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The Great Tom Brady Heist: How a suburban man helped track down his stolen jersey
In 2017, right after Super Bowl 51, Tom Brady’s jersey was stolen from the New England Patriots locker room in Houston. Its value was estimated at half a million dollars. In a Fox 32 special report Sunday night, you’ll hear from the "dream team" who helped solve this sports collectible caper.
CHICAGO - This weekend, Fox 32 Chicago not only brings you Super Bowl 57 but also an inside look at what some call the "football crime of the century."
In 2017, right after Super Bowl 51, Tom Brady’s jersey was stolen from the New England Patriots locker room in Houston. Its value was estimated at half a million dollars.
In a Fox 32 special report Sunday night, you’ll hear from the "dream team" who helped solve this sports collectible caper.
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Retired Chicago FBI Agent Brian Brusokas is part of that team. He knows firsthand just how much the value of sports memorabilia has increased over the years.
Fox 32's Corey McPherrin: "Talk to us a little bit about that, what you’ve seen in your time with the FBI. Delving into sports memorabilia and fraud and so forth. The way the prices have gone up. The stakes have gone up year by year and the pandemic really shot them up, right?"
Brusokas: "In all segments of the market. Not just game used jerseys or cards for example. When I began investigating, as part of my role on the FBI’s Art Crime Team, the most expensive trading card was a Honus Wagner card. $2.8 million. Now flash forward to this year, most recently in 2022, a Mickey Mantle card holds the record now at $12 million. And then going to the game used jersey market, when I started, probably a Babe Ruth item, $3 million. Babe Ruth game used jersey. And then that record was smashed multiple times – even twice again last year. Set by Diego Maradona’s "Hand of God" soccer jersey from the World Cup which set it at nine million dollars. And then our very own, Chicago’s Michael Jordan, said "hey, hold my drink" six months later he set the record at $10.1 million for an NBA finals game used jersey from the last dance year."
McPherrin: "Right, we’ll see if that holds until Sunday when this airs. Who knows?"