THIEVES STEAL FAKE PAINTING PLANTED BY POLICE

Police in the Northern Italian town of Castelnuovo Magra were tipped off to a planned theft of a famous painting in a local church. So, they did the obvious thing: they replaced the original with a fake. And early last Wednesday morning, about a month after they pulled the switch, the fake painting was stolen from its case in the church. The 17th century painting, titled “Crucifixion” by Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger, is worth about $3.4 million and is a tourist attraction for the town. After rumors were circulating that someone could steal the work, police decided to put it in a safe place, replacing it with a copy and installing some cameras. Police are still looking for the thieves.
* It’s a small town. After they put in the cameras, there was no money left for an alarm and a security guard.
* Imagine the phone call to the police artist who does the pencil sketches for wanted posters: “Angelo, we got a special job for you.” Angelo: “At last, I can use my paint set!”
* You could tell it’s a fake because not all of the numbers had been painted in.
* Plus it was on black velvet.
* I bet when they’re caught, they’ll say they were framed.