The Sicilian mafia smuggled thousands of pillaged antiquities out of Italy, filling collections in the world’s leading museums, a top godfather has revealed in evidence which has rocked the art world.
Ancient statues, vases and coins dug up by tomb raiders in Sicily were sent by Cosa Nostra gangsters to shady dealers in Switzerland who sold them to museums and galleries in Europe, the Gulf and the US, said Matteo Messina Denaro, a mob boss who was arrested in January after 30 years on the run.
“This is the first time we hear about Cosa Nostra’s role in antiquities trafficking from the horse’s mouth – there were suspicions but never any concrete proof until now,” said the US investigative reporter Jason Felch, co-author of the
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