The Nation - News from Feb. 14, 1989

A retired Argentine police commissioner and his wife were held in Miami on charges of conspiring to sell stolen paintings worth as much as $100 million by such masters as El Greco and Goya, FBI officials said. Juan Carlos Longo, 53, and his wife, Hilda, 40, who have homes in Buenos Aires and Miami, were held without bond in pretrial detention after being arrested last week, the FBI said. During the investigation, Longo told an informant, posing as a dealer of stolen artworks, that 11 paintings stolen from Argentine museums were split between two groups in Argentina, according to an FBI affidavit. The Longos were arrested Feb. 6 after the informant set up the purchase of “Doves and Hens,” a masterpiece by Goya, allegedly stolen from the Castagnino Museum of Rosario, Argentina, on March 24, 1987, the FBI said.