SAFE announces the release of its first video lecture, featuring author and journalist Peter Watson discussing his award-winning book The Medici Conspiracy (Public Affairs, 2006), which Mr. Watson co-authored with Cecilia Todeschini.  

The lecture — available online at  www.savingantiquities.org/podcasts.php — was hosted by SAFE at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York on November 16, 2006. After the lecture, Mr. Watson and his co-author Ms. Todeschini received the SAFE Beacon Award, which honors outstanding individuals who enlighten the public about the destruction of cultural heritage caused by the looting of ancient sites and the trade in illicit antiquities.  

During the one-hour lecture, Mr. Watson describes how investigations into the smuggling of antiquities from Italy led to the trial and 2004 conviction of antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici, as well as the trial of former Getty Museum curator Marion True and antiquities dealer Robert Hecht, while is now nearing conclusion in Rome. In a wide-ranging discussion, Mr. Watson traces the story from the late 1980s to the present (including details never before heard outside the courtroom in Rome) and concludes with a spirited round of questions from the audience, during which Mr. Watson predicted additional prosecutions in Italy and Greece and additional calls for museums to return looted antiquities. 

The Peter Watson Medici Conspiracy video lecture joins a growing list of podcasts on the SAFE website, which feature Dr. Donny George Youkhanna (former director of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad), Roger Atwood (author of Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers and the Looting of the Ancient World (St. Martins Press, 2004) and  Professor Patty Gerstenblith (president of the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation).

SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, creates educational programs and media campaigns to raise public awareness regarding the importance of preserving cultural heritage worldwide. SAFE is a coalition of professionals in communications, media, and advertising working alongside experts in the academic, legal and law enforcement communities. SAFE has no political affiliations.