[CPProt.net] Trucker Charged in Theft of Basquiat Work

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Trucker Charged in Theft of Basquiat Work
  
By Associated Press

May 17, 2005, 11:29 AM EDT

NEW YORK -- A trucker was charged Monday with stealing a $1.5 million
painting from a warehouse at John F. Kennedy International Airport. 

Anthony Porcelli Jr., 35, surrendered to authorities at the airport and was
charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property in the May 4
theft of the painting by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. 

Porcelli was accused of removing a wooden crate containing the painting from
a warehouse and driving away with it. He could face up to 25 years in prison
if convicted, District Attorney Richard Brown in a statement. 

The untitled acrylic-and-oil painting was sold for more than $1.5 million in
November at Christie's auction house in New York and was to be shipped to
the buyer in Rome. 

Police identified Porcelli after reviewing video surveillance tapes of the
warehouse. The painting was found at a trucking company's warehouse in
Elizabeth, N.J. Porcelli was a driver for the company, authorities said. 

A telephone message left Monday with the attorney prosecutors said was
representing Porcelli was not immediately returned. 

Basquiat, a darling of art critics who was praised for his strong use of
color and the social commentary in his work, died in 1988 at age 27 of a
heroin overdose.