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FBI

The duo sold this forgery of an artwork by Native American and Black artist Richard Mayhew for $160,000.

A Father and Daughter Forged More Than 200 Artworks by Warhol, Banksy, Picasso and Others—and Sold Them for $2 Million

The New Jersey residents, who face up to 20 years in prison, commissioned an artist in Poland to create the fakes. They got special penalties for forging paintings by Native American artists

Demonstrators at an anti-Vietnam War protest held at Bronx Science High School in New York in April 1968

Untold Stories of American History

Newly Declassified Records Suggest Parents Collaborated With the FBI to Spy on Their Rebellious Teens During the 1960s

As high school students across the U.S. embraced political activism, adults turned to the authorities to shield their sons and daughters from radical influences

The page was marked with a wax numbering system in the 1980s, which helped officials determine when it was stolen.

FBI Returns Long-Lost Manuscript Signed by Hernán Cortés in 1527 to Mexico’s National Archives

The document, which vanished decades ago, includes logistical details linked to the travels of the Spanish conquistador, who had conquered the Aztec Empire several years earlier

Herbert O. Yardley claimed that the Black Chamber deciphered more than 45,000 diplomatic code and cipher telegrams of foreign governments between 1917 and 1929.

Untold Stories of American History

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the Black Chamber, One of America’s First Code-Breaking Organizations

In 1931, Herbert O. Yardley published a tell-all book about his experiences leading a covert government agency called the Cipher Bureau

Andy Warhol made 46 copies of this print depicting Vladimir Lenin.

The FBI Recovers an Andy Warhol Print Worth $175,000 That Vanished From a Private Home in 2021

A man is expected to plead guilty for trafficking the print, which reappeared at a Dallas auction house shortly after it went missing from a California residence

The law eventually caught up to the man of many names: Daniel Jackson Oliver Wendell Holmes Morgan.

The Fabulous Fabulist Lawyer Who Wasn’t, but Still Managed to Get a Man Off Death Row

Take in the remarkable tale of the fake attorney best known as L.A. Harris, whose scams put him in trouble with the law in jurisdictions nationwide

Not everyone was a fan of rumor clinics. Some critics faulted them for helping hearsay reach an even larger audience.

History of Now

World War II ‘Rumor Clinics’ Helped America Battle Wild Gossip

Newspapers and magazines across the United States published weekly columns debunking lurid claims that were detrimental to the war effort

Vienna-born artist Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer, who lived between 1700 and 1733, created Landscape of Italian Character along with a companion painting.

Painting Stolen by American Soldier During World War II Returned to Germany

FBI agents and art recovery lawyers helped retrieve the piece by Austrian artist Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer

The new film places the relationship between Mollie Burkhart (played by Lily Gladstone) and her husband Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) at the center of the story.

Based on a True Story

The Real History Behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Martin Scorsese’s new film revisits the murders of wealthy Osages in Oklahoma in the 1920s

Huey P. Newton (right) and his second wife, Fredrika Newton

The Misunderstood Visionary Behind the Black Panther Party

Huey P. Newton has been mythologized and maligned since his murder 34 years ago. His family and friends offer an intimate look inside his life and mind

Signs for the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibitition outside the Orlando Museum of Art on March 25, 2022

Florida Museum Sues Ex-Director Over Plot to Profit From Forged Basquiat Paintings

The museum says its reputation was badly damaged by a scandal it describes as “stranger than fiction”

The new app will allow the FBI to crowdsource tips regarding missing artworks.

Want to Help the FBI Find Stolen Art? There’s an App for That

A new mobile app provides access to the National Stolen Art File, a database of 8,000 missing items

One of the fake Basquiats taken by the FBI last summer

California Man Admits to Helping Create Fake Basquiat Paintings

Michael Barzman agreed to plead guilty in connection with a scandal that rocked the Orlando Museum of Art

This year's picks include Half American, Saving Yellowstone and River of the Gods.

The Best Books of 2022

The Ten Best History Books of 2022

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the nation ended up where it is today

J. Edgar Hoover (second from left) stands behind Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the president signs a bill in 1934.

How World War II Helped Forge the Modern FBI

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover consolidated immense power—and created the beginnings of the surveillance state

Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith on the set of the television show “The Monkees” in 1967

The FBI Kept Files on the Monkees—and Micky Dolenz Wants to See Them

The band’s last surviving member is suing the FBI, which monitored the group in the 1960s

FBI agents loading Basquiat paintings into vehicles at the Orlando Museum of Art

FBI Seizes 25 Basquiat Paintings Off a Florida Museum’s Walls

Federal agents are investigating the origin of the works, which were on display at the Orlando Museum of Art

Almost 75 years after the mobster’s death, an eclectic bunch of enthusiasts continue to chase his memory.

Inside the Global Cult of Al Capone

A recent auction of the Chicago gangster’s mementos testifies to his enduring appeal—and the thorny nature of collecting items owned by criminals

A gangster, civil rights advocate, fashionista and businesswoman, St. Clair successfully took on one of the biggest crime bosses of the era.

Women Who Shaped History

Stephanie St. Clair, Harlem’s ‘Numbers Queen,’ Dominated the Gambling Underground and Made Millions

In the 1930s, the enigmatic figure ran an illegal lottery while championing New York City’s Black community

Informer William O'Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield, seen wearing a beret in the foreground) provided the FBI with information used to plan Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton's assassination (portrayed by Daniel Kaluuya, standing with hand raised at the podium).

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

Shaka King’s upcoming film dramatizes Black Panther leader Fred Hampton’s betrayal by an FBI informant

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