History is punctuated with criminal cases and miscellaneous facts that make the headlines. These stories worry us as much as they fascinate us.
Radio and television man, passionate observer of the police and judicial world, Jacques Pradel devoted his life to crimes, disturbing disappearances and diabolical machinations. In his book My Criminal Recordsthe investigative journalist delves into his personal archives and looks back on the dramas that marked him.
At the microphone of Johann Guerinhe chose to tell some of them by bringing unknown anecdotes: the attack against John Paul II, the assassination of John Lennon, or the theft of the Mona Lisa, missing for two years.
The flight of the Mona Lisa
On August 22, 1911, the unthinkable happened: we stole the Mona Lisa! To find it, an important device is put in place. Borders are closed, stations and major ports are placed under surveillance. In the days that followed, the director of the Louvre Museum was dismissed.
Two people are arrested by the authorities : the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and his friend the painter Pablo Picasso. They are suspected of having orchestrated everything in order to prove that the works exhibited at the Louvre Museum are not safe.
Two years later, in december 1913while Mona Lisa remains untraceable, a man goes to a flea market in Florence. He explains that he stole the painting out of patriotism.
A carpenter by trade, Vincenzo Peruggia had emigrated to France and settled in Paris. His employer had chosen him to build the wooden protective chest commissioned by the Louvre Museum for the Mona Lisa. He then took the opportunity to steal the painting in order to return it to Italy. Indeed, he believed that Leonardo da Vinci’s painting had been stolen from his country by Napoleon.
During his trial, the thief is acclaimed by the Italian public who salute his patriotism. During his short detention, he received bottles of wine, bread and love letters from anonymous people asking for his release.
Vincenzo Peruggia will only be sentenced to eight months in jail and walk out of court.
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