Boston art theft

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The empty frame of Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee
Rembrandt : Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee
Jan Vermeer : The concert
Edouard Manet : Chez Tortoni

The Boston art theft took place in the early morning of March 18, 1990. Thirteen works of art were stolen from the collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston , Massachusetts . The night watchmen of the museum were taken by surprise by two perpetrators disguised as police officers who had allegedly appeared at the museum on a complaint about disturbance of the peace. They tied up the guards and took possession of the works of art exhibited in three different rooms of the museum within less than an hour and a half. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has the value of the booty with 500 million US dollars given. This makes the Boston art theft the art theft with the most valuable loot in crime history. Despite extensive search measures at home and abroad, neither the perpetrators nor parts of the loot could be found. The museum has now offered a reward of US $ 10 million for tips that lead to the restoration of the works of art. This is the highest reward ever given by a private institution.

The stolen works of art were part of Isabella Stewart Gardner's private art collection , which has been on public display in the museum named after her since 1903. The collection has been managed by a foundation since Gardner's death in 1924. The founder decreed that the works of art should be presented in the manner determined by them without any changes. This also ruled out sales and acquisitions. Out of respect for the will of the founder, the empty picture frames have been on the walls since the robbery as a reminder of the missing works and as placeholders for their expected return.

Among the stolen works of art is The Concert, one of only about three dozen surviving works by the Dutch painter Jan Vermeer . This picture is considered to be the most valuable lost painting in the world. Rembrandt's only seascape , Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee , is also among the loot, as is his portrait of a married couple and an etched self-portrait in small format. His self-portrait with a feathered beret , however, remained behind. Other looted works of art are works by Degas , Manet and Flinck , as well as an aigle de drapeau and a ku, a Chinese ritual bronze vessel . The selection of the stolen objects seems puzzling, as the less valuable loot is juxtaposed with a number of significant works of art that were left behind in the museum.

The FBI attributes the robbery to organized crime . In the absence of traces of the perpetrators, investigators based their work on the questioning of witnesses and suspects, the use of undercover agents and sting operations . First, one of the overwhelmed security guards was investigated, who had behaved suspiciously in the hours before the attack. James "Whitey" Bulger was the boss of the Winter Hill Gang at the time of the robbery and was one of the most important representatives of organized crime in the Greater Boston metropolitan area . His known contacts with the Boston police and in the Irish-born Boston underworld made him suspicious. Another lead led to the corridor of Carmello Merlino in Dorchester , a borough of Boston. Merlino and his gang were part of the Patriarca family who dominated the underworld of Boston and New England in the decades before the art theft . Some of the gang members were arrested as part of a sting operation. Despite being assured of money, reduced sentences and even impunity, the suspects denied the act or gave useless clues.

Another target of the investigation was the part of the Patriarca family known as the Boston Mafia , who were involved in a gang war at the time of the robbery. Boston gangster Bobby Donati , who was murdered a year and a half after the robbery, was believed to be the prime suspect. According to one theory, Donati should have committed the robbery in order to free his Capo Vincent Ferrara. Ferrara was a senior member of the Patriarca family and was on remand. Eight days after the robbery, he was charged, along with boss Raymond Patriarca, Jr. and other prominent members of the family, of blackmail, racketeering , illegal gambling, drug trafficking and murder.

Thirty years after the robbery, the loot is still missing. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Federal Bureau of Investigation come to the public at irregular intervals, but given the statute of limitations on the robbery, it is not a matter of identifying the perpetrators, but of recovering the works of art.

background

Princess Juliana of Orange-Nassau and Prince Bernhard in front of Rembrandt's portrait of a married couple , June 12, 1941
The Gardner Museum , 2018. On the left the main entrance, on the right the Palace Road with the side entrance.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , open to the public since 1903 , was built on behalf of the art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner to house her private art collection. Gardner expanded the collection and redesigned the museum's rooms until her death in 1924. She endowed the museum and $ 3.6 million in an endowment , stating that the arrangement of the works of art would not change and that the scope would not change the collection may not be changed either through sales or purchases.

At the beginning of the 1980s the museum was in a difficult financial situation. As a result, the museum building lacked the necessary maintenance, air conditioning and adequate insurance for the art objects. In 1982 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uncovered a planned art theft in the museum. The museum then invested in improved security measures. This included sixty motion detectors inside and a video surveillance system with four cameras outside the building. Video surveillance of the interior was dispensed with for reasons of cost. The security staff has also been increased. The only way to set off an alarm was through an alarm button in the security center. At that time, other museums already had a security system that provided for hourly reports from the night watch.

In 1988, an independent security advisor found that the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's security measures were the same as those of most other museums. However, he recommended improvements. The security director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston also suggested improved security measures for the Gardner Museum. In view of the tense financial situation and considering the wish of the founder not to make any major changes, the proposed security measures were rejected by the foundation board. The board also rejected the security officer's request for better pay for the security guards in order to attract better qualified personnel. At the time, the guards received little more than the minimum wage . The security deficiencies were considered an open secret by the guards.

Raid

Rembrandt: Portrait of a Married Couple
Rembrandt: Self-Portrait with a Soft Cap
Govaert Flinck : Landscape with an Obelisk
Ku, ritual bronze vessel of the Shang dynasty (similar object)

The attack took place in the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, a Sunday. The day before was St. Patrick's Day , which was celebrated extensively and into the night in the city with its numerous Irish-born residents. The two robbers were first seen by returning guests at a party near the museum around 12:30 a.m. They were disguised as policemen and parked on Palace Road, only a hundred feet from the museum's side entrance. The witnesses thought they were real police officers.

The museum's night watch consisted of two guards, 23-year-old Rick A. and his 25-year-old colleague Randy H., who was on the night shift for the first time. The security protocol stipulated that a security guard with a flashlight and walkie-talkie would constantly tour the rooms of the museum while his colleague stayed in the security center. The younger, but more experienced, Rick went out first. During his patrol, fire alarms went off in various rooms in the museum, but he could not detect any fire or smoke. He returned to the security center and found smoke reports in several rooms of the museum on the control panel of the fire alarm system. Believing it was a malfunction, he switched off the fire alarm system. Rick A. continued his round, opening the side entrance briefly and then closing it again without informing his colleague Randy H. He finished his tour around 1:00 a.m. early Sunday morning, after which Randy H. began his tours.

At around 1:20 a.m., the perpetrators drove to the side entrance and went to the door. You rang and were put through the intercom to Rick A. They explained to him that they were investigating the report of a malfunction and needed admission. The security guard could see the two people through the video system and thought they were police officers because of the uniforms. He knew nothing of a disturbance, but believed that perhaps one of the people celebrating that night had climbed over the fence and had been reported to the police by a witness. At 1:24 a.m., the perpetrators were given access to the museum.

The perpetrators were first let into the foyer separated from the exhibition rooms with the entrance to the security center. They approached the security guard Rick A., who was in the adjoining security center, and asked if there were other employees in the museum. At the request of the alleged police officers, Rick called his colleague over the walkie-talkie to the control center. It was around this time that the guard noticed that one of the visitors' mustaches looked like a fake beard. The smaller of the two perpetrators told Rick that he looked familiar and that there might be an arrest warrant. He should come out and show his ID. Rick followed the instruction and stepped away from his desk with the only available alarm button. The smaller robber pushed the guard against the wall and handcuffed him without searching. The second security guard came into the room and was also handcuffed by the larger perpetrator. The perpetrators then revealed their real intent to the guards and told them not to cause them any problems.

The guards had duct tape wrapped around their heads and over their eyes. The perpetrators, who were apparently familiar with the area, took them to the basement, where the guards were handcuffed to a heating pipe and a workbench. The robbers searched the guards' wallets, saying they knew where they lived and that they should not tell the authorities. If they were silent, they would receive a reward in about a year. It took eleven minutes to overpower the guards, until 1:35 a.m.

The subsequent path of the robbers through the exhibition rooms was recorded by the motion detectors. It was not until 1:48 a.m., thirteen minutes after the guards had been tied up, that the first recording was made in the Dutch room on the first floor. Perhaps the robbers waited first in case an alarm was triggered.

When the robbers approached the paintings in the Dutch Room, an acoustic signal was triggered. This device was intended to warn if visitors to the museum step too close to one of the paintings. The robbers smashed the device and took Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee and his portrait of a married couple from the wall. They threw the two paintings on the stone floor, breaking the glass of the frames. With a sharp blade they cut the paintings out of the frames. They also took Rembrandt's self-portrait with a feathered beret from the wall and leaned it against a cupboard with the picture facing the wall, where they left it. The investigators later had the impression that, unlike the two other Rembrandt's, the picture, which was painted on wood, seemed too bulky for the robbers to transport. An alternative explanation is leaving behind in the hustle and bustle and excitement of the robbery, since the picture put down looked like a frame with an old wooden backing and torn canvas when viewed from the back. Instead, the perpetrators stole a postage stamp-sized etching by Rembrandt, a self-portrait that had hung below the large self-portrait. On the right wall of the room they took down the landscape with an obelisk by Govaert Flinck and Das Konzert by Vermeer and removed it from the frame as well. The last loot from this room was a ku, a Chinese ritual bronze vessel from the Shang dynasty (11th or 12th century BC).

At 01:51 a.m., one of the robbers entered the short gallery, a narrow corridor at the other end of the first floor. His accomplice initially stayed in the Dutch room, but followed him after a short time. They tampered with the screws of a display in which a gilded bronze aigle de drapeau with a troop flag of the 1st regiment de grenadiers à pied de la Garde impériale was exhibited. Before all the screws were removed, they left the display but took the standard eagle attached to the end of the flagstick. They also stole five drawings by Edgar Degas from this room . The last work stolen was Chez Tortoni , an oil painting by Édouard Manet on display in the Blue Room on the first floor. During the raid, the motion sensors did not register any movement in the Blue Room. The only movements recorded in this room during the night of the robbery were two tours by a security guard.

At the end of the robbery, the perpetrators went into the basement and asked the guards how they were. They then went to the head of the security service and took the video surveillance tapes and the automatically printed logs from the motion detectors. The data from the motion detectors were also recorded on a hard drive and were later available to the investigators to reconstruct the course of the crime. The perpetrators left the frame of the Chez Tortoni painting on the director's desk. They then took their loot out of the museum. For this purpose, the door of the side entrance was opened twice, at 02:40 a.m. and 02:45 a.m. The robbery took 81 minutes from the time the perpetrators entered the building to exit.

The morning security staff who arrived in the morning were not given access to the building and called the head of the security service, who used his key to gain access. When he found the security center abandoned, he called the police. When the building was searched, the police found the guards who were still handcuffed in the basement.

Stolen works of art

Edgar Degas: Leaving the paddock Degas: Procession on a street near Florence
Edgar Degas : Leaving the paddock
Degas: Procession on a street near Florence
Degas: Study for the program of a soirée 1 Degas: Study for the program of a soirée 2
Degas: Study for the program of a soirée 1
Degas: Study for the program of a soirée 2
Degas: Three jockeys on horseback
Aigle de drapeau (similar object)

The loot includes 13 works of art. The FBI estimated the value at US $ 200 million in 1990 and at US $ 500 million in 2000. Ten years later, art dealers named a sum of 600 million US dollars. These increases reflect the development on the art market, on which top-quality objects such as paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt have achieved disproportionately high increases in value since the Boston art theft.

The most valuable works of art were in the Dutch Room:

  • The Concert , Jan Vermeer , 1665/66, oil on canvas, 72.5 × 64.7 cm. It is one of only 37 surviving paintings by the artist (including three attributions ) and was acquired by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1892 through an art agent at the auction of the collection of the art historian Théophile Thoré at the Paris auction house Hôtel Drouot . Considered the most valuable work of art ever stolen, and valued at $ 250 million in 2015, its loss accounts for half the economic damage caused by the art theft.
  • Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee , Rembrandt van Rijn , 1633, oil on canvas, 160 × 128 cm. Rembrandt'sonly seascape was bought by Gardner in September 1898 through art agent Bernard Berenson for £ 6,000 from the London artdealer Colnaghi . It is the most valuable of Rembrandt's three stolen works, valued at more than $ 100 million.
  • Portrait of a Married Couple, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633, oil on canvas, 131.6 × 109 cm. The double portrait was also purchased from Colnaghi in September 1898 for £ 13,000. It is possibly just a fragment of a larger family portrait.
  • Self-portrait with a soft cap , Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633, etching, 5.1 × 4.4 cm. This small etching wasacquired at an unknown dateby Mary Jane Morgan, widow of US railroad magnate Charles Morgan . Isabella Stewart Gardner bought it on March 18, 1886 for US $ 120 from Morgan's estate. There is an old pencil note on the mount with the numbers in several catalog raisonnés and the French work title: Blanc 206 [?]. Bartsch 2. Claussen [?] 2. Wilson [?] 2. Rembrandt. Rembrandt aux trois mustaches. This beautiful little portrait is extremely rare. The etching was stolen and returned in 1970.
  • Landscape with an Obelisk , Govaert Flinck , 1638, oil on canvas, 54.5 × 71 cm. Around 1775 the painting was a work by Flinck in the painting collection of the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel . Jérôme Bonaparte brought itinto his possessionas King of Westphalia , after which it entered the European art trade as a work by Rembrandt. In March 1900, Gardner bought the painting, still as Rembrandt, through art agent Bernard Berenson for £ 4,500 from Colnaghi. It was not until 1983 that the work was ascribed to Govaert Flinck again. Not all art historians then shared this view, which is now undisputed. Unaware of the more recent research, the robbers could still have mistaken the picture for a Rembrandt, especially since older museum guides at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum still referred to it as Rembrandt.
  • Ku, 12th century BC Chr., Bronze , 26.5 cm high, 15.6 cm diameter, 1114 grams. This ritual Chinese bronze vessel of the Shang Dynasty was acquired by Gardner in December 1922 for US $ 17,500 through the painter, collector and art historian Denman Ross as an agent in the New York antique trade. It was one of the oldest pieces in the museum.

In the Kurzen Galerie on the first floor, five small-format drawings by the French artist Edgar Degas and a French flag eagle from the early 19th century were stolen. The drawings are of little value compared to the stolen oil paintings.

  • Leaving the paddock , Edgar Degas , 19th century, watercolor and pencil, 10.5 × 16 cm. Gardner bought the drawing from Degas' estate in July 1919, together with a procession on a street near Florence . Her Paris agent Fernand Robert bought them from the Georges Petit gallery, the purchase price was 2,750 francs for both drawings.
  • Procession on a street near Florence , Edgar Degas, 1857–1860, pencil and sepia on paper, 15.6 × 20.6 cm. Along with leaving the paddock acquired in July 1919 from the estate of Degas.
  • Three jockeys on horseback , Edgar Degas, 1885–1888, black ink, white and colored washes , pigments on brown paper, 30.5 × 24 cm. This drawing was also acquired in July 1919 with another from Degas' estate. The purchase price for both drawings was 2,800 francs.
  • Study for the Program de la Soirée Artistique du 15 Juin 1884 (1), Edgar Degas, 1884, black chalk on paper, 26.6 × 37.6 cm. Bought at the same auction as the aforementioned drawings and with another study for 660 francs.
  • Study for the Program de la Soirée Artistique du 15 Juin 1884 (2), Edgar Degas, 1884, black chalk on paper, 24.6 × 31.4 cm. The second draft, it belongs to the aforementioned study.
  • Aigle de drapeau ,castby Pierre-Philippe Thomire based on a design by Antoine-Denis Chaudet , 1813–1814, gilded bronze, 25.4 cm high. It is the original standard of the 1st regiment de grenadiers à pied de la Garde impériale , one of the most important regiments of the Garde impériale Napoleon. The flag eagle with the troop flag left behind during the robbery was acquired by Gardner in November 1880 for 300 US dollars from a New York art dealer. A reward of 100,000 US dollars was offeredfor the replacement of the militarily and historically important Aigle de drapeau alone. The material value is low and it is believed that the robbers mistook the gilded bronze of the eagle for solid gold.
Blue room, with the empty frame of Manet's Chez Tortoni
  • Chez Tortoni , Édouard Manet , around 1875, oil on canvas, 26 × 34 cm. The painting was in the collection of Alphonse Kann , who had it auctioned in Paris in December 1920. The buyer, Dikran Khan Kélékian , had it auctioned by the American Art Association in New York in January 1922. The buyer was Isabella Stewart Gardner, through her art agent Louis Kronberg, for a purchase price of $ 3,400.

The selection of the stolen pieces puzzled investigators and art experts. The loot includes some extremely valuable works of art, but works by Raphael , Botticelli and Michelangelo were left behind by the perpetrators. They did not even step on the second floor, which contained an invaluable painting depicting Titian's robbery of the Europa . Instead, they took with them comparatively insignificant objects such as an antique Chinese Ku and five drawings by Degas. This selection and the brutal procedure in cutting the paintings out of their frames enabled the investigators to rule out a contract robbery by expert perpetrators early on.

Since Isabella Stewart Gardner had decreed that nothing in her collection should be changed, the empty frames of the stolen paintings still hang in their old places to this day. Due to the poor financial situation and the lack of insurance, the director of the museum turned to the art auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s for support . Within three days, a $ 1 million reward could be offered for retrieving the loot. The reward was increased to $ 5 million in 1997. In 2017 it was doubled to $ 10 million, initially limited to the end of the year. In the hope that the high reward could be an ongoing incentive for potential whistleblowers, the time limit was lifted in January 2018. This reward is the highest personal reward ever offered. It applies to notices that lead to the restoration of all stolen works of art in good condition. In the event of voluntary return, federal prosecutors have assured that no prosecution will take place. The robbery has been statute-barred since 1995, so that prosecution of the perpetrators and their possible backers is no longer possible because of the robbery alone.

  • FBI wanted posters from 2013
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, FBI 'Seeking Information' poster 2013, Vermeer.jpg
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, FBI 'Seeking Information' poster 2013, Rembrandt.jpg
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, FBI 'Seeking Information' poster 2013, Manet, Rembrandt, and Flinck.jpg
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, FBI 'Seeking Information' poster 2013, 5 Degas sketches.jpg

Investigations and suspects

Phantom images of the robbers, 1990

Because of the high likelihood that the loot could be transported across the Massachusetts state border , the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) immediately took over the lead of the investigation. The case was described by investigators as unique because of the lack of traces of the perpetrators. The robbers did not leave any footprints or hair on the scene, and it is unclear whether the fingerprints that were secured were from the perpetrators or the museum staff. Some of the few traces were examined for genetic fingerprints when this technology became available . In 2017, it became known that several important evidence objects and evidence of the FBI, such as the duct tape and the handcuffs used by the robbers to tie up the guards, had disappeared for years. The guards and eyewitnesses who saw the robbers on the street described a thief as in his mid-30s, between 1.75 and 1.78 meters tall. The second perpetrator was in his early 30s, strong and about 1.83 to 1.85 meters tall.

Rick A. (security guard)

Rick A., one of the two overwhelmed security guards, was one of the first suspects because of his suspicious behavior on the night of the crime. The brief opening of the side door was interpreted as a possible signal to the waiting robbers. The guard claimed that he did this routinely to check the lock on the door. One of his colleagues questioned this with journalists. If A. had always done this, this violation of his instructions would have been noticed by the superiors on the logs of the security system and prevented. Another suspicion was the lack of movement data for the period of the crime from the Blue Room. Manet's Chez Tortoni was stolen there, and only Rick A.'s movements in the room were recorded in that room during the night of the crime. A security advisor examined the motion detectors several weeks after the robbery and found them in perfect condition. A. protested his innocence and the first FBI investigators entrusted with the case did not trust the two guards to do the job.

In 2015, the FBI released a video recording from the night before the robbery. It shows an unidentified man being let into the building and talking to Rick A. in the security center. The latter stated that he could no longer remember the incident. Several previous security guards at the museum came forward after the release and identified the visitor as the museum's assistant security director.

"Whitey" Bulger

James "Whitey" Bulger, 2011

Sixty-year-old James "Whitey" Bulger was the boss of the Winter Hill Gang at the time of the robbery and was one of the most important representatives of organized crime in the Greater Boston metropolitan area . He denied any involvement in the crime and had his gang members search for the perpetrators, since the crime was committed in his "area" and he was therefore entitled to a share. FBI agent Thomas McShane, who published a book about his work as an art investigator in 2006, was investigating Bulger. Its close ties to the Boston police force could explain the perpetrators 'use of real police uniforms or even police officers' execution. Bulger also had ties to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and the pre-raid fire alarm was what McShane referred to as a "calling card" for both the IRA and the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force . Both groups were present in Boston at the time, and both had been linked to art theft in the past. Investigators failed to prove that Bulger was involved in the attack on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

"Whitey" Bulger had also risen through the betrayal of rival gangsters to the authorities. In 1995, he went underground with his girlfriend after being warned about an ongoing investigation by a corrupt FBI officer. In 1999 he was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. After his arrest in 2011, he was sentenced to two life sentences in 2013, including racketeering and involvement in eleven murders. Bulger was transferred to a West Virginia detention center on October 29, 2018 , and was beaten to death by inmates the following day.

Anonymous letter from 1994

In 1994, the director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Anne Hawley, received an anonymous letter asking someone to negotiate the return of the artwork. The authors described themselves as negotiators hired by a third party who did not know the identity of the robbers. The robbery was carried out in order to reduce a prison sentence. Since the opportunity to do so had passed, there was no longer any reason to keep the loot. The paintings are in air-conditioned storage abroad. The owners of the loot demanded impunity for themselves and everyone involved in the crime, as well as $ 2.6 million, which was to be transferred to a bank account in an offshore financial center in exchange for the works of art . In case the museum is interested in negotiating, it should post a coded message in the Boston Globe . The anonymous letter was classified as authentic message from those involved, as the authors disclosed unpublished knowledge of the perpetrators .

Hawley had the coded message published in consultation with the FBI. It appeared in the Boston Globe on May 1, 1994 . A few days later, Hawley received a second letter in response to the museum's interest in negotiations. However, they also expressed concern that the FBI and local police might conduct an intensive search. The senders said they needed time to think about their options. There was no further contact.

Brian McDevitt

Rembrandt: Christ with arms crossed

Brian McDevitt was a notorious con man from Boston, who is serving a sentence for a burglary deposit box in a bank in Boston 1979th In 1981 he and an accomplice wanted to raid the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls in Warren County , New York . To do this, the duo had stolen a FedEx van , disguised themselves as courier drivers in work clothes that had also been stolen and equipped them with handcuffs and duct tape. Their prey was the Christ with Crossed Arms , an oil painting that was considered Rembrandt at the time and is still attributed to Rembrandt by the Hyde Collection to this day. The robbers got caught in a traffic jam on the way to the crime scene and only arrived after the museum had closed in the evening. McDevitt was also sentenced to prison for the act. Like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Hyde Collection is a historic building that was bequeathed to the public by private collectors with their art collection. McDevitt was known for his interest in historical flags and, aside from his thinning red hair, matched the description of the larger predator. The obvious parallels between the failed 1981 robbery and the Boston art heist piqued the FBI's interest, and they invited McDevitt for questioning in late 1990. He denied any involvement and refused a polygraph test . His fingerprints did not match the evidence secured at the crime scene. McDevitt later moved to California, worked as a screenwriter for film and television, and rose to the Writers Guild of America until his criminal past became known. McDevitt died of natural causes in May 2004.

Boston Mafia: the Merlino Gang

In 2013, the FBI announced that the investigation into the art theft had made significant progress. The authority said it had identified the perpetrators with great certainty. They are members of a criminal organization based in the Central Atlantic States and New England . The loot was also very likely brought to Connecticut and Philadelphia in the years following the robbery . In 2002 an attempt was made to sell the works of art in Philadelphia. The whereabouts of the prey are unclear and the FBI is hoping for more information from the public. In 2015, the FBI announced that both robbers had died. The FBI continued to provide no information on the identity of the robbers. It did leak out that they were connected to a gang from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston . The gang was subordinate to Frank Salemme , who was boss of the Patriarca family from 1991 to 1996 , and operated from the Carmello Merlinos auto repair shop.

The safety flaws of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum could have become known to the Merlino gang through the gangster Louis Royce. Royce had researched the museum in 1981 and planned to detonate smoke bombs in the museum with an accomplice and to steal paintings from the walls of the exhibition rooms in the ensuing chaos. In 1982, FBI agents investigated another art theft against Royce and recognized Royce's obvious interest in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They warned the museum, which then tightened its security measures. Royce was in custody at the time of the Boston art heist. He had let other gangsters know about his plan and later believed that his accomplice Stephen Rossetti had committed or commissioned the robbery with another accomplice.

The Merlino gang included Robert Guarente and Robert Gentile, who lives in Manchester , Connecticut. Guarente died of cancer in 2004. His widow told the FBI in 2010 that Guarente owned some of the stolen paintings. When he developed cancer in the early 2000s, he is said to have given the pictures to Gentile for safekeeping. Gentile denied this and denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the paintings. In 2012, Gentile was charged with drug-related offenses by federal prosecutors, apparently in order to put him under pressure. Gentile underwent a polygraph test that identified his denial of knowledge of the robbery or the whereabouts of the loot as a lie. Gentile persisted and asked for the test to be repeated. In the repetition, Gentile claimed that Guarentes' widow once showed him Rembrandt's small self-portrait. This statement was indicated to be true by the polygraph. Gentile's attorney felt that his client was being influenced by the large number of federal agents present. He asked for a smaller round, but even then Gentile continued to deny any knowledge of the whereabouts of the prey.

A few days after the interrogation, the FBI searched Gentile's house in Manchester. In a shed in the backyard, the officers found an empty pit under a false floor. Gentile's son explained that the pit had been flooded a few years earlier after heavy rainfall. His father was extremely upset about it. A March 1990 copy of the Boston Herald detailing the art theft was found in the basement of the house . There was a slip of paper with a list of the stolen works of art and details of how much could be redeemed for each piece on the black market - a total of eight million US dollars. There was no concrete evidence of the whereabouts of the prey. Gentile was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment for the drug offenses. After his release from prison, he interviewed Boston-based investigative journalist and multiple Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Kurkjian , who published a book about the robbery in 2015. Speaking to Kurkjian, Gentile complained that the FBI had tricked him. The detention has shattered his finances and personal life. The list of the stolen works of art in his basement was drawn up by a criminal who wanted to negotiate with him as a negotiator with the authorities about the return of the works of art. When asked about the contents of the pit under his shed, he supposedly could not remember, but it could have been small engines.

David Turner was another member of the Merlino gang. The FBI became aware of him in 1992 when an informant alleged that Turner had access to the paintings. That same year, Carmello Merlino was arrested for trafficking in cocaine . He offered the investigators to get the paintings back for a lesser sentence. He hired David Turner to look for the paintings. This was unsuccessful, but heard that the pictures were hidden in a church in the south of Boston. Another gang member, also detained in connection with Merlino's drug deals, said when questioned that Turner had been involved in several break-ins. He did not mention the art theft. From discussions with Merlino after his release in the mid-1990s, the investigators concluded that Merlino never had direct access to the paintings, but could possibly mediate their return.

Contrary to Turner's protests of innocence, the FBI considers him to be one of the robbers. There is evidence that he traveled to Florida just days before the art theft to pick up a shipment of cocaine. Turner's credit card statements show that he was still in Florida the night the art theft, but some investigators believe this is a fabricated alibi . Turner's friend George Reissfelder, also a member of the Merlino gang, was the second perpetrator, according to the FBI. Reissfelder died in July 1991 of an overdose. No evidence of the art theft was found when his apartment and those of his friends and relatives were searched. However, his siblings remembered that there was a picture in his bedroom that resembled the stolen Manet Chez Tortoni . According to the investigators, Reissfelder comes into question as the slimmer of the two robbers.

In 1999, David Turner, Carmello Merlino, Stephen Rossetti and other members of the Merlino gang were arrested on the day of a planned robbery on the depot of a valuables transport company . At his interrogation, Turner was assured of impunity for the art theft and the planned robbery if he returned the paintings. Turner denied any knowledge of the perpetrators and the whereabouts of the prey. During his trial in federal court in 2001, he accused the FBI of luring him into the robbery to extract information about the theft of art from him. The jury found Turner guilty, however, and received a 100-month sentence for conspiracy to commit a violent crime. There was an additional 30 years for carrying a hand grenade and 5 years for carrying firearms. These two sentences could be served at the same time but after the conspiracy sentence. While in custody, Turner wrote a letter to Robert Gentile in 2010, whom he met through the late Robert Guarente. In it he asked Gentile to contact Turner's ex-girlfriend about getting the paintings back. During the interview with this woman, which was arranged with the FBI, she named two former accomplices of Turner whom Gentile should contact. The FBI urged him to meet with the two men in the company of an undercover agent , but Gentile refused to cooperate. In June 2019, the United States Supreme Court ruled in part unconstitutional to increase the penalties for carrying explosives and firearms . The mere conspiracy to commit a violent crime was no longer subject to increased penalties. Stephen Rossetti was released in October 2019, David Turner a month later. Carmello Merlino died in 2005 while in custody.

Boston Mafia: the Patriarca family

Bobby Donati was murdered by unknown perpetrators in September 1991 during a gang war over the leadership of the Patriarca family . The FBI became aware of Donati through an interrogation of the notorious art thief Myles J. Connor. Connor himself was in custody for cocaine trafficking at the time of the art theft, but named Donati and David Houghton as the main perpetrators of the art theft. Connor and Donati had worked together in previous art thefts, and according to Connor, both had scouted the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Donato showed great interest in the Aigle de drapeau . Houghton is said to have visited Connor after the robbery in prison. He told Connor that he organized the robbery with Ducati and that the stolen paintings were supposed to be used to get Connor out of prison. If the story is true, then it may have been inspired by Connor's previous behavior. Connor had repeatedly achieved a lower prison sentence by returning the loot. Neither Donati nor Houghton matched the Boston perpetrator description. Connor explained this with the fact that the two had only planned the art theft and had the execution done by paid helpers. Like Donati, Houghton died within two years of the art theft, albeit of natural causes. Connor offered the FBI support in returning the stolen paintings and demanded that the reward be given and his release. Since Connor couldn't prove his information, the FBI didn't respond to Connor's demands. Finally, he named the investigators the Boston antique dealer and fence William P. Youngworth as a participant.

The FBI searched Youngworth's home and business premises in 1997, but found only the historic wax seal on the Massachusetts Bay Colony's charter . The Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter had been stolen from the Massachusetts State House by Myles J. Connor more than 20 years earlier and later recovered from him without the seal. Youngworth apparently kept Connor's property in one of his storerooms while he was in prison. The searches at Youngworth attracted the interest of Tom Mashberg, a Boston Herald journalist who met Youngworth several times. On one occasion Mashberg and an unnamed informant went, probably Youngworth, in a warehouse in Red Hook , a neighborhood in the New York district of Brooklyn . There, the informant showed Mashberg a painting that looked like Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee in the light of a flashlight and showed damage that could be explained by the fact that it was cut out of the frame during the robbery. Mashberg wrote about the case in the Boston Herald without giving Youngworth's identity or the location of the warehouse. According to Mashberg, the robbery was planned and carried out by five perpetrators. Bobby Donati was one of the robbers, and David Houghton had put the prey in a safe place. The FBI was able to identify the warehouse a few months later, but found nothing during a search.

Youngworth's credibility and the authenticity of the painting shown to Mashberg are in doubt. Youngworth provided Mashberg with paint particles that were supposed to come from Rembrandt's seascape. The FBI carried out a material analysis, but the paint was from the time of Rembrandt, but it did not have the expected composition. Mashberg's description that the painting had been unrolled in his presence was also regarded as an indication of a forgery. The original Rembrandt was covered by a thick layer of varnish that would have made it very difficult to roll up. Following publications in the Boston Herald , the FBI and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum were interested in working with Youngworth. However, this required full immunity for himself, and for Myles J. Connor the release from custody. Investigators were skeptical and only partially assured Youngworth of impunity. The museum loaned Youngworth $ 10,000 which it allegedly needed to conduct a search for the paintings. The amount was never paid back. The federal prosecutors eventually broke off contact with Youngworth until Youngworth could prove his alleged connection to the perpetrators. Youngworth then again provided a tube with paint particles and 25 color photos of the two paintings by Rembrandt. In a joint statement from the museum and the Massachusetts District Attorney's Office, the paint particles were identified as being from the 17th century but not from the Rembrandts. But they could have come from the stolen Vermeer. Despite all doubts, Mashberg's report remains the most credible of the reports of alleged sightings of the lost paintings.

In 2014, Boston journalist Stephen Kurkjian wrote a letter to gangster Vincent Ferrara asking him about the Boston art theft. Ferrara was imprisoned from 1989 to 2005 and was Capo Bobby Donatis at the time of the crime . Kurkjian then received a call from a Ferrari representative. He stated that the FBI was wrong in suspecting the Merlino gang that Bobby Donati had organized the robbery. About three months before the robbery, when Ferrara was already charged with murder, Donati visited him in prison and promised him to get him out of there. Shortly after the robbery, Donati visited Ferrara again and admitted his involvement in the robbery. He said he had buried the loot and was negotiating for Ferrara's release as soon as the excitement about the art theft subsided. The negotiations did not take place anymore because Donati was murdered beforehand. Donati was close friends with Robert Guarente, who is said to have owned the prey at times. Donati and Guarente were seen with a bag of police uniforms at a club in Revere , about five miles north of Boston, shortly before the art theft.

The Boston Art Theft in Pop Culture

  • In the episode Jailhouse Blues (originally: American History X-cellent ) of the American animated series The Simpsons , which aired for the first time in 2010 , Mr. Burns is arrested after the police in his house The Vermeer Concert and other loot from the art theft by Boston finds.
  • In one of the first episodes of the American television series The Blacklist , which has been produced since 2013 , the protagonist Raymond "Red" Reddington, the world's most wanted criminal and FBI informant, negotiates the sale of Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee . At the end of the episode, the painting is still in his possession.
  • The plot of the 2013 novel The Art Forger by US author BA Shapiro takes the Boston art theft as its starting point. A picture from the booty, a fictional Degas entitled After the Bath , is copied by its owner and the copy is offered for sale as an original.

literature

  • Ulrich Boser: The Gardner Heist. The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft . HarperCollins, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-06-145184-3 .
  • Hilliard T. Goldfarb: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. A Companion Guide and History . Yale University Press, New Haven, CT 1995, ISBN 0-300-06341-5 .
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen . Benna Books, Carlisle, MA 2018, ISBN 978-1-944038-52-6 .
  • Stephen Kurkjian: Master Thieves. The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist . PublicAffairs, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-61039-632-5 .
  • Thomas McShane, Dary Matera: Stolen Masterpiece Tracker . Barricade Books, Fort Lee, NJ 2006, ISBN 1-56980-314-5 .
  • Robert K. Wittman, John Shiffman: Priceless. How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures . Broadway Books, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-307-46148-3 .

Web links

Commons : Boston Art Heist  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Isabella Stewart Gardner. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 86-87.
  3. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , p. 34.
  4. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 36-37.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 85-86.
  6. ↑ a b c Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 40-42.
  7. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 32-33.
  8. ↑ a b Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 84-85.
  9. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , p. 46.
  10. ↑ Boser: The Gardner Heist , p. 1.
  11. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 42-43.
  12. ↑ a b c Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 3-4.
  13. ↑ a b c Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 43-45.
  14. ↑ a b c d e f McShane, Matera: Stolen Masterpiece Tracker , pp. 250-254.
  15. ↑ a b c d e Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 5-8.
  16. ↑ a b c Boser: The Gardner Heist , p. 94.
  17. ↑ a b c d e f Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 48–51.
  18. ↑ a b c d e f Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 51–54.
  19. ↑ Boser: The Gardner Heist , p. 9.
  20. ↑ a b c Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 58-61.
  21. ↑ Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 89-90.
  22. ↑ a b c d e Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 68-69.
  23. ↑ a b Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen , p. 20.
  24. ^ Hilliard T. Goldfarb: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , p. 92.
  25. ^ Johannes Vermeer (Delft, 1632 - 1675, Delft). The Concert, 1663-1666. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen , p. 32.
  27. ^ Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden, 1609 - 1669, Amsterdam). Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee, 1633. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  28. ^ Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden, 1609 - 1669, Amsterdam). A Lady and Gentleman in Black, 1633. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  29. ^ Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden, 1609 - 1669, Amsterdam). Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, about 1633. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  30. ^ Govaert Flinck (Cleves, Germany, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam). Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen , p. 22.
  32. ^ Chinese Gu, 12th Century BC. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  33. ^ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen , p. 14.
  34. ^ Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834-1917, Paris). Leaving the Paddock (La Sortie du Pesage), 19th Century. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  35. ^ Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834-1917, Paris). Procession on a Road near Florence (Cortège sur un Route aux Environs de Florence), 1857–1860. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  36. ^ Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834-1917, Paris). Three Mounted Jockeys (Jockey à Cheval), about 1885–1888. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  37. ^ Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834-1917, Paris). Study for the Program de la Soirée Artistique du 15 June 1884 (Galerie Ponsin), 1884. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  38. ^ Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834-1917, Paris). Study for the Program de la Soirée Artistique du 15 June 1884 (Galerie Ponsin), 1884. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  39. ^ After Antoine-Denis Chaudet (Paris, 1763-1810, Paris). Eagle Finial: Insignia of the First Regiment of Grenadiers of Foot of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, 1813-1814. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  40. ↑ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen , p. 18.
  41. ↑ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Ed.): Stolen , p. 10.
  42. ↑ Édouard Manet (Paris, 1832-1883, Paris). Chez Tortoni, about 1875. In: www.gardnermuseum.org. Retrieved March 9, 2020 .
  43. ^ A b Robert K. Wittman, John Shiffman: Priceless , p. 252.
  44. ↑ Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 73-74.
  45. ^ McShane, Matera: Stolen Masterpiece Tracker , p. 266.
  46. ^ Boser: The Gardner Heist , p. 92.
  47. ↑ a b c Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 115-118.
  48. ↑ a b Steve Annear: FBI Identifies Thieves Behind Infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. Investigators are offering a $ 5 million reward to anyone with information about the whereabouts of the stolen artworks. In: Boston Magazine. March 18, 2013, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  49. ^ Graham Bowley: Museum Increases Reward in Art Theft . In: The New York Times . May 23, 2017, ISSN  0362-4331 , p. C3 ( Gardner Museum Doubles Reward for Recovery of Stolen Masterpieces [accessed March 12, 2020]).
  50. ↑ $ 10M Reward Extended For Return Of Stolen Gardner Museum Art. In: WBZ-TV. January 11, 2018, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  51. ↑ Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 58-59.
  52. ^ A b FBI Provides New Information Regarding the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist. Information Sought from Those in Philadelphia and Connecticut Who May Have Knowledge of the Art's Location. Federal Bureau of Investigation , Boston Division, March 18, 2013, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  53. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 178-180.
  54. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , S. 94th
  55. ↑ a b c d e f Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 97-100.
  56. ↑ a b c McShane, Matera: Stolen Masterpiece Tracker , pp. 256-259.
  57. ↑ Spencer Buell: Did the FBI Lose Evidence from the Gardner Museum Heist? Duct tape and handcuffs from the robbery are missing. In: Boston Magazine. December 6, 2017, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  58. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 55-57.
  59. ^ Gardner Museum Surveillance Footage. Federal Bureau of Investigation , March 17, 1990, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  60. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , S. 96th
  61. ↑ 16 years underground: FBI catches Boston godfather James Bulger. In: Spiegel Online . June 23, 2011, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  62. ^ Eva C. Schweitzer : The late end of James Bulger. In: Zeit Online . June 24, 2011, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  63. ↑ Ray Sanchez: Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger killed in West Virginia prison a day after transfer. In: CNN.com . October 30, 2018, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  64. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 79-84.
  65. ↑ Horst Gerson: Rembrandt. Painting. Complete works . Bertelsmann Kunstverlag Reinhard Mohn, Gütersloh 1969, work no.368.
  66. ^ Gary Schwartz : Connoisseurship: the Penalty of Ahistoricism . In: The International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship . tape 7 , no. 3 , 1988, pp. 261-268 , doi : 10.1016 / 0260-4779 (88) 90032-5 .
  67. ↑ Christ with Arms Folded. The Hyde Collection, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  68. ↑ Terry Pristin: The Case of the Mysterious Screenwriter: Movies: Brian McDevitt's past was suspect to some members of the Writers Guild. A new inquiry reveals an unexpected plot twist. In: Los Angeles Times . June 12, 1992, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  69. ↑ Kelly Horan: Episode 8: 'Flimflammer'. In: WBUR . November 5, 2018, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  70. ^ McShane, Matera: Stolen Masterpiece Tracker , p. 262.
  71. ↑ FBI says two suspects who stole $ 500m in art from Boston museum are dead. In: The Guardian . August 7, 2015, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  72. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 114-118.
  73. ↑ a b c Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 189-191.
  74. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , p. 11
  75. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 21-25.
  76. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 27-28.
  77. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 119-124.
  78. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 140-149.
  79. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 125-128.
  80. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , S. 131st
  81. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 137-140.
  82. ↑ a b c Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 149–155.
  83. ↑ a b Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 104-107.
  84. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 157-158.
  85. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 162-163.
  86. ↑ Boser: The Gardner Heist , pp. 198-199.
  87. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , S. 170th
  88. ^ Sarah Cascone, A Suspect in the Infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist Has Been Released From Prison After 21 Years. In: artnet . November 14, 2019, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  89. ↑ Dorchester Man resentenced for Role in Plot to Rob Armored Car depot. United States Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, November 13, 2019, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  90. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 200-206.
  91. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , p. 263.
  92. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 65-67.
  93. ↑ a b Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 70-75.
  94. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp. 193-194.
  95. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , pp 198-200.
  96. ↑ Kurkjian: Master Thieves , S. 218th
  97. ^ 'Simpsons' cracks case of Gardner is called. Boston Herald , April 13, 2010, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  98. ^ Mark Perigard: Starring role for Boston on new hit Blacklist. Boston Herald , October 30, 2013, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  99. ^ BA Shapiro: The Art Forger . Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC 2013, ISBN 978-1-61620-132-6 (384 pages).

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