- Former FBI agent Geoffrey Kelly revealed new details on the 1990 Gardner Museum art theft
- Thieves stole 13 valuable artworks now worth over $500 million from the Boston museum
- Suspects included Boston mob figures and possible links to the IRA and Corsican mafia
More than three decades after the occurrence of one of the world's biggest art thefts, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has shared fresh details about the case.
Robbers stole 13 valuable artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, which are now estimated to be worth over $500 million.
In 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had identified who was behind the Boston heist. However, officials did not reveal any names.
Geoffrey Kelly, who led the case for over two decades, explains in his new book "Thirteen Perfect Fugitives" how officials pieced together clues that eventually led them to identify a key suspect. He also names the individuals whom he believed were behind the daring theft, according to ABC News.
According to him, some people linked to the case later died in violent incidents, which made it even harder to fully solve the case.
The robbery happened early on March 18, 1990, just after people in Boston had finished celebrating St Patrick's Day. Two men came to the museum dressed as police officers. They convinced a security guard to let them in.
Once inside, the men tied up the guards in the basement, and then they went to a gallery called the Dutch Room. There, they removed famous paintings like "The Concert" by Johannes Vermeer and "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" by Rembrandt by cutting them out of their frames.
In addition to this, the thieves also stole artworks by Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet and a small decorative object called a Napoleonic eagle.
Over the years, investigators received multiple tips about who might be behind the theft. Some leads suggested links to the Irish Republican Army, while others pointed towards local Boston gangsters, including infamous crime boss Whitey Bulger.
One of the more unusual investigations took Kelly and his team to France. There, FBI agents pretended to be rich buyers who wanted to secretly purchase the stolen art. They staged a setup on a luxury yacht to attract suspected members of the Corsican mafia and get them to reveal information.
Back in the US, authorities also carried out multiple searches across the New England region. They relied heavily on informants and one such informant was a convicted killer nicknamed "Meatball". He secretly recorded conversations with people believed to be connected to the crime for money but it also went in vain.
One of the key suspects was Robert Bobby Donati, a known Boston mob figure. In 1991, he was found stabbed to death. Another suspect investigators looked into was George Reissfelder, who they believed may have arranged or owned the getaway car used in the robbery.
Kelly tracked down Reissfelder's brother, a retired military officer who initially refused to believe his brother was involved. However, when shown a painting—"Chez Tortoni" by Edouard Manet—he broke down emotionally. He said he recognised it as a painting he himself had once hung above his brother's bed.
Later, Reissfelder died under suspicious circumstances. When investigators searched his house afterward, that same painting was missing.
Even though investigators believed they had identified the people involved, they struggled to prove it in court due to a lack of solid evidence.
Over the years, investigators chased many false leads. Some people claimed to have seen the stolen paintings in places like antique shops in Reno, private homes, and even on an episode of the TV show Monk but none of these leads turned out to be real.
Stealing the artwork from the museum, that's the easy part," Kelly said. "Profiting from it, that's the difficult part. "I have no doubt they still exist," he said.
