Monday, March 18

10E2138: The Gardner Heist - 23 years Ago

Via the Boston Globe "In a stunning development, federal law enforcement officials said today they had identified the people who stole $500 million worth of masterworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. [on March 18... 23 years ago to the day -ed.]"

I take a class right next to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM) in the Fenway (the main thoroughfare through The Fens - the area not named after Fenway Park, rather the other way around), and it is a fascinating place. And the new glassed-in cube/concert hall is impressive as hell. Anyhow, this art theft looms in the Boston media, though perhaps not as much with the outer residents... Great quick video here giving a potted history of the crime.




The art theft has almost spawned a cottage industry in Boston - at least one movie (Stolen) and 2 major books have been written about it (The Gardner Heist, and The Art Forger).  The ISGM discusses the mystery on their site and as above,  in keeping w/ their directive, they have still not altered the rooms - thus the empty frames remain in place. The $5M reward for return of the works is still available.

Just today the FBI released a dedicated webspace to the crime and a renewed appeal for information; fbi.gov/gardner