William Veres is in trouble...

In 2018 he was arrested following the largest ever investigation by the Italian police’s art squad. They accuse him of running a pan-European art-smuggling ring with ties to the Sicilian mafia. He is alleged to have stolen $40 million worth of art and antiquities from Italy. Charged with 14 counts, including money laundering, forgery, wire fraud and conspiracy, he faces a jail term of up to 20 years.

But he has a plan to get out of trouble.

In this four-part podcast, host Simon Willis follows him as he puts that plan into action. It’s a story that takes listeners deep into the underworld, and into the dark heart of the most famous criminal organization of them all – Cosa Nostra.

It is a story of drug dealers, hitmen, smugglers, spies – even a corrupt prime minister.

And in the middle of it all is William Veres’s quest to save himself.

How? By solving the coldest cold case in the history of art crime – the theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity.

Episodes

Episode 1

The Nativity

An allegedly simple coin dealer is accused of leading a notorious art smuggling ring. But he has an audacious plan to prove his innocence & redeem himself.

William Veres is arrested in a dawn raid – one of 50 simultaneous raids across Europe to bust his criminal gang. To get out of trouble he agrees a deal with Italian anti-mafia police: if he can help them solve the coldest cold case in the history of art theft, they will help him in his own case. In this episode we follow Veres as he begins his quest to find Caravaggio’s Nativity, believed to be in the hands of Cosa Nostra.

Episode 2

The Go-Between

AVAILABLE DECEMBER 4TH

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Episode 3

Money for Nothing

AVAILABLE DECEMBER 11TH

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Episode 4

The Fugitive

AVAILABLE DECEMBER 18TH

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