When he retired as the chief security officer of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Barelli had spent the better part of forty years responsible not only for one of the richest treasure troves on the planet, but the museum’s staff, the millions of visitors, as well as American presidents, royalty, and heads of state from around the world.For the first time, John Barelli shares his experiences of the crimes that occurred on his watch, the investigations that captured t...

John Barelli, a collection agent for local bookmakers, enters the Francesi’s Salumeria in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where Nicky Morello works as a stock boy. It is 1972 and Barelli has come to collect the past due debt of the storeowner’s son, a degenerate gambler. Nicky follows Barelli as he drags the aging proprietor out into Eighty-sixth Street, where he begins to beat him. A crowd of midday shoppers surrounds the two men, as the elevated B train roars by above. When no one comes to the ol...