Picasso, Dali artworks shown after being recovered from Mafia collectionAugust 16, 2013 - 15:35 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - More than 100 art treasures including Dali's "Romeo and Juliet" and De Chirico's "Mannequin" were confiscated from Gioacchino Campolo, known as the "slot machine king", when he was arrested in 2009. The art works lay in a bank vault for three years until the culture ministry, anti-Mafia prosecutors and local authorities agreed to stage the show, entitled "Art returns to art", in a Reggio Calabria museum that has been closed for renovation for the past four years, The Telegraph said. Italian authorities said Campolo amassed a fortune worth more than 400 million euros (£350million) though his vast gambling operations, video poker and extortion and had an international property empire with homes in Paris, Rome, Milan and the upscale Sicilian resort town of Taormina. According to anti-Mafia prosecutors Campolo is closely linked to the De Stefano family, one of the most powerful clans in the Calabrian Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta. He has now been convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison for various crimes. He appeared to have an extraordinary weakness for art and was unable to resist the purchase of a new masterpiece for his luxury homes. Among the paintings on show are 15 artworks that span the 16th and 19th centuries but there are also many works by leading Italian artists from the 20th century including Lucio Fontana, Luigi Veronese and two works by Antonio Ligabue. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Your home is in Armenia – Ameriabank offers mortgage loans for the Diaspora To buy real estate, Diasporans can apply to Ameriabank online to buy, renovate or build a home anywhere in Armenia. Armenia-Qatar ties discussed in Doha The Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council met with the Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Council of Qatar. Surveying works underway in Armenia’s Kirants Surveying works are underway in the Armenian village of Kirants in the northern Tavush province. Armenia calls for prohibiting threats of attacks on nuclear facilities Armenia has raised the need for a treaty prohibiting attacks on nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes. |