Source: Radio New Zealand
Thieves stole 13 artworks by masters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and Degas from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. Screeenshot / FBI
Thirty-six years on, mystery still lingers at Boston’s Gardner Museum.
In the early morning hours of 18 March 1990, two men dressed as police officers talked their way into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Within minutes, they had overpowered the security guards, duct taping and handcuffing them, and set about stripping the walls of treasures that may never be seen again.
The thieves moved between galleries, unbuttered by security who were still duct taped at the entrance. They triggered motion sensors and proceeded to cut canvases from their frames. By the time they left, 81 minutes after they arrived, they carried with them 13 works now valued at more than US$1 billion, names such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and Degas.
Other masterpieces went ignored. Works Titian and Michelangelo remained hung untouched, leaving investigators to wonder whether this was a targeted theft or simply a hurried snatch and grab. Whatever the motive, the result was the same: thirteen irreplaceable works gone, their empty frames hanging to this day in the museum’s Dutch Room.
Few know the case better than retired FBI agent Geoffrey Kelly, who spent 22 years interviewing hoaxers, chasing whispers and tracking rumours of Vermeer and Rembrandt masterpieces reportedly seen in darkened warehouses or in private vaults. His book, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives, is a true crime detective story.
An empty frame at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on 27 December, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. AFP / Ryan McBride
The former Special Agent told First Up the reason the case fascinated the public was the audacious nature of the robbery.
“About 1.24 in the morning, on a Sunday morning right after St Patrick’s Day had ended, which is a big deal in Boston, these two subjects dressed as Boston police officers bluffed their way into the museum by claiming they were responding to a disturbance, and the guard – against protocol, let them in.”
For the FBI, the heist has become both legend and burden. Declared the largest property crime in United States history, the case has led agents through Boston’s criminal underground, across international smuggling channels, and down countless dead ends.
Kelly said that didn’t mean there weren’t suspects. Two men from Boston were identified.
“They were part of a bigger crew. It was an organised crime crew out of a section of Boston called Dorchester, and I’m confident they committed this robbery because they wanted to steal Rembrandts and hold on to them as a bargaining chip.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. AFP / Philippe Renault / hemis.fr
“In Massachusetts there had been a few instances in the previous two decades where subjects had stolen Rembrandts from museums in a effort to leverage their return in exchange for getting leniency on pending criminal sentences.”
Unfortunately for the suspects, and for investigators, both men died within a year of the robbery.
“One was violently murdered, and the other died under some very suspicious circumstances which, as you can imagine, can have a chilling effect on efforts to recover the artwork and might prevent somebody with information coming forward after seeing what happened to the subjects.”
Kelly said there were theories about where the art works went. “We were able to track some of the pieces up into Maine, down to Connecticut and down to Philadelphia but from there the trail went cold and that’s kind of where we were looking when it was time for my retirement two years ago.
“I think it’s quite possible the pieces have been split up and right now they’re waiting somewhere, waiting to be apprehended and our job is to find them.”
A US$10m reward remains on the table for information leading to full recovery.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
