Priceless
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The former leader of the FBI's Art Crime Team, credited with the recovery of $225 million worth of stolen art, tells the story of his career. When a valuable work of art goes missing, wealthy collectors and the major museums contact the FBI. For twenty years, that call went to Bob Wittman. But there
… More »The former leader of the FBI's Art Crime Team, credited with the recovery of $225 million worth of stolen art, tells the story of his career. When a valuable work of art goes missing, wealthy collectors and the major museums contact the FBI. For twenty years, that call went to Bob Wittman. But there remains one heist he was unable to solve.
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Add a CommentIf you enjoy real accounts and have an interest in the world of art theft this is a good read. It combines the cloak and dagger undercover ops with the paper trail and internal challenges within the FBI for a real account of one man's work dealing with stolen art. Because there are several escapades it's the type of book you can pick up and put down without forgetting who is who and where you were in the storyline. All in all an interesting journey.
In the world of North American crime, art theft does not rank high on the list of priorities for the FBI. For one man, however, stopping the theft of cultural artifacts is as important as stopping the sale of drugs or solving violent crime cases. Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures is the story of Robert K. Wittman’s FBI career and how he spent years travelling around the globe reclaiming works of art for both museums and personal collections. Wittman makes a convincing argument for the importance of pursuing the recovery of paintings, sculptures, historic flags, swords, items from archeology sites, and other culturally relevant objects. He notes that their disappearance robs us all of our history, culture, and sense of identity. Wittman details a number of his undercover exploits as he ingratiates himself with members of the criminal underworld to recover works by Rodin, Goya, Rembrandt, and objects such as Geronimo’s eagle feather war bonnet, and a crystal ball originally from Beijing’s Forbidden City. He tracks the growth of the fledgling art crime unit within the FBI and its eventual dissolution, while outlining both its successes as well as its failures.