When one thinks of art crime, a Hollywood image is conjured, one of black-clad cat burglars, thieves in top hats and white gloves, and perhaps the occasional criminal collector twirling his waxed moustache as he cackles maniacally over a stolen horde in his Bavarian castle. But the truth behind art crime is far more sinister, and more intriguing. Art crime has its share of cinematic thefts and larger-than-life characters, but it is also the realm of transnational organized crime groups and terrorists, and is integrally linked to the drug and arms trades.

Since the Second World War, art...