When we imagine a smuggler, most of us think of illegal drugs, of precious stones and valuable artifacts, or even those occasional head-scratchers when someone is caught at customs with exotic pets hidden inside their pant legs. This story, also recounted at-length in the latest issue of the The New Yorker, makes them all look like amateurs. In December, Eric Prokopi went on trial in New York City for smuggling the skeleton of a 70-million-year-old Mongolian Tyrannosaurus bataar (or Tarbosaurus, as it is also known). Prosecutors contended that he took the bones from the Gobi desert, then ... Read More
