A pair of Van Gogh works stolen from the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam in 2002 have been recovered in Italy, the New York Times reports, found during an investigation into Mafia clans in the country. “In this case, they were most likely used in what we call ‘art-napping’ — the Mafia often steals work of art and uses them as a kind of payment within their own families,” says art crimes expert Arthur Brand. “Or if a boss is caught, he can sometimes make a deal for a lesser sentence in exchange for offering to help find stolen works of art.”
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