Stolen Art Watch, Lugo, Leger, Picasso & Wine

Picasso found in Hoboken apartment identified "Sculpteur et Deux Têtes (Sculptor and Two Heads)," valued at $350K

http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2011/07/picasso_found_in_hoboken_apart.html

A Picasso etching found in Mark Lugo's Hoboken apartment was identified by the gallery it was taken from as a 1933 piece titled "Sculpteur et Deux Têtes (Sculptor and Two Heads)."

The Picasso, valued at $350,000, was one of seven pieces of stolen art work found in Lugo's Hoboken apartment Tuesday morning when it was searched by the Hoboken Police Department, New York City Police and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, according to police reports.

The pieces totaled approximately $500,000, according to police.

The seven pieces were taken from five Manhattan galleries and hotels, said New York City police Lt. John Grimpel, including the Picasso which was taken from the William Bennet Gallery in Soho on June 27.

In addition to art, Lugo has been charged with theft as a disorderly persons in Wayne N.J., after security cameras captured him taking three bottles of wine, valued at $6,000.

As of now, Lugo is associated with three separate thefts. The merchandise totals $706,000.

Hoboken Police Recovers Stolen Artwork from Hobokenite's Apartment

The paintings were hanging on Mark Lugo's walls in Hoboken.

Hoboken Police, members of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office and officers from the New York Police Department recovered approximately $500,000 in stolen artwork from Mark Lugo's apartment in Hoboken on Tuesday. Lugo, 30, is currently being held in San Francisco for allegedly stealing a $200,000 Pablo Picasso drawing from a gallery there.

Hoboken detectives were contacted by detectives from the New York City Police Department’s Major Case Squad on Tuesday, regarding the theft of a Picasso painting from a hotel in Manhattan, according to Hoboken Police. The paintings were hanging on the walls of Lugo's Washington Street apartment.

The value of that painting from the Manhattan gallery, police said, is approximately $350,000. The Major Case Squad was informed by San Francisco detectives that the stolen painting may be at Lugo’s Washington Street residence, police said.

Officers got into the apartment by forced entry around 2:20 a.m. on Tuesday, police said.

"The paintings were hanging on the walls and laying about the apartment," police said in a press release.

Another stolen Picasso found in suspect's home

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/14/BAVS1KAHG4.DTL
A police raid on the New Jersey apartment of the man accused of stealing a Pablo Picasso drawing in San Francisco turned up $500,000 in stolen artwork, including a Picasso painting that had been taken from a New York hotel, investigators said today.

The art was found in the Hoboken apartment of Mark Lugo, 30, who is being held in San Francisco in connection with the July 5 theft of "Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman)," a 1965 pencil drawing by Picasso.

Hoboken police said in a statement that some of the latest stolen artwork found in the raid Tuesday night was on Lugo's wall, and other pieces were "laying about the apartment."

Among the pieces was a Picasso worth $350,000 that had been stolen from a Manhattan hotel, police said. They did not identify the artwork or the other pieces found in the apartment.

Hoboken detectives said they had raided Lugo's apartment in response to information from New York police, who had been told by San Francisco detectives that the Picasso might be there.

The announcement came the same day that Lugo's attorney said he looking into the possibility that his client may have "psychiatric issues," in light of additional revelations that Lugo is facing charges of stealing expensive wine in his native New Jersey.

Lugo was charged with stealing three bottles of wine worth about $6,000 from a wine store in April. He faces charges known as theft as a disorderly person, said Wayne Municipal Court Administrator Lori Ellicott. The maximum sentence is six months in jail per count.

Lugo missed his June 9 court date, and because he is being held in San Francisco on $5 million bail in the Union Square gallery heist, he missed his court date today for his failure to appear.

Lugo, a former sommelier at upscale New York City restaurants, was caught on security camera video taking the bottles at Gary's Wine and Marketplace in Wayne, N.J., the store's loss prevention manager, Robert Lesnick, told The Chronicle on Wednesday.

The three bottles of wine were never recovered, Ellicott said.

In San Francisco, a restaurant's security camera taped a man police identified as Lugo as he walked up Geary Street on July 5 with a framed artwork under his arm. Investigators suspect that the artwork was "Tête de Femme," which had been stolen moments before from the Weinstein Gallery at 383 Geary.

Lugo was arrested the next night while visiting friends in Napa. The sketch was found undamaged but ready to be shipped to an undisclosed destination, police said.

Horngrad said he was aware of both the police raid and the New Jersey wine theft charges. "I'm looking into whether some psychiatric issues are at play," he said, declining to go into detail.

Lugo is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in San Francisco Superior Court in the heist of the Picasso drawing from the gallery. Horngrad said at Lugo's first court appearance Monday that his client planned to plead not guilty.

Art Hostage Comments:

Last FridayArt Hostage posted this below:
http://arthostage.blogspot.com/2011/07/stolen-art-watch-picasso-accused-lugo.html

Enough already, wheres the bloody Leger, Art Hostage solved the Picasso stuff last week, now come on, can we please have the Leger make an appearance.