Canastota - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the search for six world championship boxing belts that were stolen from the International Boxing Hall of Fame last Thursday, police said.
Canastota Police Chief James Zophy said the FBI's Antiquities Bureau is helping village police with the investigation into the belts.
That bureau specializes in art and cultural property crime, and has an Art Crime Team of 16 special agents.
"We are confident that through the course of our investigation we will develop leads that will give us an area to search for these items,'' Zophy said. "We hope to get them back."
The six belts were stolen 2:45 a.m. Thursday when someone broke three display cases containing four World Championship belts belonging to Carmen Basilio and two World Championship belts belonging to Tony Zale. A window was broken to get into the building, Zophy said.
"It's terribly upsetting to think that someone would do this,'' said Edward Brophy, executive director of the Hall of Fame, in a statement today. "It's devastating to the Boxing Hall of Fame and we are confident that the items will be recovered."
He declined to comment further.
The museum is open for business, and there is no sign of the break-in or broken display case.
Zophy said the belts stolen are "priceless" and can't be replicated. "They are the ones that were earned through blood, sweat and tears, and you can't replace that," he said.
It's the first theft in the 25-year history of the Hall of Fame, and it's hit the community hard. The police have the Boxing Hall of Fame on their patch, and the Hall of Fame is something Canastota is extremely proud of, Zophy said.
"We all feel victimized,'' he said.
Canastota police responded to the alarm in two minutes, but there was no sign of the thief or thieves, Zophy said.
Police provided photos of each of the stolen belts. Anyone with information is asked to call Canastota Police Chief James Zophy at (315)697-2240.
Basilio, a Canastota native, was the 1957 Fighter of the Year, and a hometown hero. He was the inspiration for the Boxing Hall of Fame. and a member of the first class of inductees. He died in 2012.
Zale, known as the "Man of Steel", had his boxing heyday in the 1940s and was a 1991 inductee in the Boxing Hall of Fame. He was a two-time world middleweight champion.
Article courtesy of Syracuse.com