The feds want to return an ancient Roman sarcophagus that was stolen more than three decades ago and recently located in a Queens storage locker back to authorities in Italy.
Italian officials said that the marble depiction of a sleeping female was illegally obtained 30 years ago by convicted antique trafficker Gianfranco Becchina.
The piece eventually surfaced at an exclusive Manhattan exhibition last May and was valued at $4 million by the Switzerland-based dealer.
Federal investigators eventually tracked down the item to a Long Island City warehouse last week and want to ship it back to its ancestral homeland.
“Whether looted cultural property enters our ports today or decades ago, it is our responsibility to see that it is returned to its rightful owners, in this case, the Italian authorities,” said US Attorney Loretta Lynch in a statement.
Agents found pictures of the piece among Becchina’s records while prosecuting him in 2011. “According to these records, Becchina purchased the marble sarcophagus lid in Italy and shipped it to his gallery in Switzerland in 1981,” according to the feds.
Authorities found evidence of thousands of pricey artifacts that he had sold to collectors across the world, including the sarcophagus.
“The forfeiture of this sarcophagus lid brings us one step closer to returning this stolen treasure to its rightful owner, the Italian people,” said special agent James Hayes.