Because the water table is too high for digging, the graveyards were built above ground, rows of vaults and mausoleums modelled after European tombs, set along wandering paths. Many of the crypts are still in use, the old bones pushed back to make room for new generations. Many are adorned with statues and iron crosses, the crumbling keepsakes of the dead. But these days, fashion is just as serious a foe. Yuppies decorate their gardens with crosses and angels, the gloomier the better, and gothic goods sail through boutiques in Los Angeles and New York.
Police say the supply has come largely from thieves.
The thefts may have gone on, unnoticed, for years, says Louise Fergusson, director of Save Our Cemeteries, a preservation group. Months later, police booked four wealthy city men, all dealers and preservationists, who had cemetery items in their homes and shops. Police believe these men used their knowledge of art to tell the thieves precisely what to steal. Ever since then, he has been trying to clear his name. He even staged a press conference in a cemetery, a few feet away from his ancestors' tomb.