Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

SF Picasso Thief Had a Gallery's Worth of Stolen Art in His NJ Apt.

July 15, 2011 by Marion Maneker

Turns out Mark Lugo, the San Francisco Picasso thief caught on tape when he passed a bar’s security camera has been on a major one-man art-crime spree. Police in New York saw the news about the Picasso theft and realized they had a lead on New York art theft from a few weeks earlier, according to The Bay Citizen’s excellent report:

A police raid on his Hoboken apartment in the early hours of Tuesday unearthed a trove of art worth up to half a million dollars. Eleven works — five from New York City galleries and six from hotels — were recovered from Lugo’s apartment.

Police in New Jersey and New York contacted the San Francisco Police Department after officers arrested Lugo on July 6th for stealing a Picasso sketch valued at $275,000 from the Weinstein Gallery. [….] Lugo’s tastes ranged from the modern to the contemporary. Among the works found in his home were a Picasso etching, a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece and a Fernand Leger, valued around $350,000, from New York’s tony Carlyle Hotel.

All of the works were reported stolen in a one-month period beginning June 6. Police found a Richard Pugliese painting from the Harris Gallery, five small Mie Yim drawings from the Chambers Hotel, a Nara Yoshitomo from the Opera Gallery, a Jean-Michel Basquiat photo from the Scot Foreman Gallery, the Leger sketch from the Carlyle Hotel, a Malick Sidibe photograph from the Jack Shainman Gallery and another Pablo Picasso sketch from the William Bennett Gallery.

Lugo’s Hoboken Apartment: ‘Like He was Putting On His Own Art Show’ (The Bay Citizen)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Indianapolis Goes OutsideIndianapolis Goes Outside
  • Whose Bonds Are These?Whose Bonds Are These?
  • Arizona Car Week Sales Flat as Market ShiftsArizona Car Week Sales Flat as Market Shifts
  • LA Modern Palevsky Sale = $2.25mLA Modern Palevsky Sale = $2.25m
  • Rembrandt Thinks on PaperRembrandt Thinks on Paper
  • Berenson the BloodhoundBerenson the Bloodhound

Filed Under: Fraud, Theft & Restitution

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor
 

Loading Comments...