If the Irish mob was involved, sympathizers of the Irish Republican Army probably used the pieces as collateral to buy weapons. During this time, Irish-American gangsters provided arms for the IRA, most notoriously in the Valhalla case. In This Is a Robbery, former Scotland Yard investigator recalls a time where the IRA was trying to commission a Yates painting to raise money for arms. Former IRA press officer Richard O'Rawe dismisses this theory, however.