Eduardo de Valfierno "Mona Lisa". The forgeries were then shipped to around the world, readying them for the buyers he had lined up. Valfierno knew once the "Mona Lisa" was stolen it would be harder to smuggle copies past customs. After the heist the copies were delivered to their buyers, each thinking they had the original which had been stolen for them. Because Valfierno wanted to sell forgeries, he only needed the original "Mona Lisa" to disappear and never contacted Peruggia again after the crime. Eventually Peruggia was caught trying to sell the painting. It was returned to the Louvre in 1913. Peruggia
Louis Lépine Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated. The real thief was Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia an Italian wishing to return it to Italy. He was caught with the painting two years later when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. One of Lépine's last successes was the capture and destruction of the notorious Bonnot Gang (La Bande à Bonnot), an anarchist criminal group that operated in France and Belgium during the Belle Époque, from 1911 to 1912.In 1910 Lépine had instigated La Brigade Criminelle a dedicated