Two paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, who have been missing for 14 years, were found in a room in the Neapolitan province, in Castellammare di Stabia, in a house attributable to the Camorra. These are two masterpieces by the Dutch master, stolen on 7 December 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam: "The Beach of Scheveningen", from 1882, and "The exit from the Protestant church of Nuenen", from 1884. The value of two works would be around 100 million euros.
A historical discovery, therefore, the one made by Guardia di Finanza as part of an operation against a group of drug traffickers in business with the Amato-Pagano Camorra clan, the "splitters" active in the areas of Secondigliano and Scampia. The investigations were coordinated by the assistant prosecutor Filippo Beatrice and by the substitutes Vincenza Marra, Maurizio De Marco and Stefania Castaldi.
According to the reconstruction, the house in which the Dutch master's paintings were found could be traced back to the group of the drug trafficking boss Raphael Imperial, currently on the run in Dubai. Mario Cerrone, former right-hand man of Imperiale, who was arrested last January, would have informed the investigators of the presence of the paintings.
A brilliant operation, which makes the art world happy, including, of course, the director of the Amsterdam Museum Axel Ruger: “It is a truly exciting day for me and for the Van Gogh museum. We are incredibly happy that the paintings are back in the Netherlands. We are immensely grateful to the Italian magistrates and investigators. The paintings remained in criminal hands for 14 years”.
The Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism is also satisfied Dario Franceschini: “An extraordinary recovery that confirms the strength of the Italian system in the fight against the illicit trafficking of works of art. The outcome of this survey confirms how much criminal organizations are interested in works of art that are used both as a form of investment and as a source of financing. Today is a very important day, the result of positive teamwork between the Naples prosecutor's office and the Guardia di Finanza, to whom I congratulate you"
