Suzanne Thinnes, a spokesperson for Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library, recently reacted to a pattern of rare book thefts that occurred from 1992 to 2017:
“The shock, the anger and the hurt we feel that individuals who were close to us, who were trusted by us, who were considered friends and colleagues to many of us at the library, would abuse the faith we had in them for personal gain will be with us for a very long time. We are hopeful that the sentences given to these two individuals will reflect the significant damage done not only to Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, but to the literary community near and far.”
We will put Ms. Thinnes’ outrage to the side for the moment to reflect upon the crime.
Rare Book Theft
John Schulman and Greg Priore went from the world of books to the inside of a jail cell. They are being charged with the theft of books, irreplaceable books, with a market value of approximately $8 million.
The thefts did not occur as the result of a student’s or a scholar’s greed, but out of opportunity. Greg Priore managed the Carnegie Library rare book room. John Schulman “fenced the books.” Schulman co-owned a book store called Caliban Books. Priore stole the books and Schulman sold them to a group of select customers.
As the manager of the rare book room, Priore knew what the acquisitions were worth and how to “hide” the books that were candidates for theft. As he had been a library fixture for more than 25 years, he had become largely invisible to the rest of the staff. He was free to operate within a narrow world.
At some point, Priore saw an opportunity. As he controlled the inventory, he understood value, demand and desirability of the titles. Whether he initially contacted Schulman or the other way around, is not nearly as important as the fact that both men entered into an agreement to steal, accept stolen merchandise and then resell the stolen property. As Schulman allegedly paid Priore for the thefts, we can only assume that Schulman had a clientele more than willing to pay top dollar for the items. In most probability the books cannot be retrieved and in fact, they may be in foreign hands.
How did the two rationalize their venture? There may be multiple factors. Perhaps Priore felt as though he was underappreciated at the library, or that the library had been so richly endowed, they would not miss the volumes.
Schulman might have seen the relationship with Priore as a continuing source of priceless volumes. In fact, he may have convinced himself that if they were ever caught, that he could point to Priore as being the culprit; that he was told the books were “excess inventory,” or that he was, in fact, doing the library a favor. Obviously, both men were crooks with a need for cash.
However, it is important to return to the quote by Suzanne Thinnes in regard to the “shock, the anger and the hurt” of what was done to them by their “friend” Greg Priore.
Who Assisted?
John Priore is an unethical man. He was no one’s friend and he saw an opportunity only for himself and his side venture. Whether he was sweet, kind to his mother or cared for abandoned puppies is largely irrelevant here.
The point is that he sat atop of tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of books, “ephemera,” or collectible memorabilia and antiques without oversite is inexcusable. “Hurt” may be an appropriate term to describe the pain you feel when your 13-year-old has been caught cheating on an algebra exam, but not a co-worker who lacked proper supervision.
As far as the claim that Priore “abused the faith” that others had in him is also a “feely-touchy” sentiment that is again, best left to describing a child who inadvertently left the front door open or a CPA who misplaced your W-2 forms. It does not apply to a worker who saw an opportunity to steal, profit from the theft and to enlist the help of an equally culpable partner in crime.
Unethical behavior relies on opportunity, need and rationalization, but in far too many cases, what starts the process is a lack of oversight created by a disinterested organization.
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