A Lovecraftian twist on the theft of Golden Age artwork.
MIAMI
Stolen Picasso sketch recovered
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com
May. 26, 2006
Found: An original 1925 Pablo Picasso charcoal sketch that someone swiped two years ago from a swanky yacht in a Miami River dry dock.
Nabbed: A suspected fence named Orlando Granados, 48, a Cuban-born handyman.
Miami-Dade police announced the arrest and recovery Thursday, a day after police and immigration agents reeled Granados into a scheme by posing as would-be buyers.
The sketch, a study for the Picasso oil Les Trois Danseuses, was stolen from a 147-foot yacht, the Tajin, which was being repaired at the Jones Boat Yard in July 2004.
Witnesses saw a slim, bearded man wearing a turquoise cap run from the yacht with the drawing, and flee in a waiting car.
Thursday, Miami-Dade Detective Jeffrey Frau said an undercover immigration agent posing as a buyer made contact with Granados about two weeks ago, and began haggling for the hot sketch, at one point offering $50,000.
The deal fell apart Wednesday night.
So police grabbed Granados at his home, 1814 NW 113 Ter.
He, in turn, called a contact and arranged to return the art -- in a cardboard tube left under a palm tree in a bakery parking lot in Miami.
Police pounced at the drop site, but the contact got away. ''The priority was to recover the art,'' Frau said.
Police described Granados as a middleman -- not the thief -- who claimed he bought the sketch for $2,000. He was charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen art goods.
The original burglar and his accomplices are still at large, said Frau, who cast them as ``street-level thieves, at best.''
Still unclear Thursday was who now owns the sketch.
Frau said the 2004 owner, Fairwinds Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, got an estimated $180,000 payoff -- 25 percent from Lloyds of London, 75 percent from the dry dock firm.
Also unclear was why a palm tree at El Brazo Fuerte Bakery, 1697 SW 32nd Ave., became the drop site.
Granados' booking photo, however, may offer a clue.
In it, he is wearing a beaded necklace favored by Santer??a worshipers.
And for about 10 years now, said bakery owner Esver Camacho, Santer??a devotees have been leaving offerings under the tree -- dead chickens, goats, roosters, once a turtle.
But never before a Picasso.
Said Camacho: ``This was the most valuable piece of Santer??a paraphernalia anyone ever left on this corner.''
MIAMI
Stolen Picasso sketch recovered
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com
May. 26, 2006
Found: An original 1925 Pablo Picasso charcoal sketch that someone swiped two years ago from a swanky yacht in a Miami River dry dock.
Nabbed: A suspected fence named Orlando Granados, 48, a Cuban-born handyman.
Miami-Dade police announced the arrest and recovery Thursday, a day after police and immigration agents reeled Granados into a scheme by posing as would-be buyers.
The sketch, a study for the Picasso oil Les Trois Danseuses, was stolen from a 147-foot yacht, the Tajin, which was being repaired at the Jones Boat Yard in July 2004.
Witnesses saw a slim, bearded man wearing a turquoise cap run from the yacht with the drawing, and flee in a waiting car.
Thursday, Miami-Dade Detective Jeffrey Frau said an undercover immigration agent posing as a buyer made contact with Granados about two weeks ago, and began haggling for the hot sketch, at one point offering $50,000.
The deal fell apart Wednesday night.
So police grabbed Granados at his home, 1814 NW 113 Ter.
He, in turn, called a contact and arranged to return the art -- in a cardboard tube left under a palm tree in a bakery parking lot in Miami.
Police pounced at the drop site, but the contact got away. ''The priority was to recover the art,'' Frau said.
Police described Granados as a middleman -- not the thief -- who claimed he bought the sketch for $2,000. He was charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen art goods.
The original burglar and his accomplices are still at large, said Frau, who cast them as ``street-level thieves, at best.''
Still unclear Thursday was who now owns the sketch.
Frau said the 2004 owner, Fairwinds Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, got an estimated $180,000 payoff -- 25 percent from Lloyds of London, 75 percent from the dry dock firm.
Also unclear was why a palm tree at El Brazo Fuerte Bakery, 1697 SW 32nd Ave., became the drop site.
Granados' booking photo, however, may offer a clue.
In it, he is wearing a beaded necklace favored by Santer??a worshipers.
And for about 10 years now, said bakery owner Esver Camacho, Santer??a devotees have been leaving offerings under the tree -- dead chickens, goats, roosters, once a turtle.
But never before a Picasso.
Said Camacho: ``This was the most valuable piece of Santer??a paraphernalia anyone ever left on this corner.''
