- We get this name, Boris Kostov.
He was the John Gotti of Stockholm.
Boris allegedly had high value stolen art pieces
that he was trying to unload.
- A $35 million, 300 years old Rembrandt,
stolen from their national museum.
[police sirens]
I'm going to play the role of an authenticator
buying this painting for the Russian mob.
- Boris was a ruthless bargainer, you know,
from all his years of doing dope deals.
- It's all about the Benjamins, you know.
The money is all they were caring about.
Something went wrong.
Did I blow this case?
[suspenseful music]
[narrator]: In the FBI.
We make a lot of headlines.
[riveting music]
Drug busts, mob stings.
Terrorist takedowns.
[people shouting]
We understand why people want to tell stories about us.
[director]: Mark it. - Freeze!
- FBI!
[man in the background]: Action!
[narrator]: But they don't know the half of it.
What really goes down?
We save that for each other
When we're talking agent to agent.
This is FBI. True.
[Cindy Coppola]: So it's great having you guys here today.
I appreciate you coming in.
[narrator]: Cindy Coppola is a 23-year veteran of the FBI.
She worked on cases that included organized crime
and terrorism, and took part in multinational investigations
into drug trafficking and money laundering.
- How did you two meet?
- Primarily we met on this Swedish museum case
when Bob was a renowned art UC, and we had a case
that dealt with stolen art.
[narrator]: Special Agent Sean Sterle joined the FBI in 1998.
Based in the la field office, he specialized in gangs and violent crimes.
- What had happened in 2000, it was a heist,
and three guys went into the Swedish National Museum.
[narrator]: A renowned undercover agent, Bob Wittman
helped recover over $300 millin worth of art and artifacts
during two decades with the FB.
- They went in and they put everybody on the floor.
And they had guns, which is unusual, of course,
for European criminals.
And for the next few minutes, two of them ran around
the museum and stole three paintings.
[suspenseful music]
They had used these Spanish riders which were basically
tack strips to stop any police from responding.
They had set off two cars on fire
on the main roads leading to the end of the peninsula
where they would have to get to in order to respond to the theft.
Got away in a high-speed boat.
[boat engine whirring]
The whole thing happened in less than two minutes.
So they went and stole all three paintings
in less than two and a half minutes or so.
Two by Renoir.
One was called The Conversation.
Another one was called the Young Parisian.
And the third one, which is a Rembrandt, was a self-portrait
from 1630, when Rembrandt was 24 years old.
Renoirs were about $3.5 million a piece.
The Rembrandt was about 35 million.
The total value of that heist was $42 million.
- Works of art by Rembrandt and Renoir have been stolen
by armed robbers in Sweden.
- Did the Swedish authorities ever catch anybody?
- Yeah, they got one of the Renoir's back within a year.
At the time, they arrested ten people and put them all on trial.
Seven of them were convicted and received
fairly long prison sentences.
But the Young Parisian and the Rembrandt are still missing.
- It was about August 2004, we had a task force officer
who had an informant who said,
there's a Eastern European guy named Boris.
Here's his phone number and he's been selling
kilos of coke, kilos of heroin and boats of ecstasy,
and allegedly had high value stolen art pieces
that he was trying to unload for, around $500,000.
- Was he known to the FBI prior? - No.
So we go back, go to ACS, you know,
run up the number and we get this name,
Boris Kostov...
and run him in ACS.
Boom, you know, like the computer almost blew up.
So, you know, it's like FBI Tampa, FBI Chicago,
FBI Seattle, FBI San Francisco.
Which office didn't have a case on him?
Primarily heroin, but all kinds of stuff besides that.
Any kind of stolen jewelry, watches and also artwork.
- So you know he's a known individual.
- Right. - What were the first steps then?
- We set up doing a lot of surveillance on his street.
He lived on Winona Boulevard between Hollywood Boulevard
and Sunset Boulevard in East Hollywood.
There was lots of traffic in and out of his house.
So it looked like it's just a lot of drug activity there.
So we're getting to that point where it's like: "gosh",
you know, we need to dirty up his line
to get up on the phone, right?
As luck would have it, one of his drug runners
got caught up and was going to get deported.
This guy that we've got, he doesn't want to get deported.
He's willing to work with law enforcement.
And we're like cha-ching, you know, like "oh, my God",
here's our chance to get into him.
So we get this guy and we're going to have him call Boris,
you know talk about it on the line and set up
a one kilo buy for $18,000. - Like a buy and bust?
- No, we weren't going to do a buy and bust
because we wanted to go up on the phone.
So it's a buy-walk, right?
So we're going to buy the dope, let it walk.
Finally we're able to get the buy you know,
test it out, almost 100% purity.
And then his telephone, both his home and his cell were dirtied up.
And we were able to go up on wiretaps on both.
- When you go up on the wire.
Were you guys looking for any other drug deals
that he might be doing, or what else were you looking for?
- Well, I mean, there was the rumor
that there was that art, you know, the stolen art.
So then on, on the wire, within the first couple of days
he starts talking about something that he had from
Sweden that he wanted to get out of his house.
So we're thinking, okay, now Boris is talking about this art.
He says on the line: "Hey, I'm going to move this thing out
to Palm Springs tomorrow."
And so, everybody's ears perked up.
Early that morning, you know, we're out.
Surveillance.
You know, we got about, eight, nine people.
Gary Bennett, my partner, Homeland Security,
and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
Boris comes out early, looks up and down the street,
typical drug dealer, looking for surveillance.
Then comes out with a package about this, you know, yay big,
maybe a little bit bigger than a phone book or whatnot, and takes off.
We're figuring he's going to Palm Springs, right?
But he's not, he's driving through Mid City LA.
And then he goes and parks at a house, package in hands.
Starts walking up the driveway.
And so I went running up the sidewalk
and everybody else is coming behind me.
As he's knocking on the door and I grabbed him by the back
and I'm like: "Come on Boris" you know, I turn him around,
take the package away from him.
They open up the package and there is a cable box.
And of course, Boris being Boris, he's like:
"wow, you really take stealing cable seriously, look at all you guys."
My partner Gary gets his Leatherman out
he's taken apart the thing hoping that maybe it's rolled up inside this cable box.
Nothing.
Boris is snickering laughing, you know,
like "You've got nothing. You have nothing.
Just let me go" - So at this point,
how do you then convince him to talk to you?
- Therein lies the one kilo buy
walk that we had in our back pocket.
So later that day we took him back to the FBI office,
get him in an interview room, right?
And he's still smug.
And then we started breaking out the recordings
of his drug deal where he sold our informant
the kilo and it was like you could see
the blood just drop out.
I mean, he just went, like pale white and started pouring sweat.
And with his criminal history he's looking at a minimum of 17 years.
And he's like, okay, he goes:
"I'll give you all kinds of dope dealers" and whatever.
And I go okay: "let me see if the AUSA thinks that's enough."
So I go back and talk to our AUSA and then she'd be like:
"No, just, it's the painting or nothing.
Or he can just... or he's going to do the time."
And I come back: "Boris, they want something else.
You know what it is."
And he's like "what, what?"
Three hours later, he's like: "You want the painting, don't you?"
[laughing] And we're like: "cha-ching. Yeah, we want the painting."
So he's like: "All right, come on, I'll take you."
At that point we cuff him back up, put him back in the car,
and he guides us to a rare coin shop in Studio City, California.
And Boris goes with the owner in the safe, and he says:
"Hey, I need my package that I've been storing there."
- So, he doesn't go in and says: "give him my Renoir?"
- No, no! [laughs]
I need that Renoir now, yeah.
It was wrapped up in, I don't know, six seven layers
of blankets and there it was and all of a sudden,
we were just like: "wow."
You know, it was kind of just like a thought
that there might be this stolen art.
We had no idea that it was that we'd ever get it.
But for you, being on a drug squad-- - Yeah.
- And working in drug cases this had to be, like, shocking--
- It was crazy. - Like, what do I do with this?
- Yeah, right. - Right.
- I've booked lots of dope evidence and things like that,
but it's like, how do I book something that's worth
3,5 million dollars?
It's like... When Boris decided he was going to come over
and start cooperating, he goes: "I can get you the Rembrandt,
but you have to take me to Europe.
We're going to have to do it in Europe."
- Who did he say it was with?
- He said: "it's never left Sweden.
And one of my sons would be able to get it."
- Wow. So at this point, he's basically getting his son
involved in this criminal-- - That was the big shocker
when he said, you know: "yeah, my son Sasha Lindgren can get it
from two brothers Dieya and Baha Kadhum",
who were part of the Swedish National Museum heist.
And Sasha doesn't know that it's an FBI set-up.
- So, Bob is told you're going to do this undercover op--
- Well, I'm asked.
[Sean]: You're asked! [laughing]
- And I met with Sean and Gary,
and they introduced me to Boris,
and I guess we kind of hit it off,
Boris and I did.
And I was probably in my early 50, something like that.
And Boris was a little bit older,
so he kind of trusted me a little bit.
I think, don't ya think?
- Yeah, for sure. - I mean, he figured,
"okay, this guy will work."
- Right. - So, Bob, then, what was your cover story for this?
- Yeah, so working with Boris, you know, he's Bulgarian.
My cover story was I was working as an authenticator
for the Russian mob to do the deal to make sure
the payment occurred, and that the painting was real.
And that was, you know, my story with the Kadhum brothers.
[somber music]
- So when you all did some negotiations over the phone
trying to determine what the cost is going to be.
How does that come about?
Boris starts saying: "Hey, I've got a buyer for the Rembrandt", right?
And of course, we're trying to get them to the US.
It would be much easier, right, to bring the painting to the US.
And they're like: "No, no, no, no, no.
You guys come over to Europe."
- If I was going to go buy a car, I'd bring Boris with me
because that guy could haggle, man.
I mean, he was brutal, he was a ruthless bargainer,
you know, from all his years of doing dope deals, I think.
So, because they wanted, like, over, $1,000,000 upfront.
Next thing you know it's $250,000 upfront and
"we'll give you the painting and then pay us $300,000 once
you get back to the US with the Rembrandt."
- So at that point we had a plan.
- And then when you get the approval, you go over to Sweden.
- Well, first, we go to Sweden, and we have a meeting
with the prosecutors, national police, and local Stockholm city police.
And they tell us, well: "you can't bring Boris because
he's got an arrest warrant in Sweden".
- Right before going to the US he had come from Sweden.
He was their John Gotti..
- Of Sweden.. [Sean]: Yeah, of Sweden.
- That made it difficult. - It sure did.
There's no such thing as cooperating
to work down your sentence.
It was the minute you landed on Swedish soil, you were arrested.
So we decided on Denmark, which, you know, our legat
had a great relationship with their law enforcement people, which is huge, right?
- So, Bob, tell me about that.
You are in Copenhagen. - Gary and Sean are managing
Boris and they have Boris make the call to Sasha--
- His son. [Sean and Bob]: Yeah.
[suspenseful music]
- ...to come down to start these negotiations.
- So where's Boris's son, to your knowledge?.
- Boris's son was in Stockholm. - Okay.
- And, of course, Boris was with us in Copenhagen.
It's about a five-hour train ride from Stockholm
all the way down to Copenhagen.
- Didn't Sasha bring someone with him that was unexpected?
- That was the shocker, wasn't it?
Sasha shows up and he's and he's got a little baby
with him, a little child.
And it was his daughter. - Yeah.
So it's Boris's gran-- - It was Boris's granddaughter.
It's the first time Boris is seeing his granddaughter.
- Wow. - So there was a very,
very touching moment where Boris gives her a hug
and says I'm your grandfather.
And it was really interesting to see this family dynamic
in this situation.
And I'm standing here thinking: "oh, my goodness.
Here's the guy giving up his son and his granddaughter at the same time."
But then again, his son's a criminal, alright.
He's bringing her with him for cover.
It's not just to introduce her to her grandfather.
It's so that it looks good that father and daughter
are traveling together on a train.
- So how did that conversation go then?
- Any undercover operation I did using art,
it was always my first belief that it was real.
I wasn't an agent. I wasn't a policeman.
I'm buying this thing and I'm paying this much money.
- Absolutely.
- I was just doing what was natural.
- Yeah. - We showed Sasha the money
so he would know that we were for real.
We just made sure that he knew that Boris was working
for me with the Russian mob
and that he wasn't in charge of money. I was.
- They're worried that they're going to bring the painting
and Boris is going to go stick them up,
give me the painting and take off.
No honor among thieves at this point.
- And so we told, basically told them, you've seen the money.
Now go home and get the painting.
You know, it's time to do the deal.
- Sasha calls Boris several days later and says:
"okay, everybody's agreed in their little crook conclave
there, you know, everybody's blessed, blessed off
on the 250,000 upfront for this, you know, for the painting.
And we're going to do it tomorrow."
[rhythmic music]
- We're staying at the Scandic Hotel
and I had a room there we were using as the undercover room.
- And we had the adjoining room.
We had a closed, closed circuit TV, you know,
real live feed with Bob's room.
And we were in the next room.
I was in there with members of the Danish SWAT team.
- Yeah, we get a call and the call is from
the Swedish National Police, and they said that they were
watching the houses of the Kadhum Brothers,
the two brothers that were involved, going back and forth.
A lot of movement the night before.
They said that three individuals were on their way
back to Copenhagen on the train.
Again, it was Sasha, Dieya and Baha Kadhum.
They have a package they're carrying looks like
the size of the painting.
[enigmatic music]
[riveting music]
When these guys were coming towards the hotel
from the train station I checked the SWAT team's
key cards on my door.
They didn't work. Did you know that?
- You know what? I did not know that.
That must have made you feel really confident.
- So I ran downstairs-- - Scrambling...
-...to get new key cards, and I ran back upstairs
and gave it to the guy in the SWAT team.
Said we ought to fix it at the last second, right?
- Yeah.
Can you imagine if that didn't work?
[frantic music]
- All three of them come to the hotel.
At that point Boris and Baha Kadhum come up to my room.
They come in and they want to see the money.
And the first thing I'm going to do is frisk them,
because I wanna make sure they don't have a weapon.
Because what we're afraid of is that Baha Kadhum,
he's seen the money and now he's going to be able to,
you know, rob me.
And I always tell my wife I want to come back
with the same amount of holes I left with.
That's a good idea, right, Sean? - That's always a good idea.
- ...in any of these jobs. So anyway, we do that. There's no weapons.
That's great. No knives or anything like that.
So we bring in the money.
We show them all the money, we put it out on the bed.
$100 bills in piles.
[stressful music]
And he sits down on the bed.
He's staring at every, every pile of money.
[frantic music]
And he goes through it all.
Finally, he's convinced, he's happy.
I said, You know, we have to get this done.
The Russians are getting nervous. Let's go.
So they said: "okay, we're going to go get the painting."
I knew the guy was down on the corner, you know,
the guy that had the package was staying outside
and I knew that they were out there to go get him.
And then I get a call and it's Sean.
And Sean says something went wrong.
- Oh no.
- ...and they all ran away.
He said: "do you think we should arrest them?"
I said: "if they get on the train arrest them.
But before that, see where they go, you know, see what happens."
I'm sitting in the room and I'm going back and forth
in that room, pacing, thinking, what could I have said wrong?
What did I do wrong?
Did I blow this case after all this work these guys went to?
You know, it's just a terrible feeling, you know?
When they came to the room, they didn't have the painting,
so they have to go get it somewhere, Right?
- And the guy supposedly outside has the painting, right?
- That guy was just a decoy to make sure that nobody
was surveilling them or law enforcement
wasn't part of this thing. [Cindy]: Interesting.
- Finally, they bring a different package
and it's wrapped up in this velvet cloth.
And it's tied so tight and I had nothing to open it with.
[stressful music]
It took me minutes and minutes to try to open this thing up.
It was so tight with the knots.
It seemed like three hours it took you to get that thing
undone with the... - It took forever.
...the velvet that it was in, or whatever.
It was like: "Come on, Bob, open it." It was torture.
- But finally, when I got it open, you know,
I pulled it apart and I looked at it,
and it was the Rembrandt.
[calm music]
I mean, for a minute it was like, you know "Eureka".
Your feet don't touch the ground.
- It's stunning, right?
- It's stunning. I mean, I felt like that
when I had my children.
A $35 million, 300 years old Rembrandt,
you know, done by the master.
[calm music]
So I'm looking at it thinking, oh, my gosh, you know,
what an amazing piece to have in your hands.
The SWAT team code word on this was "this is a done deal".
So I knew where the camera was and the microphone.
I go to the microphone, silence...
And when I said that these guys are going to come racing into the room,
break the door down, save me,
save the painting and save the day.
[laughing]
- We had a key for that room that he was doing it,
and of course, it's like one of those, key fob things--
- Key fob... - And of course, it's like: "it's not working.
It's not working."
And then finally the door, you know, opens,
you know, the lock unlocks and...
- So at the point I ran out of the room and they all
came in and they grabbed these guys, I ran out of the room
with the painting.
[indistinct conversation]
Boris gets handcuffed. - A second time.
- Yeah!
This one's just for play though, you know?
- So for his protection we had him arrested as well.
Right. So get him back to the United States
before they knew he was a cooperator.
- And then within a year, the European courts overturned
the conviction, saying that the use of the father,
you know, Boris against his son was a civil rights violation.
- Almost like more of a outrageous government conduct
to actually use a blood relative to fool the crooks.
- But what happened when Boris went to court in L.A.?
- He had gotten the largest downward departure, meaning
time knocked off, as you know, time knocked off his sentence
of anyone in history of the Central District of California.
- Central District, okay.
- So he went from 17 years to about the week
that he spent in jail. - Probation?
- Yeah. - So, Bob, tell me why
this type of case is important?
The Rembrandt is an icon of Western civilization.
[classical music]
So it's our job as a culture to protect cultural heritage
and protect these pieces for the future of the world.
[piano music]
Subtitling: difuze