Priceless by Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman

Priceless by Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman

Author:Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780307461490
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2010-05-26T14:30:00+00:00


THE CASE WAS so old that I didn’t even know it had existed when I got a call in January 1999 about suspicious Rockwells for sale in Philadelphia.

George Turak, an honest broker and a longtime source, told me that a Brazilian man had hired him to sell two Rockwell paintings on consignment, She’s My Baby and Lickin’ Good Bath. Turak said his research showed the paintings were stolen from Minneapolis in 1978. I confirmed this with a simple Internet search followed by a call to the Minneapolis FBI office, and an agent there briefed me on the heist. He also told me about the five remaining missing paintings. Intrigued, I went to Turak’s gallery and seized the two paintings.

Within days, the agent in Minneapolis called back with important news.

It turned out that Bonnie Lindberg had followed up on the 1994 letter from Brazil and that she’d partnered with a local television station, KARE 11, to document her dealings with Carneiro. The two-part exclusive would be running in a few weeks—the station was holding it to air during February sweeps. A few weeks later, after the series aired, I received a tape. For the FBI, it was a public relations disaster.

“Tonight,” the anchor intoned, introducing the story, “new information on a case long ago abandoned by the FBI. It’s a case where no arrests have been made and no paintings ever found—until now.”

Part One of the series recapped the 1978 theft and retraced the family’s detective work. “Bonnie Lindberg runs the gallery today,” the reporter said, “and she’s been the lead investigator in this case after the others walked away, after the FBI gave up, when literally no one seemed to care.” The reporter continued, “It’s amazing what Bonnie did on her own, following leads on four continents, crisscrossing the U.S. as well, a wild ride of faxes and phone calls…. In the last three years, all leads began to lead to Rio, leads the gallery says were rejected by the FBI.”

Part Two of the series began with Lindberg unwrapping a large package she’d just received in the mail from Brazil. Inside, she found Before the Date/Cowgirl, and she grew emotional as she held it. Next, the cameras followed Lindberg to Rio to negotiate the purchase of the companion painting, Before the Date/Cowboy, from Carneiro. During the visit, Carneiro also showed off The Spirit of ’76, which hung prominently in his home, as well as So Much Concern and Hasty Retreat. The reporter said of Carneiro, “He says he’s done everything properly to purchase the paintings, and that appears to be true. There are certificates from the Art Loss Register in New York and London, verifying that the paintings are not stolen…. And while he’s willing to let the paintings go, he wants his money back first, three hundred thousand dollars.”

The TV report presented a somewhat misleading picture, omitting several relevant facts, including that Lindberg had agreed to pay Carneiro $80,000 for the Before the Date pair. Also, because my recovery



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