A brazen gang of thieves swiped three pricey portraits during a Williamsburg art-gallery exhibit over the weekend — prompting the gallery owner to chase down and help nab one of them.
The wild incident began after Sean Leonard, co-owner of the Cotton Candy Machine gallery on South 1st Street in Brooklyn, noticed three large, framed portraits missing from a storage area at the gallery during an art show there Saturday night.
The gallery was hosting the work of British artist Amar Stewart when a group of thieves removed the paintings from the storage area around 8 p.m. and sneaked unnoticed out a back door.
“I noticed the paintings were missing immediately because they are huge,” Leonard told The Post on Tuesday, referring to the missing portraits of Nelson Mandela, Snoop Dog and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“They’re 5 feet tall, so they’re pretty hard to miss.”
Leonard grabbed his coat and began running around the neighborhood looking for the thieves.
“I just ran and ran, just hoping I would see a guy with a giant portrait,” he said. “And sure enough, I did.”
He found one of the alleged thieves, Louis Lassalle, 49, standing next to the portrait of legendary artist Basquiat near the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Roebling Street just before 8:30 p.m.
Leonard ordered Lassalle to hand over the painting, but the thief started threatening to beat him up if he didn’t split, the gallery owner said.
But Leonard was determined to get back the portrait, which he valued at around $10,000.
“I just started laughing,” he said of the thief’s threats. “There was no way he was going to catch me. He’s old and fat.”
Lassalle left the painting behind and started running when he realized Leonard was on the phone with police, the gallery owner said.
“He got winded pretty quick, so it wasn’t too hard to chase after him,” Leonard said. “I had this huge frame under one arm while on the phone with my other hand [giving police the thief’s location].”
Lassalle tried time and time again to hop in a cab and take off during the approximately seven-block chase, but each time he did, Leonard would block the car’s path and plead his case to the driver, the gallery owner said.
Cops finally arrived and arrested Lassalle near the corner of North 7th Street and Driggs Avenue and charged him with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Lassalle’s accomplices are still in the wind, as are the portraits of Nelson Mandela and Snoop Dog.
“I’m happy I was at least able to get one of the paintings back,” Leonard said.