Major Carabinieri operation: dismantled an international organization of traffickers in archaeological goods

Carabinieri from the Cultural Heritage Protection Command (TPC) have dismantled acriminal organization dedicated to the international trafficking of Sicilian archaeological goods. The military executed an order for the application of precautionary measures, issued by the GIP of Caltanissetta at the request of the Sicilian city’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, against twenty-three people held responsible for being part of atransnational criminal organization aimed at trafficking in archaeological finds from clandestine excavations in Sicily. This is the conclusion of the “Demetra” investigation, which began in the summer of 2014 after the discovery of a clandestine excavation in the municipality of Riesi (province of Caltanissetta). The Carabinieri, realizing that this was not an isolated incident, then deepened the investigative activity, succeeding in unmasking the organization and recovering more than twenty thousand archaeological assets illegally stolen from the State (the economic value is more than 40 million euros).

The “Demetra” operation involved two main strands: the first, from which the investigations began, has at its center a local criminal, Francesco Lucerna, around whom revolved a systematic looting of archaeological areas in the Nissene and Agrigento areas, whose finds were destined for wealthy collectors in northern Italy, aware of the illicit origin of the goods. The group also had forgers, with workshops identified in the province of Catania. The second strand, international in scope, was developed by deepening elements that emerged in the first phase of the investigation. In this context, it was ascertained that subjects from Riesi and Gela were in connection with a transnational criminal holding led by London-based art dealer Thomas William Veres. Thanks to a complex logistical-operational network extended between Italy, Spain, and Germany, the organization was able to traffic considerable quantities of Sicilian archaeological goods. The artifacts, which were the proceeds of clandestine excavations, were taken over by the organization’s local contacts and, then, entrusted to “couriers” who clandestinely exported them to Germany. Upon reaching their destination, they were “cleaned up” through fictitious certificates of provenance and placed on the legitimate art market through auction houses operating in Munich. To further increase profits, this organization also had forgers, whose logistical base was identified in Riesi.

“The operation completed,” comments a note from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, “constitutes an important signal of the state’s response to the criminal phenomenon of illicit international trafficking in archaeological goods. Sicily, which is particularly rich in vestiges of the past, is the subject of incessant and intense looting of artifacts destined for the clandestine art goods market. Fundamental in this regard has been the activity of international judicial and police cooperation, which has made it possible to reconstruct the entire trafficking chain even beyond national borders.”

Image: Rome, the central building in Piazza Sant’Ignazio, headquarters of the Carabinieri’s Comando Tutela Patrimonio Culturale.

Major Carabinieri operation: dismantled an international organization of traffickers in archaeological goods

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