November 16, 2000

Ex-federal sleuth fenced stolen items

by Bob Warner, Daily News Staff Writer Daily News Staff Writer Nov 15, 2000
http://dailynews.philly.com:80/content/daily_news/2000/11/15/local/GATE15.htm
When FBI agents began tapping the public telephone at 8th and Allegheny for an undercover drug investigation in 1997, the feds heard more than they expected. In a series of calls, a 31-year-old thief named Anthony Lewis phoned aformer federal investigator, Charles W. Kass, who had just retired from the racketeering unit at the U.S. Department of Labor.
With the FBI secretly listening in, Kass arranged to buy iron grates and fences, fireplace mantels, stained glass windows and other architectural items that Lewis had stolen from local buildings.
But this was no sting operation, with the federal agent setting up a thief for a speedy bust. Kass - a respected investigator who had helped send corrupt labor leaders to prison - was running an illegal business in stolen artifacts out of his New Jersey home. Lewis was one of the thieves providing him with merchandise. The wiretap evidence was disclosed yesterday in U.S. District Court, as Kass, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. Sentencing was set for Feb. 8.
When Kass was accused last month of fencing stolen goods, his attorney, Jeffrey M. Kolansky, said Kass had been "careless" about some of his purchases - including a pair of antique wrought-iron gates that had been stolen from St. Peter's Church, 3rd and Pine streets, in February 1998. Kolansky said Kass had returned the church gates when he saw a newspaper story and realized they'd been stolen. In fact, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Dale Hoffa disclosed yesterday, Kass returned the church gates only after a Maryland antique dealer threatened to expose Kass to the police. Kass had purchased the stolen church gates for $600 or $700 in cash from a local thief identified as Darryl Nixon, the prosecutor said. Kass then sold them to the Maryland antique dealer for $1,100.
"Kass told [the dealer] he got his inventory from demolition people and he assured [the dealer] his goods were not stolen," prosecutors said. But a week later, the Maryland antique merchant was at an auction and heard about the theft of the 200-year-old church gates, Hoffa said. The suspicious merchant drove to Philadelphia to check the design of the remaining gates at the church, then called Kass "and demanded that he return the gates to the church," the prosecutor said.
Kass then contacted an attorney to help make arrangements to return the church gates, according to Hoffa. At that time, he told the cops he'd purchased the gates "from two black males who approached him on the street." FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said authorities were suspicious of Kass's story, and the investigation eventually lead them to the Maryland antique dealer, and to Lewis and Nixon, and alleged thief Monroe Clark.
The thieves told federal investigators they sold Kass stolen mantels, doors, windows, gates, grates, crown molding and glassware, sometimes meeting at 6th and Ranstead streets in Center City, just outside the building where Kass worked as a federal investigator. Kass's career included helping in the case that lead to the 1995 conviction of John Shaw, former president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, for taking bribes from FOP contractors; and earlier in the 1990s, he documented an expense-padding scheme at Electric Factory Concerts that cheated entertainers, stagehands and the government out of more than $1.5 million.

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From: Alain Beausire beausire@musee-rodin.fr
To: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Subject:

Re: statues de rodin volées en Russie

Monsieur, Le 10 novembre, j'ai ecrit au Musee de la Bataille de Stalingrad à Volgograd, pour leur demander des precisions sur les deux bronzes voles; en effet, nous n'avons aucune reference sur cette collection, ni sur la donatrice, Mme West Mackott. Rien non plus sur des relations avec Rodin... Nous ne savons pas si la lettre de Rodin (1901 - jointe au don) a vraiment existe et si elle est authentique. Il en est de meme pour les deux bronzes: s'agit-il rellement du Baiser connu de Rodin? Nous ne savons pas quelle oeuvre a ete nommee "Jalousie". Notre ignorance sur ces evenements est plutot mauvais signe, car nous avons la totalite des archives de Rodin (qui conservait tout); et les contrefacons et les faux sont tres nombreux, du vivant de Rodin a nos jours. Je ne pourrai donc vous aider qu'apres avoir recu ces informations de Volgograd. Dans cette attente, cordialement
"Alain Beausire" beausire@musee-rodin.fr Chargé des Archives et de la Bibliothèque du Musée Rodin 77 rue de Varenne 75007 Paris http://www.musee-rodin.fr

Picasso cat statue stolen from Hemingway museum

November 15, 2000
Web posted at: 3:40 PM EST (2040 GMT)
KEY WEST, Florida (AP) -- A multicolored, ceramic statue of a cat said to have been a gift from Pablo Picasso to Ernest Hemingway has disappeared from its glass-enclosed perch at the Hemingway House museum in Key West. Museum general manager Michael Morawski said the 14-inch (35- centimeter) statue disappeared Tuesday shortly before 4:20 p.m., about 10 minutes after a tour guide pointed it out to sightseers. The museum posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the culprit who made off with the feline sculpture, whose value remains a subject of debate. Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, first identified the cracked sculpture during a visit in 1972. She remarked that the cat was a 1920s-era gift from Picasso. Then in a state of disrepair, the cat was pieced back together and put on display atop an armoire in an upstairs master bedroom, a highlight on the Hemingway House tour ever since. "Obviously, it's a cornerstone of the museum itself," Morawski said. But Hemingway's son Patrick, who has quarreled with the museum's owners, has disputed the statue's origin, saying it is a bauble. It's "one of those prizes you win for knocking over the cement-filled milk bottles at a carnival," he once told The Miami Herald.

Man sentenced for defacing Virgin Mary painting

November 15, 2000 Web posted at: 12:46 PM EST (1746 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- A man convicted of defacing a controversial painting of the Virgin Mary has been fined $250 and given a chance to clear his record. Dennis Heiner, 73, was arrested last December after smearing white paint on "The Holy Virgin Mary" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The work by artist Chris Ofili, part of the British "Sensation" exhibit, incensed many people because it was decorated with elephant dung and pornographic cutouts. Heiner was told by the judge at Tuesday's sentencing that if he stays out of trouble for six months, his record will be wiped clean. A jury convicted Heiner last month of criminal mischief, which carries penalties of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Prosecutors alleged Heiner was trying to destroy the painting. The defense argued Heiner was exercising free speech, protesting what he considered a slur against a sacred symbol.

Sotheby's Posts Loss After Price-Fixing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sotheby's Holdings Inc., which pleaded guilty last month to taking part in a price-fixing scheme, said Wednesday its third quarter loss widened, excluding $184.8 million in court-related charges, and it plans to restructure. Sotheby's, also expects fourth-quarter and full-year 2000 earnings to be down significantly as a result to the restructuring, which it says will likely involve job cuts and consolidation of some of its operations. Sotheby shares fell $1-1/8, or 4.6 percent, to $23-3/16 in late- morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange, off a 52-week high of $36- 3/8. The auction house reported a third-quarter loss of 45 cents per diluted share, versus a year-earlier loss of 41 cents. The results exclude a pretax $2.68 per share charge related to court settlements of the price fixing allegations. Third-quarter revenues fell 6 percent to $42.6 million from $45.3 million in the same period last year. On Oct. 5, Sotheby's and its former president and chief executive, Diana Brooks, pleaded guilty to a multimillion- dollar price-fixing scheme with rival Christie's International Plc. As part of its restructuring, Sotheby's expects to focus its main London sales room on high-end auctions, open a new London showroom for middle-market auctions and integrate about four offices in New York into its soon-to-be revamped headquarters, Senior Vice President Diana Phillips said. The company, which employs 2000 people worldwide, said it expects to cut some of its staff, primarily administrative workers, as part of a restructuring, although some of those cuts could result from absorbing unfilled vacancies, early retirements and consolidation of roles. Phillips also said Sotheby's will also look to strengthen its Internet business, which brought in $8.9 million in sales in the quarter. The restructuring plan is expected to be approved in late 2000, the company said. The third quarter is traditionally a weak period for art auctioneers and Sotheby's historically reports a loss in the period.