The small detail that brought down the robbers: how the masterpieces stolen in Italy were located
The Carabinieri Art Squad located the three works by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse in an apartment in Parma, about five months after they were stolen. A pickaxe and a fire extinguisher left at the scene, from which serial numbers had been removed, led investigators to the suspected gang.
They entered, removed three masterpieces from the wall, and fled through the museum gardens — all in less than three minutes. But the robbers who emptied the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum near Parma in March left behind a small detail: a pickaxe and a fire extinguisher from which they had tried to erase the serial numbers.
Five months later, those same restored numbers led the Carabinieri team — a military-police unit with a branch specializing in the location and recovery of stolen works of art — to an apartment in Parma where the three works by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse were found, worth about 9 million euros.
The three recovered works: 'Fish' (Les Poissons) by Renoir, 'Still Life with Cherries' by Cézanne, and 'Odalisque on the Terrace' by Matisse were stolen from a country villa of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Traversetolo, about 20 kilometers from Parma, on the night between March 22 and 23.
Video footage released by the authorities showed the thieves, wearing headlamps and masks, breaking in, taking the three works from adjacent walls, and fleeing through the gardens — all within a few minutes. The alarm that was triggered interrupted the operation and, apparently, prevented a larger robbery. The total value of the works is estimated at about 9 million euros: the Cézanne at 6 million, the Renoir at 3 million, and the Matisse at about 20 thousand euros.
The breakthrough in the investigation came precisely from the evidence the thieves left at the scene: a pickaxe and a fire extinguisher from which the serial numbers had been removed. Forensic investigators were able to restore the numbers, and these linked them to a residential building to which one of the suspected gang members had access.
According to the Parma police chief, Andrea Pagliaro, the investigation is focusing on a gang of nine suspects born in Moldova who live in the Parma area, five of whom are accused of carrying out the robbery itself, with the works being located in an apartment in Parma at the home of one of the suspects.
