Vincenzo Pipino
[1] His mother, opposed to such treatment of her child, removed him from the institution and found work for him in a mortuary near Santa Maria Formosa, where he dusted coffins and dressed the corpses.
[1] Pipino began stealing when eight years old,[3] by which time he was working as an errand boy at a bakery and would occasionally purloin a pastry when hungry.
[2] When he was thirteen, his mother, worried about his continued habit of thievery, invented a story about "La Gamba d'Oro" ("The Golden Leg").
[4] He followed a rich American tourist who, in a moment of distraction in a beach hut, was unaware that Pipino had stolen money from his shirt pocket.
[4] To Pipino's misfortune, the large sum of money required a signature to exchange at the bank, and he was later arrested and served seven months in jail.
[1] According to journalist and author Stefano Lorenzetto in his 2013 book Hic sunt leones, Pipino has committed over 3,000 robberies at museums, galleries, banks, and private residences in his lifetime, many of which were of palaces along the Grand Canal or around Piazza San Marco.
[2] He was a careful and considerate thief, ensuring not to damage the items he stole, and to not leave a mess for his victims; for example, he would empty sugar bowls onto a kitchen towel instead of simply dumping its contents.
[1] One day in 1991 while reading manuscripts at the Biblioteca Marciana to learn about art commissioned by Venetian aristocracy in the past, and to identify potential targets for theft, he encountered Andrea Zammattio, a member of the Mala del Brenta, who told Pipino "the president" had sent him to request a favour of him.
[2] Worried that Venetian museums and galleries would respond to such a heist with increased security, making future thefts more difficult for him, two days later he proposed an alternate plan to one of Maniero's henchman in which Pipino would steal an artwork alone.
As they passed over the Bridge of Sighs into the dark halls of the "New Prisons", Pipino intentionally lagged behind the group, and entered undetected into one of the cells and closed its door, where he waited until night.
[2] In that room was the Madonna col bambino, a work symbolic of "the power of the Venetian state" painted in the early 1500s by a member of the Vivarini.
[2] When summoned by Palmosi, he was threatened with special surveillance, which would prevent Pipino from associating with anyone having a criminal record, including most of his friends and accomplices.
[2] There are inconsistent stories about subsequent events, but the painting was recovered and the police held a press conference on 7 November announcing that an anonymous tip led to its recovery.
[9] In testimony at a trial in 2013, Pipino stated that there were listening devices in the prison cell which he disabled after several days in order to demonstrate he did not wish to be involved in the process.
[11] Pipino stated that Scarantino denied he was involved with the Massacre of Via D'Amelio, a targeted bombing in Palermo on 19 July 1992 that killed anti-mafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino and five members of his police escort.
[15] Pipino was arrested on the steps of the Venezia Santa Lucia railway station on 23 June 2011 while delivering a package containing eight cloned credit cards to Mauro Zanetti.
[15] In 2013, Pipino was charged with credit card fraud by the public prosecutor of Gorizia, a town at the foot of the Julian Alps in Friuli-Venezia Giulia bordering Slovenia.
[17] He was accused of being the leader of a group that stole credit cards from tourists in the Italian regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Veneto, particularly those from the United States.
[19] The group made purchases in Slovenia and Italy, including designer clothing, perfumes, high-end appliances, mobile phones, laptop and personal computers, watches, gifts, and meals.
[21] During a pretrial hearing, he asked to leave Venice for Rome, ostensibly to meet with producers who wanted to adapt his book into a film.
[26] He views incarceration as social discrimination, and promotes rehabilitation to ensure that prisoners do not lose hope of one day reintegrating into society.
[26] He established a Facebook account that he uses to reveal tricks of the trade, and to dissuade young people from adopting a lifestyle similar to his, stating that when near the end of life, "you will realize that you will lovingly squeeze between your hands an intimate nothingness" ("vi accorgerete di stringere fra le mani un affettuoso e intimo nulla").
[18] He says all home security alarm systems have flaws, none will deter professional thieves, and that all passive infrared sensors and anti-intrusion devices can be circumvented.
Quando il furto diventa un'arte was published by Milieu edizioni, Milano, in Banditi senza tempo, and features a portrait of Pipino photographed by Beatrice Mancini.
