Photo: Kena Betancur / AFP / Getty Images
More than 30 years ago, in the early morning hours of 03 March 1990, two men dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 81 minutes later they came out with works of art valued, at that time, at 200 million dollars (now valued at 500 million dollars).
The two men forced night shift security guards to enter the basement and had their hands, eyes and ankles taped. These were not discovered until the new shift arrived to relieve them around 8 am.
When the police examined the gallery, they realized that the missing paintings they had been cut from the frames, rather than carefully removed. None of the pieces have been recovered so far.
13 pieces were stolen from the museum. The value of the pieces makes this the biggest art theft in the history of the world.
The museum offers $10 millions in rewards for information leading to the recovery of the stolen items.
On 2015, the FBI stated that they believe they know who committed the robbery: George Reissfelder and Leonardo DiMuzio, but both died a year after the robbery.
The FBI believes that the art was transported to Connecticut and Philadelphia to through connections with organized crime to try to sell the items on the black market, but after those attempted transactions, there has been no trace.
Evidence suggests that the Italian mob in Boston was behind the robbery. Reissfelder and DiMuzio were known associates of the now-deceased mobster Carmello Merlino. At the time, members of organized crime seemed excited by the idea that could trade a stolen painting for no jail time, if they were ever caught doing business more unpleasant. But several of them were caught, and no one seemed to know anything about the artwork. Several others died shortly after the heist and it seems they took their secrets to the grave. Even with the $ million reward for safe return of the articles, no one has presented credible information.
Isabella Stewart Gardner stipulated in her will that nothing in the museum galleries should be permanently changed. No new items should be purchased, nor should items be sold. So for now, those frames hang empty in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a reminder of the artwork that is still missing.
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Some think the items are hidden in someone’s attic. Others believe that the pieces have left the country and are hidden in the house of a rich man. Many assume that the pieces are separate and not all together.
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