In some cases, however, selling the art back to the owners or insurance companies is also an option. That’s where corrupt lawyers come in, according to Radcliffe, despite recent U.K. money-laundering legislation that imposes stricter requirements for lawyers to report suspicious activities. "It’s often the case that holders of stolen property try to negotiate through intermediaries, particularly lawyers, who may be able to claim client privilege," Radcliffe explains. "It’s a cult of secrecy that criminals are taking advantage of, and it deters tracking stolen art."

The recovered painting, which depicts the infant Jesus holding a cross-shaped spindle of yarn while sitting in the lap of the Virgin Mary, hung in Drumlanrig Castle, one of three stately homes owned by the ninth Duke of Buccleuch, Britain’s biggest private landowner, and the painting was considered the jewel of his $800 million art collection. (The Duke died at the age of 83 just a month before the picture was recovered.)

In August 2003, two bold and daring thieves—who were not among the four charged, according to Scottish police—walked into Drumlanrig Castle posing as visitors. The two men made their way directly to the staircase gallery where the da Vinci painting was displayed.

Within minutes, they had overpowered a guide, wrested the painting from the wall and calmly walked out the main doors. They escaped in a Volkswagen Golf, removing the panel from its frame and tossing the unwanted pieces of the frame out the car window as they quickly drove away.

"Since it was stolen, the painting clearly has changed a lot of hands," says Mark Dalrymple, a loss adjustor who worked on the recovery of the Madonna. "No one would nick a painting of that value to try and cash in on it quickly. This was most certainly carried out for the benefit of organized crime." Anderson says that the investigation "showed clear links to organized crime groups."

"What’s important is that an incredibly valuable painting has been recovered with a bit of luck and some good police work," says Charles Hill, a former detective in Scotland Yard’s art and antiques squad who is now a private consultant. "If a stolen artwork isn’t recovered in the first four years, it’s liable to go underground for generations.