US man reunited with lost wallet 40 yrs after thief hid it behind wall

LONDON - A US man, whose leather wallet was stolen at his office, has amazingly been reunited with it 40 years later.

Rudolph Resta, now 77, was working for the New York Times as an art director when his wallet disappeared after he left his jacket in an unguarded coat closet, reports the Daily Mail.

The thief pulled out the cash, but left the American Express credit card, his social security card and, more importantly, cherished pictures of his beautiful wife, two young sons and his beloved late father.

The wallet was hidden behind a wall in a gap between an unused window and the masonry seal behind it on the second floor of the old Times building in Manhattan at 229 West 43rd Street.

And there it lay for 40 years until it was discovered by 46-year-old Jose Cisneros, a security guard at the building who showed it to his colleague Rafael Rodriguez.

Among Resta’s documents was his Times membership card for the employees’ blood bank. They decided to find him and hand over the wallet.

Resta, from Queens, who retired in 1999, was tracked down and agreed to meet at the building and share his emotional memories after getting his wallet back.

He was so overcome with emotion that he kissed Cisneros on the cheek and told the New York Times of his delight.

“I was sort of heartbroken,[at the time of the theft] I though it was gone forever. It wasn’t so much the money. I had marvellous things in there. Nice pictures of my family,” he said.

Resta then proudly showed a black and white picture of his wife Angela, wearing a jaguar fur stole on a trip to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in 1963.

“Just look at my wife, so glamorous that’s why I married her. Still is,” he said. (ANI)