- Robert Volpe
Robert Volpe (
December 13 ,1942 –November 28 ,2006 ), was a painter andNew York City police officer and detective, specializing inart theft .Born in
Bay Ridge ,Brooklyn , Volpe studied art at theHigh School of Art and Design , Parsons School for Design and theArt Students League of New York . His art career began with paintings of tugboats during his teenage years, and later, in the 1970s, his abstract work sold for as much as $1500. After a stint in the army, he joined the New York City police force and initially worked undercover on organized crime cases, including narcotics work related to theFrench Connection . After making several art crime arrests, in 1971 he was appointed the sole member of the New York City Police Department's bureau for art crime, the only bureau of its kind in the nation.His work was varied, including art theft, vandalism, and forgeries, and he took as many as 40–50 calls per day from around the world. In 1981, he recovered an 1858 candelabrum once owned by the king of
Egypt only 11 days after being notified of the theft by British authorities. Over his desk hung a congratulatory photograph from the foreign minister ofItaly for recovering two ivories worth $1.5 million stolen from a museum inPesaro . After Volpe's retirement in 1983, art crimes began to be handled by the burglary division.Volpe died in
Staten Island in 2006, and was survived by his wife, three siblings, and three children. One of his sons,Justin Volpe , served as a New York City police officer until being convicted of torturingAbner Louima .References
*cite news | title=Robert Volpe, Art-Theft Expert, Dies at 63 | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/nyregion/05volpe.html | author = Douglas Martin | publisher =
New York Times | page=A25 | date=December 5, 2006|accessdate=2008-04-06External links
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001503.html Washington Post obituary]
* [http://gothamist.com/2006/12/05/citys_one_and_o.php The Gothamist obituary]
* [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=FB081EF93A5C0C738EDDAC0894DB484D81 The York Times "ART PEOPLE; City's art policeman"]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
