ARTS : Neiman Artworks Stolen in N.Y.

NEW YORK — Thieves smashed through a SoHo gallery’s front door today and snatched $750,000 worth of art works--including nine oil paintings and drawings by LeRoy Neiman--in a lightning-fast pre-dawn heist, police said.

The burglars broke through glass panels in the double doors at Dyansen Gallery, hot-wired an electronic operated steel security gate and made off with the artworks in less than five minutes. A gallery official said a Neiman drawing of TV’s David Frost was among the loot.

In addition to the paintings and drawings by Neiman, whose paintings often depict famous people at play, the thieves made off with six other paintings and four sculptures, said a Dyansen official. The stolen works were valued at about $750,000 by the gallery.