On August 21, 1911, an Italian handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia committed the art heist of the century by simply hiding in a Louvre closet overnight and walking out with Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Peruggia claimed his motivation was patriotic, believing Napoleon had stolen the painting and that it belonged back in Italy. However, behind the scenes lurked a far more devious mastermind: Eduardo de Valfierno, an Argentine con man.
Valfierno had orchestrated the heist not to sell the original masterpiece, but to pull off an ingenious forgery scam. Before the theft even occurred, Valfierno commissioned French master forger Yves Chaudron to paint six identical copies of the Mona Lisa on aged wooden panels. Once the real painting was reported stolen and dominated international headlines, Valfierno dispatched the six fake masterpieces to wealthy collectors around the globe, mostly in the United States.
Each buyer believed they were secretly purchasing the genuine stolen masterpiece, paying exorbitant sums while agreeing never to display it publicly. Valfierno made millions off forged copies while Peruggia kept the actual Mona Lisa hidden in his Paris apartment's trunk for over two years before finally getting caught attempting to sell it to an art dealer in Florence.