High-end art thieves have heisted a dozen paintings worth at least $250,000 from the tony Hamptons estate of the late Bear Stearns billionaire Paul Hallingby Jr. in a caper that has drawn in the FBI, sources said.
The burglars broke into the empty, $12 million waterfront mansion of Hallingby’s widow, lawyer and socialite Joanne “Jo” Davis Hallingby, sometime over the weekend, sources said.
The thieves entered the manse on exclusive Captain’s Neck Lane in Southampton sometime between 1:30 a.m. Saturday and Monday morning.
“They went into the home and removed the paintings,” said Southampton Village Police Detective Sgt. Herman Lamison.
Among the stolen art were works by Jean Dufy, Frederick H. McDuff, Jacques Martin-Ferrieres, Howard Behrens, Pierre Bittar and Cecil Everley.
Cops said there were no signs of forced entry at the estate. The thieves removed the frames from the home as well, cops said.
According to Lamison, it’s not unusual for residents of Southampton to have pricey art collections, but “we haven’t had a theft like this in some time.”
Detectives were at the mansion yesterday poring over the scene for evidence. Investigators were also going door to door, looking for anyone who might have seen the crooks.
Lamison said the FBI was alerted to the heist “because it could become interstate, and because they have a high-end art-recovery team.”
He asked anyone with information on the whereabouts of the stolen art to call detectives at (631) 283-0056.
Three months ago, Jo Hallingby, 66, and her late husband’s previous wife, Mai Hallingby, were locked in a bitter dispute over Mai’s $930-a-month annuity payment.
Mai, 70, was collecting the small checks even though she was awarded $10 million in a 1994 divorce settlement. She claimed she learned her husband was dumping her for Joanne by reading it in a gossip column.
The billionaire dumped Mai after he met Jo on the Hamptons Jitney bus between Manhattan and Southampton, sources said.
Paul Hallingby once told The Post that Mai held a precious family heirloom hostage — an sterling-silver epergne centerpiece — in a bid to win him back.
Paul, a Wall Streeter who helped develop the Javits Center in Manhattan, died in 2005.