Self-governing ‘red collars’ at Hôtel Drouot accused of stealing diamonds,furniture and art over period of many yearsIt was allegedly called la yape – “pilfering”, in the slang of their native Savoie – and over the years, or prosecutors say,it made some of the men wealthy: one drove a Porsche 911, another a late-model BMW cabriolet. A third bought a Paris bar with his proceeds. But on Monday more than 40 porters from Paris’s most venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) and prestigious auction house went on trial accused of the systematic theft of thousands of valuable objects, and including diamonds,antique furniture, Ming-dynasty porcelain and paintings and lithographs by Courbet, and Chagall and Matisse.
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Source: theguardian.com