CCTV footage of the 2019 heist (video via Associated Press on YouTube)A video played in an Oxford courtroom in England this week allegedly shows the high-profile theft of “America” (2016), the approximately $6.1 million 18-karat gold cast toilet artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, from the Blenheim Palace in September 2019. The long-awaited trial for three of the five men believed to be behind the heist began on Monday, February 24. Cattelan’s golden lavatory was exhibited in a solo show of the artist’s work at the historic site and had previously been used as a functioning toilet in a 2016–2017 interactive installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York that parodied the opulence of the art world.During Monday’s trial opening, a jury at the Oxford Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of the early morning art theft, an under-five-minute affair that prosecuting attorney Julian Christopher called an “audacious heist.” Jurors saw a series of clips, later published by outlets including the Associated Press and the BBC, beginning with two cars, which prosecutors say were stolen, speeding toward the palace. In the next frame, an individual wearing a baseball cap, black gloves, and jacket reaches out to another man who hands him a tool that resembles a sledgehammer.Maurizio Cattelan’s “America” at the Guggenheim Museum in 2016 (photo Carey Dunne/Hyperallergic)According to the BBC, Fred Doe, age 36; Michael Jones, age 39; and Bora Guccuk, age 41, have denied charges including conspiracy and burglary. A fourth man, James Sheen, age 40, has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy, burglary, and criminal transportation charges, according to the Associated Press. The fifth suspect’s name was not immediately known. The trial is expected to last four weeks.At least one individual is shown running toward the palace building at 4:50am. By 4:53am, an individual is seen walking toward a parked vehicle, carrying the golden toilet’s seat with one hand. Seconds later, three men are shown packing something into the back of the same vehicle, and by 4:54am, both cars drive away from the area. Blenheim Palace declined to comment on pending litigation. Hyperallergic has contacted Cattelan through Gagosian, his representing gallery.In 2019, Cattelan told the New York Times that he thought the heist was a prank. “‘America’ was the one percent for the 99 percent, and I hope it still is,” he wrote in an email to the New York Times at the time. “I want to be positive and think the robbery is a kind of Robin Hood-inspired action.” Before the toilet was stolen and likely destroyed, the Guggenheim Museum offered to loan “America” to the Donald Trump White House in 2018 after the president requested to borrow a Vincent van Gogh painting.Prosecutors now believe “America” was broken down into smaller gold pieces and sold. They also alleged that one of the suspects, Jones, attended the exhibition, which required three-minute bookings to use the toilet, in the weeks preceding the art theft. While at Blenheim Palace, prosecutors said, Jones took photos of the window that was later used to enter the building.Panels of wood, which appear to have come from a broken door, are visible in photographs taken in 2019 of the damage near an exposed sewer pipe.