WEBVTT - Let’s Steal the Mona Lisa! 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.720 Ridiculous Crime is a production of My Heart Radio. Yo, 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:10.440 Elizabeth Dotton, you know what's ridiculous? Sure, I do think 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:18.040 it's always ridiculous food crossover. Damn it today in messed 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:22.960 up the crossovers. All right, this is ridiculous. Paula Deene 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:27.240 sells butter flavored lip bomb. Okay, good done, yes for 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.760 good for I got it. I got the whole picture. Uh, 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.360 first of all, is she still a thing? I mean, 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:37.199 I suppose she's still a human being. Yeah, and she's 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.760 still a butter salesman. I didn't think that she had 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.680 anything going on, but she's got a website with a store. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.120 A lot of people didn't care about the whole flat 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:52.040 I guess anyway, So she makes lip bomb and it's 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.720 in butter flavor. It's also banana cream and key lime. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.760 But let's talk about butter lip bombs. I think we 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.680 should back up to key lime. I think you're really 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.200 missing the market. But it's like, okay, but because that's 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.560 what you want for Christmas, key line, Poladen lit bone, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:14.800 this is the most depressing thing to So yeah, she um, 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.880 she has these and they look really budget and they're 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.960 for sale in her online store for two dollars and 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.880 forty nine cents us. Um. I'm not even gonna look 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:28.640 at what else she sells her because I really care. 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.880 But here's the thing. So somewhere there in China there's 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:36.720 a factory making polodine butter chapstick. Did you know what 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.360 the what the tagline is? Oh no, there's a tagline, 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:47.320 put a little South in your mouth he has. With 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.600 the flap that she got, she lost her whole empire. Four. 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.240 That's funny. It's a little South in your mouth. She's like, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.920 I'm I'm leaning into it. Yeah, I gotta sell maga 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:02.440 butter crowd just just sucking on a butter flavored lip bomb. Now, 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.120 so there you go. Good, good for her. Let live 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:13.640 your life. That's ridiculous, itous, ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I mean 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.000 it polydene butter products. So I mean, right there, I've 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.000 got one for you. He got a moment, Yes, I did, 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.360 not going anywhere. Okay. This is a story of a patriot, 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.320 cause I know you love patriots, and it's a proud, 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.359 blue collar anti hero, a man who wanted to right 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:34.720 the wrongs of Napoleon for stealing a great treasure from 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.880 the land of his birth and so are blue collar 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.880 anti hero. He felt he was compelled to act. He 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.400 had to for his country and their pride, and you know, 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.679 he was a patriot after all. So one day he 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.400 went to the Louver and he stole the Mona Lisa. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:03:14.000 Oh wow, this is ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:19.440 and outrageous capers, heights and cons. It's always murder free 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:26.280 and ridiculous. All right, Elizabeth, Yes, what do you know 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.880 about the painting the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Ven It's 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:36.480 a painting you see, it's in the Louver, and uh, 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.920 you know, I've never seen it in person. Really, Yeah, 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:46.280 you've been to the Loop. It was a long story 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.400 and very complicated how I was toward it at every turn, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.640 trying to get in there. You actually did try to 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:53.920 get yeah, but it just didn't work out anyway. But 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.960 from what I understand, it's first smaller than people realize. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.640 I've I've been to the Louver. I've seen it in personally. Yeah, 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.280 I'm just a world traveler, Elizabeth, A jet center. If 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.160 you will be jealous, It's okay. I'm used to it, so, yeah, 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.680 I saw It's it's tiny, I mean not tiny, like 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.440 a postage stamp tiny, but it's like kids art project 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.560 size and painted on like basically a table topic. Yeah, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.440 and I've seen photos from that from the room in 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.160 the gallery where it's just like constantly such a huge 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.040 crowd of people around that. I got really lucky that 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.240 when I was there it was not like that when 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.960 I were Yeah, did you know? Yeah? No, wait, that 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.560 was jay z I. Sometimes I'm like, am I see me? 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.000 I don't know where do we begin? Where do we end? 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.040 I don't know. We both agree on Beyonce. So anyway, 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.200 the Mona Lisa, it's as you said, it's a small painting. 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.520 It's usually behind a glass box. It's on the wall 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.880 and surrounded by people and such that it's you know, 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:55.720 if you're going to even try to see it, you're 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.880 going to be seeing it through hands holding up phones 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.560 essentially these days now the painting able to tell you 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.680 a little bit about it. It's known as Joconda, the 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.480 most famous painting in the world. Also, it's considered the 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:11.200 most the foremost masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance era of artwork. 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:16.000 Other than saying Michelangelo's ceiling the Sistine Chapel, like you 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:20.920 can think of it as a painting that captured the 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:25.760 creation of a new way of looking because he had 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:27.919 the Mona Lisa do a three quarter post and up 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.360 till then, all portraiture had been either straight on or 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.640 at a slightly different angle, but nobody had thought to 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:35.440 do a three quarter so you can see them and 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.320 like the pose is like a head and bust basically, 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:41.760 but the way that she's turned at the angle, it 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.280 gives a dimensionality and a life to it. It's just 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.240 an amazing advancement. And now all portraits pretty much used 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.200 that post. That he basically changed how we look at 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.600 a person in a photograph or a painting. So that's 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:57.280 what you're not a da Vinci. He's just one of 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.440 the people that, in small ways he's still impact how 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.760 we do what we do. He's one of my favorite people. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.159 I think you know that I talked about him. He's 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.159 I own a bunch of his books. I would constantly 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.599 go back and reread his journals, and as I said, 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.520 he taught me to to to see. He also taught 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.960 me to think scientifically and to think beautifully scientifically. I'm 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.840 a big fan of the guy right now. Do you 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.920 know the painting. Well, if I just kind of casually reference, Okay, yeah, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.400 hey man, I took art history in college, right, I 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.200 forget you cultured. I took it because I failed calculus 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:34.960 twice and I thought I have to get my g 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.000 p A up. I like art, and I took it 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.000 and I didn't realize I sat down with this, I 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.400 have to memorize so much. Oh yeah, and a lot 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.120 of in foreign languages and things like faulivism. You're like faulivism. 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.680 It was awesome, though. I'm glad I did it. Oh definitely. 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.159 I'm right there with you, studying art as a gift 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.160 to give you, so I'm kind of an expert in art. 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.400 What I'm trying to say. And you understand the background 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.240 of the Mona Lisa, What do you like about it? 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.840 The do you know that in the background, if you 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.760 look at both sides of the Mona Lisa, the two 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.840 sides don't match. It's like two different paintings. I love 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:10.960 that because it makes it like she's this border land 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.120 between these two different worlds, and it's very casual, you 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.240 don't really think about it. And then obviously there's this 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.200 spumato technique that makes most smoky and mysterious, and then 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.800 there's all the like the falling contours and textures of 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.680 her hair, the water like it's just a lot showing 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.840 off with what he can do well in to convey that, 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.280 the mystery and her facial expression. Yes, and then there 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.720 was of course the great mystery, what is she thinking? 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.840 Now Some people have also said that it's a self 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.040 portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, and if you look at 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.280 some of the drawings of him, it does favor favor 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:48.720 as they say, No, I didn't know this, but the 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.960 Mona Lisa, it being the most famous painting in the 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.440 world and it being revered. That wasn't always the case, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.400 and that was as recently as last century. That wasn't 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.200 the case. Like in in nineteen ten, the Mona Lisa 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.400 was considered a lesser masterpiece, and then nineteen twelve the 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.280 Mona Lisa was suddenly considered an undisputed masterpiece and the 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.200 most famous painting in the world. So what happened in 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.600 nineteen eleven they changed everything for the Mona Lisa. It 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.720 was stolen, Yeah, that's that's what It vastly improved its 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.440 value and suddenly it changed not only how we think 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.360 about like art in terms of like our desire for it, 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.560 but how we valued art. It really did change the 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.160 like the reason why a Basquat painting now is so 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:32.040 expensive is because the Mona Lisa was stolen essentially, Okay, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.520 so Mona Lisa his other painting that later Ard than 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.480 She started in fifteen o three, and it took him 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:40.480 a long time to paint it. He worked on it 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.439 over his career. It took him for sixteen years. He 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.360 was working on until fifteen nineteen. The woman who it 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.120 is is a woman named Lisa gardj Ardini, and she 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:51.920 was a noble woman. She was a wife of a 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.920 noble woman. Rather and uh, you know she for a 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:58.240 long time people, as I said, people thought maybe with Leonardo, 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.360 they've now pretty much to side. It is definitely her now. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.679 There have been a lot of other mysteries about the painting. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.800 We'll get into those in a little bit now. In 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:12.760 things were basically leaning towards World War One, and national 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.000 pride was very big in Europe. Do you do you 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.280 We've talked about World War One a little bit and 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.320 you're you're familiar with it. It wasn't just like, oh, 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.360 who shot the arch Duke? There was a lot of 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.120 things that made to World War One. Right now, by 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:26.920 the way, as I told you before, we have our 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.720 patriot or blue collar hero, and I said that Napoleon 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.240 stole the Mona Lisa. That's according to this guy. Turns 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.040 out he didn't. Actually, the Mona Lisa was not a 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:39.319 spoil of war. The real story is Leonardo brought it 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.520 with him when he moved to France towards the end 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.839 of his life. When his patron then became set the 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.440 Duke of Milan, he becomes the King Francis, the first 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.000 of France. So this painting when he dies becomes the 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.599 property of the king, and then it stays in the 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.480 court for centuries and survives all the tumult of the 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.880 French court until boom ba boom, the French Revolution. The 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.240 French Revolution comes along, and we all know about that. 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:07.400 Stuff gets Mona Lisa becomes the property of the French Republic, 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:09.880 and the painting is rescued from the palace where it 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.400 has lived in cloister and nobody ever gets to see it. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.439 And now it is brought out and rehoused in the 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.079 new Louver Room museum for all the people of France 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.880 to see. They love it. Boom. Then comes Napoleon. Napoleon's like, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.719 I want it too, so he goes, he takes it, 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.080 and he goes, I'm gonna put this on my bedroom wall, 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.000 and he literally goes takes the Mona Lisa and it 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.320 hangs it on his bedroom wall and there it stays 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:35.319 until Napoleon is removed to Elba, and then after his confiscation, 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.520 it is once again returned to the people of the 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.520 Republic of France and put back on display in the louver. 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.000 But the Napoleon part of the story is why our 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.120 Italian blue collar anti hero decided to steal the Mona 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.760 Lisa in the first place. Basically, he got it wrong, 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.440 but he was like, I'm willing to bet on that, okay, 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.280 So armed dude, our Italian blue collar anti hero. His 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.800 name is Vincenzo Perugia. He was a glass man, a glazier, 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.640 you know, a glacier like So he was hired by 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.160 the Loop to help fix the glass cases of the museum. 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:08.400 The Mona Lisa, and like many of the other masterpieces, 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.559 were all behind glass cases and there have been a 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.880 threat against the Mona Lisa. So the Louve hired this 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.240 company to make glass cases and to basically, you know, 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:18.680 check on all the glass that they could to protect 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.640 these paintings. And they unwittingly brought a fox in the head. 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:26.239 And then exactly so they hire in arm and Vincenzo 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.199 and he becomes the inside man as a glacier. So 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.160 in nineteen eleven, at the time of the heist, Vincenzo 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:34.640 Prugia he was twenty nine years old. He lived in 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.560 Paris with his two brothers. His mama had named her 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:46.319 boys Vincenzo and or Lancelotti's name, so the three brothers 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:48.920 lived in the tenth Arondesement, which at the time was 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.120 an Italian enclave mostly and uh, when he came time 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.080 to steal the Mona Lisa, he's like, Vincenzo, I got 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.120 to bring it into my brother. So he's like, guys, 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.400 I got an idea, and so they come up with 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.040 his plan and it comes a family affair. If you will, Elizabeth, 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.040 I want you to be able to imagine this cast. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.760 So Vincenzo Puga he was, as I've read about him, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.640 not a tall man. He stood about five ft three. 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.720 Now imagine his brothers probably did too. And he also 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.280 apparently had a very short fuse to match his very 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.400 short stature. He was hot tempered. He wants to stopped 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.000 talking to his own brother over a one franc debt. 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:28.199 He's just like very stubborn guy. Basically, I kind of 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.920 pictured him as like the evil super Mario brother. Warrio 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.120 and his brothers are like these two Luigi's okay, so 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.560 his brothers, as I told your name, those two had 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.640 a nickname for Vincenzo. They called him pass or meg Leoi. 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.080 Pardon my Italian, but it translates as nut or the madman. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:53.880 So knew who like He's warrior? Okay, yeah, Now this 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.079 guy our warrior. He's the one who has to keep 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.280 his cool and level head while he attempts to steal 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:03.880 the Mona Lisa with his brothers and a family affair. Okay, Elizabeth, 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:05.839 I'd like to close your eyes and to picture it. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:12.679 It's Sunday night in Paris. The streets are swollen with 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.840 people out enjoying a warm late summer night. It's August one. 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.640 You are out among them, but not for long. When 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.440 no one is looking, you shoot a crossbow bolt high 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:27.000 into the air. It strikes its target, It lodges into 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.840 the stony parapet of the castle wall of the Lura Plaza, 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.040 and you grab the rope with gloved hands and with 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.840 a graceful walk up the wall. Soon enough you are 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.200 high above the city of lights. That sounds about right 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.400 for me. Obviously, you are not there for the trains, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.800 and you're you're working. You got other plans on this trip. 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.920 You are a cat burglar, just like Carrie Grant or 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.839 Danny Ocean and the boys. Your office for tonight is 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.679 the rooftop of the louver. Now you wait a few 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.560 hours for the moment to strike. Sometime around three am, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.400 you decide the museum has fallen, still silent. It's like 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.400 a crypt down there. You're like, I can get work now. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.880 You've already removed a glass panel, You've tied off a 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:06.640 rope system and you all you have left to do 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.120 now is to lower yourself successfully into museum, which you do. 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.000 You're good at this, yea, and with a flourish you 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.360 land like a cat. You spy your target waiting for you, 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:21.280 your prize if you will. The Italian Renaissance painting Death 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:25.600 of the Virgin by Michelangelo Maurici de Caravaggio, the master 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:30.280 work is Strike Love Caravaggio, by the way, But you're 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.720 not shopping on this trip. You were hired to steal 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.120 this work for a former nun, one who became an 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.320 heiress to a Colorado gold strike fortune. She wants the 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.600 painting of Mary for her new home in the Rockies, 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.080 and you're like, bet so, you're only happy to oblige her, 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:47.000 and you tiptoe over to your prize. When you spot 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.640 these three Italian handy men, they're not quiet, they're bumbling, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.280 they're arguing. They look like super Mario brothers, right, the 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.680 three year a dressed at overalls and work smocks, blue 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.320 denim jackets, denim hats. It's long past closing time, it's 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.200 like three four the morning. At this point. There should 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.400 be no one in the louver but you in the 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:05.640 security guards who were pretty much asleep at this point, 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.760 and of course the artwork. Now you're holding very still, 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:10.960 hiding in a pool of shadow as you watch Warrio 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.840 and Luigi's as they cross in the in the the salon, 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.840 and now you are in the salon care it's the 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.280 home to all the Italian Renaissance masterpieces, which happens to 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.880 be where the Mona Lisa is also kept. The three 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:26.560 Italian super Mario brothers, they are headed right towards you, 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:28.720 and you're like standing there and just a little pool 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.520 of shadow. You don't know what to do. The three 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.120 are silently arguing with their hands back and forth right there, 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.280 like it looks like a very heated hand talking argument. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:38.120 Now you don't know what to do, so you just 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.000 remain still. And the three super Mario brothers they walk 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.520 right up to the Mona Lisa. They look around furtively, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.560 they nod at one another, and then quiet as church mice, 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.520 they unshackle the painting from the security bracing that's on 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.280 the wall. Then they remove the protective glass case. The 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:58.480 three super Mario brothers, they're thieves just like you. You 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.280 watch them work. It's professional curiosity, yeah exactly. You're also 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.440 worried that if they bungle this, you're gonna get caught 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.400 because they make Yeah, I still gotta steel, but I 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.920 gotta I'm working here people, exactly, and I have a 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.880 very specific style. And also they are taking a little 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.560 tiny two foot painting that's on the boards of poplar. 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:21.800 You're after a twelve foot by eight foot canvas painting. Hell, yeah, 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.520 figuring how to roll this up without crankling or ruining it. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.480 You got issues, right, you don't need this there after 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.000 some satchel sized paint. What is this amateur hour? But 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.600 the brothers they work fast to act as lookouts as 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:38.240 Vincenza removes the Mona Lisa from the protective glass case. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.640 Once he frees it from the glass box, he tucks 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.800 the wood panels underneath his works mock. He signals to 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.080 the other Italian handyman. It's like they they're ready, and 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.880 there they get the signal and boom. You watch him go. 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:51.760 They're like, oh, maybe I can still get to work. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.400 You're a little jealous, though, because as I told you, 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:56.280 they got that little tiny thing and you still got 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.320 this eight twelve foot painting. You gotta get down. What 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.840 you don't see is on the way out, there's a 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.040 reason not to be so jealous, because on the way 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.840 out of the louver, Vincenzo runs into trouble. The brothers 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.119 split up to make it out on their own, and 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.119 Vincenzo He's picked a carefully selected escape route, and he 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:15.800 finds it it's blocked by a locked door. He's stuck 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.639 in the museum. He doesn't know what to do. He 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:19.760 brought a pass key from the swiped at work. He 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.200 thought this will be great, but he brought the wrong 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.600 key match the door. He didn't have time to test. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:26.960 He doesn't know what he's doing, like, what can I do? 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:28.480 What can I do? All of a sudden, he started 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.600 hearing footsteps. The footsteps get louder. They're approaching, They're coming 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.639 towards him. Luckily, our warrior. He's a fast thinker, so 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.800 he pulls a screwdriver from his work pocket and his overalls, 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.840 and he removes the door knob really quickly. Just two 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.320 screws pops it off. The light of dawn is now 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.040 coloring the windows, so he knows he needs to get 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.440 out pretty much right now. Other workers will soon start 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.520 arriving for their Monday shift. The footsteps are drawing closer 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.879 and closer. He takes a breath, and he calms his nerves, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.600 and then he sees the footsteps are not a churity guard, 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:02.960 but in fact they are a plumber who is early 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:07.359 to work, a funnel plumber. Vincenzo indicates the door handle 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.240 and holds it up and shows that it's broken. He 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.920 lifts it to show the plumber the plumber season. He's like, hey, 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.440 what are you? I get you? So the fellow blue 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.960 collar worker, he helpfully opens the door from his side 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.680 and lets him out. And so now Vincenzo is free, 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:22.439 and he and the Mona Lisa escape into the streets. 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.480 It's tucked under his work smock. Nobody sees a. Vincenzo 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.480 steps out of the Louver into the morning air, onto 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.960 the morning streets. The early risers are greeting the day 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.480 others are headed to work. He looks at the beautiful 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.439 Tuiliers gardens opposite the Louver plaza. He spots his brothers. 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.600 They made it out too, and then a whistle he 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.600 catches their attention. The three lineup. They make it to 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.960 a train station, buy tickets, and disappear. They have stolen 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.080 the Mona Lisa. Yes, and after this short little break, Elizabeth, 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:53.119 I'll be back to tell you what happened to my 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:57.440 man Vinnie, Mitchelle and Lan. After this little break, I 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:23.720 can't wait, and we're bACC Elizabeth. Hey, let's get back 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.119 to the Louver, a place you haven't been. But just 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.600 try to imagine it, all right, if you can believe it. 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:31.920 The next day, there's a blank spot where the Mona 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.760 Lisa was hanging day before. But the part you won't 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:38.280 be able to believe is no one notices what. No 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.200 one notices the Mona Lisa is missing. There's just this 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.520 empty space on the wall. A whole day passes. This 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.680 wealthy dilettante artists a cat named Louis Barrow, right. He 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.080 likes to come in and paint in the louver and 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.879 he sits there by Jichan, by the Mona Lisa, and 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.680 he he gets busy with his like little canvases and 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.359 does his own little like yeah, like what was it 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.560 on plane? Fresh plane? That's usually outside, I know, but 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:05.879 he does it indoor. He does like a non plane 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.600 air a different. So louis sitting there with all set up, 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.240 and he's bummed, miffed because the Mona Lisa is not there. 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.800 It's just a blank space. So he's like so of course, 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:20.040 being a wealthy dills and he has to speak to 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.800 the manager of the loop like no, I'm just kidding. 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:26.680 But he goes out to a guard and he's like, hey, hey, hey, 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:30.920 I'm Louis Borrow. I'm always you know, you may recognize 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:35.119 me that I don't know. The Mona Lisa is missing. 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:37.760 Do do you have good words? And now the guard 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.879 tells him the photographers, right, and he's like, no, Now 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.480 what this means is the photographers they've been taking the 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.160 masterpieces up onto the roof of the loop and taking 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.119 photos of them with these cameras that they developed to 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:51.080 do really large format, so they're up there like on 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.480 sticks and the you know, the old wooden box cameras, 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.920 and they're taking them, these amazing paintings up into the 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.600 fresh light and taking photos of him. He thinks, oh, 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:01.520 that must be what it is. But louis the dilettant. 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:03.720 He's like, but wold you please go and ask the 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:08.240 photographers when it will be back right. Security guys like, 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:13.200 are you for real? There are so many paintings to paint, 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:16.440 like find another something else, all right? But he's like, no, no, 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:18.960 I must have the Mona Lisa. Right. So the guard 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.280 goes He's like, all right, per whatever. He goes off, 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.840 bacles off, he talks to somebody, or pretends to. He 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.639 comes back and he's like, look, buddy, I don't know 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:30.920 what to tell you zip painting. He is not with 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.160 the photographers, so I cannot tell you when it will 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.679 be back and I it's like literally the dilettan artists. 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.239 He's like, may, we may wait, but my friend, if 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:42.920 the photographers don't have it and it is not here 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.960 on the wall, well then where is it? And the 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:49.640 guard he starts putting two to two together. He gets 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:54.760 to cat and he's like, oh man, so fully six 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.119 hours after the Mona Lisa has been stolen, they realize 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.080 it's been stolen, so all day at work, so the 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:04.920 gargos tells his boss, look, we've got a little problem. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:07.760 So the curator of the loop is this man named 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:12.359 Georges Benedett. Now news breaks because the Mona Lisa is 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:14.240 still like it's a big deal. May not be the 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:15.960 most famous painting in the world, but still it's a 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:19.720 national treasure and people are like art crying, right, so 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:21.560 they just cannot believe that. George, he has to go 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:24.159 before the French press and he's like, oh, this is 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.360 this is nothing. It's only a practical joker with dare 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:30.840 to deprive the French people of their national treasure, right, 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.520 And he's like, what idiot could possibly think they could 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:36.760 sell offense the Mona Lisa. I mean, come on now, right, 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:39.920 that's that's a good point. Now the cops are like, 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.359 we don't think it is a practical joke. Are the 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.040 gendarmes They believe it is a ransom job. So there 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:49.960 they think soon someone will step forward and go, I 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:52.879 will give you back your national treasure for this a 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.440 large amount of francs. Al Right, that's the idea that 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:58.160 they're going for. They're like, so the gendarmes, they tell 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:00.480 the press, it's just like, look, it would be like 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:04.639 maybe two days tops, right, right, two days, and so 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:07.440 the newspapers are like, okay, two days, two days past, 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.240 nobody steps forward, nobody asked for a ransom to go 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:12.600 back to the gendarmes, what's is going on with the 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:16.680 Mona Lisa, they're like, maybe three days. So the French police, though, 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:18.560 they have very few clues to go off of, so 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.000 they're stalling because they got nothing right, but they do 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:27.000 have Alphonse Elizabeth you know who al phones bout Tolan 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:30.560 is Okay, I didn't either. But this guy, he's apparently 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:34.280 the father of the bug shot and a camera love 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:37.760 each other very much. He is the father of the 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:40.600 mug shot, and he invented the game. Basically, he's like, yeah, 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:42.760 we get photos of these people, will know who they are. 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:47.160 People are so unlike the Mona Lisa. The mug shot 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.359 is an unflattering profile shot, not a three quarter turn right, 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:54.440 It yet still reveals humanity in a way. Yeah. Old 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:58.480 mug shots are pretty pretty. They're amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:01.480 we talked about this anyway. So this the dude to 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:03.640 invents the lug shot, he's a French cop and he's 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:06.399 on the case, right, So he's like, all right, French 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:09.040 police with me, We're going to look for clues, right, 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:11.960 And so they go and they find a fingerprint on 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:15.920 the glass case a clue. This feels very much like 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:20.719 a Wes Anderson montage. I'm about to be putting you're welcome. 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:25.320 So he has all two hundred and fifty seven employees 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:27.920 of the louver who worked that day submit to be 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:30.560 fingerprinted to see if they are the one whose fingerprint 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:32.280 it was. But the problem with his plan is is 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:34.760 Vinny Perugia is in the wind. He's not coming back. 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:37.840 He's done. Meanwhile, the French police they have to hit 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:39.800 the beat there on the streets. They're using the old 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:42.320 shoe leather technique. They're handed out leaflets. They're asking all 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:45.919 their snitches, like anybody know anything more days past, nobody 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:50.800 knows anything. Six hundred leaflets are passed out. Frank reward 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:55.320 is offered. Nothing. Nobody's coming forward, right, except for once 0:24:55.400 --> 0:24:59.560 the reward is offered, people start coming forward family members. 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:01.800 They start stitching on their family that it was my 0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:03.960 more freend Gan Luke. I swear you should come in 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:06.520 and I'll rest him. So people like like, no, no, 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:09.000 there was my coworker and my boss Frandi. Go through 0:25:09.040 --> 0:25:11.520 his house and you'll search, you will find it. So 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:13.560 people are doing that, and then you know, some folks 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:15.840 are real certain that it was the Germans. It is 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:19.720 definitely right. And then there's the busy bodies and paranoid 0:25:19.760 --> 0:25:21.480 types who were there are two cents in But this 0:25:21.640 --> 0:25:23.399 is the only thing that the French police I have 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:28.600 to work with basically Twitter. So the newspapers around the 0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:31.240 world they picked this up and it becomes a media circus, 0:25:31.760 --> 0:25:33.960 and you know, this is basically one of the first 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:37.080 big media sensations of the young century. It happens before 0:25:37.160 --> 0:25:42.280 the Lindbergh baby. This is I don't remember this happening. Yeah, well, 0:25:42.560 --> 0:25:48.480 you're very young at the time. So anyway, a week 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:51.840 past and the gendarmes have no suspects, no leads to 0:25:51.920 --> 0:25:55.159 go on, just a bunch of frenchmen going it's the Germans, right, 0:25:55.680 --> 0:25:58.280 So people are like, why wo the guys, I want 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:02.280 to steal them on that, Lisa, come on, your French 0:26:02.320 --> 0:26:04.160 did of course the most French thing to do. After 0:26:04.200 --> 0:26:06.119 a week has passed and there's no Mona Lisa. What 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:09.879 do you think they did? You said, the most French 0:26:09.920 --> 0:26:12.719 thing that could possibly do. Tell me whatever offensive thing. 0:26:14.240 --> 0:26:17.160 They reopened the loop after they shut it for the week, 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:20.520 and they invited crowds, crowds to come into the museum 0:26:20.720 --> 0:26:22.920 and to stare at the blank spot where the Mona 0:26:22.960 --> 0:26:28.320 Lisa used to. People came, he had the droves and 0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:30.800 they stood there like, look at its absence. It doesn't 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:35.840 want powerful. And one of the famous lookye lose was 0:26:35.920 --> 0:26:42.880 your man Franz Kafka because change in metamorphosish. Yeah, they're 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:47.240 all staring at it. One solitary too, yeah, smoking French cigarettes. 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:49.880 Well it speaks to me, just talking like a mean 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:54.840 So now you may be asking, Elizabeth, yes, probably whatever 0:26:54.920 --> 0:26:58.920 it is, what happened to the Perugia brothers Can I 0:26:59.040 --> 0:27:01.840 make a guess? Yes? Please? Did they go to the Homeland? 0:27:01.840 --> 0:27:04.560 Did they go to Italy? Oh it's a really good guess. No, No, 0:27:06.359 --> 0:27:09.760 did they take to the sewers? Another good guess? A 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:12.480 better guess. I like that one once again. I'm sadly No. 0:27:13.280 --> 0:27:15.280 While everyone was staring at the blank space or the 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:18.199 Mona Lisa used to be the superhero Mario brothers, they 0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:21.320 were in the wind and specifically we'll focus less on 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:25.480 Michel and and talk about Vincenzo because he stole the 0:27:25.520 --> 0:27:27.600 Mona Lisa and he has it. He takes it to 0:27:27.680 --> 0:27:30.800 a very special place, his boarding house. He puts it 0:27:30.880 --> 0:27:33.520 on the far boards of his boarding house. He just 0:27:33.640 --> 0:27:35.560 hides it there and he's like, oh, this may not 0:27:35.720 --> 0:27:37.480 be good because of the moisture. So he puts it 0:27:37.560 --> 0:27:39.440 in a stuffs it in a trunk and then that's 0:27:39.440 --> 0:27:42.240 where it stays in a boarding house. And I wish 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:45.600 that he was a real sicko and like put with 0:27:45.720 --> 0:27:50.520 him and like y and like a real sickish she 0:27:50.720 --> 0:27:53.800 was a real sicko and put it under his trench coat. 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:56.000 I mean, yeah, he wear clothes into the trench coat. 0:27:56.320 --> 0:27:59.600 But then like go to the loose and stare at 0:27:59.600 --> 0:28:02.800 the blank wall with it under his trench coat with 0:28:02.920 --> 0:28:05.960 everyone else, and he should go in like flash people 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:09.840 with it and just come a quick instantly. He's wearing 0:28:09.920 --> 0:28:12.120 nothing under his trench coat, but he's got it sort 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:16.320 of like tied in his like one of the sandwich boards, 0:28:16.960 --> 0:28:19.360 and he's a flash very well. He's a tiny guy. 0:28:19.440 --> 0:28:22.000 Do you know what I learned? Michael Jordan's the reason 0:28:22.040 --> 0:28:26.000 why he wore big shorts was because he always wore 0:28:26.160 --> 0:28:30.119 his U n C shorts from college underneath his professional 0:28:30.280 --> 0:28:33.439 under his college under his bowls uniform. So that's why 0:28:33.520 --> 0:28:35.159 he had to get bigger. The whole reason it was 0:28:35.240 --> 0:28:36.840 not because like he thought it looked dope. He's like, 0:28:36.880 --> 0:28:40.640 I want to hide the fact I'm weird my lucky 0:28:41.000 --> 0:28:45.720 shorts from every game apparently during his whole career, the 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:51.040 same pair of shorts. Anyway, So boarding house Vincent Perugia, 0:28:51.160 --> 0:28:53.480 he's got the Mona Lisa stuffed in the trunk and 0:28:53.520 --> 0:28:59.040 he's just hidden there like like Michael Jordan's boxers. The 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:02.239 French cops they come to his place because he's one 0:29:02.320 --> 0:29:05.760 of the loub employees, and eventually to his house and 0:29:05.880 --> 0:29:07.560 was like, oh, we want to talk to you know, 0:29:07.840 --> 0:29:12.800 my man Vinny sick. He's saying really offensive hand gestures. 0:29:13.600 --> 0:29:15.600 So the French cops in question. I mean, but Vinny, 0:29:15.760 --> 0:29:18.560 he stays cool, hot headed as he is. My man 0:29:18.800 --> 0:29:21.480 is like cooler than a polar bears toenails, and my 0:29:21.840 --> 0:29:24.320 big boy would say right, I mean, Vanny handles the 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:27.000 cops questions with ease and the lawn and grace. He's 0:29:27.040 --> 0:29:29.640 just batting him away. He's like, oh, I have an alibi, 0:29:29.720 --> 0:29:34.240 and he takes a dragon. He gets like where I 0:29:34.360 --> 0:29:36.800 made French for this? You say, see how quick that was. 0:29:39.240 --> 0:29:41.440 So they're like, well, where were you? And he's like, 0:29:41.880 --> 0:29:47.240 I'm a friend. I was just simply working at a 0:29:47.280 --> 0:29:50.280 different place that day. And they're like, well that works 0:29:50.320 --> 0:29:57.160 out for us. Arms left working somewhere else. And the 0:29:57.280 --> 0:30:02.680 tell tale Mona lisas like they're probably ashing on it 0:30:02.800 --> 0:30:09.280 as they're smoking with him right everywhere they go, just 0:30:09.400 --> 0:30:12.520 a cloud of smoked so Mona Lisa chilling out in 0:30:12.560 --> 0:30:15.400 the trunk. We'll set that aside for a second. Now. 0:30:15.680 --> 0:30:18.880 The cops they missed the Mona Lisa and they stopped 0:30:18.880 --> 0:30:21.720 harassing Vincenzo because they're busy. They have to go harass 0:30:22.160 --> 0:30:25.160 all the famous um artists and poets of the area, 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:28.640 because one of them clearly must have done They On 0:30:28.760 --> 0:30:31.000 the September seven, the cops go and they bust the 0:30:31.040 --> 0:30:34.960 poet Giampa and on suspicion of involvement. And now he 0:30:35.040 --> 0:30:39.200 turns out to the Apollonia's secretary, dude named Gary Perey. 0:30:39.760 --> 0:30:42.000 He snitched to a French newspaper and said, oh, yes, 0:30:42.080 --> 0:30:44.040 it's Apollonaria. You need to get after him. He was 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:46.400 telling me all about it. Allegedly he did this because 0:30:46.400 --> 0:30:47.920 the two of them had like a spat and yeah, 0:30:47.960 --> 0:30:49.600 you wanted to and sell it up. That's the way 0:30:49.640 --> 0:30:52.680 to do it, Yes, exactly, So apollon Are He gets 0:30:52.760 --> 0:30:54.880 arrested and the cops they rough him up. They're like, 0:30:54.960 --> 0:30:57.880 where is the Mona Lisa And he's like, I'm a poet, man, 0:30:58.120 --> 0:31:01.400 I can take so many blows, like I heard Sarah 0:31:01.520 --> 0:31:04.560 has it. And he does unspeakable things to He walks 0:31:04.600 --> 0:31:07.120 around with a big coat. It's got like a sandwich 0:31:07.160 --> 0:31:09.360 board in front of him. So to get himself out 0:31:09.400 --> 0:31:11.760 of his legal predicament of poland Are the poet, he 0:31:11.840 --> 0:31:14.200 gives you know up the most famous person he knows 0:31:14.280 --> 0:31:20.680 who is Pablo Picasso. He was like, Mona Lisa, get 0:31:20.760 --> 0:31:24.280 the big fish. The cops. They take their floating cloud 0:31:24.360 --> 0:31:27.360 of smoke down to picasso studio and they're like, knock, knock, knock, 0:31:27.640 --> 0:31:31.200 and since Picasso like open kicks whatever. Woman's office lad, 0:31:31.240 --> 0:31:34.200 and he's like, you're not my wife gets off to 0:31:34.840 --> 0:31:37.160 so he opens the dark. Pocassa is like, who told 0:31:37.200 --> 0:31:39.680 you I stole the Mona Lisa. I am offended, don't 0:31:39.680 --> 0:31:44.360 you know? I only steal ideas from African artists. Picassa 0:31:44.440 --> 0:31:48.040 didn't say that, but he could have held. What Podcasta 0:31:48.160 --> 0:31:52.280 did say was oh, thank god the police. Yes, guys, look, 0:31:52.320 --> 0:31:54.280 I have no idea what the Mona Lisa is, but 0:31:54.360 --> 0:31:57.680 I'm so glad you are here because interestingly, I happen 0:31:57.760 --> 0:32:00.360 to have some lost artwork from the Louver and it 0:32:00.440 --> 0:32:02.840 may not be stolen, but if you could do me 0:32:02.920 --> 0:32:06.080 a solid, since you're going that way, could you return 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:08.920 these stolen artworks to the Louver? Would you do that 0:32:09.040 --> 0:32:11.720 for a brother his own stuff? Yeah? You know he 0:32:11.800 --> 0:32:14.520 had stolen stuff from the He just tried to give 0:32:14.560 --> 0:32:16.720 it to the cops because he's like, there it's like 0:32:16.800 --> 0:32:21.640 a library. Fine. Amnesty it's like we're cool. Now. Look 0:32:22.280 --> 0:32:24.280 I thought he was like, oh, I have these pieces 0:32:24.320 --> 0:32:27.320 that were stolen from the Louver and they're his painting. Yeah, sure, 0:32:27.520 --> 0:32:31.520 get hung up. But what it was, you know, the 0:32:31.840 --> 0:32:35.120 demos da Avignon, it was the mass for that painting. 0:32:35.200 --> 0:32:37.840 That's what he gives back, Like, look, if you invented cubism, 0:32:37.880 --> 0:32:40.840 you can have this back. He very much was doing 0:32:40.920 --> 0:32:43.920 a library fine amnesty. Yeah, he was like if I'm not, 0:32:44.480 --> 0:32:47.000 don't tell Georges's brock. I've done this. I want all 0:32:47.160 --> 0:32:50.800 the credits. So another suspect in this stuff, by the way, 0:32:51.080 --> 0:32:55.760 is the American fat cat banker JP Morgan in yeah, 0:32:55.760 --> 0:32:58.280 because at the time JP Morgan was famous for taking 0:32:58.360 --> 0:33:00.640 like a steamliner over to Europe and then he'd take 0:33:00.680 --> 0:33:02.880 his vast wealth and drag it around Europe and just 0:33:03.040 --> 0:33:05.480 vacuum up whatever, like what he could from like the 0:33:05.560 --> 0:33:08.560 houses that have these paintings and statutory He's like, oh, 0:33:08.640 --> 0:33:11.240 you're falling on hard times, you German Baron. I'll buy 0:33:11.360 --> 0:33:14.200 up that stuff. So everybody knew about JP Morgan doing this, 0:33:14.280 --> 0:33:16.440 and the rumors of him being involved got so bad 0:33:16.800 --> 0:33:19.280 that the old robber Baron himself had to like come 0:33:19.320 --> 0:33:21.880 out and say make a statement to the press, like 0:33:22.360 --> 0:33:25.640 I didn't take it all right. People, So they're like, okay, 0:33:26.120 --> 0:33:28.520 He's like, look, I am offended. I am you good. 0:33:28.560 --> 0:33:30.880 People should know that I only steal money from orphans, 0:33:31.000 --> 0:33:34.560 the infirmed, the elderly, suckers in the stock market, but 0:33:34.680 --> 0:33:37.760 I would never steal artwork. Once again, he didn't say that. 0:33:40.600 --> 0:33:43.560 Despite all these accusations and denials and arrest and snitching, 0:33:44.000 --> 0:33:47.120 and the Mona Lisa remained missing, still nobody could find it. 0:33:47.240 --> 0:33:52.320 Two years passed as the seasons changed, Elizabeth. No, but 0:33:52.440 --> 0:33:54.280 after this short break, I'll tell you what happened to 0:33:54.280 --> 0:33:56.720 the Mona Lisa and how is finally returned to the people. 0:34:18.600 --> 0:34:22.359 All right, where were we in Paris? Yeah, that's right, 0:34:23.719 --> 0:34:29.759 two years after Vincenzo told the Mona Lisa okay, warrior. Yeah, 0:34:29.920 --> 0:34:33.720 so he makes it sound like the Mona Lisa a warrior. 0:34:34.120 --> 0:34:40.160 It's not our warrior, Perugia. He sides, you know, what's 0:34:40.200 --> 0:34:42.160 been long enough. I'm gonna go and try to sell 0:34:42.239 --> 0:34:45.320 this painting on the black market. Easy enough. It's just 0:34:45.480 --> 0:34:48.359 the most famous painting in the world. He's like, look, 0:34:48.400 --> 0:34:50.000 I need to get a big payday. I've written a 0:34:50.080 --> 0:34:51.520 letter to my dad telling him, im, we got a 0:34:51.560 --> 0:34:54.239 big score. I need the money, right, I need the 0:34:54.320 --> 0:34:58.680 money that changes lives. And it's now so we're just 0:34:59.160 --> 0:35:01.600 moments before War one is about to kick off. People 0:35:01.600 --> 0:35:03.640 are getting down, so like, I got to catch a train. 0:35:03.760 --> 0:35:05.919 No wait. He originally took this because he was mad 0:35:05.960 --> 0:35:08.600 because it was Italian in a French museum. And now 0:35:08.680 --> 0:35:12.480 he's like, but I need money. I'll undress all of 0:35:12.560 --> 0:35:16.480 that for you, the naked truth of it. And I 0:35:16.640 --> 0:35:22.399 can't wait. So my man Vincenzo, his Luigi brothers, they're 0:35:22.400 --> 0:35:26.120 out of the picture. That Lancelot Dama, they're gone for 0:35:26.200 --> 0:35:28.839 this point. It's just him working an antique dealer named 0:35:28.880 --> 0:35:31.200 Alfredo Gary. Right, he calls us. He sees the dude 0:35:31.280 --> 0:35:33.359 has ads. Right, this guy has like as a bout, 0:35:33.400 --> 0:35:37.480 like the bus benches, Yeah, the bus benches of Rome Milan. Yes. 0:35:37.760 --> 0:35:40.080 Basically he's like in Florence, he's like, look, I'll buy 0:35:40.120 --> 0:35:42.480 Grandma stuff because the people like, oh, hey, we need 0:35:42.560 --> 0:35:45.640 money to get out of Italy. So like so he's like, yeah, 0:35:45.760 --> 0:35:48.000 pretty much doing a big push at this point. And 0:35:48.080 --> 0:35:51.160 so so Vincenzo was like, I can slip something past 0:35:51.239 --> 0:35:52.680 this guy. He seems like he's got a little bent 0:35:52.760 --> 0:35:55.040 nose on stuff. He won't you know who, look past it. 0:35:55.680 --> 0:35:58.040 The guy's like, oh, you got the Mona Lisa. Okay, whatever, 0:35:58.080 --> 0:36:00.400 you bring it by the shop. Let's see yet, right, 0:36:00.480 --> 0:36:03.520 So he shows up with the Mona Lisa. He brings 0:36:03.560 --> 0:36:06.279 good by the shot. He's like, hey, here it is. 0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:10.040 So the guy afraid of Gary's like, that's the Mona Lisa. 0:36:10.719 --> 0:36:13.360 What's on the back authenticated? And there's like appropriate stickers, 0:36:13.600 --> 0:36:15.560 the louver marks and everything. He's like, this is the 0:36:15.640 --> 0:36:17.640 Mona Lisa. Man, do you know you have the real 0:36:17.719 --> 0:36:19.800 Mona Lisa. No one lied to you. This is the 0:36:19.880 --> 0:36:21.520 real thing. And he's like, I know. I want to 0:36:21.880 --> 0:36:24.680 sell it to you. And he's like I got to 0:36:24.719 --> 0:36:28.120 get out of it. So he's like that. He's like, okay, look, 0:36:28.360 --> 0:36:31.200 I know a guy at the you Fitzi Museum in Florence. 0:36:31.600 --> 0:36:33.680 He's the guy. If you want to sell this, he's 0:36:33.719 --> 0:36:36.000 the one. I'll have him authenticated because I'm pretty sure 0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:38.640 it's the real deal. But I'm just a humble dealer 0:36:38.719 --> 0:36:41.480 of antiquities. Where do I know antiques and such? So 0:36:42.239 --> 0:36:46.160 let's call my dude, right now, museum, you've been to that? Okay, 0:36:46.280 --> 0:36:48.040 we've both been to this. What do you you love 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:50.960 that one? It's like the little rooms and you go 0:36:51.080 --> 0:36:53.320 through and have that huge plasa. So he just feels 0:36:53.360 --> 0:36:56.600 really much like you've stepped back in time. Exactly. Do 0:36:56.680 --> 0:36:58.960 you have any favorite paintings, because there's a bunch of Caravaggia. 0:36:59.040 --> 0:37:00.560 Is there there a bunch of care of as. I 0:37:00.680 --> 0:37:05.359 saw an exhibit of Artemisia Generalisti, which is another one 0:37:05.360 --> 0:37:09.799 of my all time favorites in the style of Caravaggio 0:37:09.920 --> 0:37:12.120 very much, but yeah, that was and that was just 0:37:12.320 --> 0:37:15.359 breathtaking seeing the brush strokes and paintings up close. It's 0:37:15.400 --> 0:37:17.960 just it never gets old. It's always just takes the 0:37:18.000 --> 0:37:21.080 breath away and actually see the brustaurant, but particularly at 0:37:21.120 --> 0:37:24.120 the feet see and like other galleries in Europe, it's 0:37:24.200 --> 0:37:27.440 just to be in that kind of space, that space 0:37:27.800 --> 0:37:34.600 and is it enhances the experience totally gilded wool when 0:37:34.640 --> 0:37:39.760 you're on the tour in the continent. So the director 0:37:39.880 --> 0:37:42.160 of the Offizi at that time was a man named 0:37:42.200 --> 0:37:46.360 Giovanni Polgi. Now Giovanni he gets contact by the antique 0:37:46.400 --> 0:37:49.439 dealer and he for whatever reasons that only he knows, 0:37:49.520 --> 0:37:52.480 he agrees to meet Vincenzo. He's like, bring them by. 0:37:52.520 --> 0:37:54.200 Oh He's like, I don't know. You gotta come to us. 0:37:54.280 --> 0:37:56.759 And he's like, really, I gotta leave Florence, Okay, I 0:37:56.840 --> 0:37:59.320 come up to you. So a meeting is arranged to 0:37:59.400 --> 0:38:02.680 take place in Alan, right, So Giovanni travels up to Milan. 0:38:03.280 --> 0:38:06.239 Vincenzo arrives at the appointed place, and of course he 0:38:06.320 --> 0:38:08.160 has the Mona Lisa with him. He just opens up 0:38:08.160 --> 0:38:11.640 his coat and he's like, look, you still got the 0:38:11.680 --> 0:38:14.200 sandwich park. You are one hairy man. You are a 0:38:14.360 --> 0:38:17.760 kinky son of So just SIT's under his arm, basically 0:38:17.880 --> 0:38:19.920 like wrapped in brown paper or whatever. He throws it 0:38:19.960 --> 0:38:22.760 down on the table, unwraps it. The museum director inspects 0:38:22.800 --> 0:38:24.520 the painting, he has the same reaction. He's like, this 0:38:24.680 --> 0:38:26.279 is the real thing. What do you You got the 0:38:26.320 --> 0:38:28.800 real Mona Lisa here? And guys like yeah. He's like 0:38:28.880 --> 0:38:30.480 oh so if And he's like, now, how much for 0:38:30.840 --> 0:38:32.640 that's what I want to know here? How much? What 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:34.480 are you gonna pay me? And he guys like okay, 0:38:34.480 --> 0:38:36.239 He's like, well why did you what are you doing 0:38:36.320 --> 0:38:40.399 with this, and he's like, I stole the masterpiece for Italia. Yeah, 0:38:40.480 --> 0:38:43.040 but I bring Mona Lisa home because that's the Napoleon. 0:38:43.280 --> 0:38:45.560 He'd take out a painting out a tree and he 0:38:45.640 --> 0:38:48.040 goes off. His hands are flying and going crazy and 0:38:48.120 --> 0:38:50.320 he's just going all about patriotic fervor. And they're not 0:38:50.560 --> 0:38:52.160 the long because I told you it's about to be 0:38:52.200 --> 0:38:55.080 World War One. Everyone was like, oh yes. And then 0:38:55.400 --> 0:38:57.239 if it's not the Germans, it's the French, you know. 0:38:57.440 --> 0:39:00.439 So what's his museum director gonna do? Is he gonna 0:39:00.440 --> 0:39:02.400 buy the paintings for they? Tell you? Or is he 0:39:02.440 --> 0:39:04.759 gonna call the police for it? Tell? Yeah? What's he 0:39:04.800 --> 0:39:08.040 gonna do it for? It? Tell you? Poggy. He needs 0:39:08.080 --> 0:39:10.680 a moment to think. Okay, he says, I'm going to 0:39:10.760 --> 0:39:13.040 need to raise the funds. I don't have that money 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:15.520 on me and here in the suit, so let me 0:39:15.600 --> 0:39:18.480 go talk to people. And he's like, okay, but do 0:39:18.560 --> 0:39:20.480 you mind if I if I hold onto the painting 0:39:20.520 --> 0:39:22.120 and I showed the people, I go, I'm trying to 0:39:22.200 --> 0:39:24.719 buy this because they'll they'll believe it if I have 0:39:24.800 --> 0:39:27.239 it in my hands. He's like, yeah, no problem, Like 0:39:27.560 --> 0:39:29.520 you go, you take it, and so he's like, okay, 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:32.440 for safe keeping, I hang onto. It's like perfect, So 0:39:33.320 --> 0:39:36.879 he leaves. Vincenzo leaves black market Warrior. I was like, yeah, 0:39:36.920 --> 0:39:39.160 you hang onto the Mona Lisa. I'll come back and 0:39:39.200 --> 0:39:41.000 I'll meet you here and I'll pick up on my million. 0:39:41.080 --> 0:39:43.440 The leader and the like or whatever. They remember that 0:39:43.520 --> 0:39:46.440 a right, So Vincenzo leaves the Mona Lisa with Poggy 0:39:46.520 --> 0:39:48.360 and the other guy, and so, now what do you 0:39:48.400 --> 0:39:52.320 think they do? Are you in an o ft with it? 0:39:53.800 --> 0:39:58.040 They're not me. The museum director immediately calls the police. 0:39:58.040 --> 0:40:01.600 He's like, Toronto, well there's a award. Well he's doing 0:40:02.840 --> 0:40:07.640 he he fights the fight. I mean, this is his calling, right, 0:40:08.160 --> 0:40:10.200 So he's true to the cause and he calls up 0:40:10.239 --> 0:40:13.600 the police. He's I have this guy. So thirty minutes later, 0:40:14.280 --> 0:40:16.879 like a black market Warrior, he's got this rental place 0:40:17.000 --> 0:40:19.440 or whatever. Half an hour after his meeting, gets a 0:40:19.480 --> 0:40:21.400 knock at the door and he's like, oh, it's my man. 0:40:21.480 --> 0:40:23.719 Boy with my money, can do to get and he's 0:40:23.719 --> 0:40:26.520 like they're adjusting his tire. He opens up the door 0:40:26.560 --> 0:40:28.680 and there's a Canbieri. Right, So just a bunch of 0:40:28.880 --> 0:40:35.600 armed federal police Perugia. He gets arrested, right, was like, 0:40:36.440 --> 0:40:38.480 I stole a pig back from Napole and I am 0:40:38.560 --> 0:40:42.319 a patriot, right, still a big max from I stole 0:40:42.360 --> 0:40:45.920 a big maca from a Napoleon. So he goes to 0:40:46.080 --> 0:40:48.520 court and I swear to God, that's what it's He 0:40:48.560 --> 0:40:55.120 sounded like tight my Italian, it's very not what he said. Yeah. 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:59.719 So he's in the court and he is surprisingly not 0:41:00.040 --> 0:41:03.880 a model defendant. What I know, paint your face shocked. 0:41:04.680 --> 0:41:07.080 He was how do you say in Italian? A night 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:12.000 to man. So he was also filled with a passionata 0:41:12.080 --> 0:41:16.839 and agita. I'm getting it all out before so other ones. 0:41:17.080 --> 0:41:19.759 To other people like me, we would have called him unhinged. 0:41:21.040 --> 0:41:27.440 So during his trial, he would interrupt the prosecutor when 0:41:27.520 --> 0:41:29.359 he was not doing that, he would interrupt his own 0:41:29.400 --> 0:41:32.200 lawyer when he wasn't doing that. He would interrupt the judge. 0:41:33.360 --> 0:41:37.440 So the judge is like, oh man, So he's like, 0:41:37.520 --> 0:41:40.560 you know, basically the judge doesn't throw the book at 0:41:40.640 --> 0:41:43.640 him because they're all Italians and they kind of like 0:41:43.800 --> 0:41:46.800 the national pride argument that he just stays with this 0:41:46.960 --> 0:41:49.319 little like he did spark plug of a man going, 0:41:49.520 --> 0:41:54.040 I do out of us but Italian, but well, you know, 0:41:54.160 --> 0:41:58.200 and it hadn't been a like United country for that long, no, 0:41:58.440 --> 0:42:00.880 like at this point, like thirty four a year, yes, 0:42:01.520 --> 0:42:06.600 eighteen sixty six, looking at like, you know, sixty year, 0:42:06.640 --> 0:42:11.200 fifty year. Yeah, So that basically in memory he became Italy. 0:42:11.360 --> 0:42:15.160 So he has pride and love for a young country exactly. People, 0:42:15.239 --> 0:42:17.440 they were responding to it, and they keep taking the 0:42:17.600 --> 0:42:21.680 drum of war, making people feel like, yeah, the gentleman's 0:42:22.200 --> 0:42:25.319 So his trial is going, not well, but it's going. 0:42:25.600 --> 0:42:28.640 And then uh, he's Italian to the core in that 0:42:28.800 --> 0:42:31.280 like Olmert the way you know, he's like he won't 0:42:31.480 --> 0:42:34.640 bring in his brothers. In fact, instead of like mentioning 0:42:34.680 --> 0:42:36.640 his brothers, he says, I did it by myself, Like 0:42:36.680 --> 0:42:39.520 this impossible. He's like, okay, okay, actually I did it. 0:42:39.600 --> 0:42:41.840 And he names two other people, not his brother's, he 0:42:42.440 --> 0:42:46.080 dang friends just they're like whoa. He's like, okay, So 0:42:46.440 --> 0:42:50.360 there I was with Pablo and JP Morgan and we 0:42:50.480 --> 0:42:53.520 were just talking we should watch a couples. At one 0:42:53.600 --> 0:42:57.280 point in his trial, in uh, yet another demand for respect, 0:42:57.480 --> 0:43:00.800 Vincenzo insists that the prosecution is wrong and that he 0:43:01.120 --> 0:43:03.760 is not as they keep describing him, just some house painter, 0:43:03.880 --> 0:43:06.440 but he's actually a puttore, which in Italian means I 0:43:06.520 --> 0:43:11.239 am an artist. Right. So in June n the court 0:43:11.320 --> 0:43:15.840 decides he's also a criminal, like so Vincenzo Pruga. He's convicted, 0:43:15.920 --> 0:43:18.080 sentenced to what seems to be a rather lenient sentence, 0:43:18.160 --> 0:43:20.759 and this is likely due to his insistence of patriotism. 0:43:21.080 --> 0:43:23.759 But he gets one year in fifteen days, and he 0:43:23.960 --> 0:43:26.960 never gave up his brothers. Good for him, they stay free. Good. 0:43:27.360 --> 0:43:30.240 A few days after he sentenced, World War One officially 0:43:30.280 --> 0:43:32.880 kicks off and everyone says, we don't care anymore about 0:43:32.880 --> 0:43:35.480 all that. You're going from beauty to bloodshed, and they 0:43:35.520 --> 0:43:37.799 turned their minds completely away, and the story gets lost 0:43:37.880 --> 0:43:40.960 to time. Did he get let out to fight? Yeah, 0:43:41.040 --> 0:43:42.600 he went, and he fought for Italy and then he 0:43:42.680 --> 0:43:45.799 survived the war yep, And he managed to get married. 0:43:45.840 --> 0:43:47.560 I have a kid named her, had a daughter named 0:43:47.560 --> 0:43:52.719 to Celestina Good and then eventually he passed away and 0:43:52.800 --> 0:43:58.200 he named him, yes, grandson. There is a theory that 0:43:58.719 --> 0:44:02.640 Vinny wasn't a pay street or even the mastermind of 0:44:02.719 --> 0:44:04.279 this crime. And instead, in fact, he was just a 0:44:04.400 --> 0:44:08.320 hired inside man. And this theory you'll see it online, 0:44:08.480 --> 0:44:11.799 is that there was a man named Eduardo the val Fierno, 0:44:12.080 --> 0:44:14.200 and he was the true mastermind of the theft of 0:44:14.200 --> 0:44:17.040 the Mona Lisa. The story goes, val Fierna was a 0:44:17.080 --> 0:44:19.840 con man, career criminal. He had been hired by a 0:44:19.920 --> 0:44:24.359 French art forger named Eve's Chadrome. And you see, when 0:44:24.360 --> 0:44:26.480 the Mona Lisa was stolen, not only was the image 0:44:26.480 --> 0:44:29.240 publishing newspapers all around the world, but suddenly the painting 0:44:29.280 --> 0:44:33.279 became a sensation, so postcards were being purchased, copies of 0:44:33.360 --> 0:44:36.239 the original were being purchased, and you know, it became 0:44:36.280 --> 0:44:39.600 basically the world's first must have dorm room poster, right 0:44:39.760 --> 0:44:42.080 that's essentially what it is right now. Being a forger, 0:44:42.200 --> 0:44:45.360 Eves Drone, he was like, I gottah. So he's like 0:44:45.520 --> 0:44:48.399 he had anticipated the furor over the stolen masterpiece because 0:44:48.400 --> 0:44:51.400 he happened to have set himself up with paintings, just 0:44:51.520 --> 0:44:54.160 scads of copies, and these are he's an art forager, 0:44:54.280 --> 0:44:57.000 so they look identical. They're basically counterfeits, and he's hoping 0:44:57.040 --> 0:44:58.920 he could maybe pass one or two office there. The 0:44:59.000 --> 0:45:02.040 original didn't get a big payday off of like a counterfeit. 0:45:02.200 --> 0:45:05.040 So yeah, So the idea is that he knew this 0:45:05.200 --> 0:45:07.279 demand would be incident and profitable, and he gave him 0:45:07.320 --> 0:45:10.480 time to paint the counterfeits because he had arranged for 0:45:10.680 --> 0:45:13.920 it to actually happen. He created the demand. The idea 0:45:14.000 --> 0:45:16.960 was the forger Sharon hired this con man, valfier No, 0:45:17.239 --> 0:45:20.760 who in turn hired Vinni Porogia, the self described patriot 0:45:21.000 --> 0:45:23.799 who ultimately steals the Mona Lisa. And this theory comes 0:45:23.840 --> 0:45:27.360 to light in nineteen thirty two in the Saturday Evening Post. 0:45:27.560 --> 0:45:30.239 But there's more to this story. And because the journalist 0:45:30.320 --> 0:45:32.440 was named Carl Decker, nobody you wouldn't know him. I 0:45:32.440 --> 0:45:34.359 don't know him, it doesn't matter. But he was an 0:45:34.360 --> 0:45:38.040 old fashioned writer of the yellow journalism era. He was 0:45:38.080 --> 0:45:41.520 a washout from the William Randolph Hurst hey day. And 0:45:41.600 --> 0:45:43.759 at this point he's years past his glory and he 0:45:43.920 --> 0:45:45.120 was like, you know, he's a kind of guy who 0:45:45.200 --> 0:45:47.920 helped get America into the Spanish American War. He got 0:45:47.960 --> 0:45:51.360 blood right, so now he's like, I haven't had a 0:45:51.440 --> 0:45:53.799 good bloody story for a while. But finally he's got 0:45:54.360 --> 0:46:01.560 a lot of two. I'm feeling lucky. So the journalists. 0:46:01.600 --> 0:46:04.480 Apparently he crossed pass with the con man val Fierno 0:46:04.600 --> 0:46:08.880 in nineteen thirteen before the painting had resurfaced, and the 0:46:09.000 --> 0:46:11.640 French common man spilled his guts to the American journalist 0:46:11.680 --> 0:46:13.840 and tells him the whole criminal escapade, the scam of 0:46:13.920 --> 0:46:17.000 it all, And years later the journalist writes it up 0:46:17.040 --> 0:46:19.560 in the Saturday Evening Post runs the story. There's a 0:46:19.600 --> 0:46:22.120 problem with the story though. The story of the scam 0:46:22.239 --> 0:46:25.040 of the forger Eveshaw Drone and the con man Eduardo 0:46:25.239 --> 0:46:31.520 de val Fiernano total fabrication. It's more yellow journalism. So Decker. 0:46:31.640 --> 0:46:33.800 What it Decker had done was basically steal the cachet 0:46:33.840 --> 0:46:35.360 of the Mona Lisa and make up a story that 0:46:35.440 --> 0:46:37.600 can maybe you know, get him some little cache of 0:46:37.640 --> 0:46:39.920 his own. And he waited till no one could refute 0:46:40.120 --> 0:46:42.560 the story. What are you gonna trust me or some 0:46:42.640 --> 0:46:45.400 French criminals? Now, if you can believe it, there's a 0:46:45.440 --> 0:46:48.120 whole movie that debunks his theory, the documentary about it 0:46:48.600 --> 0:46:51.440 that goes into like how he's wrong, and uh, there 0:46:51.520 --> 0:46:53.280 was a bunch of people who want to basically correct 0:46:53.320 --> 0:46:55.160 the lie, and now just for the sake of it. 0:46:55.480 --> 0:46:58.440 This is a book review from the Association for Research 0:46:58.520 --> 0:47:04.239 of Crimes against Art. The review destroys a recent book 0:47:04.239 --> 0:47:06.520 that I won't mention the repeated the whole con man 0:47:06.640 --> 0:47:10.600 in forger story, and I quote the Velfier and the 0:47:10.719 --> 0:47:13.160 story was long ago rejected as one of two things, 0:47:13.280 --> 0:47:16.000 either a wholesale invention by Carl Dekker to sell his 0:47:16.120 --> 0:47:18.840 story or a wholesale invention by a con man in 0:47:18.920 --> 0:47:22.560 Casa Blanca that pulled the wool down over Mr Decker's eyes. 0:47:22.960 --> 0:47:25.279 It is a shame, then, that a work of nonfiction 0:47:25.320 --> 0:47:28.319 professing to tell the true story behind a famous true 0:47:28.400 --> 0:47:32.439 crime should so mislead its readers. Without the addition of myth, 0:47:32.640 --> 0:47:34.520 the story of the Theft of the Mona Lisa is 0:47:34.640 --> 0:47:37.400 rich and enthralling, with a fabulous cast of characters, the 0:47:37.440 --> 0:47:41.319 backdrop of free War, Paris and Florence and ripples felt 0:47:41.360 --> 0:47:43.520 to this day. For not only was the theft of 0:47:43.520 --> 0:47:45.960 the Mona Lisa the most famous theft of any object 0:47:46.000 --> 0:47:48.719 in history, but it also inspired other thefts, altered the 0:47:48.800 --> 0:47:51.000 concept of what makes the work valuable, and proved to 0:47:51.040 --> 0:47:52.840 be a turning point in the history of art, of 0:47:52.960 --> 0:47:56.080 collecting and of art crime. They're like, and this bozo 0:47:56.200 --> 0:47:58.719 got it wrong. I love it now for what it's worth. 0:47:58.760 --> 0:48:00.960 I think my man leader nuttered Ven she who was 0:48:01.040 --> 0:48:03.520 known as a big practical joker, would appreciate all this 0:48:03.680 --> 0:48:07.120 mystery and lies and creating whirling around his work, and 0:48:07.160 --> 0:48:09.320 that his work is still creating to this day. I 0:48:09.400 --> 0:48:12.120 mean the fact that the Mona Lisa remains a riddle, 0:48:12.200 --> 0:48:15.719 wrapped up in a mystery, ensconsin an enigma and with 0:48:15.800 --> 0:48:19.520 a smile of an angel. So that's it, Elizabeth, that's 0:48:19.600 --> 0:48:24.480 my story. I gotta ask you, though, yeah, would ridiculous takeaway. Well, 0:48:25.840 --> 0:48:28.320 you know, I'm just thinking about that final book review. 0:48:28.480 --> 0:48:33.680 But I really love like cattiness in niche interest groups. 0:48:34.640 --> 0:48:37.600 So pull for you, thank you. I'm really enjoying that. 0:48:37.719 --> 0:48:40.680 But I also, you know, I think about too how 0:48:40.840 --> 0:48:44.960 we put value onto anything, really, but works of art 0:48:45.000 --> 0:48:47.760 in particular and the story of it all, the story, 0:48:48.080 --> 0:48:50.839 and he proved that it's the story of it all, 0:48:50.920 --> 0:48:53.520 and so you can have like technical ability or just 0:48:53.640 --> 0:48:58.320 like the emotional resonance was something um and and I 0:48:58.400 --> 0:49:03.040 guess you know, really in more accessible areas of art 0:49:03.640 --> 0:49:05.080 um you know, when you get more into like some 0:49:05.200 --> 0:49:08.000 of the postmodern stuff where it has to be explained 0:49:08.040 --> 0:49:10.759 to you to understand what that is um. But in 0:49:10.840 --> 0:49:14.200 the in these terms, there's there's that immediate emotional like 0:49:14.880 --> 0:49:18.320 you know, connection that people have or an understanding. But 0:49:18.440 --> 0:49:21.400 then that when we say provenance, we're not just tracking 0:49:21.560 --> 0:49:24.840 the the ownership, we're tracking the story of the piece 0:49:24.920 --> 0:49:28.719 as a living thing really, and that always just is 0:49:29.000 --> 0:49:32.040 so interesting to me. What can increase the value and 0:49:32.120 --> 0:49:34.120 then how do we do that like in our own lives, 0:49:34.200 --> 0:49:36.600 not just for like a piece of art, but things 0:49:36.640 --> 0:49:38.759 that we have that are important to us because of 0:49:38.840 --> 0:49:42.759 a story behind it. And so the kind of currency 0:49:43.040 --> 0:49:49.080 and value of story and the multi joining that part 0:49:49.120 --> 0:49:51.960 of it. And that was that was my ridiculous takeaway. 0:49:52.000 --> 0:49:53.759 So thanks a lot, Elizabeth. I knew, I know, I 0:49:53.800 --> 0:49:59.800 can slide in there like a cloud of dust behind 0:50:00.200 --> 0:50:03.200 my ridiculous takeaway? Is it? Uh, you shouldn't name your 0:50:03.239 --> 0:50:11.080 Sarah doesn't have original thought and it's just so cleverunds 0:50:11.200 --> 0:50:16.320 here like a xerox copy of a fart. So my 0:50:16.520 --> 0:50:19.360 ridiculous is a listener that speak for the zards intelligence 0:50:19.480 --> 0:50:23.640 because he's far superior blah. Anyway, you can find his 0:50:23.760 --> 0:50:28.040 online at Ridiculous Crime on both Twitter and Instagram. Twitter 0:50:28.440 --> 0:50:33.839 that's where we lie to the public. Twitter is where 0:50:33.880 --> 0:50:39.800 we put our COVID misinformation. Is that what it Twitter's for? 0:50:39.920 --> 0:50:43.560 I thought it was just allfmation. Instagram that's where the 0:50:43.600 --> 0:50:45.759 truth in the light and the way is found. Um, 0:50:46.160 --> 0:50:49.040 there's also photos we put up so we won't do 0:50:49.120 --> 0:50:52.279 any reels. I don't even know what that is. I 0:50:52.360 --> 0:50:55.640 don't know. I told the Instagram person that does our 0:50:55.680 --> 0:50:59.000 Instagram account like to do a real thing, and they 0:50:59.080 --> 0:51:02.440 just gave me the finger. You're you're holding a fishing 0:51:02.480 --> 0:51:04.719 pole when you said that was the confusing part. You're like, 0:51:04.880 --> 0:51:09.040 I have to do it real. I got You're like, oh, grandma. 0:51:09.920 --> 0:51:11.960 But you can find us there at Instagram where the 0:51:12.960 --> 0:51:16.920 you know, the interns keeper and uh, the stories are 0:51:16.960 --> 0:51:18.719 put up there for the giggles, and you know, you 0:51:18.800 --> 0:51:21.680 get sneak peaks of Epps on both. So hit him 0:51:21.719 --> 0:51:25.040 up email if you want. We're at Ridiculous Crime at 0:51:25.360 --> 0:51:38.000 the jamail dot com jail Gmail. Thanks for listening. Ridiculous 0:51:38.040 --> 0:51:41.480 Trime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnett, produced 0:51:41.520 --> 0:51:44.360 and edited by our resident art history themed mail stripper 0:51:44.520 --> 0:51:51.240 Leonardie vo De Costoon and All Coustin researches by Mona 0:51:51.320 --> 0:51:56.839 Marrissa Brown and Andrea Jaconda Conda Conda Conda Camille. Our 0:51:56.920 --> 0:51:59.560 theme song is by the Duke of Milan, Thomasino Lee 0:51:59.760 --> 0:52:05.600 and Archie Duke Tim Dudntino. Executive producers are Ben, Paint 0:52:05.640 --> 0:52:08.640 me like one of your French girls, Bolan and No, 0:52:09.320 --> 0:52:12.319 and then paint me like one of your French squirrels. 0:52:12.840 --> 0:52:22.560 Proud we did quiet, say it one more time We 0:52:22.760 --> 0:52:27.200 dequeous Crew. Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:52:27.520 --> 0:52:29.880 Four more podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 0:52:29.920 --> 0:52:32.640 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:52:32.680 --> 0:52:33.400 favorite shows.