NEW YORK — Authorities are ramping up their effort to solve a Manhattan mystery: Who drilled a hole into the home of a beef fortune heir and stole a collection of iconic artworks by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol? The culprits also made off with surveillance video footage that might have caught them in the act.
The New York Police Department released images of the art Thursday, hoping someone might help solve last month’s crime in the trendy Meatpacking District by recognizing works like a well-known Lichtenstein print called “Thinking Nude.” Authorities estimate the five-story apartment was burglarized sometime during Thanksgiving week, when owner and art collector Robert Romanoff was away.
Calls to Romanoff’s home went unanswered Friday.
Also taken from the building were a Lichtenstein print called “Moonscape,” the Carl Fudge oil painting “Live Cat,” the Warhol prints “The Truck” and “Superman,” and a set of eight signed Warhol prints from 1986 called “Camouflage.” They’re among the artist’s last works before his death the following year.
Authorities estimate the artworks, plus stolen Cartier and Rolex watches and other jewelry, are worth about $750,000.
