[cwsiggy]

Howard Lederer is an incredibly diverse individual. Starting out as a child, he proved himself worthy of board games such as Trouble, Battleship, and Yatzee. Moving on to college for one year, he found his passion in chess. While on the International chess circuit, he discovered an interest in fine art (more on this later) He then discovered poker and honed his skills in the dingy underground clubs, taking money from such fish as Dan Harrington and Eric Seidel. While pursuing poker, Howard was recruited by one of the club owners to run the sports book for the Gambino crime family. He was so succesful, he had to move the operation out to Vegas to avoid the heat.

It turns out, that the sports betting operation was just a subterfuge for his real activities – international art thief. Howard learned from the best, - Stephane Breitwieser. Boston mobster Whitey Bulger who was owed a favor by the Gambinos and needing a bargaining chip in case he was caught while on the lamb, pressed Howard into pulling off the Gardner Museum heist in 1990.

Howard took his 20% fee from this 100+ million heist and put the money into high stakes cash games at the Bellagio. There he met Suzy, a swing shift manager and the love of his life. In order to prove his love for her, Howard anonymously tipped off the authorities and returned his greatest art theft, Munchen’s The Scream, which he stole in 1994. Wedding bells followed.

Howard, bored by high stakes poker and not ready to give up his passion for art decided to steal Munchen’s The Scream again in 2004 and as a bonus his Madonna painting. He really likes that painting! Authorities haven’t been able to make the connection, but it is widely speculated that Howard used the proceeds of the underground sale of these two paintings to fund Full Tilt Poker. Who knows what the future holds for the Professor.