
British painting stolen by NJ mobsters is returned half a century later
Fox News
An 18th century British painting by John Opie was stolen from a Newark, New Jersey, home by mobsters in 1969. It was recovered and returned to the owner's son 54 years later.
Authorities believe the 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 Joseph Covello Sr. — a convicted mobster linked to the Gambino family — and the painting was included in the sale, the FBI said.
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.













