The Mona Lisa painting visited the United States in January and February of 1963. The mafia was active in at the time in the US.
The statements above are facts.
A friend of mine in a college classroom told us in how the painting was abducted when being returned from the US to France.
This account is not corroborated.
A motorcade of identical black limousines was to carry the painting to its point of departure from the US to France.
The Mona Lisa was put in a flat cardboard box and placed in a carved out hollow in the rear seat of the penultimate limousine in the procession. The seat displayed no irregularity. Each car had one driver and one passenger.
Police cars and motorcycles preceded the caravan. Police vehicles also followed It.
The limousines were proceeding on their journey. Suddenly gunshots rang out and gunmen forced the cavalcade to stop. Rifles and revolvers were trained on each of the policemen.
One of the robbers walked past all the black cars and stopped at the penultimate one. He gestured to the driver to unlock the doors.
He sliced the rear seat with a knife and took out the flat cardboard crate containing the Mona Lisa.
He ordered the driver at gunpoint to radio the police not to move for 10 mins, as snipers would shoot them if they did.
The robbers then melted away with the painting into the surrounding woods.