The Dictatorship

Art heists seem to be becoming more and more common. Here’s why.

Published

13 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Apr. 4, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

On Sunday night, March 22, four masked men forced open the front door to the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, a private art collection nestled in the fields of northern Italy. In less than three minutes, the thieves climbed the stairs, turned leftand entered the French Roomwhere they grabbed three paintings off the wall: “Les Poissons” (1917) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir; “Still Life with Cherries”(1890) by Paul Cézanne; and “Odalisque on the Terrace” (1922) by Henri Matisse.

They intended to keep going — authorities later found another Renoir taken off the wall — but the alarm soundedforcing the thieves to abandon their work and flee by climbing over a fence. They remain at large.

The name of the game these days is more smash-and-grab than “Thomas Crown Affair.”

You might be wondering: another one?

You bet, and it’s not just you — a lot of people seem to agree that art heists are becoming more common.

ARTNews reported that 2025 was “seemingly a record year for art theft.” The Magnani-Rocca robbery is the latest in a string of thefts targeting museums over the past year or so, what the Economic Times described as “part of a broader pattern … [of] high-profile museum burglaries.” The most famous is the Louvre robbery from last October, when a group of individuals hacked their way into the museum in broad daylight and made off with jewelry valued at roughly $100 million.

Lesser-known recent heists from the past year include: the Drents Museum (golden Romanian artifacts — three-quarters of which were returned this Thursday); the Adrien Dubouché National Museum (Chinese porcelain works); the French National Museum of Natural History (gold nuggets); the Bristol Museum (over 600 assorted objects); the Denis Diderot museum (nearly 2,000 gold and silver coins); the Oakland Museum (over 1,000 assorted objects); the National Museum of Damascus (Roman-era statues); and the Mário de Andrade Library (Matisse engravings).

So why are art heists becoming more common? Three factors might explain the recent uptick.

First, museums generally have poor security. Most are forced to operate on shoestring budgets and what little funding they receive is usually funneled towards sexier projects — you’d be hard-pressed to find a donor excited by the prospect of sponsoring a CCTV system. Then there’s the architecture. Many museums are housed in historic buildings originally designed as stately homes or grand public fora. Leadership is often loathe to retrofit security upgrades because it would undermine the beauty or historical integrity of the building. The combination of inadequate funding and preservationist mindset means museum security systems tend to be relatively outdated (the password to the Louvre’s CCTV network was reportedly “LOUVRE”), and susceptible to quick, coordinated break-ins. Unfortunately, it appears that criminals are taking notice. The name of the game these days is more smash-and-grab than “Thomas Crown Affair.”

Second, as geopolitical uncertainty wreaks havoc on global economic forces, the value of precious metals and gemstones is increasing. Precious metals and gemstones are considered “safe-haven assets,” whose value increases whenever there is macroeconomic volatility. This makes them an especially appealing target for thieves because precious metals can easily be melted down and gemstones dissembled, making them valuable (and largely untraceable) hedges against global markets. The spiking value of precious metals and gemstones appears to have been the motivation behind the Louvre heist, as well as the robberies of the Drents Museum and the French National Museum of Natural History. But that doesn’t explain the Magnani-Rocca heist.

Which brings us to the third factor: the record-setting value of “blue chip” paintings.

But let’s back up. Generally, it’s a very poor idea to steal a painting, especially a famous one. People don’t steal paintings to admire in private collections (well, except one guy); they steal them for their value. But paintings are easily recognizable, which makes stolen ones difficult to sell. The art market’s dedication to heightened provenance standards means any work’s ownership history is highly scrutinized. And no legitimate purchaser would knowingly buy a stolen painting, no matter how valuable. It’s much more likely they’d report the painting to law enforcement. The stolen paintings that do get sold are sold on the black market, and they only fetch around 10% of their open-market value.

Generally, it’s a very poor idea to steal a painting, especially a famous one.

That said, stolen paintings can be valuable in other ways. For example, stolen paintings can be used as collateral in other black market deals, as a bargaining chip with law enforcement, or be ransomed back to the museum for a “finder’s fee.” These methods are however still quite risky, which is perhaps why the paintings taken during the Isabella Stewart Gardiner heist have never been recovered.

We may never know what motivated the Magnani-Rocca robbers. But I suspect part of the answer may lie in an unexpected corner: artificial intelligence. AI is one of the dominant forces of our day, seemingly infiltrating every aspect of life with alarming speed, and the art market is no exception. AI-generated art entered the art market in the late 2010s and has only carved out a larger share for itself since. Last year, for example, Christie’s held its first auction dedicated exclusively to AI-generated art.

But that doesn’t mean AI-generated art is replacing human-generated art. Far from it. In fact, it seems that the flood of AI-generated art is making human-generated art more valuable by comparison. This is not just because AI-generated art is “soulless.” It’s also due to the fact that human-generated art is also considered a safe-haven asset alongside precious metals and gemstones. As AI continues to insert itself into all facets of life, upending industries and labor markets, human-generated art is seen as a hedge against the impending financial disruptions.

This is particularly true for “blue chip” paintings — works of historical significance by famous artists. In 2025, despite the onslaught of AI-generated art and macroeconomic volatility (or, perhaps, because of it), worldwide sales of Impressionist and Modern art increased by nearly 30% to $4.7 billion, with over 120,000 works selling for over $10 million each. Old Masters sales — works by European artists painted between roughly 1300 and 1800 — skyrocketed by over 40% to $700 million, and Postwar and contemporary sales ticked up 2.5% to $4.1 billion.

Which is to say: the Magnani-Rocca Foundation may have been the victim of a perfect storm. Crime is a copycat game, and the recent string of heists has shown museums are vulnerable to smash-and-grab operations. And recent events — particularly the United States’ war with Iran —have further increased global unrest, making art, especially historical paintings by famous artists, uniquely valuable and safe investments. Perhaps this meant, at least to the Magnani-Rocca robbers, that the riskiness of post-theft difficulties was worth it.

Unfortunately, I doubt the Magnani-Rocca heist will be the last. With each new art theft, it’s becoming more and more clear that museum security systems are largely inadequate to protect against smash-and-grab robberies. And with global economic headwinds continuing to swirl in uncertainty, the value of timeless treasures is only going up, making them evermore tempting targets.

Walker Schulte Schneider is a lawyer specializing in art and cultural heritage. He works at WilmerHale in New York City.

The Dictatorship

White House addresses criticism Trump is AWOL during missing airman search

Published

13 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

White House addresses criticism Trump is AWOL during missing airman search

Apr. 4, 2026, 7:48 PM EDT

The White House is pushing back against mounting criticism that President Donald Trump has not formally addressed the search for a missing American airman in Iran after the country shot down its first U.S. warplane since the raging conflict began.

The president has not made any public speeches or appearances regarding the search-and-rescue operation. His last public address was on Wednesday, when he gave a primetime speech in which he attempted to make a case for his war to the nation.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung sought to quell questions from reporters and speculation swirling on social media by issuing a statement on X late Saturday afternoon. “There has never been a President who has worked harder for the American people than President Trump. On this Easter weekend, he has been working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office. God Bless him,” Cheung said.

Questions about Trump’s whereabouts came to a boil on Saturday as one freelance photographer who covers the White House sought to put a rest to a rash of guesswork — untethered to any evidence.

An hour later, Cheung issued his statement noting that Trump spent Saturday working at the White House.

MS NOW spotted a Marine sentry standing guard outside the West Wing a couple of times on Saturday, suggesting the president was working inside. Notably, Trump did not visit his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, outside Washington on Saturday as he usually does when he stays at the White House on weekends.

In an interview with NBC on FridayTrump said the downing of the U.S. F-15E fighter jet over Iran would not affect ongoing negotiations with the country. When asked by The Independent what he’d do if the pilot is harmed or captured by Iranians, Trump replied: “Well, I can’t comment on it because — we hope that’s not going to happen.”

But on Saturday, he issued a fresh threat to Iran on his 10-day deadline, which expires Monday, for the country to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The president also posted about a “massive strike in Tehran” which allegedly killed “many of Iran’s Military Leaders,” though Trump did not provide additional details on the strike he cited. The White House did not respond to MS NOW’s inquiry on when the strike happened and whether any new military leaders were killed.

Emily Hung is an associate White House producer for MS NOW.

The Dictatorship

Trump’s latest island real estate venture: Alcatraz

Published

13 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Apr. 4, 2026, 5:34 PM EDT

Like many Americans, President Donald Trump has become fixated on Alcatraz, the notorious, frequently fog-shrouded California island fortress in the San Francisco Bay.

But for Trump, the defunct prison is more than a pop-culture, literary and cinematic phenomenon reminiscent of an era when the federal government dealt with gangsters so dangerous they were jailed on a remote, maximum-security island. It’s an opportunity to build “a state-of-the-art secure prison facility.”

And the president wants to use at least $152 million worth of taxpayer dollars to turn the dilapidated facility — shuttered in 1963 because its remoteness made it too expensive to operate — into a functional federal prison.

The White House sent Congress an outline of Trump’s spending priorities for the upcoming fiscal year on Friday. In it was a $5 billion request for the Bureau of Prisons to renovate the country’s “crumbling detention facilities.” More than $150 million of that would be directed toward upholding “the president’s commitment to rebuild Alcatraz.”

The money would cover the first year of project costs, the White House said. But that number pales in comparison to the projected cost of fully restoring Alcatraz, which has not housed a prisoner since the early 1960s.

In its heyday, operations at Alcatraz cost three times more than the average federal prison, according to a 1959 report published by the General Services Administration that assessed the long-term viability of keeping the prison open. Jailing one inmate on the island cost $10 per day, compared to $3 in other prisons.

The prison was closed in the early 1960s because its remoteness and proximity to salt water corrosion ultimately made it too expensive to sustain. Everything from water to food and fuel had to be sent to the island by boat. The logistical challenges of holding inmates on the island long term won’t just disappear, critics argue.

California’s politicians have balked at Trump’s proposal, arguing it would erase an important part of American history and cut into San Francisco’s already struggling local economy. Alcatraz generates about $60 million in tourism revenue every year, according to the National Park Service, which operates the public museum on the island.

“Rebuilding Alcatraz into a modern prison is a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and California Democrat whose district encompasses swaths of San Francisco, said in a statement on X.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, a Democrat, dismissed the notion as unserious when Trump first began flirting with the idea last spring.

“If the federal government has billions of dollars to spend in San Francisco, we could use that funding to keep our streets safe and clean and help our economy recover,” Lurie wrote in a post on X after Trump deployed a delegation of federal officials — which included his now former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall — to size up the prison last July.

After the visit, Bondi teased the idea of using a renovated Alcatraz to imprison “illegal aliens.” And Trump suggested Alcatraz could serve as a model to counter former President Joe Biden’s border policies.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said last year it would issue a “leave no stone unturned” directive to “determine whether the iconic Alcatraz can, once again, serve as a fortress of law and order.” Congress would need to approve Trump’s request for funding the Alcatraz project.

Alcatraz was designated a National Historic Landmark in the 1980s, giving it legally protected status. It’s unclear how the White House would circumvent that designation to open a federal prison. The White House declined to comment to MS NOW’s request about its plan to navigate Alcatraz’s legal protections, referring questions to the Office of Management and Budget.

Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has focused on what he calls “restoring truth and sanity to American history,” which has included revamping the Smithsonian Institution and national parks in his image — including a planned 250-foot arch along the Potomac River — while demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for his new ballroom.

As those plans become legally imperiled, his Alcatraz proposal also stands to face a battle.

“Alcatraz is a historic museum that belongs to the public,” Pelosi said. “San Franciscans will not stand for Washington turning one of our most iconic landmarks into a political prop.”

Emily Hung contributed to this report.

Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.

The Dictatorship

Critics scold Trump for staying mum on search for missing U.S. airman in Iran

Published

13 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Apr. 4, 2026, 4:58 PM EDT

As the U.S. military searched Saturday for the missing crew member of an American F15-E fighter jet downed over Iran, critics slammed President Donald Trump for not speaking more forcefully about finding the airman and for overstating his war’s accomplishments.

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who appeared on MS NOW’s “The Weekend” Saturday, decried Trump’s speech to the nation earlier this week in which she said he “bloviated and bragged about the destruction of Iran’s ability to compete in this war,” which she said “seemed like he was just going to incite such an attack on our military.”

“So I pray for the safe return of the other pilot of the F-15, and I pray for a swift end to this war,” Dean said.

With the U.S. military in a race against time to locate the missing American aviator, the president has said very little about the search.

“Number one, we haven’t obliterated Iran’s capability,” Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, appearing on the same MS NOW show, said, referring to Trump’s claim on March 16 that the U.S. had “literally obliterated” Iranian threats. “That’s, that’s ridiculous to say.”

He said the Trump administration should be “pulling out all stops” to find the missing airman. Instead, Hertling noted, Trump has tepidly said “he hopes we’re going to find the other crew member and he’s not going to comment on what we’re going to do if we don’t.”

“You move mountains to try and find that individual, get them back to safety,” he said.

Shortly after the military plane went down Friday, Trump touted the idea of seizing Iranian oil that flows through the Strait of Hormuz. But he had yet to publicly condemn the attack. And on Saturday, the president remained mum on the missing service member, saying in a Truth Social post early reminding Iran of his imposed deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz: “Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”

Later Saturday afternoon, Trump posted a one-minute video allegedly of a “massive strike in Tehran,” which he said killed “many of Iran’s Military Leaders.” The timing of the strike and the source of the video were not known. MS NOW reached out to the White House for clarification and additional information about the president’s post.

Iran’s successful targeting of the U.S. aircraft suggests a different wartime reality than the one Trump conveyed in his address to the nation on Wednesday: Iran still has the military capacity to strike U.S. service members and target critical infrastructure deep within its American-allied Gulf Arab neighbors.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday on MS NOW’s “Velshi” that Trump’s approach to the war overall is “problematic.”

“We’ve got an airman behind enemy lines trying to survive and trying to be rescued. And we should all think about him,” Smith said. “We should also think about the 13 service members who have been killed and the hundreds who have been wounded. So yes, that search is front of mind right now on the war in Iran.”

Bryan Stern, a U.S. military intelligence veteran who operates Grey Bull Rescue, a nonprofit organization that runs high-risk rescue missions in active war zones, said in an interview with MS NOW that “the life expectancy of a downed pilot behind enemy lines decreases exponentially every few hours.” And he said the Iranian regime Iran is “incentivized” to keep the U.S. service member alive for leverage in negotiations with the U.S. and Israel.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a staunch Trump ally, said after speaking with the president Saturday morning, “I am completely convinced that he will use overwhelming military force against the regime if they continue to impede the Strait of Hormuz and refuse a diplomatic solution to achieve our military objectives.” Graham did not mention the missing U.S. airman.

Trump claimed in his address that the “enemy suffered” clear and “devastating large-scale losses” in a matter of weeks. But less than three days after his prime-time speech, Tehran downed a two-seat fighter jet and struck at least two other American aircraft, including a Blackhawk helicopter involved in search efforts, injuring several of its crew members.

One crew member of the two-person F15-E jet was rescued by U.S. forces Friday. The second airman who is missing has been declared “DUSTWUN,” or “Duty Status, Whereabouts Unknown.”

Iran reportedly has offered a sizable reward to anyone who locates the missing U.S. military service member. The lone U.S. pilot of an A-10 Warthog attack jet that went down in Iran was rescued.

Trump declined to say what actions U.S. forces may take if the missing F-15E crew member is captured or harmed by the Iranians because “we hope that’s not going to happen,” he said in a phone interview with The Independent shortly after the jet went down Friday.

Emily Hung contributed to this report.