The Axel Files: The Pakal Robbery

The Theft of The Century - “El Robo del Siglo”

On Christmas Eve, 1984, two Mexican veterinarian dropouts broke into the Museo Nacional del Antropologia. They stole over one hundred ancient Mayan treasures found in the tomb of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal, a discovery that rivals Tutankhamun in beauty, wealth, and cultural significance. The burglary became known as the El Robo del Siglo: The Theft of the Century.

The authorities’ incompetence and corruption led to the case going cold. The Museum didn’t even know how many artifacts were stolen. Four years later, the apprehension of an Acapulco drug dealer leads the police to arrest several suspects, including one of the thieves. Most of the relics were recovered, but not all. It is believed the second thief, who disappeared shortly after the robbery, escaped with the remaining treasures.

For forty years, nothing new was discovered about the second thief or the missing King Pakal relics. Until Gabriela Flores, a Mexican author living in Toronto, pitches a book about Mayan civilization to a local literary agent, Anthony Brizzi. In her meeting with Brizzi, Gabriela notices a glass display that houses what Gabriela believes are some of the missing artifacts from the Pakal Robbery. Gabriela is the niece of former Federal Police Subinspector Benito Pérez, a friend of Toronto private investigator Axel Webb. Gabriela hires Axel with her Uncle’s help to discover if the items in the literary agent’s glass display case are the missing Mayan treasures.

Before Axel can even get started, the literary agent is murdered. And the items in the glass display case go missing. The more Axel investigates, the darker and more dangerous the case gets with the additional murders of Gabriela and a mysterious man known as El Agente. Axel travels from Toronto to Ensenada, Mexico and Spain, searching for who killed his friend’s niece. Everything depends on finding the second thief and the missing Mayan treasures.