Italy: Police bust crime network forging renowned paintings

Police successful Italy person seized much than 2,100 forged artworks that were attributed to dozens of greats similar Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol and Banksy.

Investigators said connected Monday that the artworks had a imaginable marketplace worth of €200 cardinal ($215 million).

The main authoritative of Pisa, Teresa Angela Camelio, said experts from the Banksy archive assisted with the probe and considered it to beryllium "the biggest enactment of extortion of Banksy's work."

Other artists whose works were allegedly forged see Salvador Dali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian, Gustav Klimt, Wassily Kandinsky, Francis Bacon and many more.

Paintings by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali were among those allegedly forged by the transgression networkImage: Carabinieri/Handout via REUTERS

Police allege web of forgery workshops

Some 38 radical were probed successful an probe that spanned Italy, Spain, France and Belgium.

They were suspected of conspiracy to grip stolen goods, forgery, and amerciable merchantability of artworks, the Pisa prosecutor's bureau and Carabinieri creation squad said successful a associated statement.

Italian constabulary uncovered 2 creation forgery workshops successful Tuscany and 1 successful Venice. European investigations past identified 3 much workshops abroad.

Authorities said the probe helped support the enactment of anonymous thoroughfare creator BanksyImage: Carabinieri/Handout via REUTERS

The suspects were accused of producing the forged artworks successful their ain workshops earlier contacting Italian auction houses to merchantability the pieces.

The web of alleged forgers adjacent organized full exhibitions astatine prestigious locations successful bid to boost their credibility, completing with published creation catalogs.

zc/rmt (Reuters, EFE)