What makes art theft such an appealing subject for the general public?
Part of the interest is just a fascination with the practical aspects, wanting to know how it’s done, how we get around the alarm systems, where the pieces go afterward, that kind of thing. Art thieves are a lot like magicians, and everyone wants to know how a magic trick works. Has technology changed art theft in the 21st century from when you started out in the 1960s? When you look at the big, successful heists of the last 20 years, like the Scottish Madonna or the theft of The Scream from the [Munch Museum and another version from the] Norwegian National Gallery, you realize that very little has changed. The stuff you see in the movies—some computer geek hacking into the museum’s mainframe and disabling the alarms so his buddies can rappel in from the air ducts—just isn’t realistic. I don’t care how good you are; a top-notch security system is impossible to outsmart, and it’s certainly not worth the effort. The best way to successfully execute a big score is still the way we did it
