00:36:41,873
The next morning the police had their answer.
654
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:45,870
They got another text message.
655
00:36:45,870 --> 00:36:48,390
Although the police had stayed well out of sight,
656
00:36:48,390 --> 00:36:51,740
the thief angrily accuses them of being involved
657
00:36:51,740 --> 00:36:54,313
and refuses to negotiate anymore.
658
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,270
He was a little sharper then they were at this point
659
00:36:59,270 --> 00:37:03,440
because he knew that they would nab him
660
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:05,240
if he tired to grab this money.
661
00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:10,133
And so he backed away, and then you were back at square one.
662
00:37:12,020 --> 00:37:14,170
Now the fear was that the "Saliera"
663
00:37:14,170 --> 00:37:16,190
would be melted down and sold.
664
00:37:16,190 --> 00:37:19,610
Most people, most journalists, myself included,
665
00:37:19,610 --> 00:37:22,143
we thought we'll never find out what happened
666
00:37:22,143 --> 00:37:24,853
to the "Saliera", or not in our lifetime.
667
00:37:27,820 --> 00:37:31,103
But this time the text revealed something else.
668
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,190
For weeks now, the police had been trying to track
669
00:37:35,190 --> 00:37:37,640
the mobile phone and sim card that the thief
670
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:39,640
was using to send his messages.
671
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:42,600
He'd changed his phone seven times already.
672
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:46,140
But now their luck was about to change.
673
00:37:46,140 --> 00:37:49,370
To make his latest text, he changed his sim card.
674
00:37:49,370 --> 00:37:51,650
Police realized it was different from the others.
675
00:37:51,650 --> 00:37:55,410
The man who stole the "Saliera" made,
676
00:37:55,410 --> 00:37:58,810
in this case, only one mistake.
677
00:37:58,810 --> 00:38:03,130
And this was that he bought a sim card
678
00:38:03,130 --> 00:38:06,743
for his phone in a shop in Vienna.
679
00:38:08,580 --> 00:38:10,670
Now they threw all their resources
680
00:38:10,670 --> 00:38:13,743
into trying to find the shop that had sold the sim card.
681
00:38:14,750 --> 00:38:17,640
They tracked him down through the cell phone
682
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:22,510
that he had used, and they were able to,
683
00:38:22,510 --> 00:38:25,490
as they say, walk the cat backwards.
684
00:38:25,490 --> 00:38:27,923
And they found out which shop it was then.
685
00:38:29,100 --> 00:38:31,950
They even had a receipt with a time stamp.
686
00:38:31,950 --> 00:38:33,843
But it was going to get even better.
687
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,050
The shop had recently installed a state of the art
688
00:38:38,050 --> 00:38:41,210
pinhole camera, no one could see it.
689
00:38:41,210 --> 00:38:43,220
When the police analyzed the pictures
690
00:38:43,220 --> 00:38:44,950
and matched the time on the camera
691
00:38:44,950 --> 00:38:46,630
with the time on the receipt,
692
00:38:46,630 --> 00:38:50,220
they realized they had their suspect on film.
693
00:38:50,220 --> 00:38:52,810
They could see youthful looking middle aged man
694
00:38:52,810 --> 00:38:54,490
buying a sim card.
695
00:38:54,490 --> 00:38:56,600
He was also looking around to see if he could spot
696
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,740
any cameras, what's more the time matched.
697
00:39:00,740 --> 00:39:02,800
The camera recorded the same time
698
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,473
as on the sim card receipt.
699
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:11,163
On this video there were only four person.
700
00:39:12,550 --> 00:39:17,550
And the other three persons they were well known,
701
00:39:18,700 --> 00:39:21,203
so we had only one man.
702
00:39:22,170 --> 00:39:26,650
And we thought that he is this one
703
00:39:26,650 --> 00:39:29,007
who has stolen the "Saliera".
704
00:39:31,810 --> 00:39:33,640
But who was he?
705
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,100
On the 20th of January, 2006, the police held
706
00:39:37,100 --> 00:39:38,840
a press conference and played pictures
707
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:40,233
of the man on the video.
708
00:39:41,332 --> 00:39:43,915
(upbeat music)
709
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,300
They wanted the public to tell them if they recognized him.
710
00:39:49,300 --> 00:39:52,003
One call took them completely by surprise.
711
00:39:53,110 --> 00:39:56,670
At this press conference we said, this is the man
712
00:39:56,670 --> 00:39:59,203
who has stolen the "Saliera", who knows him?
713
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:05,840
And then the first call that would be came, it was himself.
714
00:40:06,670 --> 00:40:11,493
He said I am the man but I haven't anything to do with it.
715
00:40:13,930 --> 00:40:17,130
The man identified himself as Robert Mang.
716
00:40:17,130 --> 00:40:20,270
A 50 year old businessman living in Vienna.
717
00:40:20,270 --> 00:40:22,090
He denied on the phone that he had anything
718
00:40:22,090 --> 00:40:25,640
to do with the robbery, and he hardly fit the bill.
719
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,610
Robert Mang wasn't a career criminal.
720
00:40:28,610 --> 00:40:33,370
His main business was actually installing alarms
721
00:40:33,370 --> 00:40:38,370
and his personal history was quite interesting too.
722
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,810
He had been married and his wife left him
723
00:40:42,810 --> 00:40:45,740
because he was having numerous affairs
724
00:40:45,740 --> 00:40:47,150
with various women.
725
00:40:47,150 --> 00:40:51,283
And afterwards he plunged into a midlife crises.
726
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:55,690
A little bit depressed, hanging out in bars.
727
00:40:55,690 --> 00:40:57,743
Picking up various women.
728
00:40:58,690 --> 00:41:00,153
Things didn't look good.
729
00:41:02,070 --> 00:41:03,120
But Mang's connection
730
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:06,070
with an alarm business intrigued police.
731
00:41:06,070 --> 00:41:08,290
His company was based in Vienna,
732
00:41:08,290 --> 00:41:10,480
but what made matters more confusing
733
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,760
was that Charlie Hill was still convinced
734
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,670
there was a Serbian or Croatian gang behind the robbery.
735
00:41:16,670 --> 00:41:19,680
But Robert Mang didn't fit his bill either.
736
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:21,020
The first thought that went through my mind
737
00:41:21,020 --> 00:41:22,180
was Mang, Mang, where the hell
738
00:41:22,180 --> 00:41:23,470
does a name like Mang come from?
739
00:41:23,470 --> 00:41:27,920
All I could think of was (laughs) some kind of Ming
740
00:41:29,650 --> 00:41:32,403
from a comic book of the 20th century.
741
00:41:34,365 --> 00:41:36,960
And I genuinely, and I'm ashamed to admit,
742
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:38,770
thought Mang, Mang, now what part of the Balkans
743
00:41:38,770 --> 00:41:40,730
does a name like that come from?
744
00:41:40,730 --> 00:41:43,320
Or is it Hungarian? (laughs)
745
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,330
I just wasn't sure, that was truthfully
746
00:41:46,330 --> 00:41:48,534
the first thought that went through my mind.
747
00:41:48,534 --> 00:41:51,060
(suspenseful music)
748
00:41:51,060 --> 00:41:53,300
The police had discovered Robert Mang
749
00:41:53,300 --> 00:41:56,590
owned a vacation home an hour and a half from Vienna.
750
00:41:56,590 --> 00:41:59,273
It was in an isolated village called Brand.
751
00:42:02,130 --> 00:42:05,320
Robert Mang continued to deny he was the thief,
752
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,603
but so far the police hadn't confronted him face-to-face.
753
00:42:10,930 --> 00:42:13,403
Now they decided to do just that.
754
00:42:16,050 --> 00:42:18,500
Armed with a warrant to search his house,
755
00:42:18,500 --> 00:42:21,030
six police officers headed towards Brand.
756
00:42:21,030 --> 00:42:23,263
It was January 2006.
757
00:42:25,710 --> 00:42:29,190
The "Saliera" had been missing for almost three years.
758
00:42:29,190 --> 00:42:32,030
Mang was now their only suspect.
759
00:42:32,030 --> 00:42:34,300
The problem was he just didn't fit
760
00:42:34,300 --> 00:42:36,393
the profile of an art thief.
761
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:43,953
He was there and he bought a sim card, that's right.
762
00:42:48,650 --> 00:42:51,563
Nothing was fitting about him.
763
00:42:53,550 --> 00:42:55,250
When they arrived at his house,
764
00:42:55,250 --> 00:42:57,420
Robert Mang was calm and polite.
765
00:42:57,420 --> 00:42:59,793
Still insisting they had the wrong man.
766
00:43:01,449 --> 00:43:05,407
And his behavior, very smart, like clever.
767
00:43:07,010 --> 00:43:10,610
And we confronted him with the picture
768
00:43:10,610 --> 00:43:14,530
and he said I am Mang, what do you want?
769
00:43:14,530 --> 00:43:17,150
And a colleague said, you are the thief,
770
00:43:17,150 --> 00:43:21,141
you have stolen the "Saliera", give it to us.
771
00:43:21,141 --> 00:43:23,280
And he said what have I done?
772
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:24,120
I don't know.
773
00:43:26,100 --> 00:43:27,410
Even the police were beginning
774
00:43:27,410 --> 00:43:29,660
to have their doubts as Mang continued
775
00:43:29,660 --> 00:43:31,150
to answer their questions.
776
00:43:31,150 --> 00:43:34,570
Behavior it was very cool, it was very cool,
777
00:43:34,570 --> 00:43:36,550
he was not nervous.
778
00:43:36,550 --> 00:43:41,550
And the doubts was, is he the right man?
779
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,220
But then a discovery was made.
780
00:43:49,220 --> 00:43:51,960
In the house the police found handwritten notes
781
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,650
in German, they seemed to refer to the ransom plan
782
00:43:55,650 --> 00:43:58,173
and included references to amounts of money.
783
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:05,020
More then that, the handwriting looked very similar
784
00:44:05,020 --> 00:44:07,240
to the handwritten notes found by the police,
785
00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:09,570
under stones around Vienna.
786
00:44:09,570 --> 00:44:11,543
The evidence was starting to pile up.
787
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:17,670
Mang was now arrested, suddenly his bravado evaporated.
788
00:44:17,670 --> 00:44:20,860
We arrested him and then we said,
789
00:44:20,860 --> 00:44:22,860
look, we have several things
790
00:44:24,010 --> 00:44:26,883
that we know that you are the thief.
791
00:44:28,070 --> 00:44:32,064
And he said to us, I must think about it.
792
00:44:32,064 --> 00:44:34,647
(somber music)
793
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:41,230
In an extraordinary admission,
794
00:44:41,230 --> 00:44:43,830
Mang now told the incredulous police
795
00:44:43,830 --> 00:44:46,730
that he would take them to where the "Saliera" was buried.
796
00:44:50,980 --> 00:44:54,950
Behind Mang's house in Brand, there was a large forest.
797
00:44:54,950 --> 00:44:57,730
With Mang's directions, these police officers
798
00:44:57,730 --> 00:44:59,323
arrived on the outskirts.
799
00:45:02,179 --> 00:45:04,870
Could they finally be close to unraveling the mystery
800
00:45:04,870 --> 00:45:06,427
of the stolen "Saliera"?
801
00:45:09,180 --> 00:45:11,150
Armed with a shovel, they approached
802
00:45:11,150 --> 00:45:12,823
the spot Mang pointed out.
803
00:45:14,210 --> 00:45:17,400
That day there was heavy snow on the ground.
804
00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:20,720
One of the police officers had a mobile phone camera.
805
00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:23,923
As they started digging, he filmed what happened next.
806
00:45:25,384 --> 00:45:29,634
(men speaking in foreign language)
807
00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:33,450
It was astonishing footage,
808
00:45:33,450 --> 00:45:35,850
and this is the first time it's ever been shown.
809
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,793
Slowly they uncover what seems to be a metal box.
810
00:45:42,785 --> 00:45:45,368
(gentle music)
811
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,453
As the box was lifted out, everyone held their breath.
812
00:45:58,410 --> 00:46:00,480
Wow. (laughs)
813
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:01,313
We have it.
814
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:08,990
Unbelievably, Robert Mang, there on the left,
815
00:46:08,990 --> 00:46:13,437
posed with the police, he was smiling, and so were they.
816
00:46:13,437 --> 00:46:15,010
It was a good feeling
817
00:46:15,010 --> 00:46:20,010
because we are very proud at this moment.
818
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:26,400
But it's little bit doubt because what is inside the box?
819
00:46:28,890 --> 00:46:31,030
The box couldn't be opened on the ground,
820
00:46:31,030 --> 00:46:34,310
in case they lost forensic evidence or damaged it.
821
00:46:34,310 --> 00:46:37,603
So they still didn't know if the "Saliera" was inside.
822
00:46:39,230 --> 00:46:42,040
It was now taken back to the History of Art Museum
823
00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:43,910
and carefully opened.
824
00:46:43,910 --> 00:46:48,330
Inside they found Cellini's 16th century masterpiece,
825
00:46:48,330 --> 00:46:50,610
without the trident of course.
826
00:46:50,610 --> 00:46:52,193
It was an incredible moment.
827
00:46:55,770 --> 00:46:59,110
Absolutely, you could hear
828
00:46:59,110 --> 00:47:01,640
an expulsion of breath all over Vienna,
829
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:03,750
that they got the thing back.
830
00:47:03,750 --> 00:47:05,970
And of course not only the police,
831
00:47:05,970 --> 00:47:09,260
but also the museum and also the politicians
832
00:47:09,260 --> 00:47:10,903
and the tourist industry.
833
00:47:13,599 --> 00:47:15,940
Cellini's 16th century Salt Cellar
834
00:47:15,940 --> 00:47:18,860
already had an extraordinary history.
835
00:47:18,860 --> 00:47:22,520
Made around 1543 by one of the world's most colorful
836
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,500
and eccentric artists, presented as a gift
837
00:47:25,500 --> 00:47:27,500
to Charles I of France.
838
00:47:27,500 --> 00:47:30,600
And then in 1570, handed to the Habsburgs
839
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:31,883
as a marriage present.
840
00:47:32,890 --> 00:47:35,370
Because of the rarity of Cellini's object
841
00:47:35,370 --> 00:47:38,700
and because of his own personal fame,
842
00:47:38,700 --> 00:47:41,240
and his very colorful personality.
843
00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:45,390
The Salt Cellar has taken on I think, elements
844
00:47:45,390 --> 00:47:49,070
of Cellini's persona and I think that it's become
845
00:47:49,070 --> 00:47:52,840
very important to European culture as a consequence.
846
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:54,430
Therefore it's disappearance I think,
847
00:47:54,430 --> 00:47:56,280
may have been quite traumatic.
848
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,950
Not only for the people at the Kunsthistorisches Museum
849
00:47:59,950 --> 00:48:02,900
but indeed for Vienna and perhaps for Europeans in general.
850
00:48:04,010 --> 00:48:07,630
Now after two years, hidden under the bed of Robert Mang,
851
00:48:07,630 --> 00:48:10,310
and several weeks buried in the Viennese woods.
852
00:48:10,310 --> 00:48:14,900
Cellini's "Saliera", his only surviving work in gold
853
00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:17,440
was about to face the world again.
854
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:22,110
And this time to even greater acclaim and mythic status.
855
00:48:22,110 --> 00:48:23,830
The piece itself is magnificent.
856
00:48:23,830 --> 00:48:26,540
It would have been such a disaster to have lost it.
857
00:48:26,540 --> 00:48:29,190
And so the recovery of it was highly significant
858
00:48:29,190 --> 00:48:34,060
and an important milestone in the general wellbeing
859
00:48:34,060 --> 00:48:37,680
of the city and the people and for all art lovers
860
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:39,374
who have an interest at all
861
00:48:39,374 --> 00:48:42,093
in the great pieces of Western art.
862
00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:48,840
The people who lives art sculptures,
863
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:51,293
know the "Saliera" all over the world.
864
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:57,360
And it was very important for the Austrian art and culture.
865
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:04,423
And the theft,
866
00:49:06,380 --> 00:49:11,380
made a big space in the Austrian history.
867
00:49:13,150 --> 00:49:16,110
Robert Mang was now formally charged.
868
00:49:16,110 --> 00:49:19,400
It had taken three years of hard investigative slog,
869
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:21,270
but the Austrian police had succeeded
870
00:49:21,270 --> 00:49:23,340
in getting the "Saliera" back,
871
00:49:23,340 --> 00:49:25,460
and nailed the man who stole it.
872
00:49:25,460 --> 00:49:27,233
It was a moment to savor.
873
00:49:30,300 --> 00:49:35,190
We all said that it was a hard work,
874
00:49:36,060 --> 00:49:39,950
but now we finished it.
875
00:49:39,950 --> 00:49:44,440
The investigative application of the police in Vienna
876
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,650
was outstanding because they just kept at it and kept at it.
877
00:49:47,650 --> 00:49:51,410
And although the man himself, that they were sure
878
00:49:51,410 --> 00:49:56,280
they're after, was at least half a dozen times,
879
00:49:56,280 --> 00:49:57,330
a step ahead of them.
880
00:49:58,260 --> 00:50:00,360
On the 7th time, he wasn't.
881
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:01,560
And the reason on the 7th time,
882
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:04,130
he wasn't is 'cause they stuck with him.
883
00:50:04,130 --> 00:50:08,010
And that speaks volumes about their professional abilities
884
00:50:08,010 --> 00:50:12,081
and perseverance that you can only admire.
885
00:50:12,081 --> 00:50:14,010
(gentle music)
886
00:50:14,010 --> 00:50:16,810
For Charlie Hill, the arrest of Robert Mang
887
00:50:16,810 --> 00:50:19,220
had ended once and for all his theory
888
00:50:19,220 --> 00:50:22,320
that a Balkan crime gang was behind the theft.
889
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:23,840
It was an investigative line
890
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:25,943
that hit the mother of all dead ends.
891
00:50:27,130 --> 00:50:28,840
Well I'm conceited and arrogant enough
892
00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:30,870
to think that I more often get things right
893
00:50:30,870 --> 00:50:33,400
in my chosen field, then wrong.
894
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:35,110
I regret that I got this wrong,
895
00:50:35,110 --> 00:50:38,300
that I went off essentially on a tangent
896
00:50:38,300 --> 00:50:41,330
with my preoccupations about organized criminal gangs
897
00:50:41,330 --> 00:50:42,990
and banditry and the sort of things they get up to,
898
00:50:42,990 --> 00:50:44,231
and why they get up to them.
899
00:50:44,231 --> 00:50:45,400
Particularly when it comes to art thefts,
900
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:46,453
major art thefts.
901
00:50:47,370 --> 00:50:49,290
But what no one could understand
902
00:50:49,290 --> 00:50:51,734
was the motive behind the theft.
903
00:50:51,734 --> 00:50:54,317
(upbeat music)
904
00:50:55,850 --> 00:50:59,720
One day he saw a group of women, tourists
905
00:50:59,720 --> 00:51:01,810
walking around central Vienna,
906
00:51:01,810 --> 00:51:06,350
and he decided to follow this group of women, young women.
907
00:51:06,350 --> 00:51:09,490
Hoping to strike up a conversation with at least
908
00:51:09,490 --> 00:51:11,130
one of these young women.
909
00:51:11,130 --> 00:51:14,590
And he followed them into this art museum.
910
00:51:14,590 --> 00:51:17,300
And he's following them through the art museum,
911
00:51:17,300 --> 00:51:20,170
and they get into the room where the "Saliera" is,
912
00:51:20,170 --> 00:51:23,000
and Mang notices the alarm systems.
913
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:27,260
And he says to himself, these alarm systems
914
00:51:27,260 --> 00:51:29,700
are completely out of date.
915
00:51:29,700 --> 00:51:31,380
And they've got this thing here
916
00:51:31,380 --> 00:51:34,680
being guarded by these kinds of alarms?
917
00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:36,110
And he's thinking to himself,
918
00:51:36,110 --> 00:51:39,433
it would be like taking candy from a baby, basically.
919
00:51:40,310 --> 00:51:43,993
I think it was an adventure for him.
920
00:51:45,530 --> 00:51:50,280
Because one week before the theft happened
921
00:51:50,280 --> 00:51:53,110
he was in the museum, and he said,
922
00:51:53,110 --> 00:51:58,110
oh it's a fine thing, the "Saliera" is so beautiful.
923
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:01,723
I want to have it.
924
00:52:02,910 --> 00:52:05,580
And so one week later,
925
00:52:05,580 --> 00:52:10,320
he sat, drank some beers and whiskey,
926
00:52:11,850 --> 00:52:16,373
and he climbed on the scaffold and stole it.
927
00:52:17,445 --> 00:52:20,028
(gentle music)
928
00:52:20,940 --> 00:52:24,020
In 2006, Robert Mang stood trial
929
00:52:24,020 --> 00:52:26,160
for the theft of the "Saliera".
930
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:28,120
He was sentenced to four years,
931
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:30,120
although the court found him not guilty
932
00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:31,793
of trying to extort money.
933
00:52:33,310 --> 00:52:35,290
But there was an astonishing twist
934
00:52:35,290 --> 00:52:38,020
that brought Robert Mang back into the spotlight,
935
00:52:38,020 --> 00:52:40,350
while he languished in jail.
936
00:52:40,350 --> 00:52:41,910
He attracted a lot of attention,
937
00:52:41,910 --> 00:52:44,110
especially female attention.
938
00:52:44,110 --> 00:52:47,850
Because many people considered him this daring
939
00:52:47,850 --> 00:52:52,010
and dashing figure who acted on his own.
940
00:52:52,010 --> 00:52:54,170
When at the time of the theft, people are talking
941
00:52:54,170 --> 00:52:59,170
about a team of heist experts, criminal masterminds.
942
00:52:59,210 --> 00:53:03,270
But here was one guy who did it on his own.
943
00:53:03,270 --> 00:53:06,370
He's a man in his 50s, looks much younger,
944
00:53:06,370 --> 00:53:08,690
quite attractive to the ladies.
945
00:53:08,690 --> 00:53:12,100
And women were sending him their phone numbers
946
00:53:12,100 --> 00:53:17,100
along with other intimate details, saying we're interested.
947
00:53:17,550 --> 00:53:19,120
Yes, we heard about it,
948
00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:22,623
that he has a lot of fan mail in the prison.
949
00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:29,617
A lot of women said that he is a very smart man.
950
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:36,393
And they wanted to talk with him,
951
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:40,040
and to live with him. (laughs)
952
00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:42,890
Eventually I got a laugh when it turned out
953
00:53:42,890 --> 00:53:46,560
that he was so endearing to a number of Austrian matrons.
954
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:49,170
They were sending him their underwear when he was in prison
955
00:53:49,170 --> 00:53:50,570
on remand and so forth.
956
00:53:50,570 --> 00:53:52,460
Because they thought he was their kinda guy.
957
00:53:52,460 --> 00:53:54,050
Well the whole thing was just
958
00:53:56,030 --> 00:53:58,510
so appalling it was actually amusing.
959
00:53:58,510 --> 00:54:01,730
But thankfully the outstanding job the Austrian police
960
00:54:01,730 --> 00:54:04,597
had done was such that the peace was back
961
00:54:04,597 --> 00:54:07,400
and this guy's locked up, although it was not for long.
962
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:09,753
I just wonder what he'll do when he gets out.
963
00:54:09,753 --> 00:54:12,090
(gentle music)
964
00:54:12,090 --> 00:54:15,250
In court Robert Mang had described his actions
965
00:54:15,250 --> 00:54:18,600
that night in 2003 as a prank.
966
00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:20,360
Some prank.
967
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:22,610
It had lasted almost three years,
968
00:54:22,610 --> 00:54:24,620
and nearly led to the loss of one of the world's
969
00:54:24,620 --> 00:54:27,380
greatest Renaissance sculptures.
970
00:54:27,380 --> 00:54:29,840
The story behind the "Saliera" theft
971
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:34,437
might even have made it's creator, Benvenuto Cellini, smile.
972
00:54:36,408 --> 00:54:38,991
(upbeat music)
77071
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