It’s the secret that was hidden in a crawlspace on Staten Island for years until broadcast executive Carl Sabatino discovered it tucked underneath his aunt’s sewing machine.
The New Jersey native found the possible Pablo Picasso piece after his aunt, Jenny Verastro, mentioned the artwork while lying on her deathbed in 2004.
He said he moved the sewing machine, and “it just came flying out, literally in my lap. And I began to cry."
Sabatino's uncle Nicky Verrastro had bought the piece on a street corner in London for £10, or roughly $10, while serving as a soldier during World War II. Sabatino recalls seeing the picture of a lady in a fuzzy hat hanging on his aunt’s wall during his childhood but never thought much about it.
