60 Minutes - Sunday, October 20, 2019

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

It has been a year since a gunman opened fire on Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, killing 11 people. In an interview with Lesley Stahl, survivors speak out about the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S history. In an interview with John Dickerson, Christine Lagarde, the new head of the European Central Bank, criticizes President Trump's Twitter habits. Plus, Jon Wertheim reports on a classic international detective story, about Christopher Columbus. Those stories on tonight's "60 Minutes." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. One year ago, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history took place in Pittsburgh. How often do you say to yourself, the worst act of anti-Semitism in the history of the United States took place at my synagogue? I think about it all the time. As survivors of the Tree of Life Synagogue struggle to make sense of this mass shooting, one source of strength has been their Christian and Muslim neighbors.

You once described yourself as bossy. You know, bossy is now a dirty word. I don't mind. With the global economy at risk of a recession, the man for the job

may be a woman. Christine Lagarde, who led the International Monetary Fund, is about to take over the presidency of the European Central Bank. When you think of the challenges to the global economy, where is Donald Trump on that list? Tonight, a history lesson turned detective story about what may be the first blockbuster news story ever published. Solving the mystery of the stolen Christopher Columbus letters, written more than 500 years ago by the explorer himself. Announcing his discovery of the new world. He actually made the globe a globe.

And that's pretty much the most consequential news ever published, isn't it? I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm John Dickerson. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Scott Pelley. Those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes. What's your next adventure? Everyone deserves a chance to do what they love pacific life helps you reach financial goals while you go after your personal ones plans change over time and your financial solutions can too pacific life has a variety of financial solutions that can help you complement your life goals and passions while managing the uncertainties. Backed by more than 150 years of experience, you can count on Pacific Life to be there so you can go out and keep living your best life.

Pacific Life is one of the most dependable and experienced insurers in the industry and has been named one of the 2019 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute. The freedom to go after whatever is next for you? That's the powerisphere Institute. The freedom to go after whatever is next for you? That's the power of Pacific. Ask a financial professional about how Pacific Life can help give you the freedom to do what you love. Or visit www.pacificlife.com. Tomorrow, the Anti-Defamation League will release new figures indicating that the number of incidents against Jews and Jewish targets in the United States reached 780 in just the first half of this year. At least a dozen white supremacists have been arrested for such shootings, plots, and threats since the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history a year ago

at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. As acts of hate are on the rise, churches and mosques, as well as synagogues, have been targets. What we discovered is that these religious communities have formed a bond, coming together to help each other recover. That's what's happened at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, called Tree of Life, which is actually home to three congregations, so three totally separate synagogues under one roof. In the past year, each has searched for its own antidote to hate. Tree of Life is the largest of the three congregations in the building.

Its rabbi, Jeffrey Myers, says they've barely begun making sense of the storm that upended their lives and emptied this sanctuary. So, rabbi, how long has it been since you were able to have a service in here? The last time we were in here was September 2018. Because right across the hallway is still a crime scene. Yes. The crime took place at 9.50 Saturday morning, October 27th. All three congregations were gathering for Sabbath services when a white supremacist wielding an AR-15 entered

the building and started shooting. Andrea Wedner and her 97-year-old mother, Rose Malinger, heard him approach. Did you know it was gunshot right away? Yes, I did. Right away? Yes. So what did you do? My mother and I looked at each other, and I said, we have to get down. I said, just get down. But before we could, we got shot. Did you have a sense of panic? I had a sense of survival. I wanted to live.

The first 911 call was made four minutes into the rampage. Reports of an active shooter. I got hit, and I looked at my arm and saw that it was blown open and I just went down on the floor. I just laid there and played dead. Because he was still roaming around? Still roaming around. And there were other people who were around you who did not survive, including your mother? Yes. Multiple gunshots are heard. The suspect keeps telling them about killing Jews. He doesn't want any of them to live.

Members of the second congregation in the building, Dor Hadash, were on another floor when they heard the shooting. Dan Legger, a nurse, and his good friend, Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, wanted to help. So they headed toward the gunfire. Jerry was killed. Dan, critically injured. Lost a lot of blood. You were shot in the stomach? Yeah. I felt like I was dying, which I was. You know, it's hard to talk about. Why couldn't I have said to Jerry, let's hide under this table or hide in that closet rather than go out there and see if we can help.

I heard that you literally couldn't speak after the shooting. Well, you know, I was in shock. Jonathan Perlman is the rabbi of New Light, the third congregation in the building. Fortunately, I knew about this space in the back of our room, and I said, keep the lights out, find a place to hide. The shooter, he didn't see us. He went right by us. It took the shooter less than 11 minutes to kill 11 men and women from all three congregations,

killed for being Jewish. Did you ever think in your whole life that you would see the return of anti-Semitism in this virulent form? Not in Pittsburgh. Within hours of the shooting, the people of Pittsburgh started leaving notes of support. The pile grew with stars of David and painted stones, but also crosses and rosary beads. A lot of the items are religious, reflecting the faith of the person who was leaving it,

and not necessarily the faith of the victims. Laurie Zittrain Eisenberg, a congregant and historian, is cataloging these gifts. Clearly, this was a Jewish event in that it's an anti-Semitic attack in a synagogue. But other people weren't seeing this as a Jewish event. Well, you've all become part of a club that no one wants to join of houses of worship that have come under attack, Muslims, Jews, Christians. And all of a sudden, we're actually in contact with them. Parishioners from Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where another white supremacist killed nine African Americans in 2015, came to Pittsburgh and comforted survivors. We asked Miri, Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz's widow about that,

as well as Sharon Stein, whose husband Dan was also killed that day, and Dan Legger and his wife Ellen. You know, at Mother Emanuel Church, the person who killed, what was it, nine people, sat in Bible study with them for an hour. And then he pulled out his gun and shot them. And then they forgave him. Do you think about that? I think about it a lot, and I have not gotten to the point where I have that forgiveness.

I mean, it's going to be a long time. And Dan? I forgive this man for what he did to me. He made a terrible decision. He made a horrible decision. But I can't forgive him for killing 11 people because those people are dead and they're the only people that can forgive him. And knowing Jerry, he also would forgive the shooter.

And I'm not quite there yet. But he would have. Oh, yeah. Miri told us life is still a daily struggle. I mean, I'm devastated that he's gone. How important is now your faith given what's happened? Well, see, that's hard because I've always had my faith, so I can't imagine not. It hasn't impacted my belief in God and godliness and goodness in the world. She saw goodness in how their city reacted. Stickers and signs popped up all over as the attack on the synagogue was treated as an attack on all the people of Pittsburgh. Eleven seconds in honor of the 11 lives that were lost. At a vigil the night after the massacre,

worshipers of all faiths came together for the Jewish prayer for the dead. And they were able to put like 30 different faith leaders from all different religions on the stage. And I was thinking to myself, please let there be an imam. Please let there be an imam. And then Wasi Muhammad was there. Since yesterday afternoon, we've been able to raise over $70,000 for the community. Wasi Muhammad was the lay leader of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. We just want to know what you need. If it's people outside your next service,

you know, protecting you, let us know. We'll be there. If you just need somebody to come to the grocery store because you don't feel safe in this city, we'll be there. And I'm sure everybody in the room would say the same thing. Why did you feel you had to do something? There's a feeling of powerlessness when it happens, when something like this happens in your city. We understand this more so than a lot of communities do, unfortunately. We can understand this pain and the fear of lack of security. Yeah, but we're Americans. We shouldn't have to secure our churches and our mosques and our synagogues.

I mean, they should be open. Yeah. I think there's different histories in America, right? Black churches have never been safe. You know, mosques have never been safe in this country. Synagogues have always been targets. Like, have never been safe. You know, mosques have never been safe in this country. Synagogues have always been targets like this is not new. And it's been used as a fear tactic against our communities for generations since this country was founded. If you're not safe in this sanctuary, you're just not safe here. Leave.

I heard that more recently when the shooting took place at the mosque in New Zealand, that the Jewish community here came over to sort of guard and protect your mosque. No. When the tragedy happened, we immediately received an outpouring of support from the Jewish community. We've had Jewish community members outside the Islamic Center

holding signs, saying that they love us, they welcome us. Thank you. Now that has to make you feel good. Absolutely. It's special. The sense of unity in Pittsburgh was interrupted three days after the shooting when President and Mrs. Trump came to town.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh. He was hosted by Rabbi Meyers, despite strong opposition from many congregants who argued that the president's anti-immigration language provoked the shooter, who specifically singled out the synagogue for its work helping migrants and refugees. Ellen Surloff was one of those opposed. I believe there's a direct link between the president's words and actions, his failure to forcefully denounce the rhetoric and the white supremacists, and what happened on October 27th. Yes, the death of 11 people. There was a lot of opposition. But I'm the rabbi for the Republicans and the Democrats in my congregation and the independents. So to me, this is above politics.

What's become evident is that while the three congregations share a building, they don't necessarily share the same politics or same opinion on how houses of worship should respond to a trauma like this. The word hate is a four-letter obscenity. Rabbi Myers has launched a national anti-hate speech campaign. Ellen Surloff, Donna Kufel, and Eve Weider, members of the more activist congregation Dor Hadash, are advocating for stricter gun laws. Well, what's more important in your mind,

the idea that you have to go for gun control or do something about hate speech? I mean, I think what I would say to that is we can solve the access to guns. That is something we can change in our society. Ending hate speech is a lot more complicated and is very hard to get at. The third congregation in the building shies away from such a public role. We're not a political congregation. Stephen Cohen is co-president of New Light, here with Rabbi Jonathan Perlman and his wife, Beth Kiselev.

We have members who believe one thing, and we have other members who believe the exact opposite. If as an individual they would wish to speak up and talk as an individual, that is their right as an American citizen. But as a congregation, none of that's what's going on in terms of the immigration or Trump's tweets have anything to do with our religious beliefs or us as Jews. But I've spoken to congregants and they are out there fighting for gun control. God bless them. It may be an important issue. Maybe. Okay. I think there are more important issues in the world. But is this something that we want to be involved with in a public way?

What does it have to do with Judaism? What does it have to do with praying to God? Nothing. The concept of not being socially active, in my mind, is the opposite of everything we're taught in our religion. And the point I wanted to make is to take it back to the Holocaust. If we learn nothing else from that, it's that you can't be silent. You can't be a bystander. So there's no time when the kind of hatred and vitriol is being spewed out by white supremacists. There's no time when guns continue to result in mass shootings.

There's no time not to speak out. We learned that. Before the attack, the Jewish community of Pittsburgh thought it couldn't happen here. Now they're talking about barricading their synagogues. What were we thinking? We thought we were so safe in America? Every single synagogue in Europe has an armed guard. Now are you saying every single synagogue in the United States should have an armed guard? Yes. Yes. I mean, the tragedy is that, you know,

it shouldn't be an act of courage to enter a house of worship. With the global economy at risk of recession, the man for the job is a woman. Since 2011, Christine Lagarde has been managing emergencies as head of the Trillion Dollar International Monetary Fund. Before that, she was France's finance minister during the Great Recession. In November, she will take on a new crisis as president of the European Central Bank,

trying to keep the world's second largest economy stable as it is battered by trade wars, Brexit, and historic uncertainty. Last month, we spent time with Lagarde in France and in Washington, D.C. during a rare pause between jobs. She was surprisingly candid about the danger of a global recession, the threat of nationalism, and what she says is a big question mark in the global economy, President Donald Trump. When you think of the challenges to the global economy, where is Donald Trump on that list?

I think he has many keys that would unlock the uncertainty and the risks. What are some of those keys that he has? I think the biggest key that President Trump has is in relation to predictability and certainty of the terms of trade. It's the unknown which is hurting because you can't adjust to the unknown. So what do you do? You build buffers, you build savings, you wonder what comes next. That's not propitious to economic development. People stop taking risks. Yeah, they sit on their cash. The IMF, the International Monetary Fund, which Christine Lagarde led for eight years,

says the instability caused by the U.S.-China trade war is the main reason why global growth is estimated to fall this year to its slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis. Last week, President Trump announced preliminary steps to a partial deal with China, but the biggest and toughest issues remain. The trade war between the United States and China, is it possible that it could tip the global economy in the wrong direction? It's certainly going to give a big haircut to the global economy. And if you shave off almost a percentage point of growth,

that means less investment, less jobs, more unemployment, reduced growth. So of course it has an impact. What's going to happen? My very, very strong message to all policymakers is please sit down like big men, many men in those rooms, and put everything on the table and try to deal bit by bit, piece by piece, so that we have certainty. Christine Lagarde has spent her career telling men what to do. And she'll keep doing that as the first woman to head the ECB, the European Central Bank.

It's like the U.S. Federal Reserve, but for 19 countries known as the Eurozone. Last month, Lagarde invited us to visit her in Normandy, France, near where she grew up. Across the channel in Great Britain, they are in the middle of Brexit. What does Brexit mean to you? To me personally, it's a source of great sadness. And to see them drifting away from the European Union is sad. At the ECB, Lagarde will be tasked with keeping Europe, the world's second largest economy, afloat in the midst of Brexit. What will the fallout be economically? It will affect both the

UK and certain countries in the European Union, Ireland in particular, Germany, the Netherlands, and everybody will be a little less well-off as a result. Why is that important to Americans if the European Union thrives? If things go wrong in one part of the world, it is going to affect the rest of the world as well. We buy American products in huge quantities. The United States buys European products in huge quantities. Massive numbers of European firms have set up shops in the U.S.

Vice versa. We penetrate each other's markets. If there is a core belief that guides Lagarde's life and her economic outlook, it's that we're all in this together. When I was growing up, I think there was a huge gratitude towards the allies, the Americans. It was here on Omaha Beach where Americans landed on D-Day in 1944. Today, Lagarde hears echoes of the anger that led to World War II in nationalist leaders who turned their countries inward, shoving everyone else away. Nationalism in Europe is

associated with very, very horrible developments that always led to war. You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, okay? President Trump has called himself a nationalist. He's proud of the nationalist label. This is a big debate. This is the central debate, you could argue, on the global stage, as countries decide maybe this idea of interconnectedness is not so wonderful. International trade, connections, movement of people and movement of capital has taken hundreds of millions out of poverty. Now, some people in the advanced economies might say, pooh, what do I care?

Well, of course we care for the person next door. And because of the interconnections, next door is not down the pathway. Next door is everywhere around the world. And if my neighbors from across a border are feeling desperate, are starving, are fighting, there will be consequences back at home. Do you think the president, who believes in walls, gives a strong argument to people who make the opposite case from the one you make? What can walls do about pandemics? What can walls do about terrorism? What can walls do about climate change and destruction of the environment?

This is not the answer to the global questions and issues that interconnect whether we like it or not. But that message enrages people who don't want global bureaucracies like the IMF telling them how to live their lives, and who think leaders like Lagarde are elitist and out of touch. What happens, though, when somebody says, Madame Lagarde, you are the global elite? I think I'm also a very regular, down-to-earth person, and I'm proud to participate in the intellectual effort that we put in order to bring about that stability financially so that people are protected, people are more secure. Some call her the most powerful woman in the world, Christine Lagarde. At the European Central Bank, Lagarde faces weak growth,

spurred by a slump in manufacturing, raising fears of a European recession. What's worse, Lagarde's main tool to stimulate the economy, lowering interest rates, may be useless. That's because in Europe, rates are already negative, which was once unthinkable. There's a limit to what central bankers can do. There's a limit to how far and how deep you go into negative territory.

So there's a bottom. There's a bottom to everything, but we're not at that bottom at this point in time. President Trump likes the idea of low, even negative, interest rates, so much that he spiked the decades-long tradition of presidents not interfering with the Federal Reserve, even calling the chairman, Jerome Powell, and his colleagues boneheads for not cutting rates more. Lagarde's advice for the president? Be cautious.

When the unemployment rate is at 3.7 percent, you don't want to accelerate that too much by lowering interest rates, because the risk you take is that then prices begin to go up. You have to be very careful. You know, it's like navigating a plane, and you have to watch everything. Altitude, speed, winds, and that's what a central banker has to do. If you're a pilot in and looking at all of those delicate measures, do you want a leader behind you saying you're a bonehead? A central bank governor does best his job if he is independent. You've met President Trump. Would you talk to him about this and make the case that you've had about independence of

central bankers? Absolutely. And what would you say? Market stability should not be the subject of a tweet here, a tweet there. It requires consideration, thinking, quiet and measured and rational decisions. And for those qualities, Lagarde instructs, bring in the women. They are better at judging risk, she believes, famously saying if the investment bank Lehman Brothers, which triggered the 2008 financial crisis, had been Lehman's sisters, the whole mess might have been avoided. Do you know how many women are president of banks? Two percent. This is ridiculously low because women around the world, in most families, women generally handle the money and they do that pretty well. There is a clear correlation between good solid management,

good attitude towards risk, and the number of women on board and executive boards as well. Poverty is sexist and we have to remember that and make sure that women are not forgotten. Now 63, Lagarde has become a global force, not just for what she says about women, but because she acts on it. For the first time in its history, Lagarde has tied IMF loans to improving conditions for women in countries like Argentina and Jordan. Yeah, one, two, three. Big smile. And take a look at what the IMF staff looks like now. The selfies are working.

Under Lagarde, the percentage of women working at the IMF has grown to 44%. She's charming, but exacting. Lagarde has locked conference room doors, not allowing anyone to leave until consensus is reached. And she has announced she will not attend meetings where she is the only woman in the room. You once described yourself as bossy. You know, bossy is now a dirty word. I don't mind. You don't mind?

You know, sometimes you have to be a boss. Is there a French idiom for bossy that feels like a very American word? You use boss in French. Oh, c'est le boss. Elle est le boss. But there is an element of respect about it when you say it in French. C'est le boss. But there is an element of respect about it when you say it in French. C'est le boss. As volatile as the global economy may be, Lagarde is not.

She is controlled, even on vacation. At her home in Normandy, she gave us a glimpse of how finely calibrated that control is. You have learned how to pretend you're drinking wine when you're not drinking wine. Yes. How do I pretend to drink wine and not drink? Oh, okay, I'll show you. I'll do it with water. So you go.

You have to smell, terribly important. Then you go. You move it around to check the color. Then you go. Very important. Watch this here. Go. I didn't drink anything.

That's dangerous. You're going to keep your wits about you. Glasses were raised weeks later to honor Lagarde's time at the IMF. She bid farewell to an institution formed in America to ensure global cooperation. As she starts her new job, she worries that the country which has helped preserve stability during her lifetime may now be the one weakening it. I was brought up as a citizen of this world. The risk I see is that the United States is at risk of losing leadership. And that would be just a terrible development. Because? Because it has been a force for good and for those principles that I respect highly,

the rule of law, democracy, free market, and consideration for the individual and respect. It's the same message the Allies sent to the world 75 years ago on these shores. We're all in this together. In 1492, Christopher Columbus, of course, sailed the ocean blue. And on his journey home, he wrote a letter to his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, describing his discovery of the New World and, in effect, asking for more money to make another trip.

Columbus's voyage marked one of the great plot points in history. Upon his return, his letter was printed and distributed throughout Europe, making for blockbuster news. Columbus's original handwritten letter, penned on the high seas, no longer exists, but some of the printed copies do. Most are housed in prestigious libraries, and for centuries, that's where they've remained. That is, until about 10 years ago, when authorities discovered some of these treasures had been stolen and replaced with forgeries. So began a modern kind of transatlantic quest, as investigators in the

U.S. and Europe worked to recover Columbus's missing missives and solve this most unusual international mystery. If there is one library in the world you'd think would be impervious to theft, this would be it. The Vatican Library in Rome houses a vast and unrivaled collection of historic treasures. It is the Pope's library, home to manuscripts going back nearly 2,000 years. The library is closed to the public. It's a place for scholars only. But Ambrogio Piazzoni, the vice-prefect, invited us inside. It was here in 2011 that Vatican officials first discovered that one of their prized items, a Columbus letter, had somehow been stolen and replaced with a fake.

How do you think this happened? Look, I do not know. I have no idea how and when it may have happened. Certainly it was an operation carried out as a proper theft, but I do not know when or how. He is in good company. At the center of this mystery, this eight-page letter, written at sea by Christopher Columbus more than 500 years ago.

In it, he describes his first impressions of the New World, a wonderland, he writes, filled with rivers, gold, and timid natives. When Columbus's letter arrived at the royal court in Spain in 1493, it was promptly sent to Rome, where it was translated into Latin and printed, spreading the news of his extraordinary expedition. So this was big news. Columbus makes this voyage and suddenly this is being disseminated. This is some of the biggest news ever. Jay Dillon is a rare book dealer in New Jersey. He ranks the Columbus letter as one of the most important documents ever printed. This was one of the first bestsellers. It's probably the first contemporary account of anything to be published

across Europe. Today, only about 30 copies of this Columbus letter still exist. Each one is now worth something in the low seven figures. More than a million dollars a letter. More than a million, but probably less than four or five million. It was while researching Columbus letters on his home computer back in 2011 that Jay Dillon first noticed something amiss. The National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona had posted photos of

their Columbus letter online. What struck Dylan as odd? It looked exactly like a Columbus letter that he had seen for sale a year earlier, right down to the same smudge marks in the margins. You're telling yourself what at this point? I'm telling myself that one of them has to be a forgery. Why is that? Because you can't have two books with the same random brown spots in the margins. It's just impossible. What confirmed your suspicions were these matching marks from these texts that were 500 years old. That's right. That would not happen. That cannot happen. Jay suspected the library's letter had been stolen and put up for sale, which meant whatever was currently in their collection was a fake. It was so remarkable I couldn't believe it at first.

And I made it my business from that moment on to look at every original I could. And so it was that Jay Dillon became an unlikely detective. Following his instincts, he visited libraries in Rome and Florence and took a look at their Columbus letters. To my utter astonishment, a Columbus letter in the Vatican library was a forgery. And then I went to the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence and damned if the same thing doesn't happen again. Their Columbus letters are fake too.

Afraid that notifying the libraries might alert the culprit, he decided instead to take his information to the Department of Justice. Seemed like it was almost out of a Hollywood movie script. Homeland Security Special Agent Mark Alexa led the investigation, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, Jamie McCall. Similar reaction. I thought it was a John Grisham novel, that we had some people in Europe stealing these treasures of the world and replacing them with high-quality forgeries. You say Hollywood script, you say John Grisham.

Were you skeptical? Of course. We have to confirm what our tipster was providing us. They turn to Paul Needham, one of the world's foremost experts on 15th century printing. He runs the Scheide Library at Princeton University, home to one of the most valuable private collections of books on earth. And now it was Needham's turn to travel to Europe to examine the letters. In each case, he determined the originals had indeed been removed

and replaced with photographic facsimiles printed on centuries-old paper. The Columbus letter being a highly collected book, it's just the perfect combination, both very small and very valuable. Their value per leaf of paper is higher than for any other printed book. You're saying this is the perfect item to forge? It's the perfect item to forge. And there's a market for it? There's always been a market for it. This turned into a transatlantic collaboration, a legacy, you might say, of Christopher Columbus. We engage quickly with the Carabinieri. Enter Giovanni Prisco,

captain of the Carabinieri police's cultural heritage squad based in Rome. His unit investigates property theft from private homes, churches, and libraries. In Italy, it is a crime market second only to that of illegal drug and weapon sales. We're in this country with so many artifacts, with so many churches. You must be very busy. Yes, we are very, very busy, of course. One of the most valuable art collections in Europe isn't housed in a museum visited by millions of tourists, but in this warehouse in the back of his police station. It's basically an evidence locker for stolen artifacts.

This is all art that you've seized? Yes, there are some archaeological items, some fake and contemporary arts, and some antiquist paintings like... What is this? Yes, like that one. This is Caravaggio. It's coming from the school of Caravaggio. Caravaggio. Yes. And he's a painter stolen at the end of 1990.

And it was from a private house. It was discovered in the north of Italy. What does a Caravaggio go for these days? It's a million of dollars, of course. Millions of dollars. Yes, it's a great paint. It's quite big. And it's coming from Caravaggio hands. But Yes, it's a great paint. It's quite big. And it's coming from my Caravaggio hands.

But wait, there's more. Amphoras, sculptures, and dozens of masterpieces. An original Tiepolo. And this painting by Peter Paul Rubens. Oh, wow. He's a noble donna. This is a Rubens. Yes, it's a real Rubens.

It's not a fake. Captain Prisco says one of their biggest challenges these days is protecting Italy's rare books. The country has more than 18,000 libraries. Why is it so difficult to protect books from theft? Because books, some of them are really small. It's not difficult to put under your arm or in your jacket. While book thefts are often committed by insiders, in the case of the Columbus letters, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie McCall suspects there may have been more than one person involved.

It requires access. It requires the ability to create high-quality forgeries, and then the ability to know where and how to sell these Columbus letters on the private market. One name that keeps coming up is Massimo De Caro. Familiar name to you guys? Yes. Massimo De Caro was prosecuted by the Italian authorities for pilfering thousands of rare books, and he was involved in the sale of at least one of the Columbus letters at issue. This is someone who's been involved in these kinds of crimes before? Yes, correct.

Fair to characterize him as a person of interest? He is a subject in the investigation. The Columbus letters themselves may be hard to track down, but this subject in the investigation is not exactly in hiding. Massimo De Caro, a notorious Italian book thief, just finished serving a seven-year sentence for stealing thousands of ancient books and manuscripts from Italian libraries and selling them overseas. To our surprise, he agreed to meet with us at his home in Orvieto, a hill town an hour's drive north of Rome. To say that he professes his innocence would be an act of considerable understatement. The police say you're a subject in this investigation. Does that concern you?

You know, first of all, the police in Italy regarding books are the worst, okay? They even don't know how is made one book. I love Italy too much to say which level they are, okay? But it doesn't bother you that you're a person of interest? No, no. I mean, I would like to help. You want to help? Yeah, I would like to help. If I work on it, I'm sure I can solve. You think you're smarter than the police?

Let's say that I'm more expert than them. In this field? In this field, yes. De Caro is not just a convicted thief, he's also an accomplished forger. He spent years making a fake Galileo book, which fooled the experts and sold for almost a half million dollars. He showed us another Galileo reproduction he made. You can see the quality of the paper. I used antique paper.

You did this? This is your handiwork? Yes, at all, and I'm very proud about this. You're very proud of this? Yes. If this book were original, what would this fetch on the market? What would someone pay for this? $300,000, at least. DeCaro admits he sold two Columbus letters,

which he says he bought legitimately from an anonymous collector. But he denies he ever made a fake Columbus letter. Why? For one thing, he says, it's too easy. You could have reproduced one of these Columbus letters. Oh, if I try, I'm sure I can create the best Columbus letter. If I create a Columbus letter, then we can show this Columbus letter

to all the experts that you want, and I'm sure I can bet that nobody recognizes it is a fake. You think you could fool them? Yes. Eight years into the joint U.S.-Italian investigation, no arrests have been made in the case, but three stolen Columbus letters have been recovered. No easy task, as they were sold in private sales to wealthy collectors,

who, investigators say, weren't aware the letters had been stolen. How did you start tracking down the originals? We relied heavily on Dr. Needham. He had a great roadmap of transactions and who was possessing and selling these Columbus letters throughout the world. They were found in the most surprising places. The letters stolen from the Ricardiana Library in Florence turned up in, get this, the U.S. Library of Congress, alongside national treasures like the Declaration of Independence

and the Constitution. They were shocked. They were stunned, as you can imagine. The letter had been donated to the Library of Congress in 2004 by one of their major donors. As for the Vatican's stolen Columbus letter, it was traced to a wealthy Atlanta collector who had bought it in 2004 for almost $1 million. Last year, Ambrosio Piazzoni, vice-prefect of the Vatican Library, was on hand when it was returned to its rightful home.

When the Columbus letter was returned to the Vatican, was the Pope informed about that? Yes, he was informed. He was very pleased with this return. When you're seeing the successful return of the stolen Vatican library document, is that a miracle? I use the word miracle for other things. But let's say that this was a very beautiful thing and we're happy that it happened. For Jay Dillon, the rare book dealer who stumbled upon the first clue in this mystery, it's been a satisfying quest about more than simply stolen letters. This is the very stuff of history. Columbus, for all his achievements and all his faults,

did something that nobody had ever done before. He actually made the globe a globe. And that's pretty much the most consequential news ever published, isn't it? Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings died on Thursday. The chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee appeared on this broadcast several times over the years, the latest this past January. Elijah Cummings' awareness of the moral and ethical obligations of public office gave weight to the distinctive voice of this son of sharecroppers. I stand on the shoulders of the people who have been unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated, and unapplauded. But now I'm going to run a race for them.

And hopefully there'll come a day when I pass my baton on. But in the meantime, I have faith in this democracy. I do. And I refuse to give up. Chairman Cummings was 68. And I refuse to give up. Chairman Cummings was 68. I'm John Wertheim. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.