1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:05,480 Why I went to prison. A true story. 2 00:00:07,929 --> 00:00:14,369 My name is Vicenzo Perugia, and you could say I'm a case in point of opportunity-making the thief. 3 00:00:15,050 --> 00:00:23,350 As you have guessed from my name, I'm Italian, but at the time I committed a robbery, I was living in France. 4 00:00:24,030 --> 00:00:28,670 It was the year 1911, and I was about to become 30. 5 00:00:30,839 --> 00:00:35,640 I looked like any young man of my age, and you could even say I was handsome. 6 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,200 But I was shy and reserved, and wasn't matching to women. 7 00:00:40,679 --> 00:00:42,899 I preferred playing my mandolin. 8 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:49,539 I had been working for three years for a French company as a painter and decorator, 9 00:00:49,780 --> 00:00:54,579 when one day they called us to do some repair work at the Louvre Museum, 10 00:00:55,259 --> 00:00:57,000 and that's where I met her. 11 00:00:57,920 --> 00:00:59,200 The Gioconda, I mean. 12 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,899 The moment I saw her, I fell in love with her. 13 00:01:03,780 --> 00:01:05,680 I became obsessed with her. 14 00:01:06,379 --> 00:01:12,319 And I was angry at the fact that Napoleon, so I believed, had stolen it from us. 15 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:18,859 At night, I dreamt of taking her back to Italy where she belonged. 16 00:01:20,019 --> 00:01:25,000 So I plucked up my courage and on Sunday, 20th August, 17 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:32,500 I stayed in the museum to sleep in a storage room I knew. Early on Monday 18 00:01:32,500 --> 00:01:38,019 morning when the museum was empty all I had to do was unhook the painting from 19 00:01:38,019 --> 00:01:43,879 the wall, tear it away from its frame I just wanted the painting not the frame 20 00:01:43,879 --> 00:01:49,959 which I abandoned under a staircase on my way out. I hid the painting under the 21 00:01:49,959 --> 00:01:55,000 smoke I was wearing and using a screwdriver walked into the street 22 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,099 through a side door in a courtyard. Nobody noticed me as I walked back to my 23 00:02:00,099 --> 00:02:09,039 apartment. I couldn't believe my luck or my cold blood. I hid the Mona Lisa under 24 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:16,060 the dining table and there it stayed for two years. During this time people flocked 25 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:23,860 to the museum to see the gap it had left. Newspapers ran stories about it. Everybody 26 00:02:23,860 --> 00:02:31,740 wondered where Mona Lisa was and the police became the butt of many a joke. Eventually, 27 00:02:31,740 --> 00:02:38,979 in 1913, I saw my way out. An Italian dealer called Gary wanted to buy Italian works of art. 28 00:02:38,979 --> 00:02:47,840 I wrote Mr. Gary a letter explaining my situation and he answered he was interested would I visit 29 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:53,860 him in Florence with the painting. So I took a train and managed to smuggle the Mona Lisa 30 00:02:53,860 --> 00:03:02,439 across the border. Boy was that exciting! In Florence I booked a room in a cheap hotel and 31 00:03:02,439 --> 00:03:09,139 and went to visit Mr. Gheri. He said, listen, I have talked to my friend Giovanni Poggi. 32 00:03:09,620 --> 00:03:15,240 He is the director of the State Museum, the Uffizi Gallery. He would like to have a look 33 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:21,180 at the painting. If it's authentic, the Italian government is ready to pay you the half million 34 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:27,460 lire you had asked for. Nothing would make me happier than to see Gioconda in Italy's best 35 00:03:27,460 --> 00:03:35,039 museum, so I agreed to take the painting to the Uffizi. There, a group of experts looked at it 36 00:03:35,039 --> 00:03:44,340 and Poggi said, we think it's original and not a fake, but it will take us a couple of days to run 37 00:03:44,340 --> 00:03:50,680 all the tests. If you don't mind waiting at your hotel, we'll send for you when we are finished 38 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:52,039 and we'll pay you. 39 00:03:52,699 --> 00:03:53,840 Okay, I said. 40 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,000 I've never been to Florence before, 41 00:03:56,319 --> 00:03:58,419 so I'll do some sightseeing in the meantime. 42 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,020 However, when I arrived at my hotel, 43 00:04:02,259 --> 00:04:04,759 I realized I had fallen in a trap. 44 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,539 The police were waiting for me, 45 00:04:07,719 --> 00:04:08,860 and I was arrested. 46 00:04:10,419 --> 00:04:15,039 There was a trial, but it was in Italy, 47 00:04:15,539 --> 00:04:17,759 where I was a sort of a national hero. 48 00:04:18,639 --> 00:04:20,339 If I had been judged in France, 49 00:04:20,339 --> 00:04:27,040 I bet things would have been different. As it was, I was sentenced to a year and 15 days, 50 00:04:27,459 --> 00:04:34,240 but all I had to spend in prison was seven months. Women sent me love letters and cakes and bottles 51 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:40,639 of wine, and the Mona Lisa toured some Italian galleries before the authorities returned it to 52 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:51,920 France, so I think it was worth it. I also returned to France. After the Great War, I married a French 53 00:04:51,920 --> 00:05:00,079 woman and I settled down in a little village in northern France. What will we not do for a beautiful lady?