italian tax police said saturday that they had seized works by van gogh, picasso, cezanne and other giants of art in a crackdown on assets hidden by the disgraced founder of the collapsed dairy company parmalat.

ugg classic authorities estimated the 19 masterpieces stashed away in attics and basements were valued at some euro100 million ($150 million).

parma prosecutor gerardo laguardia said that, based on wiretapped phone conversations, officials believed at least one of the paintings hidden by calisto tanzi was about to be sold.

"we got lucky. we learned that there were negotiations under way to sell one of the paintings" and raid three apartments in the area of parma, near parmalat's headquarters, laguardia said in an interview on italy's sky tg24 tv. he didn't identify the painting.

bologna-based tax police col. piero iovino told the associated press by telephone that investigators believed the entire batch of paintings, watercolors and drawings were up to be sold. the prospective buyer was a russian, possibly living in italy, iovino said.

no arrests were announced ugg classic as part of the art seizure.

tax discount cheap uggs boots on sale police said parma prosecutors are opening a probe into alleged concealing of assets in parmalat's bankruptcy case.

parmalat, the dairy conglomerate known for its long shelf-life milk grew from a small dairy distributor in parma, into a diversified, multinational food company by 1990, but collapsed in 2003 under euro14 billion in debt