The Globalisation of Greed

Sir Mark Jones, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, was interviewed for a BBC World News piece on the looting of Etruscan cemeteries (July 10, 2011). The BBC crew followed a Carabinieri raid using a helicopter, vehicles, and mounted officers. There are shots of recently looted tombs. Jones reminded us that looting has historic roots but suggested that inhibitions about the scale of looting have changed in part due to "the globalisation of greed".

Colonnello Raffaele Mancino talks about the criminal links to the antiquities trade in part to launder money.

There is a visit to the stores where the recovered statue of Zeus removed from the Norwegian Institute in Rome (and recovered from a London gallery) is temporarily housed. A Greek figure-decorated amphora, recovered at an unspecified airport, is shown being photographed. Finally the Carabinieri database of stolen artworks is shown in action.

The video is available via the MiBAC website.