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Comment by londons_explore | Hacker News Reader

Someone who is really good at finding lost artworks hey....?

Is there good evidence that this guy or his friends didn't steal the artworks in the first place?

The thief left DNA evidence at the scene and eventually pleaded guilty. The person in TFA didn't "find" the artwork, someone came to him with it in order to arrange a handover without getting into legal trouble themselves.

>without getting into legal trouble themselves.

How would that work? Police: Hey thanks for returning stolen property, since it was in your possession we will charge you now, that is unless we learn who gave it to you.

I don't see any indication in the story that the police were involved in the return.

The hard part, as with most transactions of this sort, is trust. I'm curious how Brand convinced the returner he wouldn't double-cross them.

>> The art detective “had to gain his confidence” before the man agreed to drop off the canvas in a meeting sanctioned by authorities.

I wonder how that tactic would work for fentanyl? Jailing the ultimate source (or at least highest-level distributor) would seem ideal. Making the charge stick might be harder; does it fall back down then? (Warden Isaac Newton spent years on one counterfeiter.)

Counterfieiting currency is a high-skill activity, distributing fentanyl is not. As soon as they cut the head off of a distribution network, another one will pop up to fill the vacuum; so it isn't worth huge investments to take down any given individual.

i mean, yes, police do in principle try to roll up dealers to higher level distributors.

Same thoughts. It's hard to navigate the criminal underworld having clean clothes yourself.

But the painting is back.

He did literally write a book on infiltrating the Nazi underground to get artwork back.

https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Horses/dp/1529106109

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