Case · Theft
The Russborough House Robbery (1986)
Martin Cahill and the Beit Vermeer
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Image: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
In 1986 the Dublin crime boss Martin Cahill — 'The General' — led a raid on Russborough House, taking eighteen works including a Vermeer and a Goya. They were recovered piecemeal over years.
Cahill's gang exploited the country house's isolation and its extraordinary Beit collection, which had already been robbed once in 1974. This time the works were used as underworld collateral and dispersed across Europe.
Recovery operations stretched into the 1990s, with paintings surfacing in Turkey, Belgium, and elsewhere as police followed the trade in stolen masterpieces.