Man gets wallet back after 40 years, pics still inside...

Reunited 40 years later: Man gets his wallet back (and pictures of his wife and sons) after thief hid it behind a wall

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:12 AM on 22nd February 2011

When Rudolph Resta had his leather wallet stolen at the office he never thought he would see it again.

But 40 years later he has been reunited with it after an amazing story of luck and detective work.

Mr Resta, now 77, was working for the New York Times as an art director in the promotions department, when his wallet disappeared after he left his jacket in an unguarded coat closet.

Found: The battered wallet with black and white pictures of Rudolph Resta's family which had been hidden behind a wall at the old New York Times building in Manhattan

The thief pulled out the cash, but left the American Express credit card, his social security card and, more importantly, cherished pictures of his beautiful wife, two young sons and his beloved late father.

The wallet was hidden behind a wall in a gap between an unused window and the masonry seal behind it on the second floor of the old Times building in Manhattan at 229 West 43rd Street.

And there it lay for 40 years until it was discovered by 46-year-old José Cisneros, a security guard at the building who showed it to his colleague Rafael Rodriguez .

Among Mr Resta's documents was his Times membership card  for the employees’ blood bank. They decided to find him and hand over the wallet..

Reunited: An emotional Mr Resta is handed his long-lost wallet by Times security guard José Cisneros

Hiding place: The wallet was discovered behind the wall. The thief lifted the cash but left the credit card and Mr Resta's personal family pictures

But they soon hit a brickwall, because they knew no one at the Times and the automated answering service was no help.

It was luck that finally led to Mr Resta when Gordon T. Thompson, formerly the Times manager of internet services, walked into the renovated lobby of the  building to look at architectural renderings on display.

Mr Rodriguez, on duty at the security desk seized the moment, and showed the wallet to Mr. Thompson who called a reporter at the paper.

Mr Resta, from Queens, who retired in 1999, was tracked down and agreed to meet at the building and share his emotional memories after getting his wallet back.

He was so overcome with emotion that he kissed Mr Cisneros on the cheek and told the New York Times of his delight.

He said: 'I was sort of heartbroken,[at the time of the theft] I though it was gone forever. It wasn't so much the money. I had marvellous things in there. Nice pictures of my family.'

Detective work: Rafael Rodriguez and José Cisneros who found the wallet hidden behind a wall in the old New York Times building

Cherished memory A black and white photograph of Mr Resta's wife Angela in a jaguar fur stole on a day out in Prospect Park in New York

Mr Resta then proudly showed a black and white picture of his wife Angela, wearing a jaguar fur stole on a trip to Brooklyn's Prospect Park in 1963.

He said: 'Just look at my wife, so glamorous that's why I married her. Still is.'

His two sons were pictured squirming in a lawn chair and running about at their old home on Avenue J in Brooklyn. 

Christopher is now 47 and deals in stock options. Paul, 42, repairs and sells bicycles. He has two children of his own. Both Christopher and Paul live in Belle Harbor, Queens, near their parents.

His late father Nicola, who died in 1965, came to the U.S. from Bernalda, southern Italy. He worked as a pattern-maker and always told his son: 'Stick with the company.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359180/Rudolph-Resta-gets-wallet-40-years-later-thief-hid-wall.html#ixzz1Efx7mEPY