But the search came up empty handed, save for a 1990 Boston Herald newspaper clipping about the theft and a handwritten list on yellow looseleafof the stolen works and the street value for each piece. He was fingered by Elene Guarente, the widow of Robert Bobby Guarente, who had close ties to several of the Boston criminals believed to have orchestrated and carried out the robbery. "I dont care. They bound and gagged two guards, then stole 13 pieces. However, he was never proven to have had anything to do with the crime, and the FBI even discredited theories about Abath being part of the heist because they deemed all of the museum's guards too incompetent to have pulled it off. Connortold. Thirty years have passed since the $500 million haul, and both the FBI and the museum itself still have . crossDomain: true, Stranger still, the perpetrators left possibly the most expensive work in the museum untouched: Titians The Rape of Europa, which was hanging in a third-floor gallery. Isabella Stewart Gardner The museum was founded by Isabella Stewart Gardner, a famed art collector and philanthropist from Boston, Massachusetts. please contact [emailprotected]. } In another wrinkle, Abaths role in the drama once again came under scrutiny in 2015, when the United States Attorneys office in Massachusetts released a rare security camera video. Twelve of the 13 pieces stolen are. appendNewsletterSignup(); var c = ca[i]; The 1990 theft of 13 works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's collection remains unsolved, although the Museum's commitment to resolving the crime has never diminished since its occurrence 31 years ago. Please try again later.' Additionally, heopened a back door minutes before the two armed men arrived.. The docuseries also dives into the theory that art thief Myles Connor had something to do with the heist. When we first interviewed him, Robert Gentile said that he had never even heard of the heistbut the evidence points to him having intimate knowledge of the works and the crime., In his only TV interview, given earlier this year to New Havens News 8, Gentile maintained his innocence, insisting [Elenes] crazy. regex: { Robert Gentile, a mobster who for years denied suspicions from authorities that he knew anything about a trove of artwork valued around $500 million that was stolen in a 1990 museum heist and remains missing, has died. // ------------------------------------------------------------------- They carried handcuffs and duct tape to restrain the guards, but ended up getting stuck in traffic and arrived at themuseum shortly after it had closed. Collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Then came the dramatic 2012 FBI raid of Gentiles Connecticut homethe first of several over the yearsan extensive search employing ground-penetrating radar. He letthem in through the same doorhe later unlocked for the thieves. Another former mobster, Robert Gentile, has long maintained his innocence despite a bevy of evidence pointing to his involvement in the crime. var ctx = this; Mar 30, 2017, By Both resembled police sketches of the criminals and died within one year of the heist. addCss('https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css'); The museum's founder, introduced in episode 1, was an eccentric millionaire heiress whose real-life story is just as mind-blowing. This is not a serious blow to the investigation by any means. Eileen Kinsella & Katya Kazakina, submit: function($form, onSuccess) { + '' var name = prefix + cname + "="; }) head.appendChild(link); script.crossorigin = "anonymous"; setTimeout(function() { Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Rick Abath was one of the two guards who was duct-taped and handcuffed during the heist. The stolen works are valued at $500 million, making the robbery the largest art theft in American history.. It doesnt bother me., Then theres the theory that involves Myles Connor'sgood friend Bobby Donati, an associate of the powerful New England Patriarca crime family, was behind the heist. One of the world's most captivating art heists, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft has only continued to gain infamy since its execution in the early '90s. Again, though, that was never proven to be true and like the other suspects, Bulger was never found guilty. A Gardner Heist Suspect's Prison Sentence Was Secretly Cut . His fingerprints were even taken, but none of them matched any that were found at the crime scene. } Nov 14, 2019, By Wealthy American art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner constructed her namesake museum out of her private, Venetian palazzoinspired home in the hope that it would provide for the education and enjoyment of the public forever. But after her death in 1924, the museum fell into financial disrepair. On March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stole 13 priceless works of art. Photograph . The Legacy Of Isabella Stewart Gardner. if (!expirationMinutes) { The word recovered was over them.. At the time of the crime, FBI agent Thomas McShane investigated Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger. A main suspect, David Allen Turner could have been one of the criminals who forcefully entered the lavish yet insufficiently protected building of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. + '
' Art theft of 1990. The two were acquaintances ofNew England Mafia associate Carmello Merlino. } HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Robert Gentile, a mobster who for years denied suspicions from . The largest art theft in world history occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990 when thieves stole 13 pieces, collectively valued at $500 million, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The FBI eventually sent an informant to spy on Gentile, or the Cook, as he liked to be called, at the red-sauce joint he ran out of his used car business in South Windsor. var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal'); The Museum is offering a $10 million dollar reward for information leading directly to the safe return of the stolen works. // =================================================================== The walls of the office of Anthony Amore, the chief of security of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in . The pair proceeded to remove 13 treasured artworks on display in the lavishly decorated gallery, smashing the protective glass of two Rembrandt paintings and cutting the canvases from their gilded frames. Art thief and screenwriter Brian Michael McDevitt. if ($modal.hasClass('slideInDown')) return; The historic theft took place at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, when two thieves posed as Boston Police, duping security guards and making off with 13 artworks by masters including Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet. var expires = "expires="+d.toUTCString(); The guards remained handcuffed until police arrived at 8:15 AM. link.rel = 'stylesheet'; Robert Gentile, Linked To Gardner Museum Art Theft, Dies. Two men in police uniforms pushed the Museum buzzer, stated they were responding to a disturbance, and requested to be let in. + '' The museum opened to the public in 1903, and Gardner continued to expand the collection and arrange it until she died in 1924. setCookie(cookieName, value, expirationMinutes); They handcuffed both security guards in the building under the pretense of arresting them, then announced it was a robbery and tied up and the guards in the basement. }) customSerializer: function(){ } ); if (!found) { Privacy Statement + '' McDevitt was living in Boston during the Gardner heist but moved to California shortly after, the Boston Herald reported. However, that claim has never been corroborated. $modal.find('.form-row').hide(); document.body.appendChild(script); Most people, including the FBI, argue that the works traveled through organized crime networks in Boston: namely, the mob. + 'Thank you for subscribing!' The Globe and WBURs investigative podcast Last Seen helped publicize the theft upon its debut in 2018. Taylor Dafoe, sensitivity: 50, Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. var d = new Date(); She is also a freelance journalist based in Chicago whose work has appeared in Wired, Washingtonian, the Boston Globe, South Bend Tribune, the New York Times and more. This past week, news broke about new updates on the thirty-one year old case. However, as of 2021, no one has been formally charged in relation to the crimes, and the art taken from the museum in the early hours of that March morning has yet to be found. // Focus on the email input box }, The daring crime is revisited in Netflixs new docuseries This is a Robbery: The Worlds Biggest Art Heist, which hitsthe streaming service on Wednesday. */ In 81 minutes they stole 13 pieces of artwork, among the paintings stripped from their frames were works by Vermeer, Degas, and Rembrandt.Season 2 tackles . Even so, Bulger was not convicted of the crime or proven to have anything to do with it. // Signup submission So we. Shortly after, Reissfelder died of an apparent cocaine overdose. During that incident, McDevitt and a partner hijacked a FedEx truck, posing as employees of the shipping company in order to gain access to the museum. var valid = ctx.validate( $form, $email); } As the Guardian reports, dozens of theories ranging from conspiratorial to credible have cropped up over the years. The infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist has since been hailed one of the most devastating thefts of private property in art history. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has offered a reward of $10 million dollars for anyone that brings them information leading to the recovery of the artworks. + ' @media (max-width: 1199px){ #ouibounce-modal .description {font-size:13px !important;} }' Share Rembrandt van Rijn. var SignupForm = { The thieves departed with 13 of the Gardners works of art 81 minutes later. Major art museums across the state . + '<\/div>' The FBI believed that Louis Royce, a gangster, had visited the museum before the heist took place to examine all of the possible pitfalls of the impending theft. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was robbed in the early morning hours of March 18th 1990 by two men posing as police officers. A post shared by The best podcast in Boston (@olddirtyboston). return; It was a case that also garnered national attention for its haul and the fact that the museum offered a whopping $10 million for information leading to the arrests of the thieves responsible and for the recovery of the art itself. // Add animation css Real tears came down his face, because he genuinely loves his wife, and he looked at me, defeated, and he said, But there aint no paintings,' McGuigan said in the documentary. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Early in the morning of March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as police officers robbed the . /** I hope somebody comes forward with information., By // Hide the errors He was arrested in an unrelated 1999 sting and died in prison in 2005. Don't fall for subscription [] return; The largest art theft in world history occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990 when thieves stole 13 pieces, collectively valued at $500 million, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. var initOuibounce = setInterval(function() { timeout: 10000 Please log off from any other devices, and then reload this page continue. callback: function() { Following a$200million art heist from the Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990, numerous theories arose, but the truth remains elusive. This [show] is like the biggest wanted poster in the world., Nora McGreevy Merlino allegedly bragged to informants that he was going to recover the artwork and collect the reward. + '
