Mobster Discussed Gardner Museum Theft
A reputed Connecticut mobster suspected of a connection to the artwork stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 discussed the paintings with an undercover FBI agent, a prosecutor has said. Robert Gentile, who was appearing in court on weapons charges, has been identified by the FBI as the last surviving person of interest in the robbery of artwork worth an estimated $500 million. At the hearing, prosecutor John Durham said that Gentile had discussed a sale of paintings stolen from the Gardner museum. He did not provide further detail on what came of the purported discussions. Gentile has not been charged in connection with the missing artwork, and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to provide additional details. Nobody has been charged in the Gardener heist, in which two men posing as police officers stole 13 pieces of art including paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Johannes Vermeer. The paintings have never been found.
