The Rockwell Heist by Bruce Rubenstein

Author:Bruce Rubenstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-87351-896-3
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Published: 2013-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

12

The tipster who had fingered an underworld figure for the Minneapolis police and the FBI three weeks following the theft practically made a pest of himself thereafter. He contacted the FBI many times six months later, named the perpetrators again, and said he didn’t know whether the paintings were still in Minneapolis or had been fenced elsewhere.

A memorandum dated October 24, 1980, says the tipster had “continually advised that [redacted] was responsible for captioned theft.” The most interesting thing about that particular memo is that it is included as part of the information the FBI developed after Elayne Lindberg told them of her conversation with the contractor. He appears to be the tipster who kept on tipping.

The files indicate that he merely confirmed what the FBI already knew about the theft, but his periodic reminders might have prodded them to make life uncomfortable for at least one of the perpetrators.

In 1983, the tipster contacted a retired FBI agent and claimed he could recover the paintings in return for a reward. Elayne told the former agent that there was a $5,000 reward being offered by Home Insurance. She said the company might even go as high as $10,000, if the paintings were in good condition. The former agent said the lower figure was probably plenty and he would stay in contact. Nothing came of it.

In June 1984, correspondence addressed to the Minneapolis office from an agent in the field suggests “reopening” the case because the tipster had new information. He claimed that one of the men he fingered was now in possession of the paintings. The note ends with a caution: “This case should not be discussed on Bureau radio frequencies because it is known that [redacted] has Bureau radio monitored.”

Nothing came of that either, but a year later, in the spring of 1985, the thief who allegedly possessed the paintings was under intense surveillance by the FBI. His phone was tapped, and he was being tailed. He was feeling the heat and making plans to relocate.

He phoned Elayne Lindberg and made a proposal. He would return all the stolen paintings if both the U.S. attorney and the Hennepin County attorney would agree not to prosecute. A preliminary meeting was scheduled between Elayne, the perpetrator, and his lawyer, but the perpetrator never showed up.

By August 1985, that same perpetrator was living in Detroit and negotiating through an attorney to set up a deal between himself, the FBI, and Home Insurance Company. By then he wanted immunity plus a cash reward. The FBI was eager to make the deal. They seem to have persuaded the prosecutors to go along, but there were still many stumbling blocks. Each party to the potential arrangement had a separate agenda, even the ones that appeared to be acting in concert.

All of the paintings, seven Rockwells and the fake Renoir, were subject to the negotiation, but Brown & Bigelow cared only about its four paintings (if those), and the insurer had a monetary interest only in those four plus the two that belonged to the gallery.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.