D.A. Bragg Announce Return Of 17 Antiquities To The People Of Italy And The Vatican

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of 17 antiquities and rare books collectively valued at more than $1.5 million to Italy and The Vatican. The objects were recovered pursuant to multiple investigations into antiquities trafficking networks and had been previously allegedly removed from Italy trafficked by Frieda Tchakos as well as by several convicted antiquities' smugglers, including Giovanni Franco Becchina and Fritz and Harry Burki, among others.

"I thank our prosecutors, analysts and investigators for their work to return these stolen antiquities," said D.A. Bragg. "I am grateful to the Italian authorities for their ongoing collaboration and partnership, which continues to yield significant results in the fight to undo the harm caused by trafficking networks."

"What makes the cooperation between Italy and the District Attorney's Office productive is the extraordinary teamwork between Italian and American Authorities, dedicated to protecting cultural heritage and counteracting international crime. Today's ceremony, through which seventeen precious works of art, of great historical value from various eras and cultural contexts are being returned to Italy, is an effective evidence of this. Cultural heritage represents a nation's deepest identity, its legacy of values embedded along the course of the centuries. I am confident that, thanks to our collaborative work, we will be able to achieve increasingly satisfying results, and return to their communities further illegally stolen assets that are part of their history and cultural heritage," said Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli.

Stand-out pieces include:

• Terracotta Fragment of a Votive Relief, dated ca. 470-460 BCE, depicts a scene from the myth of Hades and Persephone. The Fragment first appeared with Becchina in his Swiss gallery Antike Kunst Palladion. Two additional adjoining fragments of the votive relief were found in the archaeological excavations of the temple of Demeter Malophoros at Selinunte, Sicily, less than ten miles from Becchina's hometown. Those fragments remain in the Palermo Museum. The Fragment was eventually donated to the Met, and was seized by the Office earlier this year.
• Six Chinese Jesuit Books, dating to the 16^th-17^th centuries, were stolen from the Archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome, Vatican City. The books were last documented in Archives in the early 1970s by Jesuit scholar Albert Chan and next appeared in 2000 when they were offered for sale on the antiquarian book market in London. After being purchased by a private collector, the books were loaned to the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Notre Dame, where they were ultimately seized by the Office in late 2025.
• Letter by Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, to Lodovico Ariosto (Governor of the Province of Garfagnana), dated January 31, 1524. The letter was stolen from the State Archive of Massa, Italy, smuggled into the U.S., and eventually sold at Sotheby's NY in 1973 to the Morgan Library & Museum. The Letter remained in the Morgan's collection until it was seized by the Office earlier this year.

During District Attorney Bragg's tenure, the Office has recovered more than 2,500 antiquities stolen from 47 countries and valued at almost $270 million. Since its creation, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit has convicted 18 individuals of cultural property-related crimes, recovered more than 6,200 antiquities valued at more than $485 million, and has returned more than 5,860 of them so far to 36 countries.

The investigations were conducted by Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel Matthew Bogdanos and Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Studley; Investigative Analysts Giuditta Giardini and Michael Chapin; District Attorney Investigator John Paul Labbat; and Special Agent Robert Mancene of Homeland Security Investigations.

The District Attorney's Office would also like to thank the Morgan Library & Museum and the University of Notre Dame for their cooperation and assistance with this Office's investigations.