There are many items in the evidence lockers at the Manhattan district attorney's office.
There are instruments that are blunt. There are bags of heroin. There are some cash items. No one would have a heart attack if you dropped those things.
There are 2,281 fragile, valuable and often museum-worthy art objects that the office has seized and now must care for.
A statue from India is priced at $2 million. The vase was made 300 years before the birth of Christ.
Matthew Bogdanos, the assistant district attorney who directs the 14-person unit that seized it all, said that everyone has gotten good at packing. It is one thing to pack a statue, but it is another to pack a 2,500-year-old vase. We look at each other and say, "We need more Bubble Wrap and more blankets."
The Antiquities Trafficking Unit is a victim of its own success. The Manhattan district attorney gave the go-ahead for it to be set up in order to curb the trade in cultural heritage. 1,323 objects have been returned to countries of origin like Mexico, Afghanistan and Tibet.
That leaves a lot of nice stuff to watch over.
It caught my attention that we have some important pieces of art and patrimony that we need to secure carefully, and that is not something most offices have to worry about.
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The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and the members of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, pose for a picture.
The five analysts who sort, organize and conserve the collection have educational and professional credentials that make them just as comfortable in the world of culture as criminology.
Apsara Iyer has degrees from Yale and Oxford and is an expert in cultural heritage with five languages. A graduate of Glasgow University, O'Donoghue once worked at the auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's.
They help with investigations, but also manage the collection, which is held in two on-site rooms for smaller items like Etruscan and Hindu icons, and a larger off-site area for massive objects like Assyrian and Khmer statuary.
The objects are categorized into wings and sections based on their legal case. The wings are named after the accused traffickers. India, Cambodia, Iraq, Greece and Italy are included in the other sections.
The quantity and quality of what we have in our possession is greater than any other museum in the country.
Can academics and archaeologists who have learned of the office's startling holdings come over to study them first hand? Nope. No visitors, said Bogdanos.
He said it was an honor and a privilege, but also evidence.
The New York Times was given access to eight artifacts, which included information about their seizure, their significance, and their place in the cultural history of their countries of origin.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
Etruscan, terra-cotta, was the 4th century B.C. The Etruscan civilization was renowned in the ancient Mediterranean for its fertile lands, mineral resources and trading power before Roman conquerors smothered its culture and history. The wealth and artistic skill achieved by Italy's first great civilization is reflected in this 8 12 inch terra-cotta head of a maiden.
The Merrin Gallery has been Seized.
The antiquity was seized from the New York-based gallery in 2021. The maiden was in the possession of a convicted Italian antiquities trafficker before it was found at Merrin Gallery in 1997. The piece, which Italian officials say was taken from its original site near Rome, is rare because it retains the fingerprints of the artisan who made it.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
The 1st-2nd century A.D. was the time of the schist stone. Herakles-Vajrapani is depicted as a faithful defender of Buddha, wearing the head of the Nemean lion that he slew and held his sacred sword to be recovered. The Kushan Buddhists ruled over the Gandhara civilization in what is now the Peshawar Valley, adjoining Afghanistan and Pakistan. Alexander the Great conquered the area around 330 B.C. and his Greek style of sculpture influenced its art.
The storage area of Gallerist has been Seized.
The gray schist item was seized in 2012 from a storage area controlled by the art dealer who authorities have identified as one of the world's most prolific antiquities traffickers. The methods used by looters in hacking it from its ancient site are revealed by chisel marks across the back. The sword was smuggled from Pakistan in 2005 and paid $3,500 to have it reattached, and then sold for more than $1 million at his gallery.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
10th century A.D. was the Medieval Indian. During India's medieval period, the depiction of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha was created. A popular potbellied deity is depicted with four arms. He is fond of sweets.
Hotel Pierre, Manhattan was taken over.
The piece was stolen from a northern Indian shrine before 2005. It was restored by Richard Salmon, who was convicted of fraud in the case, after it was obtained from an associate in India. The Pierre Hotel in Manhattan had a statue on display. The New York charges will be filed once Kapoor is extradited to India.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
330 B.C., Apulian, terra-cotta. The Apulian civilization, which arose in southern Italy along the Adriatic Sea from the 9th to the 3rd century B.C., was influenced by nearby Greek colonies. The Baltimore Painter, a recognized artist, attributed the red-figure krater to him because one of his works is in the museum.
Seized: Fordham University.
The Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art in the Bronx was the location of the 32-inch-tall krater that was removed. The alumni who purchased it on the market gave it to the museum. The painted ceramic is worth $100,000 and features a seated youthful warrior surrounded by figures. The office is investigating Edoardo Almagi, a New York-based antiquities dealer who left the United States for Rome in 2003 and remains under investigation.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
The Khmer Empire was in the 9th century A.D. During the classic period of the Khmer Empire, the Angkorian society was able to benefit from a vast canal-based irrigation system and prosperous trade relations with India and China. A fusion of Buddhist and Hindu belief systems was achieved. The Harihara sculpture is 45 inches high and features the Shiva deities on the right and Vishnu on the left.
The storage unit was taken.
Hundreds if not thousands of Cambodian icons were sold overseas in the late 20th century after being stolen from Cambodia. The Harihara was seized from a storage unit in July of 2012 that belonged to the indicted trafficker. It is not clear which Cambodian temple it was taken from, and it is being held as evidence in the case against Kapoor.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
Etruscan, painted terra-cotta. In ancient Etruscan civilization, antefixes were often depictions of female figures with tiaras or headbands. To protect building tiles and ward off bad luck, they adorned tombs or were placed along roof lines.
Private collection in New York has been seized.
The antefix, valued at over $100,000, was one of four that were stolen from the burial site outside of Rome. They were sold to a New York collector. The antefixes were seized from a New York collector.
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Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
The Romans used marble. The first African-born Roman emperor was known for his militarism and expansion into Britain. He has a thick beard and curly hair.
Seized: Christie's Auction House.
The portrait bust was seized from Christie's New York, where it had been up for sale, and was worth up to $600,000. Italian authorities say that it was stolen from Santa Maria Capua Vetere in 1985. It was laundered through the antiquities market in 1998 and then bought by a private Swiss collector. The marble head was spotted in an auction catalog and investigators were able to seize it.
The image is.
Tullo was a writer for The New York Times.
The 12th-13th century A.D. was the Chola Dynasty. The Chola empire ruled southern India from 9th to 13th century A.D. and is still in Tamil Nadu. The Parvati goddess is a major Hindu deity and consort to Lord Shiva. The word Amman means Parvati's motherly nature.
The storage area was Seized.
The sinuous idol was seized in 2012 It is one of many bronze statues and icons that were stolen before 2008 from a temple in India by Sanjeevi Asokan, a convicted antiquities looter and smuggler based in Chennai. There are charges against him in New York, but he is still awaiting trial in India. There is a Tamil inscription on the base of the statue, which indicates its origins.
