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00:02Tonight, the most famous painting in the world,
00:06stolen in a brazen heist.
00:09Everyone wants to know how a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece
00:12could simply disappear from the wall of the Louvre.
00:16She's hanging on the wall at 7 a.m.,
00:18and by 8.30, she's just gone without a trace.
00:22A renowned detective swings into action.
00:25Louis Lepine is like the French Sherlock Holmes.
00:29If there's anyone who can crack this case, it's him.
00:32Sure enough, when they dust the glass for prints,
00:35something turns up.
00:37The hunt is on for this priceless portrait,
00:39but more than one suspect seems to have a motive.
00:43He and his fellow robber barons spend their fortunes
00:47amassing the finest art of Europe's history.
00:51Pablo Picasso was the perfect suspect.
00:54The incriminating evidence was painted into his work.
00:58Now, we'll explore the top theories
01:01in the two-year investigation for the missing masterpiece.
01:05Police are on the search for a genius thief
01:08from the higher echelons of society.
01:10Nothing about this case played out like the public expected.
01:14Who stole the Mona Lisa?
01:33On Tuesday, August 22, 1911,
01:37around 9 a.m.,
01:39artist Louis Beirut arrives at the Louvre
01:42and makes his way to one of the museum's most famous rooms,
01:47the Salon Carré.
01:48Beirut makes his living copying the old masters.
01:52Today, he's working on a painting that features
01:54Leonardo da Vinci's 400-year-old masterpiece,
01:57La Jaconde, known to English speakers
02:00as the Mona Lisa.
02:03The woman in the painting
02:05most likely represents Lisa Giardini.
02:08She is the wife of a prosperous Florentine wool merchant
02:12named Francesco del Giocondo.
02:15Leonardo begins her portrait in approximately 1503.
02:20Art historians believe that it was da Vinci's favorite painting.
02:24Leonardo da Vinci dies in 1519 in France,
02:27and the king of France, Francis I,
02:30buys it from da Vinci's estate.
02:32And then a couple centuries later, in 1797,
02:36the Louvre, which had been a royal palace,
02:39is converted into the world's largest museum at the time,
02:42and that is where the Mona Lisa remains today.
02:48By 1911, the Mona Lisa is not the most famous
02:51or the most expensive painting in the Louvre,
02:53but there's something unique and mesmerizing
02:56about the smile of La Jaconde.
02:58It's what draws Beirut to be so excited
03:00about including it in his latest work.
03:03But when he gets to the Salon Carré on that Tuesday morning,
03:06he's in for a huge surprise.
03:09Instead of seeing that familiar face looking back at him,
03:13Beirut sees only a blank stretch of wall
03:15and four empty pegs.
03:18He expresses his concern with this missing painting,
03:21but the guard reassures him
03:23that there's nothing to worry about,
03:24that the painting has undoubtedly been taken
03:27by one of the museum curators
03:29to be photographed and cataloged for the museum.
03:33And so he checks in with the photography department
03:35and makes a grave discovery.
03:38La Jaconde was never taken off the wall for that purpose.
03:41Turns out, she's been stolen.
03:46Panic ensues at the Louvre,
03:48and the museum reaches out
03:49to the chief of the Paris police for help.
03:52His name is Louis Lepine.
03:55Louis Lepine is like the French Sherlock Holmes,
03:58a master of deduction.
04:00If there's anyone who can crack this case,
04:02it's Louis Lepine.
04:05Lepine and his army of men arrive under two hours
04:09after discovery that the painting is missing.
04:11They shut the museum down
04:13under the guise of a broken water pipe
04:16and launched an investigation for any clues
04:19as to what could have happened to the painting.
04:22After an hour of searching,
04:24police finally uncover some evidence.
04:26Mona Lisa's heavy frame and protective glass casing
04:29have been discarded in the dark corner
04:32of a service stairwell.
04:34What they deduce is that the thief
04:36must have lifted it off the wall
04:38and then kind of scurried away
04:40into one of these stairwells,
04:42stripped off the covering and the frame
04:45and discarded it and made off with it.
04:47If you were stealing a painting
04:49that was on canvas, for example,
04:51you could take it out of its frame
04:53and roll it up,
04:55potentially hide it inside a cloak.
04:57But the Mona Lisa is painted
04:59on a white poplar panel.
05:01It has a heavy Renaissance-style frame.
05:04It's 21 by 30 inches wide.
05:06So with its protective frame,
05:08the actual Mona Lisa weighs 90 pounds.
05:10You can't stick it under your coat and walk out.
05:14One of the police officers notices right away
05:17that there's a doorknob missing
05:19from this door in the stairwell.
05:22They assume that this is the way
05:25that the thief got out of the building
05:27with the Mona Lisa.
05:30Unfortunately, the peen soon discovers
05:32that whoever stole the painting
05:34has quite a head start.
05:36The museum's maintenance supervisor
05:37says the previous day on Monday
05:40when the museum was closed,
05:41he was walking through the Salon Carré
05:43and saw the Mona Lisa hanging
05:45in her usual spot around 7 a.m.
05:47By 8.30 a.m. when he returned,
05:50the painting was not there anymore.
05:53At the time, this didn't raise any alarms.
05:55He also assumed that the painting
05:57was probably being photographed.
05:59So Lapine is pretty upset
06:01because at this point,
06:02the thief could be at least 24 hours ahead of them.
06:07Within hours of the theft's discovery,
06:10the story breaks in the Paris press
06:12and news services from around the world
06:14begin converging on the Louvre.
06:17Officers take to the streets
06:18in search of witnesses.
06:20They're in luck.
06:22The police begin questioning businesses
06:24that are around the Louvre.
06:27And a department store employee
06:29described seeing a man
06:31with a bulky package under his arm.
06:34He also says he saw the man
06:36toss something into the Louvre gardens.
06:39So they send police to go look in the bushes.
06:42Lo and behold, what did they find?
06:44The doorknob.
06:45The first eyewitness says that he saw
06:48someone carrying a package under his arm.
06:51This was a middle-aged man of trim build
06:54and average height, clean-shaven.
06:57The second eyewitness, however,
06:59saw someone at the train station
07:01carrying a bulky package.
07:03But this person is revealed
07:05as a tall, heavyset gentleman
07:08with a big mustache.
07:10Two competing ideas
07:12of what the perpetrator looks like.
07:15So Lapine sets up roadblocks
07:17and starts investigating
07:18every car and truck leaving the city
07:20all the way to the borders of France.
07:23But nothing is coming up.
07:26Lapine has done everything that he could.
07:28One thing that he does know
07:30is that the frame,
07:31when discarded,
07:33is not marked up.
07:34So clearly,
07:36the painting had been removed
07:37by someone that knew
07:38what they were doing.
07:39So Lapine realizes
07:41that whoever stole the Mona Lisa
07:42has real experience
07:44handling fine art
07:45and working with it.
07:46He begins to suspect
07:47that the theft of the Mona Lisa
07:49is an inside job.
07:57Lapine decides
07:58to set up an experiment.
08:00He has a replica
08:01of the Mona Lisa made
08:03and hung on the four pegs
08:06on the wall
08:06where the original
08:07would have stood.
08:08And first,
08:10he has a couple
08:11of his police officers
08:12try to remove the painting
08:13and exit the building.
08:15As the police officers
08:16went in and began fumbling
08:18and trying to remove
08:19the painting from the wall,
08:21Lapine kept time.
08:22And it ended up
08:23taking about five minutes
08:25for the two police officers
08:26to get the wires adjusted
08:28and remove the painting
08:30and exit the building.
08:31He then asks
08:33a museum employee
08:35to do the same thing.
08:36That museum employee
08:37very skillfully
08:39removes the wires
08:40and has it off
08:42the wall in seconds.
08:44This experiment
08:45confirms to Lapine
08:47that the thief
08:48isn't just knowledgeable
08:49about museum work.
08:51They also know
08:52the Louvre intimately.
08:54Though the Louvre
08:54is closed to the public
08:55on Monday,
08:56it is still a work day
08:57for much of the staff.
08:59Lapine,
09:00thorough as ever,
09:01requests a full list
09:02of everybody
09:03who had access
09:03to the museum on that day
09:05and who came in and out.
09:06Nobody is above suspicion.
09:08As Lapine's investigators
09:10go through this cadre of people,
09:12they come across a plumber
09:13by the name of Sauvé.
09:16Sauvé happened to be
09:18in the very stairwell
09:19where the painting frame
09:21was recovered
09:22on that morning.
09:24Sauvé says that
09:25he encountered somebody
09:27by this back door
09:28who asked to be let out
09:30because the doorknob
09:31had been removed
09:32from the door.
09:33This person,
09:34whoever it was,
09:35was wearing the white smock
09:37that all members
09:38of the Louvre staff wore.
09:39So Sauvé's impression
09:41was that this
09:42was a museum employee
09:43who got locked inside.
09:45So he said,
09:46no big deal,
09:46I'll let you out.
09:48Sauvé says he didn't see
09:49the frame
09:50or the glass on the floor
09:51or any large object,
09:53but he does admit
09:54that it's possible
09:55the man could have had it
09:56hidden under his smock.
09:58The pressure on Lapine
10:00is already intense,
10:01but fortunately,
10:02the renowned detective
10:04has a cutting-edge technique
10:06at his disposal.
10:07Lapine was a forward-thinking
10:09police commander.
10:10In fact, in Paris,
10:11he was one of the first
10:13to start examining fingerprints.
10:18Lapine brings in an expert
10:19to analyze the frame
10:21and the glass
10:21looking for any telltale sign
10:23of fingerprinting
10:25or smudging.
10:26After examining the frame,
10:28he finds a fingerprint
10:29halfway up the left side
10:31of the glass.
10:32He applies a fine graphite powder
10:34and he's able to actually
10:36lift the fingerprint
10:37off the frame.
10:39Lapine and his men
10:40compare the fingerprint
10:42that's found on the glass case
10:43to the fingerprints
10:44of the Louvre staff.
10:46256 staff members
10:48who were there
10:49between Sunday evening
10:50and Tuesday morning.
10:52That takes a long time.
10:55Determined to uncover a lead,
10:57Lapine also orders interrogations
10:59of all the museum's employees,
11:01including Sauvé, the plumber.
11:04Sauvé is asked to look
11:07at a couple hundred photographs
11:09of Louvre staff, employees, contractors.
11:12He doesn't recognize
11:14the man he saw
11:15in the service stairwell
11:16among any of those photographs.
11:18Meanwhile, news of the disappearance
11:21of the Mona Lisa
11:22has reached the press
11:23and there is public fury over this.
11:27Why hasn't this priceless painting
11:29been found?
11:32In the days following
11:34the Mona Lisa theft,
11:36police interrogations
11:37of museum employees
11:38lead to a dead end.
11:39But Paris detective
11:41Louis Lepine
11:42still believes it was
11:44an inside job
11:45and continues
11:46questioning staff.
11:48For many in the media,
11:50Lepine's process
11:50isn't fast enough.
11:52The press is going crazy.
11:54The Mona Lisa
11:55is a national treasure
11:56that has been stolen
11:57and Lepine,
11:58who is this
11:59world-famous detective,
12:00doesn't seem
12:01to be able to solve this.
12:02So the papers
12:03start really taking him
12:04to task for this.
12:05On the one hand,
12:07you have the official
12:08investigation happening
12:09within the Paris
12:10Police Department,
12:11but then you start
12:13seeing the media
12:14start doing
12:15their own sleuthing.
12:17A wire story
12:18coming out
12:19of the United States
12:20turns the spotlight
12:21on a new suspect.
12:23His name is Eddie Guerin,
12:26a notorious thief
12:27with a huge rap sheet
12:29on both sides
12:30of the Atlantic.
12:32He is a guy
12:33who is known
12:34for committing
12:35big crimes
12:36and for getting
12:38away with it.
12:39He's been a huge
12:40critic of the French
12:41government,
12:41and according to
12:42one friend,
12:43he's even confessed
12:44to the crime.
12:53The theory was
12:54a little convoluted
12:55as reported,
12:56but the idea was
12:57that Guerin
12:58had promised
12:58this wealthy
12:59Philadelphia businessman
13:00that for a million dollars
13:02he would sell him
13:03the Mona Lisa.
13:04And such a claim
13:05would not be
13:06out of character
13:06for Guerin,
13:07who pulled off
13:08some daring heists
13:09and became
13:10a career criminal
13:11at a young age.
13:13Eddie Guerin
13:14is born in 1860
13:16in London,
13:17but his family
13:19moves to Chicago
13:20when he's
13:21at a young age
13:22with the dream
13:23of striking it rich.
13:25But his father dies
13:27and his mother
13:28is left to struggle.
13:30So Eddie gets
13:31his first job
13:32delivering telegrams,
13:33and he realizes
13:34that's a good way
13:35to start picking up
13:37little items
13:37that people maybe
13:38don't know
13:39are missing,
13:39and he eventually
13:41builds up
13:41to bigger and bigger
13:42thefts,
13:43and before long
13:44he's already
13:44doing time.
13:46By age 16,
13:48Guerin is in and out
13:49of detention centers.
13:50This kid has become
13:51a thief in his own right,
13:53but more importantly,
13:55each time he goes
13:55to one of those
13:56prison settings,
13:57he learns the craft
13:59from the experts.
14:00Soon after Guerin
14:02hones his thieving
14:03skills behind bars,
14:05his crimes evolve
14:06into high-profile
14:07thefts around the world,
14:09making him
14:10a prime candidate
14:11in the case
14:12of the missing
14:13Mona Lisa.
14:14By the time
14:14he's in his early 20s,
14:16he's traveled
14:17all over the East Coast
14:18and also throughout Europe
14:19pulling off bank robberies
14:21with a bunch
14:21of criminal associates.
14:23In 1888,
14:24in France,
14:25he had robbed
14:25the Crédit-Léonnet bank
14:27to the tune
14:27of $2 million
14:28in today's money.
14:30And in 1901,
14:31he robbed
14:32the American Express
14:33Office in Paris
14:34to the tune
14:34of $8 million
14:35in today's money.
14:37When he's finally
14:38caught and convicted,
14:40French authorities
14:41sentence him to life
14:42on Devil's Island.
14:44Devil's Island
14:45is a really treacherous
14:47penal colony
14:48off the coast
14:49of French Guyana
14:50in South America.
14:51And it's a place
14:52where conditions
14:53are so bad
14:54that life sentences
14:55usually don't last
14:57that long.
14:59Incredibly,
15:00in 1905,
15:02Eddie Guerin
15:02becomes the second
15:03of only two people
15:05ever to escape
15:06from Devil's Island.
15:08And he does so
15:09by carving out
15:10from a log
15:11a boat
15:12which he paddles
15:14200 miles
15:15from Devil's Island
15:16to the coast.
15:17Once he gets
15:18to French Guyana,
15:19he bribes
15:20a government agent
15:21to help get him
15:22out of the country.
15:23So Eddie Guerin
15:24becomes the stuff
15:25of legend
15:26around the world.
15:27After Guerin's escape
15:29from Devil's Island,
15:30he fades out
15:31of the news
15:32for a while.
15:33But after this audacious
15:35theft of the Mona Lisa,
15:37his name suddenly
15:38bubbles back up
15:40to the surface.
15:42On August 24, 1911,
15:45newspapers all over
15:46the United States
15:47run a story
15:48that points the finger
15:50squarely at Guerin.
15:51A rumor circulates
15:53that Guerin
15:53has had a forgery
15:55of the Mona Lisa maid
15:56that he plans
15:57to sell
15:58to a wealthy
15:59Philadelphia businessman.
16:00But when the businessman
16:02begins to suspect
16:03that something fishy
16:05might be going on,
16:06Guerin has no choice
16:07but to break into
16:08the Louvre
16:08and steal the real thing.
16:12In an interesting twist
16:13to this story,
16:14that government agent
16:15that helped Guerin
16:16escape Devil's Island
16:17later reports
16:19that he actually received
16:20a letter from Guerin
16:21days before the theft
16:23of the Mona Lisa
16:24in which Guerin says,
16:26I am going to take
16:27something from
16:28the French government
16:29that they'll never
16:30get back,
16:32indicating that this
16:33would be an incredibly
16:34satisfying moment
16:35for him to punish
16:37the government
16:37that had punished him.
16:39The French public
16:41is following this story
16:43of Eddie Guerin
16:44and his purported
16:45connection to the theft
16:46of the Mona Lisa
16:47and each day
16:48it sells more
16:49and more newspapers
16:50because everyone
16:51wants to know
16:52what happened next.
16:54So an investigator
16:56tries to find Guerin
16:57and eventually does.
16:59He's working in London.
17:01He's gone straight
17:02and he's working
17:03in a men's furnishing store.
17:05His alibi
17:06seems pretty solid
17:08but Guerin's
17:09a sneaky character.
17:11It's possible
17:11he could have spent
17:12all this time
17:13building up an alibi
17:15so that he could
17:16sneak into France
17:17and sneak back
17:18without anybody noticing.
17:22On Tuesday, August 29th,
17:25exactly one week
17:26after the Mona Lisa
17:27was declared missing,
17:29the Louvre reopens
17:30to an enormous crowd.
17:32Thousands of people
17:33swarm the museum
17:34and head to the
17:35Salon Carré
17:36to stare at the
17:37vacant wall
17:38where the painting
17:39once hung.
17:40They weep openly
17:42in front of it.
17:43People bring flowers
17:44and letters.
17:45It's a mob scene.
17:46Up until the heist,
17:48the Mona Lisa
17:49was best known
17:50among art critics
17:51and kind of insiders
17:52in the museum world
17:53but this heist
17:54made her an
17:55international superstar.
17:57People who
17:58in a million years
17:59would have never
18:00visited a museum
18:02are there to see
18:03the site of the crime.
18:06In the wake of the theft,
18:08the floundering investigation
18:09is becoming
18:10a public embarrassment
18:11for the Paris police
18:12and Detective Lupine
18:14is running
18:15out of suspects.
18:16The newspaper,
18:17the Paris Journal,
18:19announces
18:19its own investigation
18:21and says
18:22that it will give
18:2350,000 francs,
18:25which is nearly
18:25two million dollars
18:26in today's money,
18:28to whoever returns
18:29the Mona Lisa
18:30to their offices,
18:31no questions asked.
18:33The news of this reward
18:35for the return
18:36of the Mona Lisa
18:37brings a lot of people
18:38out of the woodwork
18:40and suddenly
18:41the newspaper offices
18:42are flooded
18:43with tips
18:44that might lead them
18:46to the Mona Lisa.
18:48The same day
18:50that the museum reopens,
18:51the Paris Journal
18:52runs a shocking
18:53front page story
18:54about a brazen thief
18:56who responded
18:56to their request
18:57for the Mona Lisa's return.
18:59This man,
19:01described as
19:01in his early 20s
19:02and with a certain
19:03American chic,
19:05admits in an anonymous letter
19:06that he has been
19:07stealing priceless artifacts
19:09from the museum
19:10for the last four years,
19:12including ancient busts.
19:14Now, the letter writer
19:15doesn't say
19:16he has the Mona Lisa,
19:17but he does say
19:18he's willing to return
19:19some of these busts.
19:20So in exchange
19:21for what is about
19:22a thousand dollars a day,
19:23the thief returns
19:24a small statue
19:24and makes a full confession
19:26to the paper.
19:27The paper publishes
19:29his confession verbatim.
19:32It was March 1907
19:33that I entered the Louvre
19:34for the first time,
19:35a young man with time to kill
19:36and no money to spend.
19:38A single guard
19:39was sitting motionless.
19:40I suddenly realized
19:41how easy it would be
19:43to pick up
19:43and take away
19:44almost any object
19:46of moderate size.
19:48The thief goes on
19:50to detail a number
19:51of other objects
19:52he's stolen over the years,
19:54including a pair
19:55of Iberian busts
19:56he sold to a friend
19:57in the art world.
19:59This guy is bragging
20:00about lifting stuff
20:01from the Louvre
20:02just like someone
20:03would collect shells
20:04from the beach.
20:05Because this anonymous
20:07letter writer
20:08talks so openly
20:09about how easy it is
20:11to steal things
20:12from the Louvre,
20:13the public begins
20:14to wonder
20:14if this person
20:16is the same one
20:17who took the Mona Lisa.
20:26The next day
20:27on August 30th,
20:28the paper reports
20:29on a second encounter
20:31with the thief.
20:32And he writes
20:33in a letter
20:34that he's not
20:35a career criminal,
20:36he just wandered
20:37into this life
20:37because of financial difficulties
20:39and he signs the letter
20:41Baron Ignace Dormissan.
20:45That same day,
20:46the bust he turned over
20:48is authenticated
20:48and put on display
20:50in the Paris Journal's
20:52front window.
20:53Hundreds of people
20:54jammed the paper's office
20:55for a glimpse.
20:56The Louvre confirms
20:58that these small prehistoric
21:00carved busts
21:02from the Iberian Peninsula
21:04are indeed missing
21:05from their collection.
21:07Now there's added pressure
21:08to have these new objects
21:11returned to the Louvre as well.
21:13So this so-called
21:14La Faire de Statuette
21:15becomes a public spectacle.
21:17Could this be
21:18connected to the Mona Lisa
21:19as well?
21:20And the paper runs with this.
21:22People are eating it up
21:23and they are ridiculing
21:25the museum
21:26and the police
21:27because the paper
21:28is doing more
21:29than the police
21:29in their eyes.
21:33Lapine and his men
21:34are not amused.
21:36They're convinced
21:37the thief could now
21:38be smuggling
21:38the Mona Lisa
21:39out of the country.
21:41Officers from
21:42the Paris police
21:43bust into the offices
21:44of the Paris Journal
21:45and they tell them
21:47to reveal anything
21:48that they know
21:49about the man
21:50who sent these letters.
21:51But citing professional ethics,
21:52the arts editor
21:53refuses to reveal
21:55their sources.
21:56And this only further
21:57frustrates investigators.
21:59The police carry out
22:01their own search
22:02of the public records
22:03to find any reference
22:04to a Baron Ignace Dormeson.
22:07There's no one in France
22:09by that name.
22:10But they find out
22:12that it is the name
22:13of a fictional character
22:14in an award-winning
22:16collection of stories
22:18in France.
22:19As for the man
22:20who wrote those stories,
22:22he is celebrated writer
22:25Guillaume Apollinaire.
22:27Apollinaire is
22:28a true Renaissance man.
22:29He is a poet,
22:31a playwright,
22:31an art critic,
22:32and he's even credited
22:33with coining
22:34the term surrealism.
22:36He was born in Italy
22:38and grew up speaking
22:39French, Italian,
22:40and Polish.
22:41And he emigrated
22:41to France as a teenager
22:43where he took up
22:44the pen name
22:45Apollinaire.
22:47The authorities
22:48start to look
22:48a lot more closely
22:49at Apollinaire's background
22:50and his writing.
22:52And they realized
22:52that just three days
22:53after the theft,
22:54he had written about
22:55how beautiful
22:56the Mona Lisa was
22:57and was condemning
22:59the Louvre.
23:00The Mona Lisa
23:01was so beautiful
23:02that her perfection
23:03has come to be
23:03taken for granted.
23:05But what shall we say
23:06of the guard
23:06that watches
23:07the gates of the Louvre?
23:08Apollinaire comments
23:10on the lax security
23:11of the Louvre?
23:12The paintings
23:13aren't padlocked
23:14to the walls
23:14the way they are
23:15at most other museums.
23:17Anybody can just go
23:18and take the thing
23:19off the wall.
23:20He refers to the situation
23:22as careless,
23:23indifferent,
23:24even negligent.
23:26Apollinaire once
23:27signed a manifesto
23:28condemning
23:29the old institutions
23:30of the arts,
23:31saying they should
23:33be abolished.
23:35While Apollinaire's
23:37writings are
23:37largely symbolic,
23:38they sound alarm bells
23:40for detectives
23:41on the Mona Lisa case.
23:43Police quickly realize
23:45that he is part
23:47of a whole community
23:48of artists
23:49who are trying
23:50to turn French
23:52artistic tradition
23:53on its head.
23:54As Lapine
23:55begins to learn more
23:56about the artists
23:58who move about
23:58in Apollinaire's circle,
24:00he starts to suspect
24:01that maybe Apollinaire
24:03didn't act alone.
24:07Exactly two weeks
24:08after the Mona Lisa
24:09was stolen,
24:10the case has taken
24:11a new turn
24:12with investigators
24:13who now wonder
24:14if the theft
24:15was a political act
24:17carried out
24:17by modern artists
24:18with a grudge
24:19against traditional
24:20institutions.
24:22Detective Louis Lepine
24:24theorizes
24:25that the thief
24:26who triggered
24:26the Affaire des Statuettes
24:28could be part
24:29of a larger gang
24:30that's holding
24:31the painting hostage.
24:32The heat is on
24:34to identify
24:34the thief
24:35who wrote
24:36to the Paris Journal
24:37and his entire
24:39band of associates.
24:41On September 6th,
24:43the Paris Journal
24:43publishes
24:44a shocking story.
24:46The two Iberian busts
24:47that had been purchased
24:48from the Baron
24:49were returned
24:50to the newspaper
24:51the day before.
24:52This leads the police
24:54to go to
24:54Apollinaire's apartment
24:56and they bring him
24:57in for questioning.
24:58They are determined
24:58that they're gonna find out
25:00what's happened
25:00to these statuettes.
25:02They say that
25:03an anonymous source
25:04has linked Apollinaire
25:05with the fictional Baron
25:06who was admitted
25:07to stealing
25:08all of these artifacts
25:09from the Louvre.
25:10So Lepine is convinced
25:11that there is a direct
25:12connection between
25:13the theft of the Iberian busts
25:14and the theft of the Mona Lisa
25:16and that Apollinaire
25:18is the ringleader
25:19behind the gang
25:20that made both
25:20of these thefts happen.
25:22The police begin
25:23to wonder
25:24if perhaps
25:25they're dealing
25:26not with one thief
25:27but a whole network
25:29of organized criminals.
25:39Lepine and his men
25:40spend hours
25:41grilling Apollinaire.
25:43They tell him
25:44if you don't reveal to us
25:46the identity
25:46of the Baron
25:47we are going to charge you
25:49with harboring a criminal
25:50with possession
25:51of stolen goods
25:52and with interfering
25:54with the police investigation.
25:57Apollinaire finally cracks
25:58and identifies the thief
26:00as Geri Perret
26:01a struggling Belgian artist
26:03who'd been living
26:04in Apollinaire's apartment
26:06and working
26:07as his secretary.
26:08Having come clean
26:09Apollinaire assumes
26:10now he'll be free.
26:12Not so fast.
26:13Instead
26:13he's taken to prison
26:14and interrogated
26:15once again.
26:17Lepine is relentless.
26:18He is pushing him.
26:19I want the names.
26:20I want your associates.
26:21Who else was involved
26:23in the theft
26:23and who purchased
26:24these statues?
26:26Apollinaire is just
26:27digging himself
26:28deeper and deeper
26:29as the investigation
26:30goes on.
26:32He admits
26:33that on the day
26:33of the heist
26:34he had actually
26:35bought Pire
26:35a train ticket
26:37to Marseille
26:37and urged him
26:38to get out of town
26:39as quickly as possible.
26:41A day after
26:43the papers publish
26:43the news
26:44of Apollinaire's arrest
26:45the Paris Journal
26:46gets another letter
26:47from the Baron
26:48who's now identified
26:49as Pire.
26:50He's in Brussels
26:51far out of the reach
26:52of the Paris police
26:53but he insists
26:55that his old boss
26:55had nothing to do
26:56with the theft
26:57of the busts.
26:59Apollinaire swears
27:00up and down
27:01he has nothing to do
27:02with the theft
27:02of the Mona Lisa
27:03but Apollinaire
27:04as a foreigner
27:05makes a convenient
27:07scapegoat.
27:09Lepine doesn't believe
27:11Apollinaire's story.
27:12He tells him
27:13that if he doesn't
27:14reveal the name
27:15of others
27:17who have bought
27:17these statuettes
27:18that they will go
27:19after all of his friends
27:21in this community
27:22of artists.
27:24Eventually
27:25Apollinaire breaks
27:26and identifies
27:27the man
27:27who bought
27:28the busts
27:28from Pire
27:29as an up-and-coming
27:30artist
27:31named Pablo Picasso.
27:34Like Apollinaire
27:35the young Spanish
27:36painter is a foreigner
27:37who's called
27:38for the destruction
27:39of the Louvre.
27:40Both men are part
27:41of a group
27:42of artistic firebrands
27:43known around town
27:45as the wild men
27:46of Paris.
27:48Lepine now believes
27:49that this group
27:50of artists
27:51is a gang
27:52sophisticated
27:53and motivated enough
27:55to steal the Mona Lisa.
27:57Two days after
27:58Apollinaire is arrested
27:59police show up
28:01at Picasso's apartment
28:02and arrest him
28:04as well.
28:06Inside the apartment
28:07Picasso was working
28:08on a new painting
28:09with large-scale
28:11female nudes
28:13all painted
28:13in a very abstract manner.
28:16Picasso was actually
28:18using these
28:19prehistoric Iberian
28:20statuettes
28:21as an inspiration
28:22for the faces
28:23of the women
28:24in this monumental painting.
28:27If the police
28:28had taken the time
28:28to really examine
28:30Picasso's new work
28:31and progress
28:32they would have realized
28:33that the evidence
28:35was staring at them
28:36in plain sight.
28:38Picasso is literally
28:40shaking with fear
28:41as he is brought
28:42to the police station
28:43and brought before
28:44the magistrate.
28:45There he sees
28:45Apollinaire
28:46similarly disheveled
28:48and broken.
28:49Picasso denies
28:50that he's ever
28:51had anything to do
28:52with the theft
28:53of the statuettes
28:54or anything else.
28:55Beyond that
28:56he says
28:56I have never even
28:57seen this man
28:58Apollinaire
28:59in my life.
29:02both men endure
29:03several more days
29:04of intense interrogation
29:06before finally
29:07appearing before a judge.
29:09Apollinaire and Picasso
29:10are both said
29:11to have cried
29:12and apologize profusely
29:14for stealing
29:15any of the artifacts
29:16from the Louvre
29:17but they both insist
29:18that they had nothing
29:19to do with the theft
29:20of the Mona Lisa.
29:21As much as Lepine
29:23thought he had
29:23cracked the case
29:24judges fail to find
29:26any evidence
29:27that links definitively
29:28Apollinaire, Picasso
29:30or Jerry Piré
29:31to the theft
29:32of the Mona Lisa.
29:33Eventually
29:34they're released
29:35and the trail
29:36once again goes cold
29:38and the Paris police
29:40have to come up
29:41with some new ideas.
29:46As days turn to weeks
29:48investigators looking
29:50into the Mona Lisa heist
29:51are chasing leads
29:52that go nowhere.
29:54Eventually
29:55the Paris police
29:56are forced to look
29:57deeper at Louvre insiders.
29:59They continue
30:00to fingerprint
30:02the Louvre employees
30:04and contractors
30:05but they've come up
30:06empty-handed
30:07and the French public
30:09is getting impatient
30:10with their methods.
30:12After Lepine
30:13had exhausted
30:14all of the traditional
30:15forms of evidence
30:16he still was at ground zero
30:18and so he decided
30:19that he would look
30:20into the newest form
30:21of behavioral evidence
30:22profiling
30:24and as he did that
30:25he started to recognize
30:27again and re-evaluate
30:29and then re-theorize
30:31based on the things
30:32that he knows about
30:33that the person
30:34had intimate knowledge
30:35about the painting.
30:37Lepine and his forces
30:39ascertained that this
30:41criminal must be educated,
30:44must be in the know,
30:45must be wealthy.
30:46This clearly had to be someone
30:49either as a buyer
30:51that was a lover of art
30:53or the thief themselves
30:54was stealing this painting
30:56to keep in their own
30:57personal collection.
31:05Although Leonardo da Vinci
31:07left behind
31:08thousands of drawings,
31:10he only left behind
31:12fewer than 20 paintings
31:15and the Mona Lisa
31:17is so emblematic
31:19of the Italian Renaissance.
31:20A painting like this
31:22would be the crown jewel
31:24of any art collection.
31:26Even Napoleon
31:28was enamored
31:29by the woman
31:30in the painting
31:30and he took the painting
31:32from the Louvre
31:33and hung it
31:33in his private bedchambers
31:35from 1800 to 1804.
31:38A little over 100 years later,
31:41investigators wonder
31:42if another powerful man
31:44took the portrait
31:45for himself.
31:46Around the time
31:47of the Mona Lisa theft,
31:48American entrepreneurs
31:49are traveling around Europe
31:51and buying art
31:52at a frenzied pace
31:53throughout the continent.
31:54And among those collectors
31:56is John Pierpont Morgan,
31:58J.P. Morgan.
32:00This is a former
32:01railroad tycoon
32:02who works in the upper echelons
32:04of not just industry
32:05but also politics.
32:06J.P. Morgan is responsible
32:08for the formation
32:09of major multinational corporations
32:11like General Electric
32:13and U.S. Steel.
32:14He also has a hand
32:15as a major investor
32:16in companies like
32:17Western Union and Aetna.
32:20He's also one of the most
32:23active art collectors
32:25in America at that time.
32:26He has an absolutely
32:28incredible collection
32:30of more than 20,000 items.
32:32He has Raphael's
32:34Kelowna Altarpiece.
32:36He has several rare paintings
32:38by Vermeer.
32:39So he is someone
32:41who might have the wherewithal
32:43to pull off something
32:44as bold as the theft
32:46of the Mona Lisa
32:47from the Louvre.
32:49No one else had
32:50that kind of money
32:51and appreciation
32:52for European art
32:53and that level
32:55of unchecked greed.
32:57When the search
32:58for the stolen Mona Lisa
32:59peters out in France
33:01in the fall of 1911,
33:02many observers speculate
33:04that she could already
33:05be hanging in one
33:07of Morgan's mansions
33:08or could be headed there soon.
33:11Suspicion only grows
33:12when it's discovered
33:13that Morgan was on vacation
33:15in Italy at the time
33:17of the Mona Lisa theft.
33:18The thought is that
33:19he actually had the painting
33:21delivered to him
33:21while he was there.
33:23There's a growing belief
33:24amongst the French populace
33:25that only an American millionaire
33:28could have pulled off
33:29this heist
33:30and had so much money
33:32to enlist the help
33:33of professional thieves
33:34to acquire
33:35this national masterpiece
33:37for their own
33:38private enjoyment.
33:40It wouldn't be the first time
33:42J.P. Morgan had been caught
33:44with a stolen art treasure.
33:46J.P. Morgan actually did have
33:48a stolen item
33:50in his collection.
33:51He had one of the vestments
33:52of Pope Nicholas IV,
33:54but upon realizing
33:56that this was
33:57a stolen work
33:58he returned it to Italy.
34:02Months into the case
34:03the investigation
34:04is unsuccessful
34:05but the speculation
34:06over J.P. Morgan's involvement
34:08is very much alive.
34:10In 1912
34:12Morgan goes to France
34:13for a spa vacation
34:15and the tabloids go berserk.
34:17They're like,
34:17that's it.
34:17He's here
34:18to get the Mona Lisa.
34:19He's here to meet
34:20mysterious men
34:21where he's going to get
34:21this piece smuggled to him
34:23for $1 million.
34:25It's a wild theory
34:26that doesn't actually
34:27have any basis in fact,
34:28but Morgan at this time
34:30is just catnip
34:31for conspiracy theorists
34:32who are going after him
34:34harder than police
34:35have gone after
34:35any actual suspect.
34:37Morgan denies
34:39any connection
34:39to this heist
34:40and says,
34:41I actually wish
34:42I was somehow involved
34:43because I would buy it
34:44and give it back
34:44to the Louvre.
34:46Not everyone
34:46believes this
34:48but in the absence
34:49of any evidence
34:50the police
34:51and the French public
34:53are forced to turn
34:55their attention elsewhere.
34:58Mona Lisa remains
34:59a top international headline
35:01until April 14th, 1912
35:03when the sinking
35:04of the Titanic
35:05actually knocks it
35:06off the front pages.
35:08By this time
35:09many people accept
35:11that the Mona Lisa
35:12is never coming back
35:13to the Louvre
35:14and in fact
35:15the Louvre itself
35:16removes the painting
35:17from its official catalog.
35:20Many people believe
35:21that the Mona Lisa
35:22is now far away
35:24from Paris
35:25and may never
35:26be seen again.
35:31It's 1913.
35:32Nearly two years
35:33have passed
35:34since the Mona Lisa
35:35was stolen.
35:35The case has gone
35:37stone cold.
35:38But that changes
35:39when a prominent
35:40art and antiques dealer
35:42receives
35:43a mysterious letter.
35:45An art dealer
35:46by the name
35:47of Alfredo Geri
35:48is running advertisements
35:50in Italian newspapers
35:51stating that
35:52he's willing to pay
35:53top price
35:55for high quality
35:56works of art.
35:57Early in December
35:58he gets a letter
35:59with a Paris postmark
36:00from a guy named Leonard
36:01who says that he
36:02has stolen
36:03the Mona Lisa.
36:05The letter goes on
36:06to say that
36:07in exchange
36:08for 500,000 lira
36:09approximately
36:103 million US dollars
36:12today
36:13he will bring
36:13the painting
36:14back to Italy
36:15where it rightfully
36:16belongs.
36:17The letter is actually
36:19pretty articulate
36:20in its love
36:21of Italy.
36:21It says that
36:22the stolen work
36:23of Leonardo da Vinci
36:24is in my possession.
36:26It seems to belong
36:26to Italy
36:27since its painter
36:28was Italian.
36:29My dream is to give
36:30back this masterpiece
36:31to the land
36:31from which it came
36:32and the country
36:33that inspired it.
36:34Whoever this Leonard is
36:36he's operating
36:37under the impression
36:38that Napoleon
36:39stole the Mona Lisa
36:40from its native Italy
36:42and brought it to France.
36:44But that's actually
36:45not the case.
36:46Initially,
36:47Gery suspects
36:48the letter is a hoax
36:49and holds off
36:51on notifying
36:51the authorities.
36:52In the ensuing
36:53two years
36:54Europe has been
36:55racked with
36:56Mona Lisa fever.
36:58Countless claims
37:00of its whereabouts
37:01or fakes
37:02being issued
37:03and being immediately
37:04dismissed
37:05are rampant.
37:06And Gery doesn't
37:08want to be taken
37:09for a fool.
37:10But something
37:11in this letter
37:12piques his interest.
37:14In the letter,
37:16Leonard talks about
37:17some of the details
37:18on the backside
37:19of the wooden panel
37:20of the Mona Lisa.
37:22And Gery worries
37:23that it actually
37:25might have
37:26some truth to it.
37:29Gery invites the man
37:30to his gallery
37:31for a clandestine meeting
37:33on December 10th, 1913.
37:36Gery is waiting
37:37and in walks
37:38a thin, younger man
37:40who insists
37:41that he has
37:41the real Mona Lisa.
37:43And the reason
37:43he knows this
37:44is because he stole
37:45the painting himself.
37:47Gery isn't convinced,
37:48but he does agree
37:50to meet the letter writer
37:51with the director
37:53of Florence's
37:54famed Uffizi Museum.
37:57He's there
37:57to authenticate
37:59maybe the Mona Lisa.
38:01The man pulls
38:02a trunk
38:03from under
38:04the hotel room's bed.
38:06This looks like
38:06just an ordinary trunk.
38:09And when he opens it,
38:12Gery is immediately
38:14disappointed.
38:16It's just discarded items,
38:18but it has a secret.
38:20It has a false bottom.
38:21So he pulls
38:23the false bottom
38:23for the trunk
38:24and there is
38:25a solid plank of wood.
38:31And the Mona Lisa smile
38:33emerges.
38:35The painting is real.
38:38Gery immediately
38:39alerts the authorities.
38:40Leonard is arrested
38:42and his name
38:43is discovered
38:44to be
38:45Vincenzo Perugia.
38:52Perugia is an Italian national
38:54who had moved to France
38:55hoping to become an artist.
38:57But instead,
38:58he became a laborer,
38:59working in the Louvre
39:00from October 1910
39:01to January 1911.
39:03So, as Lepine
39:05had suspected,
39:06he had worked
39:07at the Louvre
39:08as a subcontractor,
39:09manufacturing
39:10the protective glass boxes
39:12that held artwork
39:13like the Mona Lisa.
39:17Interestingly,
39:17the Paris police
39:18had already interviewed
39:20Perugia more than once,
39:22but he was so calm
39:24and cooperative-seeming
39:26that they had neglected
39:27to even fingerprint him.
39:29The whole time
39:31the French police
39:31were inside
39:32his dingy apartment,
39:34the Mona Lisa
39:34was hiding right there
39:36under his bed.
39:38At trial,
39:40Perugia's simple
39:41but effective plot
39:42is revealed.
39:44He enters with the crowds
39:45on a Sunday afternoon.
39:47He hides in a closet.
39:48When it opens Monday,
39:49the closed day,
39:50he steals a white smock,
39:52looks like an employee.
39:54Because he fabricated the piece,
39:56he knows how to take it off,
39:57takes it off immediately,
39:58and then heads
39:59to the stairwell.
40:00Perugia said
40:01he'd stolen a key
40:02to open that door
40:02to the stairwell,
40:03but it didn't work.
40:04So he tried
40:05to use a screwdriver,
40:06but all that happened
40:07was the doorknob fell off.
40:09By the time
40:10that plumber came along,
40:11he'd managed
40:12to safely tuck the painting
40:13under his smock
40:14to make that getaway.
40:16The defendant insisted
40:17that he had done this
40:18all out of national pride
40:19because Mona Lisa
40:21belonged in Italy,
40:23the home of Leonardo da Vinci.
40:25To immense fanfare,
40:28France's national treasure,
40:30the Mona Lisa,
40:30is returned
40:31on January 4th, 1914.
40:35Perugia pleads guilty,
40:37but the court finds him
40:38guilty of the theft,
40:40but for the right reasons.
40:42They claim that he was acting
40:44under a patriotic duty
40:46and he's sentenced
40:47to only one year.
40:49Perugia serves only eight months
40:51for stealing the Mona Lisa.
40:56Once the Mona Lisa returns
40:58to the Louvre,
40:58it becomes more famous
41:00than ever,
41:01attracting over 100,000 visitors
41:03in its first two days.
41:05Today,
41:06huge crowds still vie
41:08for a first-hand look,
41:09few of them aware
41:10of the international mystery
41:12she sparked
41:13more than 100 years ago.
41:15I'm Lawrence Fishburne.
41:16Thank you for watching
41:17this Case Closed episode
41:19of History's Greatest Mysteries.
41:22You may be listening to the
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