Criminalia

Art heists can often look and sound like something out of a Hollywood script. One time, two thieves lifted two Van Gogh paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and they entered the premises through the roof -- Mission Impossible-style … ish. In this new season of Criminalia, we’re telling the stories of, and looking at the motivations for, art heists throughout history. In this episode, we’re talking about five men who were brazen enough to buy tickets to a museum and pull off an art heist in broad daylight.

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Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence considered a 17th century masterpiece, created by Italian painter Caravaggio in 1609. Nativity has been missing since it was nicked by thieves in Palermo in 1969. No one for sure knows who stole it, or why they stole it, but what might have become of it has sparked dozens of tales. One prominent theory is that it was stolen by the mafia – and, quite possibly, eaten by pigs.

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The most famous art heist happened in 81 minutes, when two men dressed in law enforcement uniforms stole 13 masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. But the art heist isn't a recent phenomenon; in fact, it's been part of Western culture since the 1400s. Welcome to a brand new season of Criminalia, where we’ll be telling the stories of bold art thieves who took priceless paintings, sculptures, and other forms of visual art from galleries, museums, as well as from other public and private locations.

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Author and historian Andro Linklater once said, “Some people are born to treachery.” It seems like it. It was an season of interesting moments, for sure. Treason, pretty generally, is the crime of betraying a nation or a sovereign by acts considered dangerous to security. A cursory glance suggests … well … that there were a lot of variables from show to show, not only in regard to treasonous activities, but also when it came to motivations. And there were plenty of cocktails and mocktails to go around, too. Listen as Holly and Maria continue their tradition, and talk about their Top 3 favorite shows and favorite drinks of the season. 

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It began with the discovery of bomb-making materials at the home of a man named Miyashita Takichi, in the Nagano Prefecture. And it resulted in what became known as, the High Treason Incident, a socialist-anarchist bomb plot to assassinate Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910. The fall-out led to the convictions of 26 people on charges of high treason against the Imperial family, including well-known anarchist, Kōtoku Shūsui.

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“Europe calling! Pound speaking! Ezra Pound speaking!” came over the airwaves in more than 100 shortwave broadcasts from Rome, directed toward America during WWII. Ezra Pound was an American ex-pat, poet, and intellectual who was a major figure of the Modernist literary movement in early-to-mid 20th century -- and was also a fascist collaborator and anti-Semite arrested for treason against the United States for his radio broadcasts. 

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Many knew this man as Sidney Reilly, but his real name was Sigmund Georgievich Rosenblum -- probably. Historians do know he was a British intelligence officer, and he’s considered the most accomplished spy in history. But, most of Reilly’s account of who he was and what he did was probably a lie. We can be certain of one thing; he was executed for treason, on the order of Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union.

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He was arrested in 1859 for his role in the Harpers Ferry raid – an event that set the stage for the American Civil War. He was convicted of treason, as well as for murder, and for instigating insurrection. We’re talking about American abolitionist John Brown, the first person executed for treason in the United States. 

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“Let me have a man for one night, and I’ll have him confessing he’s the king of England,” Lavrentiy Beria bragged to his colleague, Nikita Khrushchev. He was intelligent and intriguing and cynical. He was also violent, unethical, and prone to using ruthless measures, including kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder. And he was almost the ruler of the Soviet Union after the Second World War – until his former colleagues executed him for treason.

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The first time Robert Wilcox incited rebellion was in an effort to overthrow the so-called Bayonet Constitution and the newly-formed provisional government of Hawaii. The second time was when he tried to restore the deposed monarch, Queen Liliʻuokalani, and the Native Hawaiian government. His revolts led to his arrest on charges of treason – treason, technically, against an illegitimate government. 

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