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'Wizard of Oz' Slippers Stolen From Staten Island Hotel

By Nicholas Rizzi | March 14, 2014 10:38am
 A woman stole Dorothy's ruby slippers from a Staten Island hotel, police said.
Ruby Slippers Stolen from Staten Island Hotel
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BLOOMFIELD — Perhaps police should be looking in Kansas?

A woman stole a $2,500 pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers from the "The Wizard of Oz" that were on display inside the lobby of a Staten Island hotel, police said.

The thief went into the lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn, 1100 South Ave., at 2:05 a.m. on March 2 and took the slippers — modeled after the ones worn by Judy Garland in the classic movie — from the case, police said.

In the movie, Dorothy tapped her shoes three times and was magically whisked home to Kansas.

The replica slippers were picked up by the owner of the hotel, Richard Nicotra, and his wife while in Paris and displayed in the lobby with a sign saying that "there's no place like home," but the hotel tries their best.

"We thought it was a novel idea," Nicotra said. "We've had them there for years and years."

Nicotra said the hotel has $2 million worth of art around, but the thieves took one of the cheaper pieces. He added that the hotel has roughly 100 cameras and it caught the woman with three men lifting up the case and taking out the slippers.

The slippers are worth around $2,500, according to police. Nicotra said the woman was caught on surveillance cameras wearing the slippers before she fled with them.

He said guests have been upset about the loss of the shoes, but hopes they get returned by the thieves.

"Just drop the shoes off and we'll be fine," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.