The following article from the Boston Globe offers some interesting
reflections on negotiating with criminals about the return of stolen
art.
Ton Cremers

Art and terrorism
By Globe Staff, 09/06/97
The 11 masterpieces stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
1990 were not insured, partly to discourage thefts by criminals
looking for quick ransom money. Officials should not now yield to the
temptation of a devil's bargain with the crooks, or their seconds, in
order to recover the paintings. Naturally, civilized people everywhere
want the artwork returned in good condition. Some have described the
negotiations under way among lawyers for the museum, the US Attorney's
office, and the unseemly characters who claim to have access to the
loot as a classic kidnapping - no price is too high to recover the
precious cargo. But another analogy works as well: negotiating with
terrorists. The deal presented through the media by William P.
Youngworth III - an associate of the convicted art thief Myles Connor
Jr. and an ex-con himself - is nothing short of extortion, and it must
be resisted. There is ample precedent in law enforcement for offering
immunity to witnesses and informants who can help solve a knotty
crime, and often those witnesses are not upstanding citizens. But
prosecutors have not ruled out that Youngworth and Connor themselves
skim close to the crime, even though they were both in prison at the
time of the heist. The price they are asking for the paintings
-amnesty for their crimes, freedom for Connor, and the $5 million
reward - may appear justifiable to some. But the true price is in the
slow erosion of credibility in the law  for countless other crimes yet
to be committed, and it is much too high. Worse is the prospect of
trading with criminals and still not solving the crime. If the artwork
is returned and the thieves are never apprehended, the loop is not
closed. The thieves will be free to attempt the next heist - a Picasso
this time, or perhaps the Dead Sea Scrolls - with the Gardner
negotiation as ammunition and precedent. Everyone will be happy if the
Gardner treasures are returned. But if the paintings are exchanged for
blackmail, they - and we - will not be any safer.

This story ran on page A14 of the Boston Globe on 09/06/97.
Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.

----
The Museum Security Network
dedicated to protection of cultural property
http://museum-security.org/
http://www.xs4all.nl/~securma/
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
----