Art of the Heist

On December 22nd, 2000 three of the world's greatest art treasures were stolen from the National Museum in Stockholm. Together the Rembrandt and two Renoir paintings were valued at 50 million dollars. This is the story of the ruthless robbery of three masterpieces and the cunning and daring plan to trap the gang who had them.

It was the biggest art heist in American history - half a billion dollar's worth of paintings snatched from the walls of a Boston gallery. The haul included a rare Vermeer and paintings by Rembrandt and Degas. Since then teams of FBI agents have worked on the case. The question is: who is telling the truth and will the Boston masterpieces ever be found.

It's the most important question in the worldwide art market is it genuine? Or is it fake? When a forgery is passed off as the real thing, there are fortunes to be made and lost. For nearly a decade two Englishmen did just that. Their activities literally changed art history. It was one of the greatest frauds the art world has seen. How on earth did they get away with it for so long?

The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is one of the most famous and powerful images in history. In the past 12 years, it has been the target of thieves not once but twice. One version, stolen in 1994, was recovered. But a decade later, another Scream vanished when thieves walked into the Munch Museum in Oslo and ripped it from the walls along with a second Munch masterpiece, The Madonna.

Nearly thirty years ago seven paintings, including a priceless Cezanne, were stolen from a private collection in America. As the years passed, Michael Bakwin, who owned the paintings, though he would never get see his precious Cezanne again. For three decades the pursuit of the paintings followed a trail from America to Monaco to Russia to Switzerland and eventually to London.

In the 1970s, the black market in religious artifacts had exploded into a multi-million dollar industry. The war-torn island of Cyprus was being picked clean. This is the story of how a sophisticated ring of smugglers ripped a sacred mosaic from the walls of a church. Then tried to hawk it on the open market. Little did they realize that their greed would trigger a global hunt for its recovery.