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Framed: Tales of the Art Underworld/Dealer to the Stars
Framed Tales of the Art Underworld/Dealer to the Stars Author:Tod Volpe Brought up in a working-class family on the outskirts of New York City, Tod Volpe was a tailor's son with an appetite for the finer things in life; a former undertaker who rose from obscurity to become a tastemaker to the Hollywood glitterati including Jack Nicholson, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Willis, Matrix producer Joel Silver, Andy Warhol, Paul... more » Stanley of KISS and many more. Referred to as 'The Oracle' for two decades, he created a global feeding frenzy in the art world.
Appearing to live the American Dream, his high maintenance, wheeler-dealer lifestyle became a dark path to self-destruction. At the height of his success Volpe crashed and burned in a scandalous case of fraud. Defended by leading attorneys Nathan and Alan Dershowitz (of Claus von Bulow fame), his story made international headlines and threatened to blow the lid off Hollywood and the secret world of art dealing in a star-studded trial. Opting instead to remain silent, he pleaded guilty and spent two years in a federal prison.
As a master player in the art underworld, Volpe is able to draw back the curtain to reveal how auctions, dealers, collectors and museums manoeuvre art around the globe, and he talks candidly about organized crime, money laundering and trafficking art like drugs.
Seduced by the power of illusion but determined to discover the truth, Volpe learned the hard way that nothing on earth is worth the price of your soul. After losing everything he realized that, when you deceive yourself, life is a pictureless frame.« less