All articles tagged with #museum heist
Two men smashed a glass case at Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts, stealing a $4+ million, 673-diamond necklace on loan from Van Cleef & Arpels; the daylight theft was captured on CCTV, the suspects fled on foot toward a nearby park, no one was injured, and police with Interpol are pursuing leads as MAK reviews security following a spate of European museum robberies.
Two men entered Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) by buying tickets, smashed a display case and fled with a 200-carat platinum-and-diamond Van Cleef & Arpels necklace worth millions; they were not masked and were captured on surveillance cameras. The piece, part of a Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition with about 500 items, had been on display since June and the wing reopened shortly after the theft as investigators probe the incident.
Thieves raided the MUVI Villena Museum in Alicante in about four minutes, taking a large portion of the Treasure of Villena—Bronze Age gold artifacts dating to around 1000 BC, including rings, bowls and bracelets. The raid followed a diversion and alarms were triggered, with authorities still determining exactly how many items were stolen as security teams review the incident; the loss marks another high-profile museum theft in Europe.
Three paintings—Renoir's Fish, Cézanne's Still Life with Cherries, and Matisse's Odalisque on the Terrace—were stolen from a museum near Parma, northern Italy, in a brazen heist reported March 30, 2026.
Terry Martin, the ex-mobster who stole the iconic ruby slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005, claims he had no idea of their cultural value and had never even seen "The Wizard of Oz." Motivated by the belief that the gemstones on the shoes were real and valuable, he intended to sell them on the black market, only to discover they were made of glass and worthless. After the FBI recovered the shoes in 2018, Martin, now 76 and living quietly in Minnesota, was charged and pled guilty to the theft, but refuses to name his criminal associates. The slippers, now valued at $3.5 million, were found with fake red gems still attached.
Terry Jon Martin, the man charged with stealing a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, is expected to plead guilty in court. The shoes were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum and recovered in 2018. Martin, who has a previous conviction for receiving stolen goods, is cooperating with authorities. The slippers are one of four remaining authentic pairs and have an estimated value of $3.5 million. Sentencing is expected to take place in approximately three months.
A gang of 10 thieves from Pennsylvania has been indicted for stealing nearly $4 million worth of art and sports memorabilia, including nine of Yogi Berra's World Series rings, between 1999 and 2019. The thieves targeted at least 16 museums in five states, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and North Dakota. The stolen items were likely melted down and sold for scrap metal. One of the thieves is still at large.