In 2003, a Sal\u00advador Dal\u00ed draw\u00ading was stolen from Rik\u00aders Island, one of the most for\u00admi\u00adda\u00adble pris\u00adons in the Unit\u00aded States. That the inci\u00addent has nev\u00ader been used as the basis for a major motion pic\u00adture seems inex\u00adplic\u00ada\u00adble, at least until you learn the details. A screen\u00adwriter would have to adapt it as not a stan\u00addard heist movie but a com\u00ade\u00addy of errors, begin\u00adning with the very con\u00adcep\u00adtion of the crime. It seems that a few Rik\u00aders guards con\u00adspired sur\u00adrep\u00adti\u00adtious\u00adly to replace the art\u00adwork, which hung on a lob\u00adby wall, with a fake. Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly for them, they made a less-than-con\u00advinc\u00ading replace\u00adment, and even if it had been detail-per\u00adfect, how did they expect to sell a unique work whose crim\u00adi\u00adnal prove\u00adnance would be so obvi\u00adous?<\/p>\n
Yet the job was, in some sense, a suc\u00adcess, in that the draw\u00ading was nev\u00ader actu\u00adal\u00adly found. Dal\u00ed cre\u00adat\u00aded it in 1965, when he was invit\u00aded by Depart\u00adment of Cor\u00adrec\u00adtion Com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader Anna Moscowitz Kross to meet with Rik\u00aders Island\u2019s inmates.\u00a0\u201cKross, the first female com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader of the jail sys\u00adtem, believed in reha\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adtat\u00ading pris\u00adon\u00aders with art, includ\u00ading paint\u00ading ses\u00adsions and the\u00adater pro\u00adduc\u00adtions,\u201d writes James Fanel\u00adli, telling the sto\u00adry in\u00a0Esquire. As for the artist, \u201cas long as the city\u2019s news\u00adpa\u00adpers would be there to cap\u00adture his mag\u00adnan\u00adi\u00admous act, he was game\u201d \u2014 but in the event, a 101-degree fever kept him from get\u00adting on the fer\u00adry to the prison that day. Instead, he dashed off an image of Christ on the cross (not an unfa\u00admil\u00adiar<\/a> sub\u00adject<\/a> for him) and sent it in his stead.<\/p>\n \u201cFor near\u00adly two decades, it hung in the pris\u00adon\u00aders\u2019 mess hall,\u201d writes Fanel\u00adli. \u201cIn 1981, after an inmate lobbed a cof\u00adfee cup at the paint\u00ading, break\u00ading its glass cas\u00ading and leav\u00ading a stain, the Dal\u00ed was tak\u00aden down.\u201d It then went from apprais\u00ader to gallery to stor\u00adage to the trash bin, from which it was saved by a guard. By 2003, it had end\u00aded up in the lob\u00adby of one of the ten jails that con\u00adsti\u00adtute the Rik\u00aders Island com\u00adplex, hung by the Pep\u00adsi machine. That no one paid the work much mind, and more so that it has been appraised at one mil\u00adlion dol\u00adlars, was clear\u00adly not lost on the employ\u00adee who mas\u00adter\u00admind\u00aded the heist. Yet though they man\u00adaged to catch his accom\u00adplices, the inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtors were nev\u00ader able legal\u00adly to deter\u00admine who that mas\u00adter\u00admind was.<\/p>\n Read\u00aders of Fanel\u00adli\u2019s sto\u00adry, or view\u00aders of the Inside Edi\u00adtion video at the top of the post<\/a>, may well find them\u00adselves sus\u00adpect\u00ading a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar cor\u00adrec\u00adtions offer, who suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly main\u00adtained his inno\u00adcence despite being named by all his col\u00adleagues who did get con\u00advic\u00adtions. Any drama\u00adti\u00adza\u00adtion of the Rik\u00aders Island Dal\u00ed heist would have to make its own deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion about whether he or some\u00adone else was real\u00adly the ring\u00adleader, and it might even have to make a guess as to the ulti\u00admate fate of the stolen draw\u00ading itself. One isn\u2019t entire\u00adly dis\u00adpleased to imag\u00adine it hang\u00ading today in a hid\u00adden room in the out\u00ader-bor\u00adough home of some retired prison guard: made in haste and with scant inspi\u00adra\u00adtion, dam\u00adaged by cof\u00adfee and poor stor\u00adage con\u00addi\u00adtions, and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly ripped apart and put back togeth\u00ader again, but a Dal\u00ed nonethe\u00adless.<\/p>\n Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Great\u00adest Art Heist in His\u00adto\u00adry: How the Mona Lisa Was Stolen from the Lou\u00advre (1911)<\/a><\/p>\n How Art Gets Stolen: What Hap\u00adpened to Egon Schiele\u2019s Paint\u00ading Boats Mir\u00adrored in the Water After Its Theft by the Nazis<\/a><\/p>\n How Jan van Eyck\u2019s Mas\u00adter\u00adpiece, the Ghent Altar\u00adpiece, Became the Most Stolen Work of Art in His\u00adto\u00adry<\/a><\/p>\n When Ger\u00adman Per\u00adfor\u00admance Artist Ulay Stole Hitler\u2019s Favorite Paint\u00ading & Hung it in the Liv\u00ading Room of a Turk\u00adish Immi\u00adgrant Fam\u00adi\u00adly (1976)<\/a><\/p>\n Take a Vir\u00adtu\u00adal Real\u00adi\u00adty Tour of the World\u2019s Stolen Art<\/a><\/p>\n Mod\u00adern Art Was Used As a Tor\u00adture Tech\u00adnique in Prison Cells Dur\u00ading the Span\u00adish Civ\u00adil War<\/a><\/p>\n Based in Seoul, Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. His projects include the Sub\u00adstack newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the book\u00a0The State\u00adless City: a Walk through 21st-Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Los Ange\u00adles.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t