Normally, you'd see me on the street getting right into the info of the latest New York Pretty well, that's still gonna happen in a few seconds.

But we're living in strange times and I hope you're OK.

Our latest New York really focuses on an interesting heist that happened inside Rikers Island.

This story was filmed and produced before the Kobe 19 outbreak slammed into New York City.

But since then, there have been cases of the illness inside Rikers Island and our thoughts go out to all those affected.

Our hope is that this video brings you some sort of small welcome relief in Paul.

It's crazy news that's around us.

Thank you for watching.

And this is New York City.

You what?

Unless I want to get arrested.

This is about as close as I'm gonna get to Rikers Island.

The massive A notorious New York City jail in 2003.

It was a sight of an improbable crime.

An art heist.

A drawing by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali was stolen out of one of the jails, but the accused would not heed.

Expect for inside edition dot com.

I'm Sal Bono and this is New York gritty?

What's a dolly doing in Rikers?

Dolly was supposed to come visit the inmates and sixties, couldn't make it, got sick or something.

And so do I, donated one of his drawings called Crucifixion.

To me, it looked like a drawing that he did in about a minute and 1/2.

My son could have done it, probably.

But Salvador Dali and you know, the abstract, sublime and all the things that Salvador Dali brings was represented to a degree in that drawer.

So was a Catalonian, a Spaniard who was one of the great great Surrealists of our time.

He believed that publicity was more important than quality so that the memory that many of us have of him is as a clown, a man who would write in Elephant do things like that just to get publicity.

Sam Valley was a strange man.

That sense, every once in a while, he did religious work is his crucifixions of Christ marvelous paint.

His last suppers mess that piece in 19 anyone?

One inmate apparently didn't like the doll and threw a metal coffee mug at the drawing, breaking the glass and staining the portrait.

Dolly was taken down and placed in storage, hidden from view on that was placed in the basement of somebody and water.

Get on it So but have you ever seen paper that's been in the water ordering water?

It becomes more the stain from the metal that's in the water.

And that's what happened to the peace.

While the peace languished in a basement, it's artist Salvador Dali died in 1989.

He was 84.

By the late 19 nineties, the drawing was back on display at Rikers, hanging in a lobby next to a Pepsi machine.

Its value had been appraised for over a $1,000,000.

In order to determine orders greatness, you have to wait till he's dead.

His dealer's death of his wife is that his mistress is dead and a five year old child walks into the museum and says, Mommy, I like that.

That's the first.

Real criticism on the Valley has been subject to the middle of a cold night.

On March 1st, 2003 an unplanned fire drill took place inside the jail.

2000 inmates were put on lock down.

The next morning, a prison employee who prayed in front of the drawing noticed something was wrong.

Someone had swapped the drawing with a replica.

When you first learned of the heist at Rikers Island in March 2003 what were your initial thought?

I thought it was a joke.

I found it very hard to believe the area where the painting was moved to after was vandalized by the inmates in the mess hall was the front gate area, but it was a new officer signed 24 hours a day.

I sat down with Mike Caruso, former inspector general for the Department of Corrections.

He didn't want to be on camera.

So with his permission, I record our conversation inside a cafe in Queens.

Can't remember many occasions where jail was actually robbed of anything, this type of value.

You might see isolated incidents with some money disappeared out of a mate, funds or bail accounts.

But in 27 years in that office, I don't remember anything like this.

It was gonna be a major issue because I knew the painting did have pretty high value to it.

How about the absurdity of all this?

Well, there is that.

It's it's kind of a Hollywood type caper, but Replica is actually very good in a lot of ways.

And I suppose they thought would keep people fooled for least long enough for them to dispose of the real of the real painting in the black market.

There was a security camera there.

However, no tape was recovered from the security camera, the unplanned fire drill, the missing security tape, the detailed bake.

They lead Mike Toe One conclusion, and I knew that it had to be an inside job, So that was gonna be a problem.

And when the Salvador Dali painting was stolen from Rikers Island from an area where officers must be buzzed in and out, well, suspicion fell on corrections officers at the prison, particularly those with enough authority to stage fire drills.

Because the day before it was learned that a phony was put in place of the actual painting, there was such a drill.

And now investigators are wondering if the drill was a cover.

There was a bogus fire drill that was called the night of the theft.

The purpose of it was to clear the area of the non participants in the scheme so that the participants in this game could do their thing that night, which was to bring in the fake painting, four prison guards found themselves no better than some of the inmates there.

Regarding arrested were assistant Deputy Warden Benny News Oh, assistant deputy warden Mitchell Hochhauser, corrections officer Timothy Peanut and corrections officer Greg.

So called wearing the sunglasses and walking in by himself, It turns out, because he flipped, went against the others and secretly recorded conversations for investigators.

All were on duty when the painting was taken that night.

Crime is a result of shameless arrogance, fueled by greed, that it represents a serious betrayal of the public trust but also undermines the professionalism of the vast majority of the correction department employees who perform their duties with dedication and integrity.

I mean, investigating officer is always difficult because they are small peace officers that they had uphold the law, have I care custody and control for the inmates that they overseeing this'll be the last thing you would expect that they would be the actual subjects of the investigation.

You know, when you think about it, this was not exactly the most brilliant caper of all time.

There were so many things that we've done here that made you realize they didn't know plans.

Well, they stole a dolly that's unique.

Everybody's orphanage, but particularly a dolly drawing.

This is for unique.

It was gonna be reported stolen.

It was going to be put out in the awful.

That's a stolen piece.

Too many authorities.

This seemed like an open and shut case.

Three.

The defendants pled guilty to second degree grand larceny and received different sentences.

However, Betty News Oh, who authorities claim was the mastermind of the plot, wasn't backing down without a fight.

He called me and said, Look, I'm indicted, I'm innocent.

I want to go to trial and I want you.

So you know, I already had.

You don't very macro level knowledge of the case from the newspapers.

I'm certainly interested in the case, and, uh, it was a challenge that I thought would be stimulating.

Whispered that way.

Prosecutors said the drawing was valued at over $250,000.

That could have meant a maximum sentence of 15 years of news.

Oh was found guilty.

If the stolen goods are under $50,000 defendants are given a maximum seven years behind bars as a trial lawyer.

As a lawyer, the best working conduce is in mitigation.

You know, you're not gonna get a clean sweep.

Perhaps, But, you know, instead of facing, you know, 8 to 30 25 you know, or 7 to 21.

You know, you hope to get him in the zone where he's eligible for probation.

That was one school of thought, but that was in my school, without my school floaters.

Always.

If you're in it, you wanna win it?

Um, trial work is like combat sport to me.

And, uh, you know, he told me was innocent in Paco Pena brought in Alex Rosenberg to testify in court in an effort to contest the value of the droid for the same reason they wanted their expert to place the value of this piece of art over $50,000.

Alex, we're there to shred the value of that dolly.

And there's nobody better in the world not in the state of New York, in America, but in the world to put proper value to a Salvador Dali painting.

Outro Worthless publicist At one point, he was one of his best friends.

He is the dolly you know, Savak.

And he set the value of this thing.

A much more realistic number, which was closest zero than 50,000 but certainly well below the threshold for grand larceny.

Still trying to process the fact that, like Salvador Lee drawing Salvador Dali, drawing that under $100,000 many drawings are under 100,000.

Many also, we must remember when I'm saying is I'm speaking about a certain time for in $2003 not 2020 $20.

Alex Rosenberg dropped a bombshell during the trial.

He claimed that the Dalai drawing sold in 2003 was actually a reprint and not the original little You had testified in court that it wasn't the original drawing, is that correct?

That is correct.

So what?

So what was taken in 2003?

Apparently a copy, because the photo off what was taken didn't show the water damage.

And that original drawing a dolly had given Rikers was never restored.

No, you see, because the authorities didn't take it seriously.

Remember, the people work in prisons are usually not art collectors.

So what happened to the original Dolly Joe?

We don't know.

No one has any idea No one.

So they stole a replica?

That's right.

They took a fake.

I've replaced it with their own fake.

That's right.

So there is technically three versions of one drawing, and the original is still missing the original, But copy and the fake.

He brought that out trial also, that this was a copy of Could've been a copy.

And here's the funny part.

There was no way to help because the pictures of the drawing that they had we're behind Les okay?

And you can do even a hypothetical assessment.

Okay, there's ways to assess art.

You look, you feel it, you cut it.

You evaluated.

Look for damage.

If you don't have a piece of art and you only have pictures of it.

It's called the hypothetical assessment.

Okay, it's valid.

Little Jew put the word hypothetical before assessment.

Following a four week trial, the jury acquitted news.

Oh, this was one.

The most interesting case ever tried because I really became an expert in part and evaluation process of art and Salvador Dali, who I became a massive fan of after this case.

Following the guilty pleas soldier was given three years probation, had to pay a $1000 fine.

Pena was sentenced to five years probation, while Hochhauser was given 1 to 3 years in prison.

In regards to the individual that was acquitted, way have to respect the decision of the jury.

That's the way the system works.

The only thing I didn't understand is why the other individuals that were found guilty would implicate this person.

This ranks in the top five of the most challenging cases I've ever tried.

From an evidentiary standpoint, for sure, this definitely ranks as my favorite kids have ever tried because it wasn't just a criminal trial.

It wasn't, he said.

She said it was a criminal trial with you no focal point being Salvador Dali.

Salvador Dali Drawing has never been found.

Guards claimed the artwork was destroyed.

Way did the best we could exhausted all investigative avenues.

I still feel that the painting is out there, and I would suggest if anyone knows where it is that they contact Department of Correction Inspector General's office.

Oh, I think there's a few morals to the story.

One would be, you know, welcome steel.

But if you're gonna commit a crime if you're gonna steal a dolly replaced with something that is least within four feet of the same size of it.

So it doesn't clear that think was stolen and then, you know, just keep your mouth closed.

You know, that's the the moral of your bent on crime if you're headed in that direction.

Benny News all declined to participate in the story, but he told me he was open to meeting up with three other guards if there were ever inclined to do so.

Gregory So cool.

And Mitchell Hochhauser declined to participate while messages left for Timothy Pino went unanswered.

You were very close with Dolly during his life.

What would Salvador Dali say about this whole situation?

You know, left a big joke.