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< | I am going to take up one purpose of the criminal trial other than fact finding with respect to the cases of stolen antiquities, repatriation, and the indictment against the curator of the Getty. These criminal proceedings offer themselves as little more than a Kafkaesque incantation to persuade art collectors and museums worldwide to repatriate suspicious antiquities even if the real heart of the issue is problem with lawless, mafioso Sicily, new technologies, and ineffective law enforcement in the area. In light of the prejudiced Italian authorities prosecuting the case against an American, this purpose of the trial, then, is something like a show trial, indeed a symbolic trial. My outline below contains far too much, so I plan to purge a lot of material as the idea takes shape.
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> | A Tempest in a Teapot, or the Symbolic Function of Criminal Trials |
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< | Introduction: Two Interrelated Functions of Criminal Trials
As the curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Marion True was an unlikely figure to find herself in the midst of Italian criminal proceedings. She is charged for conspiracy in connection with a Sicilian antiquities smuggling ring whose goal was to loot, excavate, and export the Aphrodite statute out of Italy. Since 1939, the the cultural patrimony laws have prohibited such activity. As the law decrees, all antiquities discovered on Italian soil become the property of the Italian state who holds the items in trust for the Italian people. Nationalism is a crucial motivating factor in the existence and enforcement of such a law. Hence, it is no surprise that the original law was enacted in the heat of the patriotic fire raging during Benito Mussolinni's Fascist rule. This paper argues that the Italian government has, not substituted, but supplemented the purpose of fact finding in criminal trials by transforming True's trial into a symbol of a cultural crusade against looters and buyers. This purpose, then, takes two forms. First, True's trial functions as a message to cultural institutions that the Italian government is shifting the emphasis of anti-smuggling enforcement from the mafioso looters in Sicily to American museum professionals. Second, it also serves to hurry American museums to repatriate the suspicious antiquities in their collections. True's trial represents less a belief in her factual guilt, more the culmination of two social forces: Italy's unsuccessful enforcement efforts at home and a resurging nationalistic fervor to reclaim Italy's cultural patrimony. |
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> | The Symbolic Function |
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< | The Problem of Looters, or The First 'Purpose' of Shifting the Burden from Italian Criminals to Foreign Museum Professionals |
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> | Marion True, the former Getty curator, was charged for conspiracy in violation of the cultural patrimony laws for allegedly helping a Sicilian antiquities smuggling ring whose goal was to loot, excavate, and export the Aphrodite statute out of Italy. This paper argues that the Italian government has supplemented the purpose of fact finding in criminal trials by transforming True's trial into a symbol of a cultural crusade against illegally exported antiquities for two reasons. First, True's trial functions as an iconic message to cultural institutions that the Italian government is shifting the emphasis of anti-smuggling enforcement from the Mafioso looters in Sicily to American museum professionals. Second, it serves to hurry American museums to repatriate the suspicious antiquities in their collections. True's trial represents a historical culmination of two social forces: Italy's unsuccessful enforcement efforts at home and a resurging nationalist fervor to reclaim Italy's patrimony illegally abroad. |
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> | Shifting the Burden from Italian Criminals… |
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< | Birth of a Black Market in Morgantina, Sicily |
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> | ...in the Black Market... |
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< | The Italian government’s shift in emphasis from prosecuting local looters to foreign museum professionals such as True has its origins in a surprising technological development, the portable metal detector. Cheap and easy to find, these devices proliferated in Sicily in the 1970s and allowed local smuggling rings to interfere with the more capital intensive archaeological digs conducted by professional research teams. Sicily represents a largely Mafia-controlled enclave marred by bribery, corruption, and a different form of ‘lawfulness’ than the Western legal system on the mainland. With potential revenue for such antiquities as the $18 million Aphrodite statue, the Mafia is believed to have contributed to the illicit lootings with the help of these cheaper technologies. Orazio di Simone, True’s alleged co-conspirator in smuggling the Aphrodite, has been repeatedly accused of having ties to the Mafia. |
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> | The Italian government’s shift in emphasis from prosecuting local looters to foreign museum professionals originates in a surprising technological development, the portable metal detector. Cheap and accessible, these devices proliferated in Sicily in the 1970s and allowed local smuggling rings to interfere with the well-financed archaeological digs conducted by professional teams. Sicily constitutes a Mafia-controlled enclave commanded by the lawlessness of bribery and corruption. With new potential revenue from these million dollar statues, the Mafia is believed to have contributed to the illicit lootings with the help of these cheaper technologies. Orazio di Simone, True’s alleged co-conspirator, has been repeatedly accused of having ties to the Mafia. |
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< | The Other Side of the Trial, or the Consistent Failure in Convicting the Proximate Offenders |
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> | …to Foreign Museum Professionals |
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< | True’s trial signifies Italy’s failure in successfully prosecuting the looters, smuggling rings, and general Mafioso ‘lawfulness.’ As a villa owner in Sicily and writer of a tourist guide to the archaeological sites, Judge Magistrate Raffiotta led the crusade in the unsuccessful prosecutions against the looters in the 1980s. The problem of prosecuting these actors is simple: When the looter operates in largely uninhabited areas of Sicily during the darkness of night and with few accomplices and technologies, efforts to capture him and prove his guilt are stifled. Of the 36 trials administered by Rafiotta, very few turned up a conviction owing to the lack of evidence. In the late 1980s, Rafiotta moved the Italian cordon sanitaire from around the local criminals to the foreign museum professionals with ties to ‘dirty’ antiquities in an effort to cut off the trade. |
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> | True’s trial signifies Italy’s failure to successfully prosecute the looters, smuggling rings, and general Mafioso lawlessness. As a Sicilian dilettante of archaeology, Judge Magistrate Raffiotta led the crusade in the unsuccessful prosecutions against the looters in the 1980s. The problem of prosecuting these actors is simple: When the looter operates in unpeopled areas of Sicily during the darkness of night and with few traces, efforts to capture him and prove his guilt are stifled, especially with the Sicilian habit of concealment and corruption. Of the 36 trials presided by Rafiotta, very few turned up a conviction, owing to the lack of evidence. In the late 1980s, Rafiotta moved the Italian cordon sanitaire from around the locals to the foreign buyers on the antiquity market to suffocate the trade. |
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< | The government could decide to offer these looters a “salvage” reward for turning in antiquities yet correctly refuses to follow that path. The reward would encourage the more unsophisticated excavation projects of these looters, which might destroy or decay the antiquities and disorganize the complex excavation projects. |
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> | This trial emblematizes Italy’s shift to discrediting the antiquity buyers after fifty years of non-enforcement beyond the Italian frontier. The night looter hands it to the smuggler, who passes Italian customs and gives it to the dealer in Switzerland, who sells it to an American buyer, who clears it with American customs. Far from the smuggling of the artifacts, the foreign buyer bears the legal impact of enforcing cultural patrimony laws in Italy. As the only one prosecuting the buyer, True’s trial masquerades under the promise of her factual guilt its other purpose of dispiriting looters and enforcing Italian laws at home. An American has transformed into utilitarian food for Italian legal enforcement. |
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< | True’s trial intends to emblematize the Italian government’s new focus on discrediting the buyers of these antiquities after years of non-enforcement of the cultural patrimony laws. The night looter hands it to the smuggler, who passes Italian customs and gives it to the dealer in Switzerland, who sells it to an American buyer, who clears it with American customs. The farthest removed from the actual looting of the artifacts, the buyer now bears the brunt of the work in Italy to enforce these cultural patrimony laws against the night looters and Mafioso conspirators. As the only one prosecuting a foreign museum professional, True’s trial cleverly masquerades under the promise of her factual guilt its other purpose of dispiriting looters and enforcing Italian laws at home. An American has unwittingly transformed into utilitarian food for Italian legal enforcement. |
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> | A Martyr for Another Country's Cause |
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< | A Martyr for Another Country's Cause, or the Second 'Purpose' of Persuading the Buyers to Repatriate Mercilessly |
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> | Powerful Symbol for Repatriation |
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< | True's Trial as a Powerful Symbol for Repatriation |
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> | True’s trial signifies a radical diplomatic effort to bring antiquities home. By ineffectively enforcing the laws at home for decades, Italy was drained of many ancient works. While Italy pursued these antiquities since 1988 in Mediterranean languor, True’s indictment in 2006 has shown, faute de mieux, more success. Since then, at least four cultural institutions in America hurriedly agreed to return allegedly looted antiquities, some returning more than the blemished. |
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< | True’s trial essentially signifies a radical diplomatic effort to bring home antiquities abroad. By ineffectively enforcing the laws at home, Italy was drained of many ancient works over the decades. While Italy had been pursuing these antiquities for over two decades in true Mediterranean languor, True’s indictment has shown, faute de mieux, more success. Since then, at least four cultural institutions in America hurriedly agreed to return allegedly looted antiquities. The Metropolitan Museum even ordered a freeze on all acquisitions of antiquities. |
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> | Italy’s successful efforts to get publicity for a criminal trial against an American corrupt its legitimacy. Less than a disinterested state prosecuting a foreigner, Italy has embroiled True in an issue of nationalist politics. The government has summarily spoken of her ‘obvious guilt’ without having tried her or offering proof. If fact finding were the only purpose, the Italian government would have indicted far more museum directors to discover the extent of their involvement in the underworld, a possibility as likely as hers. Symbolism mystifies our perception of the ‘real world’ to empower what is otherwise powerless. Its main purpose is to turn the content-free case of True’s trial, whose facts we read little in the newspaper, into a powerfully symbolic cause célèbre inspiring a new alacrity among museums to negotiate with the Italian government. |
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< | Italian publicity of a criminal trial against an American corrupts its legitimacy. The Italian government is certainly not a disinterested prosecutor in a case against a foreigner where the issue cuts at the heart of nationalist politics. The government has on record spoken of her ‘obvious guilt’ without having tried her yet or even providing factual assertions. If fact finding were the only purpose, the Italian government would have indicted far more museum directors to discover the extent of their involvement which seems as likely as hers. Its main purpose is to turn the content-free case of True’s trial, of which we read little of the testimonial details in the newspaper, into a powerfully symbolic cause célèbre inspiring a new alacrity among museums to negotiate with the Italian government. Symbolism mystifies our perception of the ‘real world’ to empower what is otherwise powerless, hence Also sprach Zarathustra. |
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> | A War Offensive |
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< | True's Trial as a War Offensive |
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> | True’s trial is a counteroffensive against American cultural ‘invasions’ despite the paradox that Italians illegally smuggle the antiquities. Warlike language is befitting where the Italian government threatened to order a ‘cultural embargo’ against the Getty when it remained hesitant to negotiate even after the indictment. The Italian government understood Robert Olson’s invitation to the American ambassador as a witness to the negotiations to represent a form of political pressure over an issue it regards as cultural, fit for cultural ministers. This misbelief belies two problems. First, Italy knows that charging an American with a crime represents a diplomatic sticky wicket for the political executive branch in the US. Second, the Italian government confessedly discontinued negotiations with the Getty at the brink of resolution because the political environment in Italy precluded agreement without a specific statue included. True’s trial represents a political tool in achieving vittoria against the museum outlaws. Indeed, the government recently declared this achievement in an exhibition entitled Nostoi, Greek for homecoming. |
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< | True’s trial is more than about fact finding, it is an offensive in a war against American cultural ‘invasions’ despite the paradox that Italian citizens loot, smuggle, counterfeit documents for, and sell the antiquities. Describing it as an offensive is apposite where the Italian government threatens to order a ‘cultural embargo’ against the Getty when the institution remains hesitant despite the indictment. Likewise, it felt threatened by attorney Robert Olson’s invitation to the American ambassador to witness the negotiations. The Italian government understood this move to represent a form of political pressure over an issue it regards as largely cultural, to be dealt by cultural ministers. This characterization misses two problems. First, the Italian government knows that charging a foreign citizen with a crime represents a diplomatic measure largely political. Second, the Italian government confessed that it discontinued negotiations with the Getty at the brink of resolution because the political environment in Italy precluded agreement without a contested statue at stake. It is and always has been a political issue, and True’s trial represents a political tool in achieving vittoria against the museum outlaws. Indeed, the government declared such an achievement in an exhibition recently entitled Nostoi, a word signifying the peril afflicting the Greek heroes’ return after the Trojan War. |
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> | A Modern Show Trial? |
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< | Conclusion: A Modern Show Trial |
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> | The Soviet show trials under Stalin define the word itself in our modern lexicon. The Bolshevik state, including the Trotskyites, perceived these trials as progress in the march of history. They functioned less as a factual inquiry than as a historical event to solidify the death and resurrection of the collectivist soul of communist Russia. To a far lesser degree, True’s trial also represents a historical event to achieve the goal of repatriation after domestic failures to contain the cultural items. Whether True is innocent or guilty, Italy is successfully fulfilling its destiny. (995 words) |
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< | The Soviet show trials under Stalin define the show trial itself in the modern lexicon. In many instances, the Bolshevik state and the accused saw these show trials as a step forward in the march of history. The trials served less as a factual inquiry than as a historical event to solidify the conversion and rebirth of the collectivist soul of communist Russia. In a much less pernicious manner and on a far smaller scale, True’s trial also functions as a historical event to achieve the goal of repatriation after domestic failures to contain the cultural items. Whether True is innocent or guilty, the Italian state has fulfilled its destiny to have all its antiquities returned home. She is, quite literally, on show for all the world to discover nothing, yet see everything. |
| | It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. |