Thursday, August 14, 2008

"Art crime now funds, and is funded by, organized crime’s other enterprises, from the drug and arms trades to terrorism" (UPDATED)

Noah Charney on "how the four main categories of art crime influence the art market."

UPDATE: Derek Fincham comments: "I think we can apply some pressure to one of his assertions, that is often mentioned in the press. I don't think there's any way to state with confidence that art theft is the third-largest grossing criminal activity, as I've argued before. Something like automobile theft surely cracks the top 3 in terms of mere monetary value. But I do think if we incorporate the intangible or cultural value of works, then perhaps art theft (including antiquities looting) may in fact be near the third-largest."