Non-F "Chasing Aphrodite" by Jason Felch and Ralph Rammolino Reads Like a Fast Fiction Crime Caper

"Chasing Aphrodite" ('11) is a non-fiction work by investigative reporter Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, reporter for the LA TIMES.  Together, Felch & Frammolino were finalists for outstanding reporting of looted antiquities and other felonious & foul dealings by the J. Paul Getty Museum.  The booked garnered the CA Book Award & the ARCA Award for Art Crime Scholarship  (a mystery to me).  Needless, this incredulous tale is too titillating and tawdry to seem true.  But, believe it!  Zeus was reigning down lightning bolts and earthquakes for the audacious looting of antiquities, fraudulent tax write-offs and extravagant expenses incurred by Getty directors, curators and art dealers.  The art world is shrouded in dirty laundry & business dealings that the investigative reporters dug up & present on a silver platter that makes reading about the art world delicious, palatable and then, deplorable.  Shame, shame, shame...there is plenty of blame, collusion & illusion going on in the art trade.  The art world is built on a business model of alchemy.  This is apparent in "Chasing Aphrodite." Less we forget, art lovers will devour this book while former haughty high end art dealers are cringing with culpability (or at least they should be).  Interesting but flimsy arguments in defense of turning a blind eye from illicit art trafficking was suggested.  The art would receive professional care & benefit millions more people to be able to view the art.  Malarky, what was done was stealing & dirty dealings by the Getty's Museum Staff,  Trustees and patrons.  The Getty along with other major art museums became known as multi-million-dollar showcases for stolen property.  The Italian investigation brought the Getty's Dir. Marianne True in 2005 into the Italian courts.  She was detained for years and then released.  The drawn out process exceeded the statute of limitations.  For decades, the practice of the world's leading museums (the Louvre, the Nat'l Museums in Berlin & the MET, etc.) engaged in purchasing items of dubious lineage; turning a blind's eye knowing they were paying for looted antiquities from clandestine, criminal sources in violation of American and int'l laws.  These items irrefutably purchased illicitly were major defining masterpieces of historical epochs.  These priceless works with their intrinsic beauty & archeological significance have been tarnished by greed, self-promotion and criminal activity.   I enjoy reading this captivating & clear book.  It illustrates the underbelly of the art world that caused a house of cards to fall in the early years of the 21st C.  I will now view major museum acquisitions with suspicions.  Feld & Rammolino concluded little has really changed behind the scenes  in museums' business practices or with many  art collectors, dealers and wealthy patrons.  I couldn't read "Chasing Aphrodite" fast enough.