4 Home Raids Net $1.5 Million in Stolen Art

BUFFALO, N.Y. — FBI agents and police recovered stolen art works valued at $1.5 million in simultaneous raids on three Buffalo households and one in Orlando, Fla., authorities said Saturday.

Among the items recovered Friday were 11 paintings stolen on New Year’s Day from the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vt., which together are valued at about $1 million, Bennington Police Chief Peter Barton said.

No arrests have been made so far in the case, FBI spokesman Michael Kogut said. “Right now, we’re somewhere in the area of 10 to 15 members of the gang,” he said.

Investigations by federal and local authorities into a “high-tech” burglary ring so far have turned up missing art and antiques worth a total of $4 million, Kogut said. The gang is thought to have taken about $5 million worth of such items in burglaries.

Kogut identified the paintings recovered from one of the Buffalo homes as “Susan Addella Wood” by Rembrandt Peale, valued at $400,000, “Battle of Bennington” by Alonzo Chappel, worth $250,000, and “The Mission” by William Merrit Chase, valued at $250,000, and “Portrait of Captain George Colefax” by the school of Thomas Gainesborough, $100,000.