Philadelphia Elite Steal a Billion Dollars from One Man .

When Albert C. Barnes was born it was not to a upper echelon family, rather a lower middle class family teetering on the brink of poverty in the Phillidephia. He got into college, but had to ring fight in order to pay for his tuition. A bright man he came up with a medical cure while at the university, which stopped an eye disease effecting infants at the time. Having a understanding of progress that the old money in the city did not have access to, he decided to make his fortune grow into something other than power.
Albert began collecting art. He traveled to Italy and was one of the first people to recognize Picasso and Renoir as first rate painter. eventually he collection grew to be one that rivaled the modern museums, but again Dr. Barnes didn't want public notoriety, or a tourism to be the cornerstone of his collection, but instead education. Opening up The Barnes Foundation in 1922 and a school of the arts which was parented by the foundation.
Albert's collection continued to grow as he was now bringing in some of the best artist of the day, Salvador Dali among others. The value topped a billion dollars when Dr. Albert Barnes died in a car crash. His estate was ran for several decades by one of his close confidants Luara Legget until see died in the mid eighties. During Albert's life he hire a crack team of lawyer to ensure that his collection would never be sold or moved and that it would remain a backdrop for education not for tourism. He made up a will that stated clearly his intention, but greedy power players had different ideas.
They wanted the collection to be a tourism pull for Philadelphia and money maker for the city. A decade long heist began. It ran form the tops of the political structure and deep into the power players of the art world. Who hijacked his foundation, stole the dead mans collection and put it on public display. This collection is due to open in 2012. For more in-depth look watch The BBC documentary STORYVILLE: THE BILLION DOLLAR ART HEIST (2011)