The World's Greatest Art Thief is STILL alive

the BBC News estimated he stole around $ 1.4 billion in art a French newspaper put that figure at more than $2 billion while the New York Times estimates that it is likely somewhere between 1.4 and 1.9 billion but there are some figures that aren't in dispute he stole more than 200 works of art averaging a theft every 12 days for 7 years his crimes have been characterized as the biggest pillage of art since the Nazis and all along dude lived with his mother Stefan breitweiser is still alive he lives in France and I think we

should take some time talking about the greatest art Thief ever so let's get into [Music] it there wasn't really anything odd about breitweiser's childhood in fact he was born just a year before me and in some respects our upbringing seems well similar he was a kid who was interested in things he would go on Expeditions with his Grand father and developed a love for arrowheads and pottery shards they would find in the French Countryside he kept them in a blue box where he could admire them and keep them safe much the same way I kept

my old Matchbox cars his family seemed to be middle to maybe even upper middle class and his father would decorate their home with the traditional symbols of status antique Weaponry Empire dressers and Louis the 15th armchairs the walls were decorated with paintings by his great uncle who was an accomplished artist and surrounded by all of these things breitweiser fell in love with the past he would read archaeological journals and Fine Art magazines and his grandparents would spoil him sending him home with secret stashes of cash which he would spend on coins and stamps at the

local flea market having no interest in the sports or video games most kids's own age were obsessed with he was at heart a loner and susceptible to mood swings and when he was sad his parents would do the one thing they knew would cheer him up and that was to drop him off at a museum for the day to wander alone which would inevitably restore his mood on these Museum trips he began to recognize the routines the security guards would follow and learn when he might have a few moments to be in total privacy with

a work and he would often Reach Out And Touch some of the objects the thrill had to be similar as to when he would discover an arroe head on those Pottery digs with his grandfather and then one day in a moment alone with a Roman coffin he reached out to touch it and a small piece of lead fell into his hand I'm sure at first he was petrified but then quickly became thrilled and he placed this coin-sized piece of lead into his pocket to return home and put this 2,000-year-old artifact in his blue box with

the rest of his treasures and so continued his seemingly normal childhood until the year he graduated from high school and that's when his parents who had been known to get into some heated arguments over the years had a huge disagreement that ended in the neighbors calling the cops the result was his father leaving and taking everything with him all the antique Weaponry the ornate furniture all of the paintings leaving Stefon with nothing but his mother and blue box of treasures [Music] mom and Stefan were forced to leave the big house and they settled into a

small base with an attic and that attic became Stefan's domain it had two rooms a small living space and a bedroom and breitweiser has said he kept the upstairs locked and his mother never entered still feeling a sense of abandon from his father's departure and now much more prone to fits of depression he turned to petty theft stealing books clothing or whatever caught his eye and one day he got caught after the police made him pay for the item and apologize to the shop owner for what he had done he learned a very valuable lesson

to never get caught again but through all this at a birthday party he met a girl an Catherine and it wouldn't be long before an Catherine moved into the attic with Stefan now we need to be pretty clear that to this day an Catherine has pretty much kept her mouth shut she lived with Stefan in that attic for more than 5 Years and we're not totally sure if she loves Stefan loved beautiful objects or just felt trapped in this relationship but what we do know is that she would become a partner and one of the

biggest crime sprees in history now to be fair to Stefan he didn't set out to become one of the biggest criminals ever for a time he even actually had a job the only problem is and you'll obviously get the irony here is that this job was as a security guard in a small Museum in France and this allowed him to learn the practices of Museum security both its strengths and more importantly the weaknesses that were inherent in these small museums now if you're like me and live in the states when you think of a museum

you likely think of places like the Art Institute of Chicago or maybe the Smithsonian these giant places that are fortresses to try and preserve Our Heritage but if you're living in France close to the borders of Germany and Switzerland in a continent with thousands of years of History it's a very different landscape it can seem like every castle built in the last 800 years has essentially turned into a history museum and they're often frut with really tiny budgets and small staffs so now was some of the knowledge he learned from one of his few actual

jobs and having a partner for whatever reason catered to his every want and desire he set himself out to fill that attic with objects of beauty the likes of which his father had never [Music] seen it started out simple enough breitweiser and an Catherine would visit these small museums in the alace region of France and Stefan had often already begun his research he collected brochures and travel pamphlets from the rest stops and visitor centers Gathering all the marketing material that these museums would produce to try and attract the tourists he would sometimes see a picture

of an object or a painting that would make his heart race and he just knew he had to have it other times he might not know until he was actually in the galleries but he had learned that in these spaces almost anything was possible with his trusty Swiss army knife he could use the blade to cut the Silicon that held the vitrines together or the screwdriver tool to free objects from their pedestals once he honed in on an object he would instinctively devise a plan as to how to remove that object from behind the glass

or out of the display case and with a nod from an Catherine indicating the coast was clear he would get to work different objects and paintings would pose their own set of problems a vetrine might have just three or four screws or it might have dozens a picture frame might not fit neatly into an Catherine's purse or under Stefan's coat so it would need to be removed and discarded and in fact these picture frames would become a bit of a calling card for these young thieves all over Europe as museums were discovering that some of

their precious objects had gone missing this would sometimes take minutes and other times they wouldn't be discovered for days detectives would find the picture frame hidden behind a curtain or even just sitting on a chair Stefan never thought he would get caught and delighted himself by reading the accounts of the thefts in the local newspapers and as they acred more and more of this stuff as their attics became filled with this art and objects they not only only got better at their craft but they became more bold if you've been to a large art fair

like art bosel in Miami or Switzerland or the freeze fair in New York or London you know these places are filled with security and probably the last place anyone would attempt to steal anything your bags and person are often checked when you leave if you try to walk out the door with anything you need the proper receipts and paperwork and one of the biggest fairs in Europe is called taaf and that stands for the European Fine Art Foundation it takes place in m and is widely regarded as one of the most important fairs on the

planet dealers from all over the globe display and sell historic objects from the past 7,000 years it is here where you can see things and even purchase them that you can't see anywhere else and being lovers of beauty and things Stefan and an Catherine decided like thousands of others to visit as they wander the fair they settle on their favorite piece it's a still life painting by Yan Von kessle the Elder it's displayed in the booth of the British dealer Richard green he's a fourth generation art dealer whose family has been selling important Works since

1955 so they stand and admire this work and quickly realized one of the dumbest things they could do would be to try and steal it this would almost certainly end an immediate incarceration it was at that moment when someone shouted thief and Stefan had a brief moment of panic until he realized he hadn't actually stolen anything all of a sudden there is this huge commotion and this man is being tackled by security all eyes are on this incredible Act of stupidity and then Stefan and an Catherine quietly exit the art fair walk across the parking

lot and make their way back to France with the most Exquisite still life they had ever seen in the trunk of their car [Music] as you can imagine this string of thefts started to come to the attention of the authorities and they started to notice some patterns of course there was often a signature picture frame left behind at the scene of the crime and there were also report reps of a suspicious couple hanging around the galleries but Stefan and an Catherine had become experts at avoiding the security cameras changing their appearances just enough with Hats

glasses and dyed hair to avoid any definitive description and it seems Stefon and an Catherine were unaware that most countries in Europe have dedicated art crime task forces and despite the seemingly open borders of the European Union these art crime units don't typically communicate very well with each other so what you have are these separate investigations in Switzerland in France and elsewhere that are similar but for the most part remain localized of course the authorities suspect these crimes are all related but they have no idea of the scope typically when one investigates an art crime

you must have patience people steal for money right so even though they might not get caught during the actual theft they will often mess up when they try to sell the work on the black market or to a shady dealer but Stefan and an Catherine weren't stealing for money they lived rentree in his mother's attic an Catherine worked as a nurse to pay the few bills they had they were not your typical art thieves if they were patient if they remained careful they could conceivably keep us up for who knows how long but of course

with each Victory St 's confidence grows and he's more and more convinced that he simply can't get caught now you're likely guessing what's about to happen but you haven't even heard the crazy part of the story yet that's coming up soon so Stefan and an Catherine after a string of successful thefts are visiting lucern in the Swiss Alps when they happen upon a private art gallery and decide to take a look now stealing from a private Gallery is something they rarely if ever do the spaces are much smaller the staff is often sitting at their

desks where they can keep a watchful eye on the visitors all in all it's just too much of a risk and as they're looking at the work hanging on the walls of this Gallery an Catherine notices they are the only visitors and the staff keeps checking on them she quietly indicates to Stefan this is neither the time nor the place but it's too late Stefan has already fallen in love with a small Dutch still life he notices it is not well secured and only a few strides towards the door so against an Catherine's wishes he

grabs it and they head out the door moments later Stefan feels a hand on his shoulder and finds a gallery employee screaming at him as luck would have it the art gallery just happened to be across the street from the local police station and Stefan soon finds himself in handcuffs and being interrogated by an officer now it's important to note this cop is just that a local officer he's not part of the larger Swiss art crimes group in fact there's no reason for this detective to suspect that the theft of this painting is part of

some International crime spree yes Stefan should be punished maybe pay a little fine and spend some time in jail but surely this Petty Thief will learn his lesson and never do it again right and that's pretty much how all this went down but this was enough to scare an Catherine she got her own own apartment but ultimately would return to Stefan under a few conditions if he were to continue this lifestyle he was going to have to do it without her help and she made him promise to wear gloves so no fingerprints could ever be

left at the scene of the [Music] crime so an Catherine went back to n and this left Stefan free most days to do what he wanted but now things were different Stefan was different no longer was he stealing to display the precious objects in their private Museum in the Attic he was stealing just because he could he was becoming a hoarder freshly acquired objects were now being thrown under the bed paintings were piling up in every corner of the living room this wasn't the Stefan and Catherine knew the guy that once so appreciated every brush

stroke and every ounce of creativity that oozed from these great Artisans of the past 500 years in one day he took it too far he traveled to the Vagner Museum the former home of Vagner which was turned into a museum in 1933 dedicated to the life and the works of the famous composer it was here that he spotted a pristine 400-year-old bugle he just had to have it was situated situated in a display casee hung near the ceiling that required him to climb onto a radiator to get it there was only one employee and they

were downstairs so this was going to be an easy job with his Swiss army knife he freed the bugle from its confines and made his way home excited to show an Catherine his latest acquisition and she was unimpressed they already had better examples from the same time period She asked if he wore gloves the one thing she insisted on he said he couldn't this job required all the dexterity he could muster out of his fingers so now a pissed off an Catherine asks where he got it well it turns out the Vagner museum is in

the same town in which he had been arrested before his fingerprints were now all over this Museum and the police station that had his fingerprints on file was just down the road in a panic and trying to appease a girlfriend who was angry in a way he had never seen before he promised to go back the next morning and wipe off any evidence that he had ever been there in the first place and Catherine of course recognized this plan was insane he can't possibly return to the scene of the crime without someone getting suspicious and

she decides to go remove the fingerprints herself Stefan agrees but then convinces her that even if she wanted to do this he should drive her so she wouldn't be alone so the next morning morning they return to the Vagner Museum and Katherine goes inside to try and conceal the previous day's activities while Stefan wanders the grounds in fields outside what they hadn't known was that the astute employee inside had recognized The bule's Disappearance almost immediately and they had so few visitors that day that she was pretty sure she knew exactly who took it so by

the time our now Infamous Duo returns to the museum a police report had already been filed and it was reported on in the local newspaper and Stefan who has somehow in the past few years transformed from maybe the greatest art thief in history into an absolute doofus he was wearing the exact same coat he had been the previous day when he stole the bugle well an observant passer by who had read about the theft in that morning's paper alerted the museum staff about a suspicious person lingering outside the staff then alerted authorities who promptly picked

up Stefan and returned him to the same police station where he had spent time 4 years prior and at this point no one realized Stefan was working with a conspirator an Catherine had seen Stefan getting arrested and kept her distanced until she could safely leave and make her way back home and here's where the story gets a bit murky because absolutely no one is talking but here's what we know Stefan is kept in jail for for days weeks the local detective had convinced a judge to keep him in custody while he continued his investigation the

detective in Switzerland had requested an international search warrant in France to search stefon's home but these things take weeks and all the while Stefon is unable to communicate with anyone in the outside world he tries to send letters to an Catherine and his mother but of course these letters would be read by the local Authority before they ever reached their destination so how much could he really say anyway the international search warrant was finally approved and the detective heads to France to search his mother's home and the attic upon showing the appropriate papers they make

their way upstairs and find nothing absolutely nothing but a four poster bed frustrated the detective returns to Switzerland where Stefan is still sitting in a jail and still unable to communicate with anyone but the detective doesn't give up at this moment he might not be able to prove it but he knows there's something bigger going on here as fate would have it a man was casually strolling through the French Countryside when he noticed something shiny in a stream he went to investigate further and discovered an old silver chalice then a goblet and then another and

another many with Hallmark stating back 400 500 years a struck the man then called his local authorities who after a thorough search sent all of the loot to their local Museum to be photographed and conserved back in Switzerland the detective had learned of this discovery and was slowly able to tie every single object back to Stefan Stefan ultimately confessed to stealing all7 pieces recovered so how did all that stuff get there in that stream the answer comes from Stefan's mother she apparently after hearing of the arrest from an Catherine gets so upset that she decides

to hurt her son in the one way she knows how and that is to take all of these things that Stefan holds so precious that he covets every day and get rid of them all did an Catherine help in destroying all of this evidence we still don't know she to this day keeps her mouth shut and refuses any requests for interviews and the there's one super curious Omission from the story those 107 pieces recovered from that stream were all objects they were drinking glasses cigarette cases there were virtually no paintings so what happened to the

paintings the answer although still somewhat vague also comes from the mother back in the day most paintings were painted on wood and as you can imagine after a few hundred years that wood gets pretty dry and Mom claims she took took all these paintings threw them in a pile and lit everything on fire but of course she has never said where this took place and no ashes or evidence have ever been found so Mom spent some time in jail too she received a three-year sentence but was released after 18 months an Catherine was somehow able

to return to nursing her attorneys argued that the relationship was abusive and she felt forced to participate in the crimes and Stefan after after 2 years in a Swiss prison he was extradited back to France where he would serve another 26 months he was released in 2007 so is this the end of the story it may come as no surprise that Stefan was arrested again in 2019 for trying to sell a paper weight stolen from the St Louis Museum on eBay the arrest led to another search of his mother's home where they found Roman coins

stolen from another Museum and 163 ,000 in cash these stories are endless and if I were to tell you them all this would go from what is already my longest video ever into probably what would be a 20-hour documentary but you really do need to read all about them there are some other videos on YouTube that mostly came out shortly after his arrest but this recently released book by Michael finle is an absolute Gem and covers so much more than I possibly could here I believe he was the only American Amer journalist that was able

to interview breitweiser and the stories and the tales and intricacies are absolutely fascinating I'm putting a link to his book right down there in the description I don't have any affiliate links so I won't make any money off this but I really think you should go support this book my name is Christopher West and this is the place where we talk about mostly 20th and 21st century art and design if you like this story I'll link you to some more videos about the Art Market that I think you might also enjoy and to anyone who

is still watching you guys are absolute rock stars if you can please like this video And subscribe to the channel I would greatly appreciate it and I very much look forward to seeing you on the next one ciao