In the United States caught 20 years of stealing multi-million dollar antiques criminals

The police arrested a gang of nine people

For 20 years, a group of criminals managed to rob dozens of institutions of culture and history in the United States. The thieves operated in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Washington, DC. As a result, dozens of works of art and objects of historical value disappeared. Among the stolen, for example, paintings by Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, a T-shirt of the famous baseball player of the early twentieth century Christy Mathewson, championship belts of legendary boxers, minerals, precious stones and antique weapons. The thieves were omnivorous and elusive. For each of the thefts committed, each of them faces up to 5 years in prison.

The Elusives started their criminal business back in 1999, according to US law enforcement agencies. The crimes continued until 2019. The four members of the Bantha now facing charges are Nicholas Dombek (53, from Thornhurst, Pennsylvania), Damien Boland (47, from Moscow, Pennsylvania), Alfred Atsus (47, from Covington, Pennsylvania), and Joseph Atsus (age 48, from Rearing Brook, Pennsylvania). Another five men are under investigation. All except Nicholas Dombek are already confessing to the thefts committed. Dombek, who is suspected of transporting stolen items between states, pleads not guilty. Most of the defendants had previous convictions or appeared in investigations of other cases.

It is amazing that for so many years the criminals managed to remain uncaught, and, most importantly, to commit their crimes without hindrance. How they did it is a mystery. Perhaps the secret is that they chose small, quiet museums, antique shops, and cultural institutions, and often took out small items that could easily be hidden under clothing. Few of the crimes committed made it into the news reports.

However, some details of the theft of works by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock, committed in 2005, are known. The thieves broke into the Everhard Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, through a staff entrance on Friday night. For some reason, the surveillance cameras that the museum is equipped with were turned off. They took two medium-sized items: a Warhol silkscreen (later the museum valued it at $15,000) and Pollock’s painting “Winter-Spring”, written by the master at the peak of his career in 1949 – its cost is $11.6 million. Pollock’s work is owned by a private collector and has been loaned to the museum. This is perhaps the largest and most expensive catch of the “elusive”.

Other stolen items are much smaller. So, in 1999, the criminals took out the T-shirt of the famous baseball player Christy Mathewson from the Sports Hall of Fame at Keystone College. Together with her, they took away two contracts signed by the athlete. In 2012, the kidnappers visited the Golf Museum in New Jersey, from where they left with trophies of famous golfers. In 2013, they visited the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, where they stole five trophies worth $400,000. In 2015, the thieves visited the International Boxing Hall of Fame in New York, where they took out six championship belts, of which four were once awarded to Carmen Basilio and two to Tony Zale. The criminals were obviously more fond of sports than art.

However, not only sports were included in the circle of interests of the “elusive”. In 2006, thieves stole three million dollar old muskets from a museum in New Jersey, in 2011 they took $400,000 worth of gold nuggets from the Sterling Hill Mining Museum, and in 2017 they robbed the Franklin Mineral Museum, from where they took various gems and minerals. This is not counting the various antique and jewelry stores they visited regularly.

The stolen thieves transported to other US states and sold at prices far below the real value of the items. Nevertheless, they stole “little things” for millions of dollars. For many years, the police could not get on the trail of criminals. Only now the cases that have been investigated for two decades have been merged into one, the criminals have been detained and charged. For each of the thefts committed, they face up to five years in prison, not counting articles for possession and sale of stolen goods.