Gallery of Fools: The True Story of a Major Manhattan Art Theft

The story told in this book is true. It is based on the theft of eight Impressionist masterpieces from a Manhattan art gallery. The paintings were hidden in my father's cellar in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx for about two years until my wife and I removed them. My cousin and his partner were arrested for their roles in the crime. I have taken some fictional liberties in the reconstruction of dialogue that occurred some time ago, and in the invention of details that most likely happened during breaks in the main action of the story. An author always has a decision to make about whether to present a book like this as fiction or nonfiction. I have decided to publish this story as a memoir rather than as a novel since the story told in these pages is basically true.