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news & updates delivers the latest
information about SAFE, features ways to help
stem the looting and illicit trade of
antiquities, and highlights developments in
the larger world of cultural heritage
preservation.
Tighten your
trenchcoats and
speak in hushed tones, readers, it's the
"crime and conspiracy" issue. Say yes to
Mali and Guatemala, watch the Medici Conspiracy
podcast, and read new content on looting and
global organized crime, as well as a review of a
recent book on transnational crime, by SAFE
Member
Blythe Bowman. And watch for SAFE
VP Rick St. Hilaire's report on international
antiquities trafficking.
Help us track our readership. Click here to forward this newsletter.
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Watch the Medici Conspiracy podcast
Couldn't attend Peter
Watson's lecture on his newest book, The
Medici Conspiracy, in Manhattan?
We're bringing the event to you! The latest
in our new podcast series, this installment
is a video of
Watson's only U.S. lecture on the book,
organized by
SAFE. The lecture was part of SAFE's
Beacon
Awards Benefit Gala, at which Watson was an
honoree.
In this 60-minute podcast, Watson details how
the 1995 discovery of a treasure trove of
looted artifacts and incriminating
information at a Geneva
warehouse led to the 2004 trial and
conviction of Italian antiquities dealer
Giacamo Medici. The Italian government's
dogged efforts resulted in the
landmark return of dozens of artifacts from
the Met, BFA, and the Getty to Italy, and the
ongoing trial of dealer Robert Hecht and
former Getty Museum curator Marion True
The Medici
Conspiracy, co-authored with Cecilia
Todeschini, was voted one of Time Magazine's
2006 "10 Best" books from Africa, Europe, and
the
Middle East.
Link to the podcast...
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The nuts and bolts of transnational plunder
Blythe Bowman, a SAFE Member and
PhD candidate in criminology and criminal
justice, dissects the global illicit
antiquities trade and
organized crime
in Plunder
of Antiquities: A Crime of Global
Proportions, newlt posted on the
SAFE website.
In addition, Blythe reviews Edgar Tijhuis'
recent book
Transnational Crime and the Interface
between Legal and Illegal Factors: The Case
of the Illicit Art and Antiquities Trade.
A criminologist and researcher at the
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime
and Law Enforcement, Tijhuis digs deep into
the shifting, often murky, relationships between
transnational criminals, legal companies, and
governments. He investigates the extent to
which these relationships are collaborative,
how crimes are transformed into legitimate
activities, and how these activities affect
the illicit antiquities trade. Blythe sifts
the material and
presents her findings.
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SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone, Inc.
creates
educational programs and media campaigns to raise
public awareness about the importance of
preserving
cultural heritage world-wide. SAFE is a
coalition of
professionals in communications, media, and
advertising working alongside experts in the
academic, legal and law enforcement
communities. SAFE is a nonprofit 501(c)(3)
organization and
has no political affiliations.
We wish to thank the Museum Security Network
Mailinglist and
other sources for their work.
SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone ©2007 All
Rights Reserved.
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On March 15 and 16, the U.S. Cultural Property
Advisory Committee will hold hearings to decide
whether to extend bilateral agreements with
Mali and Guatemala, to restrict the import of
antiquities from these countries.
