Name: How An Art Heist Inside Rikers Island Jail Was Pulled Off
Uploaded: 2020-04-13T17:57:47.000Z
Duration: 14 min 16 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Normally, you'd see me on the street getting right into the info of the latest New York Pretty well, that's still gonna happen in a few seconds.

But we're living in strange times and I hope you're OK.

Our latest New York really focuses on an interesting heist that happened inside Rikers Island.

This story was filmed and produced before the Kobe 19 outbreak slammed into New York City.

But since then, there have been cases of the illness inside Rikers Island and our thoughts go out to all those affected.

Our hope is that this video brings you some sort of small welcome relief in Paul.

This is about as close as I'm gonna get to Rikers Island.

The massive A notorious New York City jail in 2003.

A drawing by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali was stolen out of one of the jails, but the accused would not heed.

I'm Sal Bono and this is New York gritty?

Dolly was supposed to come visit the inmates and sixties, couldn't make it, got sick or something.

And so do I, donated one of his drawings called Crucifixion.

To me, it looked like a drawing that he did in about a minute and 1/2.

But Salvador Dali and you know, the abstract, sublime and all the things that Salvador Dali brings was represented to a degree in that drawer.

So was a Catalonian, a Spaniard who was one of the great great Surrealists of our time.

He believed that publicity was more important than quality so that the memory that many of us have of him is as a clown, a man who would write in Elephant do things like that just to get publicity.

That sense, every once in a while, he did religious work is his crucifixions of Christ marvelous paint.

His last suppers mess that piece in 19 anyone?

One inmate apparently didn't like the doll and threw a metal coffee mug at the drawing, breaking the glass and staining the portrait.

Dolly was taken down and placed in storage, hidden from view on that was placed in the basement of somebody and water.

Get on it So but have you ever seen paper that's been in the water ordering water?

It becomes more the stain from the metal that's in the water.

While the peace languished in a basement, it's artist Salvador Dali died in 1989.

By the late 19 nineties, the drawing was back on display at Rikers, hanging in a lobby next to a Pepsi machine.

Its value had been appraised for over a $1,000,000.

In order to determine orders greatness, you have to wait till he's dead.

His dealer's death of his wife is that his mistress is dead and a five year old child walks into the museum and says, Mommy, I like that.

Real criticism on the Valley has been subject to the middle of a cold night.

On March 1st, 2003 an unplanned fire drill took place inside the jail.

The next morning, a prison employee who prayed in front of the drawing noticed something was wrong.

Someone had swapped the drawing with a replica.

When you first learned of the heist at Rikers Island in March 2003 what were your initial thought?

I found it very hard to believe the area where the painting was moved to after was vandalized by the inmates in the mess hall was the front gate area, but it was a new officer signed 24 hours a day.

I sat down with Mike Caruso, former inspector general for the Department of Corrections.

So with his permission, I record our conversation inside a cafe in Queens.

Can't remember many occasions where jail was actually robbed of anything, this type of value.

You might see isolated incidents with some money disappeared out of a mate, funds or bail accounts.

But in 27 years in that office, I don't remember anything like this.

It was gonna be a major issue because I knew the painting did have pretty high value to it.

It's it's kind of a Hollywood type caper, but Replica is actually very good in a lot of ways.

And I suppose they thought would keep people fooled for least long enough for them to dispose of the real of the real painting in the black market.

However, no tape was recovered from the security camera, the unplanned fire drill, the missing security tape, the detailed bake.

They lead Mike Toe One conclusion, and I knew that it had to be an inside job, So that was gonna be a problem.

And when the Salvador Dali painting was stolen from Rikers Island from an area where officers must be buzzed in and out, well, suspicion fell on corrections officers at the prison, particularly those with enough authority to stage fire drills.

Because the day before it was learned that a phony was put in place of the actual painting, there was such a drill.

And now investigators are wondering if the drill was a cover.

There was a bogus fire drill that was called the night of the theft.

The purpose of it was to clear the area of the non participants in the scheme so that the participants in this game could do their thing that night, which was to bring in the fake painting, four prison guards found themselves no better than some of the inmates there.

Regarding arrested were assistant Deputy Warden Benny News Oh, assistant deputy warden Mitchell Hochhauser, corrections officer Timothy Peanut and corrections officer Greg.

So called wearing the sunglasses and walking in by himself, It turns out, because he flipped, went against the others and secretly recorded conversations for investigators.

All were on duty when the painting was taken that night.

Crime is a result of shameless arrogance, fueled by greed, that it represents a serious betrayal of the public trust but also undermines the professionalism of the vast majority of the correction department employees who perform their duties with dedication and integrity.

I mean, investigating officer is always difficult because they are small peace officers that they had uphold the law, have I care custody and control for the inmates that they overseeing this'll be the last thing you would expect that they would be the actual subjects of the investigation.

You know, when you think about it, this was not exactly the most brilliant caper of all time.

There were so many things that we've done here that made you realize they didn't know plans.

Everybody's orphanage, but particularly a dolly drawing.

The defendants pled guilty to second degree grand larceny and received different sentences.

However, Betty News Oh, who authorities claim was the mastermind of the plot, wasn't backing down without a fight.

He called me and said, Look, I'm indicted, I'm innocent.

You don't very macro level knowledge of the case from the newspapers.

I'm certainly interested in the case, and, uh, it was a challenge that I thought would be stimulating.

Prosecutors said the drawing was valued at over $250,000.

That could have meant a maximum sentence of 15 years of news.

If the stolen goods are under $50,000 defendants are given a maximum seven years behind bars as a trial lawyer.

As a lawyer, the best working conduce is in mitigation.

You know, you're not gonna get a clean sweep.

Perhaps, But, you know, instead of facing, you know, 8 to 30 25 you know, or 7 to 21.