[MSN] Art dealer threatened informant: feds. Norman Rockwell might have blushed at the language a Northbrook art dealer allegedly hurled at an undercover informant earlier this year.

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Art dealer threatened informant: feds

February 5, 2008
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter/fmain at suntimes.com

Norman Rockwell might have blushed at the language a Northbrook art dealer
allegedly hurled at an undercover informant earlier this year.

James F. Kennedy -- convicted in 2004 of selling forgeries of Picasso,
Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and other modern masters -- was upset that an
informant secretly recorded their conversations as part of a nationwide art
fraud investigation, officials say.
'You're gonna go down'

After a U.S. postal inspector laid out the criminal evidence against Kennedy
to his lawyer, Kennedy called the informant on his cell phone on Jan. 8,
according to recently unsealed court records.

"I thought you were my friend," Kennedy allegedly said in a voice-mail
message. "You're a dirty, lousy, no-good, c---------- , j ----- bastard. You
recorded me and videotaped me. You j ----- m-----------. I'm gonna get you,
baby. You're gonna go down big time now."

Postal officials arrested Kennedy, 55, on Jan. 25 in Florida on a charge of
intimidating a witness. Authorities have not named the informant.

Last week, the FBI and postal inspectors seized dozens of framed artworks
from Kass/Meridian gallery at 325 W. Huron in the investigation.

Art galleries in Chicago and other cities may have duped millions of dollars
from hundreds of victims, a source said. The owners of Kass/Meridian have
not been charged with wrongdoing.

http://www.suntimes.com/