Violin Thief Extradited from France

According to the LATimes, Anthony Eugene Notarstefano, 45, "A 'career criminal' who allegedly stole two violins from the home of a Los Angeles Philharmonic musician was extradited from France on Friday to face federal charges after trying to sell the instruments to Parisian shops." The violins, one an 18th century Carolo Tononi, was valued at $225,000 and the other, a 19th century Jean Baptise Viuillaume valued at approximately $65,000 were stolen from the West Hollywood home of violinist Mark Kashper on December 23, 2007. In March 2007, French police were notified by Paris dealer when Notarstefano had tried to sell the instruments for $65,000 - a price far below their combined value. Soon thereafter, the instruments were recovered and Notarstefano was arrested by the French authorities.

This case highlights how art thieves are not the Thomas Crown Affair playboy businessmen, who steal for the sheer pleasure and rush of excitement associated with art theft. Rather, as Dr. Simon Mackenzie discusses in "Criminal and Victim Profiles in Art Theft: Motive, Opportunity and Repeat Victimisation," in Art Antiquity and Law (Vol. X, No. 4, pp. 353-370, 2005), "Most criminals are not specialists in one particular crime, rather they are opportunists. If they are career criminals, they may have a bank of core skills, but these can be adapted to different criminal activities (356)." Notarstefano had prior convictions including include burglary, petty theft and credit card fraud. Evidently, he knew better than to sell the violins in the United States, but he either had no idea of the actual value of the instruments or he was simply trying to unload them off his hands as quickly as possible. Whatever the case may be, his "bank of core skills" were not enough to prevent his being caught.