>> a mysterious death. >> the story of my strange inheritance occurred when they fished my cousin's body out of the gowanus canal. >> a flood of questions. >> you think it's something sinister? >> i do think there's something going on. >> are the answers locked in storage? >> i just shook my head and i go, "oh, my god, this is a nightmare." >> he was, one might say, an idiot savant. nobody has what he had. howie frank had the best. >> he was sitting on a photo collection potentially worth $10 million. >> they dubbed him the "million dollar beggar." is it worth a million dollars? >> don't change that channel. it's a made-for-tv "strange inheritance." >> dy-no-mite! [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ]

[ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in brooklyn, new york, on my way to meet three brothers at a self-storage joint in historic coney island. that's where they found their strange inheritance, left to them by a homeless relative with a big surprise under lock and key. >> my name's seth lerner. our second cousin, howard frank, died mysteriously in 2012. that's when my brothers and i found out that we inherited the contents of his five storage units. we were shocked the first time we rolled up those doors. >> hi, guys. i'm jamie. >> i'm ian. >> good to meet you. >> hi. i'm seth. >> nice to meet you both. you wrote me about a wild story about a cousin and that he left all his belongings here? >> his whole life is here in this storage bin. >> howard rented five of these

10x15-foot units. >> when we opened up the lockers, we actually found a place where he might have been sleeping. >> wow. >> we didn't really know until we found this place. he never really told us. >> they did not need to be told back in the spring of 2012 that their 55-year-old cousin's life was unraveling. >> he always looked very disheveled. wore the same clothes over and over again, did not bathe. >> didn't bathe? >> did not bathe. was afraid of water. >> the lerner brothers do what they can to help. seth is a successful art director. todd and ian are dentists. >> i felt bad for him, and if there was something i could do, i would, whether it's doing dental work for him, giving him a little money to eat. >> but they don't know that howard, who once had a thriving business, is now begging for money on the streets -- a familiar figure outside several brooklyn synagogues. you seem to have sadness. >> it's sad. you know, the whole thing is

sad. the best way to describe howard is he was a lost soul. >> was he mentally ill? >> i would say there was a certain amount of mental illness, but not anything that was dangerous to other people. >> then seth gets a distressing call from cousin howard. >> it was an odd conversation. he wanted to remind me that he wanted to be buried near his parents, and i said, "howard, you're a young man. why worry about these things?" and he says, "well, i have to worry about them." >> on june 28th, howard frank's body is found floating in brooklyn's gowanus canal. police suspect it's a suicide. do you believe that he committed suicide, seth? >> no, i don't think so. >> you think it's something sinister? >> i can't put my finger on it, but i do think there was some type of cover-up or conspiracy. >> this much is true. it's, as they used to say on television, one of those 8 million stories in the naked city that make great tabloid

copy. i wanted to read you a section that i found curious. "the city medical examiner's office says the cause of death has yet to be determined but did not conduct an autopsy, at the family's request." is that true? >> no, that's not true. we were never contacted by the medical examiner's office. >> there was no autopsy. >> no. >> no. >> who said "no autopsy," then, if it wasn't you? >> somebody from the jewish community came down there and told the medical examiner that howard had no family, no living relatives, that there should be no autopsy. >> howard's death draws media attention -- not only for its mysterious circumstances, but also because of what his cousins find hidden away inside his five storage units in coney island. >> howard frank used to beg for money, even though he was sitting on a photo collection potentially worth $10 million. >> he saved everything.

>> what the hell is that? >> is howard really a millionaire beggar? i take the deep dive into this strange inheritance next. >> but first, our quiz question. the answer after the break. potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right? (in unison) russ, leland, gary: yes. gary: i have a ford f-150. michael: i've always been a ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame. james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. (laughing)

>> the answer is "b," fort lauderdale. while self-storage facilities date back to ancient china, the first u.s.-based operation, lauderdale storage, opened in 1958. >> todd, ian, and seth lerner inherit the contents of five storage lockers in coney island, new york, from their second cousin howard frank, who dies mysteriously in june 2012. what they find inside has some in the press speculating that howard had locked away a fortune worth anywhere from $1 million to $10 million. >> it's a mystery that's still unfolding -- a collection vast enough that howard frank needed storage space. >> you wrote me to come take a look at it. >> i did, yes. >> well, i'm ready to take a

look. >> great. >> really? open sesame! is this howard frank's version of aladdin's cave? piled to the ceiling -- photographs of classic tv stars, boxes and file cabinets full of them, going back to the 1950s. captain's log! there are hundreds of "star trek" photos. and from "the flying nun," more than 10,000. and "a horse, of course." it's "mr. ed." lucy? >> yeah. he had a fondness for lucy. >> who doesn't? look at these pictures. oh, my goodness. this is iconic stuff. >> yeah. >> "batman"? >> mm-hmm. >> "happy days." >> "happy days." >> these are some of the greatest shows. look how young they are! and now that you've been in the storage lockers, how many are in there? >> it's probably close to 2 million. it's just an incredible amount

of media. >> so how, and why, did their cousin get it all? that's a real brooklyn tale. it begins in 1956, when howard frank is born in bensonhurst, the second of two sons. >> i know there was a lot of family problems. >> what kind of problems? >> i think there's some type of mental instability. it was a very difficult family to be raised in. >> many of us have been there. thank goodness for tv. howard's a fan of hit shows of the era, like "leave it to beaver" and reruns of one of his favorites, the popular western "the lone ranger." in his teens, howard begins writing to tv studios, requesting photos of his favorite stars. his early collection includes these "i love lucy" photos, behind-the-scenes shots from "batman," and autographed pictures of his hero, clayton moore. >> howie lived and breathed

photos. >> fred westbrook, now a hollywood talent agent, met howard frank when they were both teenagers, prowling around photo shows in manhattan in the 1970s. >> he was, one might say, an idiot savant. he was a walking encyclopedia on the history of television. >> the two become fast friends, despite howard's quirks. >> as much as howie loved photos, he hated water. he didn't go swimming -- deathly afraid of water. so that means he didn't shower that much. >> howard is especially close to his father, alex, a disabled accountant confined to a wheelchair who works from home. >> howie and his father were very, very close. and they supported each other. >> with that support, howard takes his photo hobby to the next level. he drops out of middle school and begins selling his prints at flea markets. then, in 1974, howard's dad

injects the capital to expand his son's enterprise. >> he uses $12,000 from an inheritance to buy out a well-known celebrity photo shop in manhattan. why do you think his dad put him into this business? >> from alex's point of view, he probably knew somewhere down the line that he wasn't gonna be around forever, and he wanted to give him a chance. >> i also think it was something that alex and he could do together. >> in the buyout, howard snaps up photos from game shows, including "family feud" and "the dating game" -- also, sitcoms like "the munsters" and "laverne and shirley." >> there was about 200,000 photos and books in that collection, and suddenly, howard was in business. >> at just 18, howard officially launches his own company, called personality photos, and sets up shop inside the family home. >> the pictures were everywhere -- on the bed, under

the bed, turn the oven off, put them in the oven. but, boy, what a treasure trove. >> after howard's mother dies in 1978, father and son become inseparable. who was taking care of who? >> i think it was mutual. howard was basically alex's legs, and alex was the business guy. >> in the days before the internet, newspapers, magazines, and tv stations rely on independent dealers like howard to provide them with photos. and howard builds an impressive client list. >> howie would physically walk to the major publications and meet the editors and say, "hey, i have all these archives." 'cause nobody had what he had. >> picture an editor on deadline who needs a shot of fred gwynne or one of adam west without his batman cowl. fastest way to get it -- call howard, who locates the physical photo in a cabinet, box, that oven, or even in this messy stack next to the sink, then

mails the print, with an invoice of 75 bucks an image. >> we found loads of tv guides that he sold photos to, and we found evidence that he supplied photos for the franklin mint for their plates and things like that, for john wayne, lucille ball, elvis presley. >> did he own them? >> no, he didn't own them, but studios sent out press photos for years and years, and they were handed out for promotion. so he had just as much right to them as anyone else. >> by the early 1990s, howard and his dad are raking in more than $200,000 a year. things are looking good. howard next surprises both friends and family with some big news. >> i get a call from howie, and he says he's gonna get married. i was the best man. i was happy for him and shocked. >> but the honeymoon is short-lived. howard gets divorced less than a year later. then, in 2001, another loss --

howard's father passes away. >> he was the rock that i think kept howard together in terms of having a connection to somebody, and i think it was kind of devastating for him. >> he started to spiral, he started to lose focus. >> at the same time, howard's business becomes one of the many wiped out by the internet. when you need that picture of gary coleman or david hasselhoff fast, why call howie from brooklyn when you can instantly download your choice of shots from an online catalog? for the next several years, howard lives off his savings, but eventually lands on the street, moving his trove of pictures to those five storage units in coney island. >> he loved the pictures so much, he would go without eating. it was his life and made him who he was. >> then in the spring of 2012, howard tells his cousins he fears for his life.

he even makes a fatalistic request, in connection with his favorite show, "the lone ranger." >> somehow, he identified with that character. he told me at the time we make his tombstone, he wanted the word "lone ranger" somehow brought onto that. >> howard's cousins just don't know what to make of his ramblings about an overdue loan, money he says he borrowed from a business associate to cover the rent on his storage lockers. was he paranoid or did he have a legitimate reason to be concerned? >> i think he had a legitimate reason to be concerned. he may have pushed the wrong people. >> whether murder, suicide, or accident, on june 28, 2012, the body of howard frank is found floating in the gowanus canal. >> howard frank was last seen alive the night of june 27th, begging for assistance at one of his usual spots. >> no one in howard's family, including his estranged older

brother, is contacted to approve an autopsy. the d.a. opens an investigation, but with a lack of evidence, soon closes the case. and for years, that's where everything sits, until the heirs call in "strange inheritance." we can tell their story, but can we help? well, turns out i know a guy. what are some of the valuable things that you did stumble across? >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. who knew that phones would start doing everything?

entertaining us, getting us back on track and finding us dates. phones really have changed. so why hasn't the way we pay for them? introducing xfinity mobile. you only pay for data and can easily switch between pay per gig and unlimited. no one else lets you do that. see how much you can save when you choose by the gig or unlimited. call or go to xfinitymobile.com. xfinity mobile. it's a new kind of network, designed to save you money.

>> so, which actress was originally offered elizabeth montgomery's role of samantha stephens in "bewitched"? it's tammy grimes. the two-time tony award winner didn't like the premise of the show and wanted to know why samantha wouldn't use her magical powers to stop wars or untangle l.a. traffic jams. >> after their second cousin howard frank dies a mysterious death in 2012, brothers todd, ian, and seth lerner are the sole heirs to howard's nearly 2 million entertainment photos. media reports speculate the inventory of howard's defunct business could still be worth a fortune. could that be true? auction house executive bobby livingston volunteers to help sort things out. so, this is just one of the lockers you looked at. >> that's right. >> so, did howard know what he was doing? >> i think howard knew what he was doing for his time. he's got every television show.

he was obsessed with getting one of everything. >> so, rummaging through the unit is like a flashback to our childhoods. "good times"! >> these were publicity photos. you would have to get someone like howard to find you a picture of "good times." if people magazine, for instance, was doing an article on "good times," they would call howard. >> and then he would give it to them for a fee. >> that's right. but those days are long gone, and so, unfortunately, the value of these prints have gone down considerably. >> well, one thing that is never gonna be gone -- "dy-no-mite!" i love this guy. oh, my god -- j.j. bobby tells me you could sell these prints on ebay for a few dollars apiece -- and the signed ones, more like 10 bucks. >> it's fantastic, right? neat. >> but bobby does find, among the dime-a-dozen don johnsons, alfs, and mr. t's, some real gems. what do you have? >> well, you know, one of the coolest things i found, which is

an original elizabeth montgomery "bewitched" photo. >> i love elizabeth montgomery. >> well, these are original "bewitched" test shots, and you can see she went through herself and put "kill" on them -- she didn't like it -- and she put a question mark on that one, which was kind of neat. >> "i look like i should be sitting in the dentist chair. kill." well, for elizabeth montgomery, someone that's a big fan of hers, this has value? >> yeah, absolutely. probably these are worth $100, $200 each. >> what if there are more like these filed away in these cabinets? here's my bottom-line question about all this. is it worth a million dollars? that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. whoa that's amazing... hey, i'm the internet! i know a bunch of people who would love that.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> after inheriting their cousin's trove of nearly 2 million entertainment photos, the lerner brothers are trying to figure out what to do with

it. do you have a plan? >> we pretty much don't know what we're gonna do with it. it's too big for us to do anything with. >> to help them weigh their options, i've invited auction house executive bobby livingston to meet us here at the storage lockers, where he's taken a deep dive into the photo hoard. what kind of condition is it in? >> it's in all kinds of condition. your cousin just didn't really care too much about condition. he cared about quantity. >> so, based on your analysis, do you have good news or not-so-good news? >> well, it's a very difficult thing to be able to give you a value, 'cause i didn't get to go through everything. but i think you could probably look at maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. [ cash register dings ] >> so, call him the "quarter million dollar beggar." maybe. because, as bobby livingston explains, his estimate can only be realized by scanning, listing, and selling the photos individually. >> well, you have to inventory it because there are some really great things in there, and then

there's a lot of things that aren't so cool. but if you really want to understand its value, that's something you're gonna have to do. >> but think about that. if you spent just two minutes on each image, it would take nearly eight years working around the clock to get through howard's 2 million pictures. so, do you have the time to do these individually? >> no, we don't. >> because you guys have day jobs. >> yes, real jobs. >> and it's costing you a pretty penny to keep them stored up. >> we've probably spent, in storage fees, about $6,000 a year. >> so, what do you think you'll do? >> i think if a person came along and said, "we'll give you a couple hundred thousand dollars for it," i would say, "here. take the whole thing. bye. see ya." >> would it be a relief? >> it would be a big relief. >> what would really ease their minds would be to finally answer the questions they continue to have about howard's death. did it somehow stem from a dispute over those 2 million pictures? they still think so but have

found no proof. and listening to cousin todd talk about his strange inheritance, i can't help but think this is just not the way a made-for-tv story is supposed to end. >> you know, i think when people leave you something, you hope that there's some legacy to it, but in this case, when you have to go through somebody's life and clean it up, it's like somebody leaving you something that you really don't want. >> so, unlike the tv shows that howard frank cherished, where all plot points get resolved before the credits roll, he mostly left his cousins nagging questions, still locked up among 2 million pictures. the lerner brothers recall their cousin's request that when he died, he wanted the name of his favorite tv show, "the lone ranger," inscribed on his gravestone. the brothers plan to honor his wish with a stone that quotes from the show -- "ride on, lone ranger. ride on forever."

i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> one family's secret history buried in old boxes. >> i needed to know who i was, where our family came from. >> a fortune in precious art looted by the nazis. >> renoir, degas, botticelli... >> i'm sorry, the degas, the renoir? >> oh, yeah. we didn't know until we started to read through these documents and discover what he'd been looking for all his life. >> two sons vow to keep their father's search alive. >> it's about vindicating my father and my grandfather. >> we said, "you can't sell this painting. it's ours. it's stolen." [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby in los angeles, on my way to see two brothers and their surprise inheritance, works by some of the world's greatest artists. the nazis stole these masterpieces, and the heirs' fight to get them back uncovered something more -- their family's hidden history. >> my name is simon goodman, and this is my brother, nick. when our father died, we got some old cardboard boxes in the mail. >> hi, simon. i'm jamie. >> simon goodman. delighted to meet you, jamie. >> simon invites me into his beverly hills home. >> jamie, these are two pieces that i'm very proud of, a drawing and an engraving by renoir. >> renoir? >> yes, yes, the man himself, the great impressionist. >> you must have quite the collecting family. >> this is really just the beginning of a big story. >> it starts in london after world war ii.

from an early age, simon and nick regard their dad as an often gloomy man of mystery. what did dad do for a living? >> not really sure. he was a manufacturer's agent, whatever that meant, but it allowed him to go to europe all the time. >> did he ever take you on these trips? >> yes, especially in the summer, but we would get parked on a beach, usually with our mother or a nanny, and dad would disappear somewhere. >> the boys learn that questions about their father's past are off limits. because, if you did, what would happen? >> he sunk into an even worse funk. there was something fuming in there, and it was all bottled up. >> the brothers know next to nothing about their dad's family. simon remembers having all sorts of questions about his grandparents. what were you told? >> they died. >> that's it? >> that's really it. they died during the war. i questioned my mother about it, and she said, "i strongly recommend you not bring it up." >> his father does explain

one thing, the reason that he, as a young immigrant from holland, changed his name on the eve of world war ii. your dad is gutmann. >> yes. >> you're goodman. how'd that happen? >> he thought being called berhard eugen friedrich gutmann sounded a little too german, so he changed his name to bernard eugene goodman. >> did you ever ask your parents if you were jewish? >> yes, because my brother and i -- this is interesting -- have different experiences here because he's he's blond and blue-eyed. i'm olive-skinned. my name is simon goodman. everybody assumed i was jewish. >> did you practice judaism growing up? >> no, my mother had had me christened in the church of england. >> did that seem odd? >> it did seem odd. as usual, my mother interceded. she said, "well, yes, some of your family had been jewish originally." and that's about as much as i knew. >> in the early '70s, simon and nick, now in their 20s, both moved to los angeles

to pursue careers in the music business. the distance between father and sons grows ever greater, especially after their parents divorce in 1973. >> as we got older, he actually shut down more, so it became harder and harder to get any information out of him. >> i grew up with this mostly silent father. he could talk to me about cricket and innocuous subjects. i needed to know who i was, where our family came from. >> bernard goodman dies in 1994 at age 80 without providing an answer. but three months after their father's death, the brothers receive a mysterious shipment of boxes filled with old papers that reveal their father's secret history. >> my grandparents were murdered in concentration camps. >> the nazis took everything, not just the famous artworks, but everything. >> but first, our

"strange inheritance" quiz question. which allied leader during world war ii was an accomplished painter? winston churchill, franklin roosevelt, or josef stalin? the answer after the break. so, tell me young man. do you remember what your dad and i taught you about hands only cpr? yes. uh, kind of. if you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse, the first thing you do is...? call 9-1-1. and the second thing you do is? push hard and fast in the center of the chest at a rate of at least one hundred beats per minute. who even knows what one hundred beats per minute even sounds like? ♪ well, you can tell by the way i use my walk, ♪ ♪ i'm a woman's man: no time to talk. ♪ ♪ music loud and women warm, ♪ i've been kicked around ♪ since i was born. and now it's all right. ♪ ♪ it's ok. and you may look the other way ♪ ♪ we can try to understand

♪ the new york times' effect on man ♪ remember it's only two steps: call 9-1-1. and push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of 'staying alive' until help arrives. ♪ ah, ah, ah, ah ♪ stayin' alive ♪ ah, ah, ah, ah ♪ stayin' alive ♪ ah, ah, ah, ah

♪ >> so which allied leader was an accomplished painter? it's british prime minister winston churchill. in fact, this churchill painting, which the prime minister gave to

fdr, sold in 2011 for $3 million. >> in los angeles, brothers simon and nick goodman are sorting through boxes that came in the mail from the estate of their late father, bernard. >> all these old letters, and many more, were in those original boxes my brother and i received, yes, and these passports, old diaries. >> they uncover a secret family history tracing back to their grandfather, fritz gutmann, who was born in germany in 1886 into a jewish banking dynasty. they learn that fritz was a passionate art collector. >> extraordinary works of art by some of the great masters. >> for example? >> well, guardi, botticelli, degas. >> are you thinking this is unbelievable? >> this suddenly appeared as the tip of the iceberg. >> they find this photo

of a 30-room mansion near amsterdam, where their father grew up along with his little sister, lily. then they uncover the horrifying facts that their father had kept from them. in 1940, bernard is 26 and serving in the british army after graduating from cambridge university. in april that year, hitler invades norway and denmark. bernard fears the nazis will soon head west into holland, where his parents are still living. >> he sent a few cables back to holland, saying, "please come to england." >> bernard's sister, lily, takes refuge in italy with her italian husband, but their parents refuse to leave. >> my grandfather was rather stubborn, and he had built a beautiful home full of wonderful things. he didn't just want to up and leave it and run. >> the german armies then swept over holland. >> in may 1940, the nazis cross

the border into holland. as part of their conquest, they begin targeting jewish art collectors, including grandpa fritz. >> this is the last nazi inventory, room by room, of my grandparents' home in holland. >> oh, my goodness! >> so this lists everything. >> so i see chippendale tables and paintings and -- >> yes, yes, yes. >> the nazis loot more than 1,200 items -- paintings, silver, jewelry, and antiques such as this rare 16th-century clock given to fritz by his late father, eugen. >> the nazis took everything, not just the famous artworks, but everything. >> nick and simon find records showing the nazis forced their grandfather to sell the items recorded on the list, worth many millions of dollars, for pennies. >> the germans, in their meticulousness, had paid my grandfather for the contents of the house. they didn't want to just take it.

they want your signature on a piece of paper that says you sold it to them. [ dramatic music plays ] >> the nazis begin deporting dutch jews to concentration camps in the summer of 1942. in may 1943, ss agents arrive at the gutmann estate, arrest fritz and his wife, louise, and place them on a train bound for berlin. there, fritz is brought before nazi officials, who order him to sign over the gutmann family's massive silver collection. he refuses. >> so, after he refuses to sign, the train from berlin heads south, and they're let out in the concentration camp of theresienstadt. my grandfather refused one last time to sign over the silver. he's, by one eyewitness account, beaten to death by the wall outside the small fortress at the edge of the camp. >> what happened to your grandmother?

>> sadly, a month or two after my grandfather was murdered, she was put on a transport train to auschwitz, where i learned she was murdered the day she arrived. >> the brothers learn that, when the war in europe ends in may 1945, their dad returns to his childhood home in holland. >> he went to the house. everything was gone. >> he grew up thinking he was going to inherit this fabulous estate, and the war comes along. he loses everything. his parents are murdered. >> and now i understand. it became his task in life to try and piece together what might be left of the family estate. >> the documents in those boxes show that in 1946, their father begins filing claims with various european governments, including the netherlands, to reclaim his family's stolen art. he also reaches out to the allies' art

recovery team, called the monuments men, whose story was told in the 2014 film starring george clooney and matt damon. nick and simon discover that their father had direct correspondence with a french woman named rose valland, the inspiration for cate blanchett's character in the film. >> what is all this? >> people's lives. >> she helped keep track of all the looted paintings that the nazis were stealing from the various collections, and at night, she would go and photograph all the paintings and make surreptitious lists of everything. >> this photo from the gutmann estate in holland shows a painting by swiss-french artist jean-etienne liotard. bernard and rose track it down to austrian salt mines, where hitler stored stolen art. bernard recovers this painting and others, but then sells them to fund his ongoing operation.

how devoted to the quest do you think he was, now that you know what you know? >> it was his lifetime mission. this is what he was all about, trying to find his family heritage. >> bernard goodman continues the search until his death in 1994. he never tells his sons what he was doing. >> never. >> why not? >> because, if he'd really felt that he'd achieved what he set out to achieve, he could've told us and been proud about it. instead, i think, he felt defeated. >> as the brothers discover where their father's quest ended, they come across an envelope containing three crinkled photo negatives. >> this is an unusual landscape by edgar degas. >> the degas? >> the degas. >> next thing they know, they're following in their father's footsteps on the trail of another masterpiece. >> everybody just closed

the doors in our faces all the time. nobody knew anything about nazi looted art. nobody wanted to know anything about it. >> was it the money? >> no, it's justice. it's about vindicating my father and my grandfather. >> here's another quiz question for you. a young adolf hitler failed the entrance exam at the vienna academy of fine arts. why? he was color-blind? he failed at drawing the human form? or his drawings were too violent? the answer when we return. potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right? (in unison) russ, leland, gary: yes. gary: i have a ford f-150. michael: i've always been a ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck.

potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame. james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. (laughing) hit could be the next big thing i should totally get that domain name... get your great idea online too... get your domain today, and get... ...a free trial of gocentral from godaddy what should i watch? show me sports. it's so fluffy! look at that fluffy unicorn! he's so fluffy i'm gonna die!

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♪ >> so why did hitler fail his art school entrance exam? it's b. he was told his drawings showed a lack of appreciation for the human form. ♪ >> from a box of documents

left to them by their father, brothers simon and nick goodman are piecing together a secret family history. among their father's papers, they find a list of paintings, looted by the nazis, that he was still searching for, along with three tattered photo negatives. >> i'm afraid they're a bit wrinkled. they've been around since world war ii. >> why would that be in the file? >> it was an envelope of negatives, and there was a letter nearby that explained that rose valland had taken these photos during the nazi occupation of paris. >> one of them shows a painting listed as "paysage," meaning landscape in french. it appears to be the work of edward degas, the 19th-century impressionist master best known for depicting ballet dancers. what is is like looking at a negative of a degas... >> mm-hmm.

>> ...and knowing that it belonged to your family? >> well, it was huge, and then it became clear we had to do our homework. >> to find a match to that timeworn negative, the brothers pore through art books and auction catalogs. >> after, well, a month or two, i finally hit pay dirt. >> what'd you find? >> i found this "degas landscapes," and, lo and behold... >> it's in the book? >> ...there it is, in color. i nearly fell off my chair when i found this. >> simon discovers that the painting had been on loan to the art institute of chicago. >> it listed who the current owner was. >> who was it? >> it says here, mr. and mrs. daniel searle. >> records show that in 1987, daniel searle, a chicago pharmaceuticals magnate, bought the painting from a private collector for 850 grand, so the brothers inform

searle that they want their family's painting back. >> they said, "well, go away," you know, "who are you? we bought this fair and square." >> searle's lawyers point out that simon and nick's grandfather's name, fritz gutmann, is absent from the painting's chain of custody. true, but the list of owners does include a german art dealer, hans wendland, who did business with the nazis. >> the degas was taken from my grandfather's storage unit in paris and smuggled to switzerland because the strange thing was, the nazis didn't like impressionist paintings, so what they would do is they'd send those to switzerland, and they'd either get old masters in return or actually hard currency. >> in 1998, facing a costly legal battle, the brothers settle out of court for about $250,000. as part of the deal, daniel searle donates the degas to the art institute of chicago.

>> the art institute of chicago today lists it clearly as "donated by daniel searle," but from the collection of fritz and louise gutmann. my grandfather didn't just die for nothing. he didn't just disappear. >> it's a landmark case, the first dispute over nazi-looted art settled in the us. >> the case renewed hope to families who might not have recovered property after world war ii, that indeed they could recover property. >> and as you're about to see, the goodman brothers' first victory makes them all the more eager to complete their father's quest. >> we went, "oh, my god! there's, like, at least two dozen paintings, some serious pieces of art." i thought, "this belongs to us. we'll find it." >> what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

♪ dancing to me i think is the truest form of expression. ♪ ♪ i was a dancer since i was 4 years old.

♪ ♪ i was tripping, i was falling, and i didn't even know what . . . . ♪ ♪ oh my god! ♪ ♪ i dream sometimes and i see that. ♪ i like the way your arms end. ♪ thank you. ♪

♪ >> now, back to "strange inheritance." >> brothers nick and simon goodman are on a mission to recover their family's valuable art collection looted by the nazis. after reclaiming one of their grandfather's most sought-after paintings, this degas landscape, they're on the hunt for more. >> my did didn't give up for 40 or 50 years, so we were just carrying on the family tradition. >> their next target, a painting by the italian renaissance master sandro botticelli, listed in their father's records with the title "portrait of a young man." as luck would have it, the botticelli almost appears out of thin air. >> we get a call from a friend who just said, "i saw your botticelli. it's in a sotheby's catalog coming up for sale in a couple of weeks." >> where? >> in new york. they actually had my grandfather's name in the provenance, listed on the catalog.

we said, "you can't sell this painting. it's ours. it's stolen." >> after some negotiation, the seller agrees to pay the goodmans a little over $100,000, about one-sixth the painting's value at the time. while not ideal, the settlement avoids a costly legal battle. the painting itself ends up at the denver art museum. >> do you do it for the money, or to right a wrong? >> oh, to right a wrong. i mean, money's great, but it's our family heritage. >> then, in 2002, after decades of dispute, the dutch government finally returns more than 250 artworks and antiques to the goodmans that have been tangled up in red tape since world war ii. the heirlooms are stockpiled in a warehouse, where simon, nick, and their 83-year-old aunt, lily, who escaped to italy during the war, are invited to visit. >> they'd arranged our furniture as it might have been in a home.

i led her to this old chaise longue. she said, "oh, look! i remember this!" and i said, "well, it's ours again." >> oh! >> "sit. relax for a minute." i helped her sit in her mother's chaise longue. >> we picked things out that we wanted, so simon has things in his house. i have things in my house, and lily and her family have stuff in italy. >> in 2003, the more than 160 remaining items from the collection go up for sale at christie's in london and amsterdam. this flemish tapestry hammers in at $85,000. a silver gilt double cup goes for 600,000, and this 17th-century silver gilt pitcher -- just over a million. the total, more than $4 million. is there more, simon? >> there's probably at least 12 important paintings

and about 300 or more antiques. >> and, clearly, you won't quit. >> no, i'm very grateful that i'm able to uncover my real roots. through this art, i get to know what my family was like, and i can touch something they touched. >> and remember this 16th-century table clock looted by the nazis from the gutmann estate in holland? after simon tracked it down to a german museum, the museum agreed to pay his family about a million dollars for it, and simon got something else that you can't put a price tag on -- an apology. "we regret what happened to your family," the museum director told simon. "we are grateful, however, for the opportunity to set at least this matter straight." i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching

"strange inheritance." and remember, you can't take it with you. lauren: breaking news this morning. president donald trump rally supporters in west virginia as the democratic governor of the state turns republican. cheryl: also breaking, special counsel robert mueller tapping a grand jury, how far is mueller willing to go with this? lauren: how does this affect the markets? 16-year-old low on unemployment rate, is that telling the real job's story ahead of job's data, dow futures are up 26 points. could see another record close. cheryl: job's report could have big impact