One was an Italian who got his start peddling trinkets on the streets of Rome. Another was an American expatriate who could close a deal for a Greek vase in six languages. The third was a flashy British dealer whose eye for ancient art dazzled the world's wealthiest clients.
For 40 years, these men dominated the trade in Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. Italian authorities say they were also "promoters and organizers" of a network that spirited looted art out of the Mediterranean and into display cases of leading museums and private collections worldwide.
For 10 years, the Italians have focused on the trio -- largely unknown outside their niche market -- as they have built a criminal case that eventually ensnared one of the men's biggest customers, Marion True, until this fall the curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Court records detailing that investigation, along with internal Getty documents and rare interviews with all three dealers, provide a clear look at the inner workings of a $4-billion-a-year illicit trade that floods the antiquities market.
The men -- Giacomo Medici, Robert E. Hecht Jr. and Robin Symes -- acquired items that had been illegally removed from Italian tombs and used fake ownership histories, rigged auctions and relied on frontmen to sell the objects with a veneer of legitimacy, according to the records and interviews.
Much of the classical ancient art sold in recent decades is believed to have passed through their hands. Italians say they have traced more than a hundred looted artifacts handled by the dealers to the Getty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a dozen other major museums and private collections in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Medici was convicted last year of trafficking in looted art, and described in his sentencing documents as being the mastermind of Italy's trade in looted antiquities. Hecht, an American now on trial with True in Rome, is accused of being Medici's partner and middleman.
Symes, a Briton, is identified in court records as the trio's frontman to high-end clients. Italian authorities say they plan to bring charges against him next year.
Italian prosecutors argue that Medici, Hecht and Symes controlled enough of the trade to drive up prices, in part by selling to each other at auction and sharing the inflated profits when objects were resold.
