An amateur painter sets up his easel near Leonardo da Vinci's
Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, only to discover that the
masterpiece is missing. The day before, in perhaps the most
brazen art theft of all time, Vincenzo Perugia had walked into
the Louvre, removed the famed painting from the wall, hid it
beneath his clothes, and escaped. While the entire nation of
France was stunned, theories abounded as to what could have
happened to the invaluable artwork. Most believed that
professional thieves could not have been involved because they
would have realized that it would be too dangerous to try to
sell the world's most famous painting. A popular rumor in Paris
was that the Germans had stolen it to humiliate the French.
Investigators and detectives searched for the painting for more
than two years without finding any decent leads. Then, in
November 1913, Italian art dealer Alfredo Geri received a letter
from a man calling himself Leonardo. It indicated that the Mona
Lisa was in Florence and would be returned