The story of one of the 4 custodians of the MuMe theatre, on the night of August 15th, of the sensational theft of Antonello da Messina’s paintings did not convince the investigators. The statements made by the employee, who was put on forced leave for days together with his colleagues, were contradictory and unclear.
A reconstruction that showed several flaws
In particular, the version of the man, heard as a witness, would have shown several flaws regarding the reconstruction of the times and would not have been compatible with that of the other 3 employees. His position is now being examined by the investigators although the registration in the register of suspects for false information to the public prosecutor has not been confirmed. The investigators want to understand if in the custodial team there were only incompetent people – another employee admitted to having heard the alarm go off and turned it off, thinking it was a false contact – or even a mole of the thieves who acted without fail. While prosecutors and police continue to investigate, the checks carried out by the Sicilian Region at MuMe confirm “the good functioning of the alarms” and “the critical issues in the application by employees of the procedures established by the safety protocols”.
The investigations are proceeding across the board
Details that are learned from the administrative inspection ordered by the president of the Sicilian Region, Renato Schifani. The general manager of the Cultural Heritage department, Mario La Rocca, carried out an inspection of the museum yesterday. The department awaits some additions to the report delivered in recent days by the director and only then will it take the decision on the possible opening of disciplinary proceedings against the four custodians on duty in August who were put on holiday and transferred to other locations awaiting administrative decisions. That the two thieves were able to count on a baseman, however, is certain: the bandits, in fact, entered from a side entrance of the building, took advantage of the procession of the Vara, the votive chariot dedicated to the Madonna of the Assumption, which attracts thousands of people from Messina and engages the police to carry out the robbery filmed by the museum’s internal cameras. The investigations are proceeding across the board: the videos from the days before the sensational coup were also checked to identify any inspections by the gang and the video cameras outside the MuMe. Investigations were also carried out on the telephone cells to understand whether there were connections to the telephone cells of cell phones which had not appeared in the previous days. Finally, unlike the mafia theory, the theory of commissioned theft is gaining more and more weight given the non-marketability of the paintings.