Hi guys. "City of Death" came up in the last classic story you watched thread. Coincidentally, I happened on a 2011 news article (written by Jori Finkel for McClatchy-Tribune syndicate) commemorating the (at the time) 100th anniversary of the theft of the "Mona Lisa."
It was stolen in late August, 1911 and was missing for over 2 years before the thief, an Italian house painter and petty criminal who'd worked in the Louvre, walked out with it. It was gone for 28 hours before anyone realized it wasn't down for cleaning or photographing.
But the interesting thing is the last tidbit: There was a 1932 article in the "Saturday Evening Post" by a Karl Decker that argued that an Argentine con man named Eduardo de Valfierno masterminded the heist--so he could sell six forgeries to rich American collectors! The 2011 article discounts this story as basically yellow journalism.
It was stolen in late August, 1911 and was missing for over 2 years before the thief, an Italian house painter and petty criminal who'd worked in the Louvre, walked out with it. It was gone for 28 hours before anyone realized it wasn't down for cleaning or photographing.
But the interesting thing is the last tidbit: There was a 1932 article in the "Saturday Evening Post" by a Karl Decker that argued that an Argentine con man named Eduardo de Valfierno masterminded the heist--so he could sell six forgeries to rich American collectors! The 2011 article discounts this story as basically yellow journalism.
