In the annals of the art heist, the 2010 robbery of Paris’ Museum of Modern Art ranks up there among the most brazen. According to officials at the time, it was carried out by a lone thief, who snatched five paintings—one by Picasso, another by Matisse, among them—worth hundreds of millions of dollars, leaving the empty frames as his calling card. It had a very Thomas Crowne Affair air to it.
And well, the thief, 49-year-old Vjeran Tomic, is now in custody, and he’s been bragging to the press about just how easy the crime was to commit. According to The New York Times, all Tomic needed were “… a few tools, a couple of plungers, [and] pliers.” He’s become known in some circles as “Spiderman” for the particularly acrobatic way he’s pulled off past crimes, whether scaling buildings or using ropes to swing into unreachable spots.
Despite his apparent ease at fooling the law, he’s now facing a 10-year prison term and more than $320,000 in fines.
For more on the “Spiderman” art robber, read the Times‘ full story here.
—RealClearLife Staff
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
