Manhattan prosecutors return 17 valuable cultural goods to Italia

The New York District Attorney's Office recovered and returned 17 cultural goods to Italia, with a total value of USD 1.5 million. Welcoming the Italian delegation to the restitution ceremony was District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., who thanked "prosecutors, analysts and investigators for their work in returning these stolen antiquities". "I am grateful to the Italian authorities for their continued cooperation, which continues to produce significant results in the fight against the damage caused by illicit trafficking networks," he added. The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, accompanied by diplomatic representatives and representatives of the Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale. "What makes the cooperation between Italia and the District Attorney's Office productive is the exceptional teamwork between Italian and American authorities, committed to the protection of cultural heritage and the fight against international crime," said the Minister.

The assets were recovered as part of several investigations into illicit antiquities trafficking networks. According to the findings, they were illicitly removed from Italy and subsequently placed on the international market by Frieda Tchakos and other convicted traffickers, including Giovanni Franco Becchina and Fritz and Harry Burki. The investigation was overseen by the head of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos, and led by prosecutor Jacqueline Studley, Italian lawyer Giuditta Giardini and Dr Michael Chapin. Also contributing, investigator John Paul Labbat and, for Homeland Security Investigations, special agentRobert Mancene.

Among the most important assets are: a terracotta fragment of a votive relief (ca. 470-460 BC.), depicting a scene from the myth of Hades and Persephone, formerly held in the Swiss Antike Kunst Palladion gallery in Becchina and later donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from which it was seized; six Chinese Jesuit books from the 16th-17th centuries, stolen from the Archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome and resurfaced on the London antiquities market in 2000, then seized at the University of Notre Dame; a letter dated 31 January 1524 from Alfonso I d'Este to Lodovico Ariosto, stolen from the State Archives in Massa and subsequently sold to Sotheby's New York in 1973, then acquired by the Morgan Library & Museum, where it remained until it was seized. The Public Prosecutor's Office also thanked the Morgan Library & Museum and the University of Notre Dame for their cooperation during the investigation.

"From 2021 to date, the United States has returned more than 900 works of art and archaeological goods to Italia," said Minister Giuli. "A large number of them have been returned from New York thanks to the investigative activities carried out by the Manhattan Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with the Carabinieri Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. The ceremony is part of the fruitful and long-lasting Italian-US cooperation in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property. "On 5 December last," continued the Minister, "I had the pleasure of renewing for five years with my friend Sarah Rogers, Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy at the US Department of State, the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and the US on the imposition of restrictions on the import of archaeological material from Italia. An essential tool for the protection of cultural heritage, for the fight against transnational organised crime, and for the development of a healthy art market".

During Prosecutor Bragg's tenure, the Office has recovered more than 2,500 antiquities from 47 countries with a total value of almost USD 270 million. Since its inception, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit has obtained 18 convictions for cultural property offences, recovered more than 6,200 works (worth more than USD 485 million) and returned more than 5,860 items to 36 countries to date.