The Professor: Hunting for the Mafia's Missing Masterpiece

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Documentary #200

William Veres is in trouble. In 2018 he was arrested following the largest ever investigation by the Italian police’s art squad. They accuse him of running a pan-European art-smuggling ring with ties to the Sicilian mafia. He is alleged to have stolen $40 million worth of art and antiquities from Italy. Charged with 14 counts, including money laundering, forgery, wire fraud and conspiracy, he faces a jail term of up to 20 years. But he has a plan to get out of trouble. In this four-part podcast, host Simon Willis follows him as he puts that plan into action. It’s a story that takes listeners deep into the underworld, and into the dark heart of the most famous criminal organization of them all – Cosa Nostra. It is a story of drug dealers, hitmen, smugglers, spies – even a corrupt prime minister. And in the middle of it all is William Veres’s quest to save himself. How? By solving the coldest cold case in the history of art crime – the theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity. The Professor is a series for Hidden Worlds, the home of unbelievable true stories and gripping investigations into shadowy places. Stay subscribed to Hidden Worlds and get brand new series delivered to your favorite podcast app year-round. One podcast, endless stories. For more, visit brazen.fm/hidden-worlds.Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/

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Recent Episodes
  • Introducing The Illuminator: Art, Conspiracy and Madness
    Nov 4, 2024 – 02:38
  • Episode 4: The Fugitive
    Dec 18, 2023 – 37:38
  • Episode 3: Money for Nothing
    Dec 11, 2023 – 28:47
  • Episode 2: The Go-Between
    Dec 4, 2023 – 37:16
  • Episode 1: The Nativity
    Nov 27, 2023 – 41:11
  • Introducing The Professor: Hunting for the Mafia's Missing Masterpiece
    Nov 22, 2023 – 03:24
  • Meeting Simon Willis: Unlocking the secrets of a stolen masterpiece
    Nov 20, 2023 – 11:51
  • Introducing Hidden Worlds
    Nov 13, 2023 – 01:51
Recent Reviews
  • Niffler_UK
    The Professor: Brilliantly paced and well narrated look at the Mafia’s role in art theft!
    Listened to this over the Christmas period and wow - what an excellent podcast this is. I only wished it was more than four episodes. The podcast jumps between the present and the past (when the Sicilian Mafia were at their prime), as one man tries to avoid jail time by finding a Caravaggio painting stolen in 1969. Journalist Simon Willis is a brilliant narrator, but what really makes this podcast shine is the incredible sound design. Highly recommend!
  • friendxo
    Excellent reporting
    I don’t know how I started following Laura on Instagram. My interest into insights on Hong Kong. I feel that she has been my prime source of on the ground information there through her photography and prose. Now she is taking me to Ukraine with sounds and glimpses into everyday people’s lives. Just listened to episode 1, looking forward to the next. Thank you.
  • deanandtweetwee
    Well Done
    Fascinating story and hard to believe it’s basically been covered up. Well investigated and reported.
  • military wife Kat
    Shameful
    I’m the wife of a military man who served 20 + years in the service and he did very proudly. Our son currently is in the service and proud to do so. What I’m disappointed at is how our government turns a blind eye to officers or high ranking government officials but yet god for bid if enlisted did anything to discredit the military. They are not above the law and should be ashamed of themselves for everything they did in some more aspects. I am more ashamed of the military high-ranking officers than I am in Fat Leonard because he owes nothing to the Navy or Americans however they most certainly do because they’re serving our country.Shame on them and shame on our government for turning a blind eye.
  • 1stTimeCaller-LongTimeListener
    Reeks of Bias — Liberal Anti-Military Trash
    More facts about the case would improve the program. Such a clear bias in the anti-Navy, anti-military axe you are grinding here. Comical quotes rightly specified by other reviewers illustrate the point, though many more could be selected. There’s a clear factual error when the “Clap like you’re in a strip club!” quote is attributed to an Officer, vice the senior enlisted actual source (Command Master Chief Jonas Carter, USS HARRY S TRUMAN(CVN-75)). There are plenty of FACTS to animate this story, with lots of important ones left out. Try to set down your bias, if you can, on future projects. Perhaps that anti-military bias is not some accidental defect but the very foundational purpose that animates and directs your work, though.
  • dentalO
    Hits close to home
    Interesting interviews with Fat Leonard. I served on the USS George Washington, which was under Leonard’s spell back in 2011-2013. I’m sure many if not all of my port calls were arranged by GDMA. One of my former CO’s, although not mentioned in this podcast, was one of the senior level officers indicted in this case and is still awaiting his trial. Overall, a sad story that will take the Navy years of not decades to reconcile with in terms of its ethical and moral implications.
  • captobie
    Axe to Grind
    I really wanted to like the podcast because Fat Leonard is a story that deserves solid reporting. But by the second episode the narrator is drawing a line between the 30 year old Tailhook scandal and Fat Leonard. By the fifth episode, he drops this doozy of a line: “For years she endured the indignities of a Navy wife. A cheating husband who was never around, domestic abuse, and an institution who cared more for operational tempo than the security of her family.” To broad stroke the actions of an abusive spouse with the entire culture of the United States Navy was my breaking point. Throughout the first four episodes he tries to create a narrative that the Navy is a corrupt institution, rotten to the core. It’s very clear to me that the narrator has an axe to grind with the Navy, and he’s letting his agenda color his reporting.
  • Zhooly 66
    Wow
    I remember reading in LATimes as this was first coming to light so long ago. It’s astonishing that it’s stiil not resolved, esp with all the doctored paperwork, the texts and emails plus, now, Fat Leonard’s own voice for us to hear. The lower ranks get punished but not admirals who ok’d it all then allowed to retire with full pension. Like politics, rewarding wrong ppl. So all Fat Leonard’s compromat on navy bigwigs
  • ivangonzo
    Excellent Podcast
    Kudos to all involved in making this pod. I throughly enjoyed it.
  • MissGinger13
    🙄
    Another podcast creation for the post truth world. Stop giving these people a platform to perform lies.
  • Amehunt
    Biased Narrator
    I’ll admit I didn’t make it past the first episode but there was more stroking of Fat Lenny’s ego the substance. He’s primed to be an unreliable narrator and it seems the hosts didn’t check him at all.
  • Kozmo 702
    Circle The Wagons
    Having worked with the DoD for 30 years, NOTHING revealed in this podcast surprised me, I just nodded and smiled as the crimes and misdeeds were exposed for everyone to see. For those of you who are outraged by the lack of accountability served up to Navy senior leaders, never underestimate the ability of GOFOs to circle the wagons and protect their own. “Justice” is handed out to the minions, not the senior leaders. This podcast series is a great glimpse into an enormous black eye for the USN but the true victim is the U.S. taxpayers. Well done.
  • Shocked and awed
    Spanks for Ranks
    Please keep this direction of excellent investigative journalism. I’ve met the lowest ranking servicemen who served 180 days for buying a train pass over from a fellow soldier; a day for a dollar. This podcast uncovers high level fraud but it also exposes a class system that is no different serfs and aristocrats. Thank you Tom. Again.
  • SK2howdoyoudo?
    If you were in the navy you should listen to this
    I was a Storekeeper during this time in the 3rd fleet and went to Singapore many times . Dealt with Glenn Marine and had zero idea any of this was going on, a lot of the husbanding agents are very, very shady but that was above my pay grade
  • blueCornLoom
    Highly recommend.
    This is a fascinating look into this story.
  • waty loty poty
    Fat Leonard is superb
    An excellent exposé of a little known story which is shocking in scale of corruption and audacity. Highly recommended.
  • Vet_2011
    Every Uniformed Servicemember & Veteran should Listen
    This podcast is a cold, uncomfortable look at what happens when senior military officials abandon their oaths for a quick buck & night on the town. 7th fleet officials did things with GDMA that would make even Jordan Belfort puke.
  • Adotjacks
    Great inside look
    I’m glad someone took a view from Fat Leonard’s side. Being AD USN, I’ve seen and heard multiple times when top officers weren’t held accountable for their actions. However, if the shoe was on the other foot for enlisted personnel in those same scenarios, they would be hammered to the max extent as the UCMJ allowed. This situation forced the Navy to hold persons involved to account somewhat. I’m sure the top of food chain won’t face consequences. On this latest episode, episode 9, it mentioned an officer being relieved for telling Sailors to clap like they were at a strip club for then VP Mike Pence’s visit. It wasn’t an officer, it was the Command Master Chief of the ship which is a huge difference.
  • EmilyCello
    Avoid if you can’t deal with vocal fry
    This may be a wonderful podcast, but Leonard’s voice will be un-listenable if constant low vocal fry annoys you. When he gets animated, his real voice comes out- a normal tenor, totally fine. But one gets the sense that he’s adopted an air of false gravitas, and for people sensitive to mouth sounds, it will drive you INSANE.
  • TheCompDoctor
    Stick it to the snowflakes
    This is a great podcast. It’s a shame that it is being panned by immature reviewers that cannot stand to hear a reality that does not align with their worldview. Misogyny exists most of its perpetrators are men. Get over it. This remains an excellent podcast
  • RET_AF
    Not surprised USN
    The Navy just doing what they have been doing for over hundreds of years. The shocking part is how top Navy brass sold out the national security of the United States and regional stability of the Pacific for sex, parties, lavish accommodations, food, alcohol, and gifts. Talk about compromising your whole career and committing fraud on the U.S. taxpayer dollars because you made a choice to lead from behind your zipper. SMDH!
  • HALOchuter
    Good job, please keep going.
    Excellent expose of events behind the scenes that news outlets don’t cover. Fascinating to hear Leonard’s voice, and others, in their own words. Want to hear more of techniques Leonard used to identify his prey of weak and susceptible Navy officers. Want to hear more if possible from defendants in their own words, more about how they were initially tempted, and importantly why risk one’s personal freedom for items/services that a Navy officer could readily buy on any given day? … I once laid eyes on this person while an entourage of Navy personnel in uniform fawned all over him in Singapore … I later learned this was Leonard Francis … I hope that a following season of this podcast will delve deeper into the mindsets of those in this scandal, to seriously ask what we’re they thinking, and not rhetorically. And also into the navy culture which to this day appears to believe that the defendants were and are innocent of wrongdoing.
  • To Be Frank
    Off Track
    The story fails to cover the entire spectrum and depth of criminal activity and possibly treason by dozens of Navy Admirals and other Navy personnel.
  • Peachtree City Flyer
    Stick to the story and Report! Too much Editorial!
    Started off as good reporting on a fascinating story, but then turned to absolute editorial garbage by the third Episode. Epic failure!
  • svengalicious
    Full woke feminist politics
    Great story and solid telling of it until the host shifts the angle by bringing in the tailhook incident from 1991 and drawing parallels to this scandal as though it was somehow primarily about hatred of women. What? He even psychoanalyzes Leonard as a misogynist as though that were somehow relevant. This story is primarily about the corruption of top brass in the military and the story of this one individual to amass power and wealth. No need to veer into the tangential and shoehorn your ultra liberal politics so you can tickle the sensibilities of the ultra progressive. Silliness. He blew it. Too much editorializing.
  • DebKHK
    Fat Leonard is addicting!!
    At a time when so many media companies have agenda, it is essential to have reporters like Tom Wright. On the heels of “Billion Dollar Whale” he exposes the corruption of the US military through a protagonist called “Fat Leonard”. Once you start listening, make no more plans. This podcast is riveting!!!
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