A British painting stolen by mobsters is returned to owner's son — 54 years later
ABC News
The FBI says an 18th century British painting stolen by mobsters in 1969 has been returned more than a half-century later to the family that bought the painting during the Great Depression
An 18th century British painting stolen by mobsters in 1969 has been returned more than a half-century later to the family that bought the painting for $7,500 during the Great Depression, the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office announced Friday.
The 40-inch-by-50-inch (102-cm-by-127-cm) John Opie painting — titled “The Schoolmistress” —is the sister painting of a similar work housed in the Tate Britain art gallery in London.
Authorities believe the Opie piece was stolen with the help of a former New Jersey lawmaker then passed among organized crime members for years before it ended up in the southern Utah city of St. George. A Utah man had purchased a house in Florida in 1989 from a convicted mobster and the painting was included in the sale.
When the buyer died in 2020, a Utah accounting firm that was seeking to liquidate his property sought an appraisal for the painting and it was discovered to likely be the stolen piece, the FBI said.
The painting was taken into custody by the agency pending resolution of who owned it and returned on Jan. 11 to Dr. Francis Wood, 96, of Newark, the son of the painting's original owner, Dr. Earl Wood, who bought it during the 1930s, the FBI said.
