http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/25583520/fbi-has-confirmed-sightings-of-gardner-artwork-after-heist?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10188511


The FBI agent in charge of the investigation into the theft of $500 million worth of masterpieces from a Boston museum nearly a quarter century ago says the bureau has confirmed sightings of the missing artwork from credible sources.
The art, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Manet, was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 by two men disguised as city police officers. The missing artwork has vexed the city and there is a $5 million reward.
FBI Special Agent Geoff Kelly, the lead investigator, told MyFoxBoston.com the trail for the missing artwork has not grown cold.
He identified three persons of interest in the Gardner case, all reportedly with ties to organized crime: Carmello Merlino, Robert Guarente, and Robert Gentile. Merlino and Guarente have died. Gentile has denied any knowledge of the missing work, the report said.
Kelly said in the late 1990s, two FBI informants told law enforcement that Merlino was preparing to return Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, in an effort to collect the reward.
However, Merlino and his crew were soon arrested in an aborted armored car heist and the painting was never returned, MyFoxBoston.com reported.
Kelly suspects Guarente somehow passed control of the stolen Gardner artwork to Gentile, the report says
In 2012 Gentile's home and property in Manchester, Conn. were searched, but no sign of the stolen Gardner artwork was located. However, Kelly said authorities recovered police paraphernalia, including "clothing, articles of clothing with police and FBI insignias on it, handcuffs, a scanner, two way radios, and Tasers" and these are not common items.
Gentile, through his lawyer, denied having any connection to the Gardner art heist or with moving the artwork after the fact.

Art Hostage Comments:
The intrigue and stand off prevents the Gardner art being recovered. Ego's prevail and no-one is giving an inch.

Uncle Joe Ligambi, having beat the wrap yet again this January 2014 would organise the recovery of the Gardner art, but as with all previous attempts, there are problems with immunity and the reward offered.
Every time anyone has stepped up and offered help it seems they have ended up being indicted to be used as leverage, which has failed time and time again.

George Borgesi recently said if the immunity deal offered was for real, cast iron and did not require anything other than the Gardner art being recovered, then they could be handed back.

The reward offer of $5 million for the recovery of ALL the Gardner art in GOOD condition is also another problem because the condition was never good from the get-go, as when they were stolen some were cut from their frames and over the years some Gardner art has deteriorated.

From jail David Turner, Stephen and Mark Rossetti & William Merlino have all tried to offer help as part of a proposed deal but failed to agree and to be truthful, perhaps they do not have the ability to order the Gardner art to be handed back, unlike Uncle Joe Ligambi, who retains the ability, if so disposed, to demand the Gardner art be returned. Robert Gentile is no fool and will not put himself or his family at risk by revealing anything about the Gardner case because he has been warned by George Borgesi that Uncle Joe Ligambi has final say.

Mind you, if a deal was worked out and monies were paid, then I am certain the Gardner art, in whatever condition it is, would surface.
Robert Gentile, on pain of death threats to himself and family awaits the go-ahead, from Uncle Joe Ligambi via George Borgesi to offer up, via his lawyer, what he knows on securing the recovery of the Gardner art.
Lurking in the background is the in-fighting between Uncle Joe, Scarfo and Joey etc for control and the Gardner art has become just another piece of potential business.The smokescreen of a mistrial for Anthony Nicodemo has also made the subject of the Gardner art take a back seat.

We must not forget we are only talking about some, I repeat some of the Gardner art, not all is within the gift of Uncle Joe Ligambi or Robert Gentile to surface.

Lets step back and consider the facts.
The much maligned FBI have only been doing their job in trying to recover the Gardner art and make arrests.
The Criminal Underworld have also only been doing their job, trying to extort a ransom for the recovery of the Gardner art.
Twenty Four years have passed and no-one has broken rank on either side that has led to recovery of all the Gardner art.
To be continued...................................................

William Merlino

David Turner

The Gardner Museum Art Thieves, Unmasked at Last?

By Alexander Boyle | August 2014
March 18, 1990, saw the biggest museum heist take place in American history as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston was robbed by thieves dressed up as police officers. Since that time numerous stories have surfaced with the result being the same—nothing found, nothing recovered, and a museum, still bound by deed of gift, hangs empty frames on the wall where once hung masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Manet, and Degas.
In the year 2001 this writer was handed an extraordinary letter from a confidential FBI informant outlining how the job was done, who the “players” were, and how the paintings were spirited overseas, first to Italy then France where they were sold via the connivance of a New York dealer for upward of $25 million.
One small problem: Despite this writer being flown abroad in February 2005 in the company of the FBI to meet the French National Police on the Isle de France in Paris—nothing was found. Noted FBI Agent Robert Wittman gave his best efforts on his trips to France in 2006 and 2007. He came close, but again, aside from Corsican mobster innuendo, nothing was found.
In 2013 this writer started to write the outline of a TV series on the project, then tentatively titled “Raiders of the Lost Art,” and the first item on the agenda was revisiting the Gardner Heist. The joy of a complete reboot is that one can go in the past and start over how one looks at a story, which helps because the original story development was so convoluted by wise guys seeking to cover their tracks, that a writer in the center of this story might be forgiven for getting vertigo or the spins.
Two names from the start remained of interest, and while the paintings were long since gone, getting a lock on the guys who did the job might help get closure for Boston, and put the story back on the right track, and hopefully confirm what the informant stated in 2001.
But the FBI refused to help when a Freedom Of Information Act request was put in for one William Merlino. This would take some doing to get around.
In 2008 a friendly writer named Ulrich Boser sent me the first photo of the other suspect, David Allen Turner, and that really matched the initial police sketch. It would take another five plus years for the William Merlino photo to show up. As the reader can now see, it was worth the wait.
Who are these guys and where are they now? William Merlino is 53 years of age and serving out the remained of an armored car conspiracy case in Lee Federal Prison, Pennington Gap, Va. According to Federal prison records, he is due to get out on Aug. 6, 2025.
His cohort, David Allen Turner is now 47 year of age in Danbury Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, Conn. and he is scheduled for release on March 25, 2025. William Merlino’s uncle, Carmello, supposedly the “made guy” in the family, and the link that could have confirmed the organized crime connection to this story, died in federal prison on Dec. 7, 2005.
All three were sent away for lengthy prison stints from an arrest made in 1998 for a job they never got a chance to pull off, but conspiracy remains a valid charge in federal courts.

Money Trail

Now when a crew in La Cosa Nostra (LNC) does a score, they have to kick upstairs to the boss, or else they get clipped, and along those lines the story provided to this writer in 2001 it implicated Francis P. “Cadillac Frank” Salemme and his brother Jackie Salemme. That too followed the respected pattern of doing business. There would be a problem if the Merlinos went off the LCN reservation.
A sideways development in this convoluted story was that somebody in the Department of Justice put Francis P. “Cadillac Frank” Salemme in the federal witness protection program, presumably in exchange for Salemme agreeing to testify in court against his Boston enemies Stephen Flemmi and James “Whitey” Bulger. It all goes to show that local problems with law enforcement, compounded by strategic errors made in the Justice Department contributed to the perfect storm that enabled the heist to become the perfect crime.
So many distracting elements kick in to convolute the Gardner Heist story that it is best to keep it simple. Look at the photos. Do they match? If so one has to ask why was this buried for so long? Even though much of the insider story had been heard, the evolution of the official story raises even more disturbing questions. If Merlino et al worked for Salemme, why was Salemme given immunity and put into witness protection? That is just the tip of the iceberg, but it illustrates the problems inherent to this case.
Alexander Boyle is a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., where he majored in history. He has worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, PBS, galleries, and an auction house as well as having published articles on 19th and 20th century American painting. This article was originally published in AAD, art-antiques-design.com
Art Hostage Comments:
Alex Boyle has been consistent over the years in his theories about the Gardner Art Heist.
Alex Boyle said that after the Gardner Art Heist there was a "Sit down" at Friar Tucks where the deal for the Gardner art was struck for an alleged $25 million.
From there the art was moved via Halifax Nova Scotia to Genoa by New York Art Dealer & Sexual deviant Andrew Crespo.
From Genoa the Vermeer and possibly Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea was sold to none other than Hans Henrik (Hans Heinrich "Heini") Ágost Gábor Tasso Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon who hung the Vermeer at his Swiss villa until his death in 2002.
After Heini died his widow Carman passed the Vermeer and possibly the Rembrandt to Jean Marie Messier the French financier, via the Art Dealer Simon De Pury.
Alex Boyle led FBI Agents to Paris to search the home of Jean Marie Messier back in 2005 to look for the Vermeer etc but sadly the French authorities did not co-operate with the FBI but did make a search of the Jean Marie Messier Paris mansion and found some stolen fresco's looted from Italy and recovered them.
According to ex-FBI Agent Robert Wittman the Corsican Mafia have possession of at least some of the Gardner art and he was trying to smoke them out before he retired, but was thwarted by in-fighting at the FBI and a distinct lack of etiquette by the then Boston FBI Head Richard Des Lauriers towards the French authorities.

Robert Wittman said in an interview with the Huff Post:
The Gardner Heist
Two events that erupted in 1990 forever changed Wittman's, and America's, outlook regarding art crime. The former was a dreadful, painstaking experience. The latter was a pivotal moment in how art crime would be viewed by law enforcement, the media and the American public.
A car accident with Robert Wittman at the wheel in a South Jersey suburb would take the life of his friend and FBI Special Agent Denis Bozella. As if his four broken ribs, the guilt, grief and loss of his friend weren't enough, a prosecutor went through with a case he knew he would lose in court. The ordeal by trial, drawn out over five years for Wittman to clear his name, became the impetus to dedicate his career in solving art crime, which is what he considers to be crimes against society, history and the heritages of people.
A decade later, it would also place the agent in an even more special role, as he became the FBI's pointman in dealing with grief victims, primarily families suffering traumatic loss in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. At the time, that was hard on Wittman, the person, but it became valuable when he would begin to investigate and solve international art crime cases and go undercover as "Bob Clay," art broker and financier. The grief counseling -- "All I had to offer was empathy" -- and his own loss allowed him to see the other side of the good, bad and ugly in people, and put him in the perps' shoes and minds of master thieves.
On March 18, 1990, two robbers dressed as Boston Police gained access to the locked down Gardner Museum with a fake bench warrant. They duct-taped two young guards in the cellar and then spent an astounding 81 minutes rifling through the museum. They cut out ten priceless paintings -- a Vermeer, five Degas and three Rembrandts -- and three lesser art objects that included a gilded Corsican eagle finial and a Napoleonic War banner. The latter two were no "red herrings," but a clue to law enforcement as to where the stolen bounty would end up: in the organized crime orbit of Corsica, France and Spain.
With little to go on except police sketches and the data from the motion-detecting cameras, the trail went cold, fast. On the 23rd anniversary of the greatest art crime in history -- valued at 500 million -- the FBI's Boston Office (not the Art Crime Team) held a press conference, announcing the reward for the recovery of the stolen art was 5 million, and that they had fresh leads on the case "in Philadelphia and Connecticut."
Wittman said point blank: "It's definitely not in Philadelphia."
That press conference wasn't anything more than a reminder to the public on the reward and that that the famous case remained unsolved. It also served as a smoke screen, as those paintings are clearly in Europe -- with Wittman confirming: "We know who they were with, based on the French police wiretaps of the criminals I dealt with."
That was 2006 to 2008. Or two years that Wittman as Bob Clay went undercover in a sting operation that can be found in detail in his New York Times bestselling book Priceless: How I went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures (Random House/Broadway Books).
Unfortunately, human nature intervened. "Too many chiefs," the French Police pointman told Wittman. "Solving the case by committee doesn't work," Wittman later wrote.
Like the failed launch of the Obamacare website, throwing more people to fix a poorly designed platform doesn't work. Same with an undercover sting operation. The sting teams need to operate small to allow for "flexibility, creativity and to take risk," he stated in Priceless.
The human side to the promising undercover operation-turned-debacle was the FBI turf war, infighting with the Boston Office -- they knew nothing about art -- the Art Crime Team and the bureaucrats in FBI headquarters in D.C.
The same problem emerged in France. The French split their police groups in two with a new undercover unit called SIAT, producing evermore "chiefs."
All of those competing factions, instead of working in harmony, wanted to micromanage aspects of the case, while clamoring to take credit for solving the biggest art theft case in history in a press conference that would never materialize.
Robert Wittman's investigation into the Gardner Heist led him to the south of France by the way of Miami. "Although we didn't solve the Gardner case," Wittman said, "we did recover four valuable paintings stolen from the Nice Museum."
I stumbled across Turbo Paul Hendry M.A., above, somewhere in the gray areas of the Internet. He runs Art Hostage and Stolen Vermeer, two happily abrasive sites dedicated to speaking the truth about art thefts around the world. The proprietor, a former “knocker” himself, sees his position as an advocate and a go-between, providing the true story behind the investigations to recover stolen art. “Maybe I’m just a sucker for Dickens and silver-tongued nutters,” Virginia Heffernan wrote about Hendry a few years ago, “but it’s people like Turbo Paul who, to me, exemplify the possibilities of the open Web.” We spoke over instant messenger, which is how he prefers to communicate.
Why start Art Hostage? Was/is the goal to be an informational source, to drum up work for yourself, or something else?
I saw the reporting of art crime by the MSM [mainstream media] in a way like yellow journalism so I wanted to tell it like it is. I agree I can be toxic, but I am at least even-handed with my toxic views about the criminals and those who pursue stolen art. A paradox is sometimes the so-called good guys act like foxes guarding the hen house. When it comes to negotiating the recovery of stolen art, the bad guys want to deal and tell the truth, the so-called good guys lie and prevaricate to avoid any payments, even if those who provide vital information have nothing to do with the theft or subsequent handling of the said stolen artworks.
Do you see yourself as a middleman? You’re open about your past as a “knocker,” which I would imagine establishes some level of credibility with the so-called bad guys.
Noah, we live in a propaganda-filled world and sadly, journalists have to temper their articles a bit because of fear of being blackballed if they reveal too much truth.
I don’t set people up and do act as a middleman for stolen art when all other avenues have been exhausted. Kinda like The Equalizer for stolen art so to speak.
I like that. How many cases have you been directly involved with? Can you give me an example of one?

“It must be said, however, I am not all bad, as I do advise law enforcement on how to prevent art theft and act as a conduit between law enforcement and the underworld. But being an honest broker means I cannot sting people, otherwise I would lose 30 years of trust built up.”

I have been involved in too many cases to mention but the Da Vinci Madonna case is a fascinating case I was directly involved in. Also, I have consulted in most high-profile cases in recent years. My best work is done when I dance in the shadows and allow others to claim the limelight.
Very little stolen art is recovered these days, and I do get offers of stolen art every day but, sadly, law enforcement won’t allow many deals to happen, so I walk away and tell my contacts to walk away.
Does the visibility your site has gained surprise you?
Not really, because there are only a handful of art crime experts in the world, say six or seven, and I am the only one with the background of being a former trafficker.
Also, being a character and being able to articulate myself helps get over my message as the other experts are ex-law enforcement, insurance loss adjusters, etc., and they are one-dimensional and wooden.
My academic chops, having an M.A., B.A., Hons, etc. helps me and gives me some credibility, but I retain my street cred because I don’t do stings and set people up. Think about it: Where can you read about art crime other than the usual spin in the MSM? I am the only alternative who shoots from the lip.
That’s fair. How has what you do changed in the seven years you’ve had the site? Also, were you doing the same type of work before you started the site?
I got to the top of the stolen art world and retired. I then went to university, rather than play golf or go fishing. In the seven years since I started the site the amount of stings and recoveries has been reduced markedly. People with information have grown wise to the old stings and double-dealings of insurance loss adjusters, etc. so the flow of information has dried up for those investigating art-related crime. However, the dumb crooks still fall for the ruses of ex-law enforcement art crime investigators and loss adjusters, but most seek my council first.
It must be said, however, I am not all bad, as I do advise law enforcement on how to prevent art theft and act as a conduit between law enforcement and the underworld. But being an honest broker means I cannot sting people, otherwise I would lose 30 years of trust built up.
Look, when I comment that a case might be a set up or rewards are bullshit, I am not revealing a secret as most criminals can research the past cases of stings, although they may be referenced on my site.
Before the Internet, law enforcement and insurance agents could use and abuse informants and threaten them with exposure. All of this would happen in secret. Nowadays, the Internet provides a database of previous cases where stings have happened so less recoveries and less information is passed through.
The Gardner case proves the point of credibility. Every time anyone has stepped forward they have been hounded and threatened and even jailed to try and lever them to reveal all. The underworld firmly believes the Gardner museum reward offer of $5 million is bullshit. Think about it: The offer is for all the Gardner art back in good condition, even though when stolen back in 1990 it was cut from the frames therefore it is impossible to be in good condition, another get out clause to prevent payment of the reward. The immunity offer has conditions: Anyone offering help loses their right to take the Fifth and has to reveal all and be prepared to testify against those who have the Gardner art. Therefore, anyone with knowledge stays quiet.
The $5 million Gardner reward offer was made back in 1997 and not raised since so raising it may help?
If authorities really wanted just the Gardner art back, they would offer pure immunity for help and the reward would not have any conditions. So, until then we have to hope the Gardner art is found by authorities stumbling upon it, perhaps during another investigation, but that has been the hope for over two decades.
How can you help get it back?
When I say pure immunity I mean immunity only regarding the Gardner case, not any other cases, etc.
Give me a real immunity deal and concrete proof the reward will be paid, then I could help. I have stated many times I seek not one dime of the reward, but if I could guarantee the reward would be paid and immunity offered to those who could help, then the Gardner art would come home. I also said the Gardner art should be left in a Catholic church confession box to prevent a sting and that would be a kind of absolution for the art. The deal in place would need to be legally watertight so the post-recovery reward would be paid. Again, I seek none of the reward.
Where is the so-called reward? All we have is cheap talk. Why not put the Gardner reward in an escrow account? Why not announce the immunity is blanket and those stepping forward do not have to reveal anything other than the location of the art and then collect the reward. Of course, whomever stepped forward would have to stand the scrutiny of not being involved in the Gardner theft or handling of the art, but I am sure someone could be appointed to take point. But up until now anyone stepping forward gets hounded.
You see the MSM never ask these questions about the Gardner art, just make bullshit repeating the spin about reward and immunity.
What would it take for that to change?
I must say if law enforcement does not want the reward to be paid and want arrests, fine. But don’t try to bullshit all the time.
Each case is different. It depends on what gets stolen and if the desire to recover it overrides the desire to make arrests, then deals can be made. Case in point: the Turners stolen in Germany, which were on loan from the Tate gallery U.K. This is a classic buy back. By the way, buy backs are not illegal, go check. It is not illegal for a victim or an insurance company to buy back stolen art. They try to spin that line, “it’s illegal,” but in reality buy backs are perfectly legal.
Noah, you know the MSM play the game, and in a post-9/11 world, the MSM are terrified to really conduct investigative journalism. Step out of the MSM line and your career is over.
I agree with some of that, but also I think stolen art is pretty low on the priority list of most MSM organizations.
I am not saying rewards or fees should be paid all the time and encourage art theft, but art theft happens because thieves can and will continue regardless. But if someone has information that helps recover stolen art, then they should be paid. Information is a salable commodity but sadly authorities expect it for free.
What does that have to do with MSM and investigative journalism?
I agree with you and much reporting on art crime is one of lazy journalism, therefore just trot out the usual spin under a banner headline. Take the Jeffrey Gundlach case in L.A. He offered a huge reward and got his art back within weeks, and the informant got paid.
Why has the MSM not questioned the Gardner case more? Why not seek answers to the immunity offer and reward offer to smoke out the truth. Then perhaps by firming up both immunity and reward offers people may believe it and come forward?
I see your point. I thought it was interesting that you used Google for everything. Do you trust them with your information despite the sensitive nature of some of it?
Noah, Google guys are great. They provide me with their security so hackers cannot disrupt my site like they may be able to do with an independent site. To hack my blog, hackers would need to bypass Google security and being in California I get the benefit of freedom of speech, so I can be toxic.
I mean less about hackers and more about Google themselves. They have shown in the past that they will work with law enforcement to turn over emails, etc. I’m not saying you’re doing anything illegal—I don’t think you are at all—but I can imagine a situation in which you might have some information like that which someone sends you.
I love Google, America, and of course Israel.
You can say, however, I am even-handed with my toxic viewpoints.
I am a thorn in the side of crooks and law enforcement, as well as the insurance industry. I say what journalists would love to say, I do not have the burden of office.

Reputed mobster suspected in Gardner heist pleads guilty to gun, drug charges

HARTFORD, Conn. — Robert Gentile, the reputed Connecticut mobster the feds believe has information that can crack the decades-old Gardner Museum heist, was working with authorities for 10 months to help track down the purloined paintings before they pinched him on drug and gun charges, all to simply squeeze him for more details, his lawyer said today after Gentile pleaded guilty to all counts.
Hunched over a cane and sitting in a wheelchair, the 76-year-old Gentile admitted to a federal court judge he worked with a co-defendant to deal oxycodone to an FBI informant and that he couldn’t turn down a deal to sell other prescription pills, claiming he “got caught in a trap.”
“I was wrong,” a gruff Gentile said, adding he didn’t want to drag out the court process because of his age and failing health. “I don’t have many more years left to fight the case. I don’t want to cause any more problems.”


Neither Gentile nor prosecutors addressed allegations he knows something about the famous 1990 robbery at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a claim Gentile has roundly denied even as authorities scoured his Manchester home in February and May. Authorities didn’t find any paintings but instead found a cache of guns, $22,000 and more pills.
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But after the hearing, his lawyer, Ryan McGuigan, said Gentile plans to address the accusations fully when he is sentenced on Feb. 6. He added that Gentile worked with authorities for roughly 10 months in the investigation, including testifying before a grand jury, but stressed his client has never known where they were stashed. Thieves stole 13 works of art from the museum, valued at $500 million. Gentile was arrested earlier this year.
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“He knew some of the individuals that the government believes may have had something to do with the heist,” McGuigan said, adding that likely, “ninety-nine percent of the people who were involved are dead.
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“He is the last, best hope of finding the paintings,” he said of Gentile. “Now he’s paying the price.”
Under his plea, Gentile has agreed to sentencing guidelines of 46 to 57 months in jail, or a maximum just under five years, plus a lifetime of supervised release and up to a $100,000 fine, though the judge is free to set different terms.
Gentile had faced up to 150 years in prison on the nine counts against him.

Reputed Connecticut mobster told federal grand jury he knew nothing about Gardner Museum art heist

HARTFORD – Reputed mobster Robert V. Gentile has testified before a federal grand jury probing the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist that he does not know who stole the priceless paintings from the Boston landmark, Gentile’s attorney said today after his client pleaded guilty to drug and weapons charges.
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Gentile, according to attorney A. Ryan McGuigan, was questioned by federal prosecutors this year about Boston area crime figures whose names have been linked to the thefts of the 13 paintings, which include works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet.
Gentile was also questioned before the grand jury about Robert Guarente, a Mafia figure who died in 2004 and whose widow said he provided Gentile with a stolen painting before his death, his attorney said.
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But McGuigan said Gentile provided nothing to federal officials that will solve the biggest museum theft in history. He said Gentile does not know who committed the crime nor does he know what happened to the paintings in the 22 years since the robbery.
“They were obviously not satisfied with the information that he had,’’ McGuigan said. “But unfortunately, that is all they had.’’
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McGuigan spoke with reporters at US District Court here after Gentile pleaded guilty to drug and firearms charges based on the discovery of prescription drugs and six guns by federal investigators when they searched Gentile’s Manchester, Conn., home in February. The Gardner art heist was not mentioned at the hearing. Gentile will be sentenced early next year and could face three or four years in federal prison under a plea agreement.
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Gentile, 76, told US District Judge Robert N. Chatigny that he was pleading guilty to six charges because he was guilty of the crimes and because he wanted to end his life without any further interference from federal law enforcement.
“I’m pleading guilty because I am guilty. I am sorry for causing this problem,’’ Gentile said. “I don’t want any more trouble.’’
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Gentile, who has chronic health issues, sat in a wheelchair during the hearing. He told the judge, “I want to serve my time and get home. I don’t have many years left.’’
Guarente, a Mafia figure who died in 2004 at age 65, apparently had ties to everyone publicly identified as a person of interest in the heist, according to court records, FBI reports, and State Police documents.
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The search of Gentile's home was part of an apparently renewed effort by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, to solve the Gardner art theft, which has haunted both the museum and law enforcement.
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In addition to Gentile’s house, the FBI searched the home of Anthony Carlo, a 62-year-old ex-convict living in Worcester who has a history of art theft.
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The Gardner Musuem heist occurred in the early morning of March 18, 1990. Two men posing as police officers conned their way into the museum by telling the two security guards that they were responding to a report of a disturbance. The guards, who violated protocol by letting the officers in, were bound with duct tape. The thieves then spent 81 minutes taking the 13 masterworks.

Federal agents swarmed Gentile’s home again in May in what McGuigan called a veiled attempt to find the stolen paintings. McGuigan said at the time that the FBI got a new warrant allowing the use of ground-penetrating radar to look for buried weapons, but he believed they really were looking for the artwork.
“This is nonsense,” McGuigan said in May. “This is the FBI. Are you trying to tell me they missed something the first time? They’re trying to find $500 million of stolen artwork. ... All they’re going to find is night crawlers.”
Gentile was charged with three weapons crimes that each carried up to 10 years in prison and six drug crimes that carried up to 20 years in prison apiece. He wasn’t supposed to have any guns because of a 1990s larceny conviction.
In court Wednesday, he said he was pleading guilty to avoid the expense and aggravation of a trial. Prosecutors and his defense agreed on sentencing guidelines of 46 to 57 months in prison, but Gentile could face more or less prison time based on a report by probation officials. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 6.

 

Conn. drug suspect linked to Gardner heist may cop plea

Gentile Manchester Home

 http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20221008conn_drug_suspect_linked_to_gardner_heist_may_cop_plea/srvc=home&position=also

A Connecticut man who told the Herald federal prosecutors offered to broom drug charges against him if he agreed to help solve the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist is negotiating a plea deal, according to court documents filed by his attorney.
Andrew Parente, 75, and reputed gangster Robert Gentile, 76, were scheduled to go on trial tomorrow in Hartford on charges they were dealing prescription painkillers. On Friday, Judge Robert N. Chatigny pushed the proceeding back to Nov. 13 after Parente and public defender Deirdre Murray filed a motion to postpone jury selection, stating they are “engaged in negotiations” with prosecutors.
Parente and Murray did not return calls requesting comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also did not return calls.


Parente told the Herald in May the FBI started leaning on him about the 13 missing masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet soon after he was arrested in February.
A $5 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the art valued at more than $500 million is still up for grabs.




WHDH-TV -

Degas, Program for an Artistic Soirée, Study 2, 1884
 Has the Above Degas been recovered recently, was it recovered a long time ago but kept top secret, is it in play as a taster to test the water????????????
Art Hostage loves the smell of Gardner art in the morning !!

All sorts of rumours, whispers, allegations and accusations abound.

Set ups, stings, broken promises, false dawns, 2015 is already proving to be a watershed year as the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Gardner Art Heist approaches on March 18th 2015.

Art Hostage may be many things, but reckless is not one of them.
Details to follow......................................

In the meantime here is the latest from the mainstream media, same old spin, not asking the right questions about the Gardner Art Heist

Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist: 25 Years of Theories

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The biggest art heist of all time is still a complete mystery

Security guard Paul Daley stands guard at the door of the Dutch Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston
BOSTON (Reuters) - A 122-year old Venetian-style palazzo tucked into Boston's marshy Fens section stands as one of the city's more popular tourist attractions and the site of one of its longest-unsolved crimes.
It has been almost 25 years since 13 artworks worth some $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the largest art heist in U.S. history.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting the thieves has long expired but officials at the private museum and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have not given up hope of recovering the missing works, which include including Rembrandt's "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," Vermeer's "The Concert" and Manet's "Chez Tortoni."
The Gardner's remaining collection is sizable, boasting some 2,500 pieces that range from a Roman mosaic of Medusa to ancient Chinese bronzes, reflecting the eclectic tastes of the turn-of-the-century collector from whom it takes its name.
More unusual are the four empty frames that hang in the galleries. They are a quirk of Gardner's will that turned the building she called home in her final years over to the public as a museum after her 1924 death, on the condition that the collection not be changed.
Anthony Amore, the museum's chief of security, described the empty frames as "placeholders, signs of hope" that the missing art would one day be recovered.
"The investigation is very active and very methodical," said Amore, a former Department of Homeland Security official who has spent much of the past decade trying to track down the missing art. "We need those works."
The mystery dates to the rainy night of March 18, 1990, when two men dressed as police officers arrived at the museum's front door and security guards let them in. The pair allegedly overpowered the guards, who were found duct-taped to chairs in the museum's basement the next morning.
There have been glimmers of hope of solving the crime. In March 2013, FBI officials said they had identified the thieves and asked anyone who seen the missing work, which includes etchings and other historic objects, to come forward.

This self-portrait by Rembrandt was one of the 13 stolen works
But a month later Boston law enforcement's attention was refocused on the fatal bombing attack at the Boston Marathon and no artwork has been recovered.
The investigation has taken FBI agents as far afield as Ireland and Japan, but in recent years has been focused on the northeastern and central United States, said Geoff Kelly, the special agent in charge of the case.
"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Kelly said. "We've been able to narrow the haystack."

ECCENTRIC PATRON

Gardner's life was as distinctive as her art collection. A native of New York who moved north after marrying businessman Jack Gardner in 1860, she did not comport to the dour standards of the wealthy in 19th century Boston.
Gardner, who had been educated in Paris, served donuts at flamboyant parties and competed with male art collectors for prize pieces. After her first and only child died at the age of 2, the Gardners toured Europe extensively, adding to their collection of art and antiques.
The couple commissioned the building that now houses the museum after their art holdings outgrew their home. The museum opened in 1903, five years after Jack's death.
Her orders that the museum remain unchanged means that, a quarter-century on, the theft is a raw experience for first-time visitors.
"Any other museum would simply paper over the loss and take down the frames and put something else up," said Andrew McClellan, a Tufts University professor specializing in museum history. "At the Gardner, it's a haunting presence that will only ever be healed by the return of the paintings."
Kelly would say little about who the FBI suspects stole the art, other than allude to the Mafia. But he contends the thieves likely were not art connoisseurs, given that they left behind some its most prized pieces, including Titian's "The Rape of Europa."
"These thieves were not sophisticated criminals, as evidenced by the fact that two of the paintings were cut out of their frames," Kelly said. "The significant value of the stolen artwork seems to have elevated the status of the thieves to master criminals but that's a specious assumption."

Possible leads in $500 million Boston museum robbery 25 years later: book

The greatest art heist ever, when $500 million worth of masterpieces disappeared from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, is still unsolved. But Stephen Kurkjian thinks he may have found the small-time gangster who masterminded the heist, he writes in 'Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist.'

The greatest art heist of all time remains unsolved, but a new book reveals that a small-time gangster may have masterminded the audacious 1990 robbery that relieved Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of a $500 million haul of masterworks.
The author of “Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist,” Stephen Kurkjian, also points the way to possibly recovering the missing masterpieces 25 years later. Paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer were among the 13 pieces of work stolen.
But Kurkjian, a 40-year veteran of the Boston Globe with three Pulitzer Prizes to his name, reports the FBI doesn’t seem all that interested in what he’s uncovered.
Empty frames still hang in the galleries where Rembrandt’s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” and Vermeer’s “The Concert” were on display until the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, when two Boston cops buzzed the security desk at 1:20 a.m. demanding entry.

The guard, Rick Abath, disobeyed strict protocol and let the uniforms in without calling a superior. As the “cops” handcuffed Abath before stowing him and another guard in the basement, the two were informed, “This is a robbery, gentlemen.”
The thieves may have been polite to the guards, but they were brutal to the masterpieces. In 88 minutes they tore through the museum, throwing the paintings to the marbled floor as they sliced the canvasses from the frames. They knew what they liked, but they didn’t know art, snatching a relatively worthless Chinese vase while leaving behind a priceless Michelangelo drawing and the most valuable painting in the museum, Titian’s “Rape of Europa.”
The FBI seized control of the investigation on the grounds that the artwork would be crossing state lines. Shutting local enforcement out was a mistake many felt. In the raging gang wars of the time, both city and state cops had developed reliable informants deep in its criminal underworld.
In fact, one gangster, a player in the East Boston Rossetti gang, Louis Royce, complained to the author that he was still owed 15% for devising the plan. As a poor Southie kid, he loved the museum so much he would hide away there overnight. As a grownup gangster in the early ’80s, knowing how lax security was, he cased the Gardner with the intention of breaking in.

In gangland, it had become common to use stolen art works of value to bargain for the prison release of a “family” member or a plea deal. While Royce never got to rob the Gardner — he went to prison for another crime — he was instrumental in formulating a scenario where two “cops” show up late at night and order the door open.
The playbook had been written.
Over the years, tantalizing leads would surface. In 1994, museum director Anne Hawley opened a letter that promised the return of the 13 pieces for $2.6 million. If the museum was interested, the Boston Globe had to feature a prominent numeral one in a business story. The paper did so, but the letter writer disappeared after he learned a massive alert had gone out to law enforcement.

In 1997, William Youngworth, a career criminal and associate of the master art thief, Myles Connor Jr., took Boston Herald reporter Tom Mashberg on a long ride to a warehouse in Red Hook, where he produced a painting that looked a lot like Rembrandt’s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” Whether or not the painting was authentic remains in question. What’s conclusive is that the FBI finally quit talking to Youngsworth when they got nowhere.
Hawley was so desperate she reached out to the Vatican to ask Pope John Paul II to issue a papal appeal. She also approached William Bulger, president of the state Senate, asking that he chat up his brother Whitey to see what he knew.
The notorious gangster was fruitlessly chasing leads himself. The heist had happened in his territory and he figured he was owed tribute.

Two decades passed, and even with a $5 million reward, never mind the tremendous criminal bargaining power attached to the return of the paintings, no one anted up.
In March 2013, the FBI held what was considered a bombshell press conference. Richard S. DesLauriers, the head of Boston’s FBI, announced they knew with certainty that the art had traveled to Connecticut and the Philadelphia area. There was, the author notes, a troubling lack of detail.
The FBI didn’t name names. Catching the thieves wasn’t the point any longer. The statute of limitations had expired, and getting the art back was now the game.
The FBI had seen the value of crowdsourcing after a tip led to the arrest of Whitey Bulger. This was essentially an appeal to the public to check their attics, or their neighbors’ walls, for a Rembrandt.
Those in the know quickly pieced together the FBI scenario for the heist. Its investigation fingered key members of Frank (Cadillac Frank) Salemme’s gang that the Rossettis owed allegiance to. While Kurkjian doesn’t dismiss the feds’ version out of hand, he makes quick work of its many holes.

Meanwhile, Kurkjian, whose reporting helped solve two previous art thefts, took a “deep dive into the inner works of Boston’s notorious underworld and gained the trust of some of its most flamboyant and pivotal figures.” It was a netherworld the FBI hadn’t been able to penetrate.
Vincent Ferrara was in the top echelon of a mob faction warring with Salemme for control of the New England underworld. But in 1992, Ferraro went to prison for 20 years on a murder rap that would later be overturned.
When his wheelman, Bobby Donati, visited shortly after he’d been locked up, the future looked long and grim.

A secret informant told Kurkjian the details of that visit.
“I can’t let you stay here,” Donati told Ferrara. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
Donati toured the museum several times in the company of the master art thief Connor. Shortly before the robbery, he also showed up at a social club, The Shack, carrying a large paper bag that ripped open, and police uniforms fell out.
“Was that you?” Ferrara demanded to know when Donati visited him again after the robbery.
“I told you I was going to do it. Now I got to find a way to begin negotiating to get you out.” He reassured Ferrara he had “buried the stuff.”
Donati was murdered in 1991, a possible victim in the ongoing gang wars.
Kurkjian turned his info over to the FBI, and with the informant’s permission, passed his phone number to the Gardner’s head of security. No contact was made, and the feds made a show of dismissing the new lead.

Kurkjian’s sleuthing then brought him around to another low-level hood, Robert Gentile, the man the FBI believed had possession of at least some of the paintings. After nailing Gentile on a drug charge, they raided his home in Manchester, Conn., finding a false-bottom floor in the shed that hid a large container. It was frustratingly empty.
At one moment, Kurkjian felt Gentile was close to making an admission to him before abruptly dismissing the possibility of saying more. “The feds set me up and ruined my life,” he said flatly.
Kurkjian contacted his informant to ask if Ferrara would meet with Gentile to assure him that if he produced the artwork neither he nor his family would suffer retribution. The informant was willing, but pointed out that only a judge acting on an FBI request could allow a recently released federal prisoner like Ferrara to meet with anyone convicted of a federal offense.
“Despite what felt like the biggest break in the Gardner case yet, arranging a meeting between Ferrara and Gentile was not something I could accomplish,” Kurkjian writes.
It was up to the FBI.
So far, nothing.
 

Art Hostage has been a thorn in the side of all concerned relating to the infamous Gardner art heist for decades.
Art Hostage has been toxic in his views about the criminals, law enforcement and the Yellow Journalists who have written about the Gardner art heist for the main(slime)stream media and followed the bullshit line spewed out repeatedly over the last 25 years.

Now, for the first time, Art Hostage can offer the solution that finally recovers the Gardner art.

First of all the Gardner Museum must make a new reward offer by way of a public statement of intent, highlighting the actual conditions needed to claim the reward.
Something along the lines of:

"The Gardner Museum of Boston declares after 25 years of searching without success a new detailed reward offer. 
This reward offer is based upon a 1% percentage of the Market/retail value (or the total reward being up to $5 million for all the Gardner artworks, whichever is the largest amount given the possible damage to the Gardner artworks over the years since) stolen of each stolen Gardner artwork recovered upon its recovery and any damage to the condition since it was stolen in 1990. 
This reward will be paid in full for each Gardner artwork returned and not require the total Gardner artworks stolen back in 1990 to be recovered. 
For example, if the Vermeer is recovered, it will be inspected and valued, then a reward of 1% percent of it current value, in its current condition will be paid out forthwith with no other conditions to apply. 
This will apply to all stolen Gardner artworks as and when they are recovered. 
A simple test can be applied by offering information about a lesser value Gardner artwork, for example a drawing by Degas, to test the validity of this renewed 2015 publicly offered reward"

The actual legal language can be arranged to suit the legal process but the main focus is to offer a collectible reward, taking into account the possible damage or less than Good condition the Gardner art may be in after 25 years. By doing this it will send a clear message to those who can give the vital information as to the whereabouts of the elusive Gardner art and reassure them the reward is real, sincere and legally binding, as well as the reward will be paid out on each individual stolen Gardner artwork, as and when recovered.
This solution is practicable, honest, sincere and will go along way to reassure the scepticism of those within the close knit circle that know the whereabouts of the Gardner art.

Secondly, the so-called immunity from prosecution offer being touted all these years is a false offer as explained by The then Assistant Boston D.A. Brian Kelly, back in 2010 at the IFAR meeting in New York. The then Assistant Boston D.A. Brian Kelly explained that anyone stepping forward to claim immunity would have to provide details of what they know and give up their right to take the fifth amendment as well as agree to testify against those responsible for holding the Gardner art. That is why the offer of immunity has not been challenged by the media and the endless line of Yellow Journalists who have all followed the spin of falsehoods for the last 25 years.
Law Enforcement and the D.A. office in Boston must, alongside the new reward offer made by the Gardner Museum, issue a press release giving details of the immunity offer which will rest assure those who can help, they will not have to provide any information other than their location of the Gardner art and will not face any prosecution for any Gardner art heist related possible crimes.
The wording would be something along the lines of this:

"We, the office of the District Attorney in Boston declare that anyone offering the location of the Gardner art will not face any indictments, charges or be required to give any details of how they came into the knowledge of the Gardner art whereabouts whatsoever. 
The Soul Intention of the Office of the District Attorney in Boston is to see the Gardner art recovered and not to prosecute anyone who provides the location of the Gardner art
Furthermore, we declare the reward offer made by the Gardner Museum 2015 to be lawful and do not object to the Gardner Museum paying the reward out to anyone who offers the location of the Gardner art on the 1% percentage basis of the Market/retail value (or a total of $5 million for all the Gardner artworks whichever is the greatest amount given the possible damage to the Gardner artworks since their theft) of the condition which the said Gardner art works are in upon recovery, as well as the reward being paid out for each Gardner artwork as and when they are recovered"

 Again, the wording can arranged to fit the legal requirements but the jist and message is clear that the immunity offer is a full immunity for the Gardner Art Heist exclusively.

Whilst this may not sit well with all it would demonstrate the sincerity of all concerned as they have been declaring for many years the recovery of the Gardner art is paramount, not prosecuting anyone.

It is amazing, or perhaps not, that for all the many many column inches devoted to the Gardner art heist, not one journalist has asked any questions about the reward offer or immunity offer. They just spew out the same old tired bullshit year after year hoping to catch a break and hoodwink the public.

Furthermore, those with knowledge of the Gardner art whereabouts are not law abiding people and therefore they know there needs to be a concrete reward offer and immunity offer before they step up.
We have never been dealing with law abiding citizens. so why assume they would have any moral fibre and guilt to hand back the Gardner art?

With these new 2015 reward and immunity offers in place then the likes of Jeanine Guarente, Elene Guarente and Earle Berghman (Bobby Guarente's best friend) as well as Robert Gentile would be more willing to offer up what they know about the current whereabouts of the Gardner art.

For the sake of clarity, yet again, I Art Hostage, want to declare publicly that I seek not one dime of any reward, do not seek any payment at all.

Furthermore, if I can assist in any way, shape or form to help anyone with knowledge give the location of the Gardner art, again I seek not one dime of any reward, and in fact would not seek any credit for my assistance and would allow others whom want the spotlight to step forward to claim they helped.

 My sole purpose has always been the return of the Gardner art to its rightful place for the enjoyment of the public and if I can assist in that process all well and good and I would be prepared to step back and allow others, who's egos consume themselves, to claim the undeserved credit.

 I would say however, if I assist in any way, shape or form to recover the Gardner art I would sincerely hope that recovery would be dedicated to the memory of the late, great Harold Smith
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 DXer/Ross gives two links which are well worth consideration:
 http://www.boston.com/news/2015/03/18/the-many-dead-ends-the-gardner-heist-investigation/7lJrNHTmLJP8bX0Qxst8gK/story.html

This is facinating:
 http://photos.syracuse.com/yourphotos/2013/03/isabella_gardner_art_heist.html

Isabella Gardner art heist 

Below, former Maine residence and barn of Robert Guarente searched by FBI in 2009

The Many Dead Ends of the Gardner Heist Investigation

Two thieves, 13 stolen masterpieces, and a 25-year search for justice.

“As they stood there, puzzled, a security supervisor arrived with keys. He opened the door; no guards were in sight.

‘My guards are missing!’ he told [Lyle] Grindle, the museum’s security director, in a phone conversation made shortly after walking in the door. ‘We’ve been robbed . . . and it’s very serious.’

‘Have you called the police?’ asked Grindle.

‘Yes.’

‘Secure the building; I’m on my way,’ Grindle replied. He was so frantic to get to the museum that he cannot remember which car he drove.

The call to 911, on a quiet Sunday morning, crackled over the police radio. Boston police Detective Sgt. Paul Crossen had just exited from the Southeast Expressway when he heard it. Crossen immediately spun his steering wheel and headed toward the Fenway. The phone call bearing news of the theft jangled in Anne Hawley’s kitchen, catching her in midconversation. Edward M. Quinn, the supervisory special agent of the FBI’s Reactive Squad, was sitting in church when his beeper summoned him to the scene of the heist.” (The Boston Globe, May 13, 1990).

“The truth was, though, that the museum had been in trouble long before the robbery. The Gardner had simply failed to keep up with standard late-20th-century museum practices. There wasn’t even an adequate place for visitors to hang their coats, let alone a climate-control system to protect the museum’s masterpieces from the extremes of Boston’s winters and summers. The problem was a matter of money and management. The trustees, traditionally a self-perpetuating Brahmin board of seven Harvard-educated men, acted as if fund-raising were tantamount to begging. In the 1980s, when there was big money available for arts institutions, the museum didn’t even apply for big grant money—at a time when the Gardner needed millions of dollars’ worth of climate control and conservation.” (The Boston Globe, April 22, 1990).

“McDevitt’s lawyer, Thomas E. Beatrice, told WCVB-TV (Ch. 5) yesterday that he’s been assured by prosecutors that his client is not a target of the probe and was subpoenaed ‘presumably to provide some testimony or evidence in their investigation.’ But, Beatrice said his client knows ‘absolutely nothing’ about the Gardner heist. ‘We don’t think he can provide anything that could aid them in this investigation,’ he said.” (The Boston Globe, August 7, 1993)

“The thieves who posed as police officers and forced their way into the Gardner museum in the Fenway had on an earlier visit left an unalarmed museum window unlocked so they could use it as an alternative entrance; that they damaged several bolts that were used to secure the paintings to the wall, and that one of the thieves pulled out a pocket knife and cut two of the Rembrandts from the frames because of the difficulty of removing the bolts. Sources familiar with the investigation said it was public knowledge that the paintings were slashed. Beyond that, they said that so far Youngworth has not offered any convincing details about the heist.”

“ ‘Yes, I would be delighted to help you and the Gardner Museum recover their former property,’ Youngworth wrote on June 21. ‘Kindly remit $50 million dollars U.S. and a signed immunity agreement issued by the Attorney General of the United States.’” (The Boston Globe July 1, 1999).

“While in Miami, three days before the Gardner robbery, Turner purchased $645 worth of unspecified merchandise from the Spy Shops International in Miami, a store that specialized in the sale of undercover and electronic surveillance equipment. Also viewed by the Globe was a receipt that showed Turner’s American Express card was used in Fort Lauderdale on the return of a leased car on March 20, 1990, two days after the robbery. While the receipt appears to be signed by Turner, another person’s Social Security card number is written on the receipt, which investigators say suggests someone other than Turner might have been using his credit card that day. Goldstein, Turner’s lawyer, declined comment on the documents.

In addition, Turner was observed by police surveillance in September 1991 carrying an ‘Oriental vase’ from his car into the Boston office of Alfred Sollitto, a lawyer with whom he had become acquainted. Among the 13 items stolen from the Gardner Museum was a vase-like, Chinese bronze beaker. Sollitto acknowledged in an interview that he was a friend of Turner’s but could not recall Turner ever bringing a vase to his office.” (The Boston Globe, March 15, 2009).

“ ‘If they left any sweat on that duct tape, a sample could be drawn, and with that sample there’s the possibility of a result,’ said Dr. Bruce Budowle, former senior scientist of the FBI’s Quantico lab.

The FBI conducted DNA tests on items taken from the crime scene at the time of the theft, but none of the tests produced a usable sample.

Huge strides in DNA analysis in the two decades since the crime could mean a different outcome this time.”

“Prosecutors said for the first time in open court Thursday that their continued interest in Gentile in relation to the Gardner was based in part on a list they found in his home of the 13 works of art that were stolen in the heist, their estimated value, and a Boston Herald article published days after the theft. They also said a polygraph test he took about his knowledge of the heist concluded with a 99 percent assurance rate that he was lying.” (The Boston Globe, May 10, 2013).

Feds Disclose Recording Of Gardner Museum Heist Suspect Negotiating Sale Of Art

Robert Gentile, the Hartford mobster the FBI believes may be the last, best hope for tracking down hundreds of millions of dollars in art stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, was arrested again Friday, and a prosecutor disclosed that the FBI has a recording of Gentile negotiating the sale of stolen Gardner paintings with an undercover operative.
Federal prosecutor John Durham created a stir when he made the disclosure at Gentile's arraignment, in U.S. District Court in Hartford, on charges of selling a gun to an undercover operative.
Others with knowledge of the case said that there is nothing to indicate that Gentile had stolen paintings to sell and that he may have been trying to orchestrate a swindle.

FBI agents have been pressing Gentile for five years in the belief that he can tell them what became of 13 priceless paintings that at least two thieves stole from the Gardner early on the morning of March 18, 1999. The baffling heist, the subject of multiple books, may be the most notorious art case ever.
The trail left by the thieves had been cold for years when the widow of a Boston gangster called FBI agents to her remote home in the Maine woods and told them that her dead husband may have passed Gentile two of the paintings years earlier, before the gangsters sat down over a boiled lobster luncheon at a Portland, Maine, hotel.
The assertion has never been substantiated, but it put Gentile under the FBI microscope. Since then it has been learned that Gentile, known in Hartford as a knockaround hood, had been living a secret life in Boston, where he had been inducted into the New England branch of a Philadelphia mafia family.
Gentile, 78, denies any knowledge of the Gardner job or the missing art, which some value at $500 million. Among the stolen masterworks are three Rembrandts — including his only known seascape, "Storm on the Sea of Galilee"— a Vermeer, a Manet and five drawings by Degas. One source close to the investigation said Gentile is the best lead that authorities have had in 22 years.
"Lies, all lies," Gentile has told The Courant
People with knowledge of the circumstances leading to Gentile's arrest Friday and his recorded statements about selling stolen paintings said both were the result of a law enforcement sting. Gentile thought he was speaking with representatives of a wealthy businessman who wanted to buy stolen art, the people with knowledge of the case said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith ordered Gentile held over the weekend and scheduled a hearing for 10 a.m. Monday on the government's motion to hold Gentile without bail on firearms charges.
Gentile, overweight and nearly crippled by a back injury, was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair. He breathed heavily as he was pushed past the bar. Gentile had arrived at the federal courthouse in Hartford Friday morning to meet with his federal probation officer, but then learned he was being arrested on federal firearms charges.
Durham said in court that although Gentile remains on federal supervised release, he's been engaged in a variety of criminal activities and has been meeting with at least seven convicted felons, including a convicted murderer to whom he is charged with selling a loaded .38-caliber revolver.
"He's been a very active person since his release from prison," Durham said. His arrest came a year and a day after his release from prison, Durham added.
Gentile is heard on undercover recordings, Durham told the judge, discussing the sale of the gun for $1,000. The buyer told Gentile that he wanted it to collect a drug debt, Durham said.
During the hearing, Gentile sat in the wheelchair, sometimes staring at the ceiling and sometimes looking toward the judge shaking his head "no" as the judge recounted his alleged crimes. At one point, Gentile leaned over to his lawyer, Ryan McGuigan, and whispered, "I ain't going anywhere. I'm going on 80 years old. I'm ready to die."
Despite the reference to the Gardner heist, Durham said, the firearms charges are the only reason Gentile was arrested.
"Mr. Gentile's here for one reason only, because he sold a gun to someone he knew to be a convicted murderer," Durham said.
The judge took note of Gentile's apparent frailty.
"This gentleman doesn't look physically formidable," Smith said, adding, "It doesn't take an awful lot of physicality to sell a gun, especially to one who is known to be a convicted murderer."
FBI Special Agent Geoffrey J. Kelly wrote in an arrest affidavit that Gentile had the revolver hidden in a couch cushion in his home on Frances Drive in Manchester.
McGuigan said Gentile denies all the allegations. The new charges, he said outside of court, are "clearly" part of the government's ongoing effort to get Gentile to give investigators information about the Gardner burglary.
"This is what you call throw everything at the wall and see what sticks," McGuigan said, adding later, "If this doesn't involve the Gardner, I'll eat my hat."
Those who know Gentile, who began accumulating an arrest record in the 1950s, dismiss any suggestion that he was involved in one of the biggest art heists of all time. But some of the air went out of Gentile's emphatic denials when it was revealed in court that he submitted to a lie detector test in 2012 and the result showed there was a 99 percent likelihood he was lying when he denied knowledge of the heist.
The last time Gentile was in court he was sentenced to 30 months in prison for two crimes — possession and sale of prescription pain medications and illegal possession of weapons, including an unregistered silencer, by a convicted felon.
FBI agents used an informant to build the drug case against Gentile and a partner in an effort to pressure him into divulging information about the Gardner art. Then, when they searched his house, they found what Smith described at a previous hearing as a "veritable arsenal" containing explosives, guns, silencers, handcuffs, brass knuckles and other weapons.
Among the items found in Gentile's cellar was a list of the stolen Gardner art with its estimated black market value and police uniforms. At least one Gardner thief wore a police uniform.
Gentile could face substantially more prison time if convicted of the new gun offense. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon carries a federal sentence of as much as 10 years.

Reputed Conn. mobster eyed in Gardner art heist probe held on gun charges

 Art Hostage Comments:

Whilst the likelihood is the FBI entrapped Robert Gentile, they are only doing their job in using all means to recover the stolen Gardner art, covert and overt.  

The FBI has a Trillion dollar support system behind it so they have the ability to put surveilance up the Wazoo of anyone suspected of having any information about the Gardner art heist and the current whereabouts of any Gardner art.

With the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Gardner art Heist still fresh in the minds of all and sundry, it does not take Albert Einstein to work out the FBI would be all over Robert Gentile like a rash and be monitoring his every movement, speech, meetings etc.

Love them or hate them, the FBI are much maligned for doing their mandated job of recovering the Gardner art and arresting anyone with information about the whereabouts of the Gardner art.

Any offer of immunity, however tenuous that is in reality, is down to Prosecutors.

For Robert Gentile to fall for the same trick twice in recent years is reckless to say the least.

If for one moment Robert Gentile thought the FBI would leave him alone he is sorely mistaken and now, as before, the offer of giving up any Gardner art he has knowledge of is again the price for these charges, however trumped up, to be dropped.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the lawyer for Robert Gentile, A. Ryan McGuigan allegedly has a legally binding signed agreement that if any Gardner artwork is ever recovered with the help of any Gentile family member or as a result of information relating to any Gentile family member, he will recieve 40% of any reward money, or fee paid out.

This seems stange given the fact A. Ryan McGuigan repeatedly states Robert Gentile has no knowledge of the whereabouts of any Gardner artworks and has never seen any Gardner artworks?

Gardner Museum announces reward for single item stolen in heist

Gardner Museum Offers New Reward for Item Taken in 1990 Heist

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is offering a $100,000 reward for one of the art pieces in the collection that was stolen from the museum 25 years ago.
The Napoleonic Finial stolen from the Gardner Museum along with 12 other works on the morning of March 18,1990. It is a 10-inch, gilded bronze eagle was affixed to the flag pole of the First Regiment of Grenadiers of Foot of Napoleon's Imperial Guard dating to 1813-1814, according to the museum.
The Gardner Museum has had a $5 million reward in place for the return of all the pieces.
This is the first time the museum has offered a separate reward for just one of the pieces, said Anthony Amore, the Gardner Museum's security director.
Amore said the Napoleanic Finial is the least recognizable of all the Gardner works that were stolen and it is possible that someone could possess it and not know it is stolen.
The offer of a $100,000 reward was not prompted by a recent tip about the Napoleanic Finial, Amore said.
"We're always doing different efforts to reach out and get people to look at our stuff and remember us. We're always trying multiple avenues to recover the art and we're trying to develop leads," he said.

Art is reported missing at Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library in Copley Square.
Jan Ransom and Shelley Murphy of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen @globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.

Libraries face challenge to balance public access, security

 https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2015/05/20/artwork-public-display-poses-unique-security-problems/mlUT4h7EcgAwTMhAn6f8RK/story.html

Barry Landau brought cupcakes before he palmed documents from the Maryland Historical Society. Daniel Spiegelman used a dumbwaiter shaft to gain access to Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Zachary Scranton used a variation on the classic bait-and-switch to pilfer a rare book from Ohio’s Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center library.
And Daniel Lorello, who pocketed valuable historical documents from the New York State Archives, had perhaps the ultimate advantage: He worked there.
Their methods may have varied, but these thieves’ aims were similar: They were after maps, rare books, manuscripts, and memorabilia — the precious but often poorly guarded items that are housed in many of the country’s libraries, rare-book collections, and archives.
And while police continue to investigate how artworks by Dürer and Rembrandt went missing from the Boston Public Library — and the possibility it was an inside job — the works’ absence points to a seemingly intractable problem as archivists and librarians try to secure their collections, while also leaving them open to public study.
Perhaps most difficult to prevent are thefts by the employees themselves, as illustrated in the Lorello case. The longtime employee at the New York State Archives was sentenced to prison after admitting that he stole hundreds of documents valued at tens of thousands of dollars from the state’s collections. His scheme, which went on for years, was discovered only after a history buff saw an item Lorello had listed on eBay.
“It’s almost impossible to prevent insider theft. You have to trust someone,” said Travis McDade, curator of law rare books at the University of Illinois College of Law. “You have guys that have unlimited access, and have what they consider a good reason to steal.” Their reasons, he explained, can range from mounting debt, to a desire to study an object more closely or preserve it at home, to mere greed.
Striking a balance between access and security is “the conundrum that all are facing,” said Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, a preservation specialist at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, who has written extensively on archival security. “Custodians have the responsibility of taking care of these materials . . . but, at the same time, they also have the responsibility of providing access to them in a safe and secure manner both to protect the items and to enhance research. It is a balancing act.”
While art theft usually grabs the headlines, theft of archival materials — everything from historical letters and maps to individual pages of books — is in many ways more insidious and harder to track. Whereas a stolen painting is a one-of-a-kind object that often leaves a blank spot on the wall, archival materials can be missing for years before someone notices they are gone.
“Libraries are good victims, because they won’t be discovered missing until someone wants to see the book or the archival document,” said McDade. “This allows the thief time to sell it and maybe it will change hands two or three more times before it’s discovered missing.”
But even when an object’s absence is discovered, it can take months to determine whether the item was stolen or simply misplaced — as still could be the case at the Boston Public Library. Such uncertainty makes many libraries hesitant to report a theft.
“Libraries used to not report these things at all,” said McDade. “They didn’t want potential donors to think they were a sieve, so they’d keep these things from the press and the authorities, and try to understand what happened in-house.”
McDade, who authored a book about Spiegelman’s dumbwaiter scheme, added that archival materials present a particularly easy target. Many of the thieves are themselves archival experts: longtime researchers who inevitably become chummy with librarians, causing staffers to become less vigilant.
“That’s why it’s hard to detect, because they’re from the population of people who go to archives,” McDade said. “You go to these locations and you spend days doing research, so you develop a relationship with them. Nine out of ten you don’t have to worry about, but then there’s that tenth.”
That was certainly the case with Barry Landau, the self-proclaimed presidential historian whom a judge sentenced in 2012 to seven years in prison for theft of historical materials estimated to be worth more than $1 million. Landau, a collector of presidential memorabilia who also admitted to having sold some of the documents, was not found out until an attentive library staffer saw Landau’s accomplice conceal a document and try to walk out.
“We can prevent the Barry Landaus with a little more assiduous defense and vigilance,” McDade said. He added that part of what makes archival materials such an attractive target is that, in addition to many libraries’ often-lax security standards, the objects themselves occupy a sort of historical and economic sweet spot. Unlike a painting, which is unique, there are often several copies of archival maps and documents. What is more, they are expensive enough to make it worth the thief’s while, but not so expensive as to attract attention.
“There will be a legitimate market because there are legitimate copies that are out there, and not everyone is going to know the provenance of each copy,” said McDade, adding that the market has exploded with the arrival of online auction sites like eBay.
“It gives them an almost limitless market,” he said. “Before the Internet, if you stole something you needed a reliable fence, or to find someone who doesn’t care about provenance. With the Internet all that risk goes away. You just put it online, where provenance is not as important as it is in a gallery or an antiquarian bookstore.”
Recently, many libraries have instituted best-practices standards in an attempt to secure their archives, with some going so far as installing surveillance cameras, monitoring what clothes people can wear in the reading room, and even weighing objects on scales when researchers check out. But these measures only go so far, and many experts say the most effective defense against theft is vigilant staff members who check identification, control how many objects are lent out, and have clear sightlines to the reading room.
“The best defense is a good offense,” said Daniel Hammer, deputy director of the historic New Orleans Collection and the senior cochairman of the security round table of the Society of American Archivists. “We create a research environment that’s very interactive with the staff, so at no time should there be someone accessing the material who isn’t in a relationship with a librarian.”
Following such measures might have saved Ohio’s Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center library from losing two rare books in 2008.
According to an affidavit, Zachary Scranton did not have identification when he asked to see the so-called Maxwell Code, a rare tome thought to be the first printed in Ohio. Instead of his ID, librarians held Scranton’s backpack as he looked at the book, which he stole while librarians were not looking.
When the library staff finally checked the bag, they found it stuffed with paper towels.
“So they gave him a $100,000 book, and he gave them a bag of paper towels,” said McDade. “You need to have basic protocols in place.”
Malcolm Gay can be reached at malcolm.gay@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @malcolmgay.

Two missing artworks found at Boston Public Library

Two valuable prints that went missing from the Boston Public Library, triggering a criminal investigation and the resignation of the institution’s president, were discovered Thursday on a shelf — a mere 80 feet from where they should have been filed, according to authorities.
“It’s a cloud lifted, a burden off our shoulders,” a jubilant Amy Ryan, the library president, said in a telephone interview. “Everyone is happy.”
She said the discovery, a day after she announced her resignation, doesn’t change her plans to step down. Yet she feels vindicated, she said, knowing that the prints — an Albrecht Dürer engraving valued at $600,000 and a Rembrandt etching worth up to $30,000 — are found.
“Someone just said this to me, and it’s true: Nothing is missing under my watch,” Ryan said. Other items reported missing, she said, “went missing years before I started at BPL.”
When pressed about whether someone could have taken the prints and returned them, Melina Schuler, a library spokeswoman, said library officials were confident that the prints had been in the library all along, misfiled a year ago in a simple case of “human error.”



The prints were discovered at the library’s Copley Square branch around 2 p.m., just as two Boston Police officers and a federal prosecutor investigating the missing artwork arrived for a tour of the massive room — the size of a city block — where the print collection is stored, according to a law enforcement official.
The Dürer and Rembrandt prints were found resting one on top of the other, along with a third unidentified print, on a metal shelf, more than 6 feet from the ground, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.

Despite the discovery, a criminal investigation into how the prints were handled is proceeding.
“The anticorruption unit will continue trying to determine if anything else is missing,’’ said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. “We will be examining what they have there. The investigation is not over.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh received a phone call from Ryan on Thursday afternoon alerting him that the artwork had been found.
That news, he said, “was certainly a lot better than worrying about an inside job as far as stealing the art. I asked her if any of the other stuff that was missing was found, and she said no.”
Walsh said he would not speculate on whether the artwork had been removed and returned, or was in the same place throughout the investigation.
Walsh added, “I’m going to make sure we investigate the missing pieces that are left and come up with protocols so things like this don’t happen again.”
The FBI and the US Attorney’s office will continue to assist in the ongoing probe, according to spokeswomen for those agencies.
Dürer’s “Adam and Eve,” and Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait With Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre,” were found in the library’s storage room in Row 14B, Bay 3 on Shelf 2, about 80 feet from where they should have been filed, according to library officials.
“I was shocked to find the two prints, but it really was just luck of the draw,” said Lauren Schott, the library conservation officer who found the prints, in the statement.
“Any one of the team that’s been looking for the Dürer and Rembrandt could have found them.”
The items were found during an eight-week search of the stacks. Fourteen library workers searched through 180,000 of the print stacks’ 320,000 items — about 60 percent of the inventory, the statement said.
In addition to the search of the 8,300-square-foot room containing the stacks, employees also searched nine offices, work rooms, and reading rooms, library officials said.
Ryan said members of her staff knew the Dürer was missing in June 2014, but didn’t tell her until April 10. She said she launched a search, believing it may have been misfiled, then notified police on April 15 when it was discovered that the Rembrandt was also missing.
During a meeting of the library trustees on Wednesday, Ryan said the Dürer was last seen on April 2, 2014, when it was viewed by a group of students, and was discovered missing on June 10, 2014, when another class was supposed to view it.
The library placed Susan Glover, a longtime librarian who oversees the library’s special collections, on paid administrative leave in April.
Police launched an investigation April 29 and said they were looking into the possibility that the artwork had been stolen by employees.
On Thursday, Glover’s lawyer, Nicholas DiMauro, said Glover had cooperated fully with police and had always maintained the prints were misplaced.
“She felt, and I felt very strongly, that she would be vindicated,” said DiMauro, describing Glover as a person of high integrity who is well-regarded in the library community and among benefactors who have donated valuable pieces to the library.
“She, in her heart, believed at all times and said repeatedly that the prints had been misplaced, that it’s happened many times and they will be found,” DiMauro said.
The discovery that the valuable prints were missing brought intense scrutiny on the library’s security protocols and collection practices.
Ryan acknowledged that the library has no central inventory list of what it owns, and there is no catalog of each item.
During Wednesday’s trustees meeting she said she inherited a system in which her predecessors voraciously acquired collections for the library, but didn’t keep records to accompany them.
“The system is flawed and antiquated and it needs to be addressed immediately,” DiMauro said.
The Rembrandt print and the Dürer were supposed to be filed in separate boxes in the library.
Library officials believe the Rembrandt was likely viewed along with the Dürer, when it was last seen, then misfiled, according to Schuler.
“It is not unusual for two prints by two different artists to be shared in one sitting. It was not surprising that they were together,” Schuler said. “The prints were misfiled. This was a matter of human error. That’s how the library feels about this.”
The Dürer and Rembrandt have been put in their proper places.
The library said it received e-mails in recent weeks alleging that several scores of music donated 20 years ago by the family of Boston-area composer William Thomas McKinley were stolen “a few years later,” and gold coins that were once stored in a time capsule in the cornerstone of the McKim building have also vanished.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@ globe.com. Andrew Ryan can be reached Adam.Ryan@ globe.com.

‘Master Thieves’ and ‘The Art of the Con’

Genuine $100,000 REWARD

FOR INFORMATION LEADING DIRECTLY TO THE RECOVERY OF THE NAPOLEANIC FINIAL STOLEN FROM THE GARDNER MUSEUM IN 1990

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is offering this reward for information that leads directly to the recovery of this item and guarantees complete confidentiality to any person or persons who come forward.
Please contact Anthony Amore at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum at
617 278 5114 or via email at theft@gardnermuseum.org.
Your confidentiality is ensured. http://www.gardnermuseum.org/news/theft

Late last month, an art dealer named David Carter pled guilty to seven counts of fraud in a British court for passing off cheap bric-a-brac paintings he found on the Internet as originals by Alfred Wallis, an early 20th century painter known for producing marine scenes that toyed with perspective and depth. This comes just weeks after a pair of German men were accused of trying to ply a fake Alberto Giacometti sculpture to an undercover detective. The plot — it's a thick one — involved one of the men's 92-year-old ex-mother-in-law and an infamous Dutch forger who once kept an entire warehouse full of knock-off Giacometti bronzes.
Dip into the news on any given month and chances are you will find similar stories about art world ignominy, from the British copyist churning out oils attributed to Winston Churchill to the Manhattan dealer pushing looted Indian artifacts. There is something irresistible about that point where art and crime intersect: the money, the egos, the jet-set country club types — not to mention all the talk about provenance and brush strokes and craquelure (those cracks that form in the varnish of painting as it ages).
Anthony M. Amore would know a thing or two about the world of art swindles. For the last decade, he has served as head of security at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which was famously robbed in 1990 of several Rembrandts and a Vermeer. Three years ago he published, with investigative journalist Tom Mashberg, the book "Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Story of Notorious Art Heists," which explored the colorful history of thefts of works by the 17th century Dutch master, an activity that has involved machine guns and speed boats.
Now Amore is back with a new book that explores similar territory. "The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World" looks at some of the most high-profile cases of art skulduggery from the last couple of decades. Each chapter tells the story of a single case, such as that of convicted German art counterfeiter Wolfgang Beltracchi, whose faked canvases based on the works of surrealist Max Ernst and modernist Heinrich Campendonk were so well executed that they successfully fooled even the artists' families (as well as actor Steve Martin, who unwittingly purchased a bogus Campendonk).
Likewise, there's the tale of West Hollywood gallerist Tatiana Khan, who claimed to be dealing works from the collection of the late real estate mogul Malcolm Forbes and who, at age 70, was busted by the FBI in a wild web of lies after selling a fake Picasso for $2 million. By the time the authorities caught up with her, she was in ill health, living in a jumbled house stuffed full of sculptures and antiques — like some sort of frayed "Miss Havisham character," writes Amore. (She ultimately pled guilty and was sentenced to five years probation.)

In this manner, "Art of the Con" takes the reader through a whole spectrum of cases, from the high to the low. There is the esteemed New York art dealer who ended up in jail after deceiving a star-spangled array of high-profile clients. And there's the case of the couple from La Cañada Flintridge who produced unauthorized ink jet prints of lesser-known artists' works for a fraud operation that extended into the world of cruise ship auctions. (Surreal and enlightening.)
While Amore recounts each of the cases efficiently from beginning to end, what's missing is more psychology. Early on in the book, he notes that a good art con isn't just about creating a good fake, it's about inventing a probable narrative to go with it: "The art of art scams is in the backstory," he writes, "not in the picture itself."
And while he diligently conveys some of these backstories (down to the vintage family photos faked by one forger), he overlooks some big-picture questions: What makes something art? Why is art such an entrancing symbol of power? What kind of person flips a $17-million painting by Jackson Pollock as an investment? And why are so many people so willing to ignore the warning signs of a sham deal?
"Art of the Con" is methodically researched and reported but does little to illuminate the process of seduction that takes place when it comes to acquiring art. Buyers can do their due diligence: They can check the provenance, they can analyze the market, they can consult with the pedigreed experts. But there comes a point in many deals where acquisition is guided entirely by intangibles such as status and beauty and a desire to possess — not to mention a healthy dose of greed. Ultimately, it is in this messy gray area that a more compelling story could have been mined and told.
The Art of the Con
The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World
Anthony M. Amore
Palgrave Macmillan: 272 pp., $26
carolina.miranda@latimes.com.

The Hartford mobster who the FBI believes might be the last, best hope of recovering half a billion dollars in art stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum says the tactics that authorities are using to force his cooperation amount to "outrageous government misconduct."
Robert "Bobby the Cook" Gentile, who the FBI believes once had two of the stolen paintings and might be able to help unravel the continuing mystery of the missing art, complains in a new court filing that the FBI has twice used informants to induce him to commit crimes only so that agents and prosecutors could use threats of imprisonment to persuade him to talk about the stolen art.


Gentile, who is 79 and in jail, has said repeatedly that he can't tell the authorities anything about the notorious1990 Gardner heist and the missing art, even if he would like to, because he never had any of the stolen art and knows nothing about the robbery or what happened to the missing masterworks.
Gentile attorney A. Ryan McGuigan of Hartford argues in a long-shot attempt to win dismissal of charges related to Gentile's alleged sale of a gun to one of the informants that the FBI is abusing its formidable law enforcement power by contriving crimes solely to advance the investigation of an unrelated crime.
"In the instant case, the Government was not conducting a firearms sting investigation," McGuigan wrote in the motion. "It was not concerned with taking the armorer of the underworld in Connecticut out of commission. As the Government made clear immediately after taking Mr. Gentile into custody by its offer of cooperation in the Gardner Museum investigation, the alleged gun transaction at issue was pretextual."
The U.S. Attorney's office declined to respond.
What is not in Gentile's motion to dismiss is an explanation of why, over the past five years, Gentile has twice taken the bait offered by FBI informants and allegedly committed crimes.

In 2012, he was charged and convicted after he said that a persistent FBI informant persuaded him to illegally sell prescription painkillers. Earlier this year, in the case he is trying to dismiss, Gentile was charged with selling a pistol and ammunition to another informant, an old friend convicted in the killings of three people during a 50-pound marijuana robbery in the 1980s.
McGuigan said Gentile was told that he could avoid prison in both the drug and gun cases if he cooperated with museum investigators. But Gentile has said he has nothing to offer, even after being promised immunity and a chance at collecting the $5 million reward that the museum is offering for return of the art.

Multiple witnesses located by the FBI over decades of investigation have cast doubt on Gentile's claims. They have said that Gentile had possession of at least two paintings or that he implied that he had access to them.
An expert on the Gardner heist, perhaps the world's most baffling art who-done-it, speculates that Gentile either has some knowledge of the robbery or is the "unluckiest man alive."
The most important of the witnesses implicating Gentile is the widow of a Boston mobster who Gentile acknowledges was a friend and associate from the 1980s until the mobster's death in 2004. The widow told Gardner investigators early in 2010 that she was present when her husband handed two of the stolen paintings to Gentile outside a Portland, Maine, hotel between 2002 and 2004.

Gentile, in repeated interviews, said he met the mobster and his wife for lunch or dinner at Portland restaurants several times, but denies being given paintings. Gentile said the widow is "a liar," who implicated him because she was broke in 2010 and trying to get the $5 million reward.
Gentile and his attorney contend that he has been the subject of continual FBI surveillance since his friend's widow put him at the center of the Gardner case. Authorities have said that Gentile is a sworn member of a Boston Mafia crew. Gentile denies that charge, too, saying that he simply cooked and ran card games for gangsters. He said that's how he got his nickname.
Gentile said the FBI told him he would die in prison as a result of the 2012 drug arrest if he didn't help locate the paintings. Instead, he was released after serving 30 months. He faces a far longer sentence if he is convicted of selling a gun and ammunition as a convicted felon to another convicted felon.
Some of the most important art ever created disappeared about 1:30 a.m. on March 18, 1990, as St. Patrick's Day celebrations wound down around Boston. Two men dressed as police officers bluffed their way into the museum, a century-old, Italianate mansion that was full of uninsured art and protected by an outdated security system
Among the missing art: a Vermeer, a Manet and five drawings by Degas. Two of the paintings — "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," Rembrandt's only known seascape, and Vermeer's "The Concert"— could be worth substantially more than $100 million.

$10 Billion Worth Of Stolen / Lost Art Discovered In Mexican Drug Lords House

Eduardo Almanza Morales is a Mexican drug lord of Los Zetas. In March 2009, Almanza Morales was listed as one of Mexico’s top 5 most wanted drug lords. He had been linked to the introduction of illegal drugs into Mexico from Belize and Guatemala on behalf of the Gulf Cartel. Some sources have reported that Eduardo Almanza Morales was killed by Mexican law enforcement during a shootout in December 2009. However, as of 3 March 2013, he was still listed as wanted
Details have been made public today, stating that Morales was captured in Mexico. He was discovered as part of a 2 year joint operation between the DEA and Mexican Fedarales. Morales was found living in a huge mountain side villa, tucked away in the Mexican countryside.
The fact that this drug lord has been arrested is not what is making the news though. What officials found inside his villa have shocked the world. Morales had gathered the most expensive collection of art in history. Whats even more amazing is that ALL of this art and treasures had been stolen.
Officials are amazed that Morales went to all the effort to buy this priceless art collection, only for it to be confiscated by the DEA.
The art world has gone into meltdown with this news, the much awaited press conference will display some works of art that have been missing for over 50 years.
The collection has been valued at around 10 billion dollars. To put that into perspective, the value of the art work discovered could pay for healthcare for every man, woman and child in America for the next 12 years.
Here is a list of some of the more expensive paintings that where discovered :
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt : Value = $135,000,000

Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael : Value = $130,000,000

The Concert by Johannes Vermeer : Value = $120,000,000

“Charing Cross Bridge, London” (1901) by Claude Monet : Value = $120,000,000

Landscape with an Obelisk by Govert Flinck : Value = $115,000,000

“Waterloo Bridge, London” (1901) by Claude Monet : Value = $115,000,000

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt van Rijn : Value = $110,000,000

Poppy Flowers by Vincent van Gogh : Value = $55,000,000

Also discovered :
View of the Sea at Scheveningen by Vincent van Gogh : Value = $30,000,000
Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh : Value = $30,000,000
View of Auvers-sur-Oise by Paul Czanne : Value = $20,000,000
Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence by Caravaggio : Value = $20,000,000
Le pigeon aux petits pois by Pablo Picasso : Value = $20,000,000
The Just Judges by Jan van Eyck : Value = $20,000,000
In addition to the priceless art works, officials discovered gold and diamonds with a total weight that exceeded 1 metric ton (1000 kilograms). Including crowns, statues made of gold, diamonds as big as apples and a gold plated swimming pool.
70 Million dollars worth of diamonds in this small box.

This crown was stolen from the Vatican in 1974 and is estimated to be worth over $160,000,000 due to its religious significance.

There was even a life sized solid gold statue of Kate Moss…

Morales also had a collection of some of the rarest animals in the world.
The Tibetan Mastiff is one of the most costly dogs that you can take home as a pet. The average price of this particular breed runs to about $582,000. Morales had a pack of 15 Tibetan Mastiff’s, its rumored that he would feed his enemies to the dogs.

White lions come from an extremely rare lion breed and cost between $100,000-$300,000 each. Morales had over 20 different types of “Big Cat” – Also rumored to be a favored way to dispose of the bodies of his enemies.

His bird sanctury housed some of the worlds rarest species. Including Toucan’s, Hyacinth Macaw’s, Palm Cockatoo’s. He even had an albino Golden Eagle which is said to be worth millions.

Oh yeah, they also found over 2 billion dollars in US banknotes.

All that paid for by drug money from American heroin addicts.

Court upholds conviction of ex-FBI agent tied to gangster 'Whitey' Bulger

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday reinstated the 2008 murder conviction of Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger's longtime FBI handler for providing information the gangster used to carry out a 1982 hit.The state's full Third District Court of Appeals reversed its own decision of a year ago, which had found that the former agent, John Connolly, had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the murder of John Callahan, the president of sports betting operation World Jai-Alai.
Bulger's notorious Winter Hill gang had targeted Callahan for death because it wanted to take over the highly profitable operation.
In a 6-4 ruling, the full appeals court found that a three-judge panel had erred last year when it overturned Connolly's conviction for second-degree murder for providing information that Bulger's gang used to carry out Callahan's killing.
The decision hinged on whether a lower court acted properly in allowing a gun charge to be attached to the murder charge, which extended the statue of limitations. The appeals court on Wednesday upheld the lower court's decision.
"Because the reclassification of the defendant's conviction for second-degree murder was based on his personal possession of a firearm during the acts he committed during the commission of the murder ... the reclassification of the second-degree murder was not fundamental error," the majority wrote in its opinion.
Bulger was convicted of crimes including 11 murders he committed or ordered in the 1970s and '80s, including Callahan's. His 2013 trial revealed his corrupt relationship with federal law enforcement officials including Connolly, who turned a blind eye to the Irish-American gangster's crimes in exchange for information they could use against the Italian-American Mafia, then a top FBI target.
Lawyers for Bulger, who is serving two consecutive life terms in prison, argued in federal appeals court on Monday that his conviction should be overturned because he was not given a chance to testify. The judge had blocked Bulger from testifying that he had been granted immunity by a now-dead Justice Department official.
Connolly, a veteran FBI agent who retired in 1990 and has proclaimed his innocence, recruited Bulger as a mob informant. Bulger has denied serving as an informant, insisting that he paid agents for tips but provided none of his own.

Latest Gardner Art Heist News:
http://stolenvermeer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/stolen-art-watch-joseph-salvatore.html

Will William Youngworth be arrested, will Myles Connor be bought in for questioning, Gardner Art Heist Rollercoaster, the plot thickens !! 

Allegedly, William Youngworth Had Antiques Business Nearby Where Gardner Museum Security Guard Richard Abath Lived !!

Art Hostage has learnt that William Youngworth has been put in the frame for having access to the Eagle which a reward was offered for earlier this year. The $100,000 reward has been made in an attempt to get William Youngworth to reveal the whereabouts of the Eagle.
The alleged back story is one of Robert (Bobby) Donati, whom Myles Connor alleged to be one of the Gardner art heist thieves, perhaps the driver who was outside the Gardner Museum in the car, stole the Ku bronze vase and Eagle as a gift for Myles Connor knowing of his interest in things Oriental and interest in history?
Whilst Miles Connor was in Jail it is also alleged William Youngworth was tasked to hold all of the art collection of Miles Connor, including any Gardner artworks, which William Youngworth duly did.
Furthermore, it is alleged William Youngworth sold most of the Myles Connor art collection, not the alleged Gardner artworks, whilst Myles Connors was in jail and this led to falling out between William Youngworth and Myles Connor.
Therefore, back in the late 1990's when William Youngworth stepped forward and offered to recover some of the Gardner art he had access to some Gardner art, the bronze vase, Eagle and possibly some lesser valued artworks such as the Degas drawings?  William Youngworth has always maintained he could recover some of the Gardner art if he was offered full immunity and had public guarantees of the reward being paid.
Perhaps this could be the latest attempt to offer up some Gardner artworks and claim the reward as well as try to hide behind the offer of immunity?
A friend of William Youngworths has been trying to act as a broker to get the Eagle back this year and things are allegedly ongoing .
It will be interesting to see if indeed any Gardner artworks, Eagle, Ku bronze vase, Degas drawings, as lesser valued Gardner artworks, are recovered and how the FBI, Prosecutors and Museum respond? 

Allegedly, William Youngworth Had Antiques Business Nearby Where Gardner Museum Security Guard Richard Abath Lived At The Time Of Gardner Art Heist 1990 !!

Art Hostage was told a long time ago that Richard Abath, the security guard on duty the night of the Gardner art Heist has been under close scrutiny by the FBI for a long time and has had his every movement monitored in a similar vain to that of Robert Gentile.
The FBI was also instrumental in getting the reward offer for the Eagle of $100,000 publicly released earlier this year in the hope Richard Abath would seek out to claim the reward via a proxy.
The FBI has also tried to put in undercover proxies to try and smoke out Richard Abath in a similar vain to Robert Gentile.
It is alleged that the Gardner museum was robbed twice on that fateful night, first by Richard Abath and his friends, or Richard Abath stole the Eagle etc and put them outside the museum in a rubbish sack, before the two thieves dressed as Police turned up. The Eagle, bronze Ku vase, as well as possibly several drawings and maybe the Monet were taken by the friends of Richard Abath and the hope was to blame the actual thieves who later arrived with their theft.
After all these years FBI have been using all their resources to try and trap Richard Abath and there is a possibility Richard Abath may face arrest shortly?
Richard Abath has thwarted all attempts thus far to bite, but maybe, just maybe we will hear of breaking news shortly.
There was a rumour that the Eagle had been recovered but that goes along with the rumour that one or more of the drawings had been recovered years ago.

Art Hostage has learnt that ex-Norfolk County DA George Burke was contacted over the last weekend by an informant who says the mystery man in the surveillance tape released last week was none other than Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) and the informant provided a Boca Raton Florida address for Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962). Mind you, Luigi Giovanni Manocchio fits the bill as well according to other sources.

This is all old news as Art Hostage posted on here about  Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) nearly two and a half years ago and explained how the Gardner art could be recovered, subject to Uncle Joe Ligambi's approval, if only Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) were offered total immunity and the reward.

That said, Art Hostage wonders if  Luigi Giovanni Manocchio (born 1927) known as "Louie", "The Professor", "The Old Man" and "Baby Shacks" could shed some light on the Gardner case as his name has been floated about recently?

Art Hostage also stated that the Gardner art should be left in a Catholic Church confession box and has been calling for that method of recovery for nearly two decades. So, it matters not who decides to leave the Gardner art in a confession box, Joey Merlino or Luigi Giovanni Manocchio, or Uncle Joe Ligambi, just the recovery of the Gardner art is paramount as it seems like the Feds are being thrust into the spotlight and will take down whomever prevents the Gardner art being recovered.
Time has come whereby the Gardner art has become a millstone around the neck of  Underworld figures and time to hand it back and take the heat off themselves.

The Feds have had Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) under close scrutiny since his release from jail back in 2011. They tried, in vain, to pressure Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) by having him arrested for being in the company of a known Wise-guy at a restaurant and Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) was held in jail on a parole violation until a judge released him this last April 2015.
So, it is as explained by Art Hostage why Bobby Gentile has stayed quiet and not offered co-operation and why the Gardner art is still un-recovered. Same with Gardner Museum security guard Richard Abath, terrified to reveal anything for fear of what may happen?
However, the final decision rests with Uncle Joe Ligambi to reach out and act as the peacemaker, as Art Hostage has stated before.

BREAKING NEWS — Mobster Skinny Joey Merlino Released From Federal Custody . . . Returns to Maitre D’ Gig in Boca Raton

April 26, 2015

BOCA RATON — Former Philadelphia organized crime boss “Skinny Joey” Merlino returned to his gig as maitre d’ in a Boca Raton eatery over the weekend, just hours after he was sprung from his federal half-way house.
Merlino, 53, who spent most of his adult life in federal custody and on probation, was let go when an appeals court order his release.
He left federal custody Friday, three weeks before his four-month sentence for violation of probation was supposed to end.
Gossip Extra exclusively reported last year that Merlino, who looked like he was trying to live a normal suburban in Boca Raton, was tailed by Broward County Sheriff’s deputies to a meeting with fellow Mafia don John “Johnny Chang” Ciancaglini at a Boca cigar bar.
At the time, Merlino was strictly prohibited from associating with known crime figures because he was finishing up his probation on the racketeering conviction that cost him 14 years hard time.
Merlino claimed he was not properly notified of the violation, and the appeals court agreed and ordered him gone.
Merlino moved to a $400,000-condo in Boca Raton when his racketeering sentence ended almost three years ago.
Investors opened Merlino’s earlier this year in downtown Boca and offered Skinny Joey a salaried job as maitre d’. Merlino claims the recipes for the joint’s Philly-style Italian food came from his mother.

Please read this post by Art Hostage from March 2013 offering a solution, swinging on a star:
http://stolenvermeer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/stolen-art-watch-gardner-art-offered-to.html

Followed by this posted May 2014:
http://stolenvermeer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/stolen-art-watch-gardner-art-heist.html

Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 16, 1962) would organise the return of the Gardner art via a Catholic church confession box, once Uncle Joe Ligambi agrees, if the reward offer was made collectable and immunity was solid. Same goes for Luigi Giovanni Manocchio, reward guarenteed, immunity secured, Gardner art recovered.
Art Hostage has been calling for the Gardner art to be left in a Catholic Church cofession box for nearly two decades as a compromise.

THE ART OF THE HEIST – How A Group of Boston Wise-Guys Pulled Of The Biggest Rare-Art Theft In World History & Never Got Caught
Part I: Beginner’s Luck 

Bobby D probably did the job. It was the biggest art heist in history, a half-billion dollar score. Boston Bobby might have moved the very valuable paintings to Philly. Bobby Boost could have had some, too, and transported them to Connecticut and then off to Maine. Bobby the Cook is said to have taken at least one piece, maybe more, from Bobby Boost in Maine and returned it to Connecticut. The rest of the lucrative haul lay somewhere in hiding, cultural treasures, seminal artifacts from bygone eras in time, buried like dead bodies. Like Bobby D.
The mob had bullied their way into the art game. They proved fast-learners.
In the early-hours of St. Patrick’s Day 1990, about 1:30 in the morning on March 18 to be exact, two armed robbers dressed as police officers talked their way into the Isabella Gardner Museum. The Isabella Gardner is a small, but very elite, privately-funded precious-art museum in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located near the famous Fenway Park.
Pulling their weapons and tying up the museum’s security guards in the building’s basement, the two men had free access to the place for the next hour and a half, coming away with more than a dozen paintings and drawings that are estimated to be worth a staggering $500,000,000 – confirmed as the largest art-robbery ever, the thieves scored original Rembrandts, Degas, a Manet and a Vermeer, worth tens of millions each.
And if either of them had even the slightest idea of the waters they were wading in, any remote clue of the inner-workings that was the cloak-and-dagger world of fine art theft, they would have come away with a lot more. They succeeded in spite of themselves.
To this day, 25 years later, the case remains cold, not a single person arrested, not a single piece of artwork retrieved. Just this past spring, the Boston FBI publically stated that the investigation was open, very active and that several sightings of the missing art had been recently authenticated. One of the suspects was recently sent to prison on an unrelated conviction.
Although no charges have ever been filed (the statute of limitations has expired), the FBI believes it has a pretty good idea of what happened and who did it – according to an interview with lead federal investigator Geoff Kelly in May, the heist was planned and carried out by members and associates of the New England mafia aka the Patriarca Family and the stash of looted masterpieces shuffled between Boston, Connecticut, Maine and Pennsylvania by representatives of both the Patriarcas and the Philadelphia mob. Where they exactly reside today is unknown and remains one of the most fascinating and vexing unsolved crimes in American history
One retired federal agent that worked the case in the 1990s and early 2000s agreed to speak to Gangsterreport.com about his knowledge of the legendary crime.
“The whole thing began with Bobby Donati, they called him “Bobby D,” he was a lifelong wiseguy who belonged to the North End crew,” the former ‘G’ Man said.
Coming up in the mafia under the Angiulo brothers (New England mob underboss Jerry Angiulo and his four sibling lieutenants), when the Isabella Gardner robbery occurred in 1990, Bobby D belonged to a Patriarca regime ran by then-capo Vincent (Vinnie the Animal) Ferrara, a growing power in Family circles at that time and the man that took over the Angiulo’s North End neighborhood operations upon their imprisonment in the 1980s. Donati was known as an accomplished cat burglar and all-around hard-core gangster and hit man, running with a rugged bunch of Beantown burglars, hoods and mobsters (including his brother “Dickie D” Donati) that were unafraid to get their hands dirty and had those hands in multiple gangland rackets across New England.
The FBI believes that Donati got a tip in the years leading up to the heist about the lax security at the museum from an indebted gambler to one of the sports books that he ran on behalf of Ferrara.
“Some degenerate bettor that owed Donati money traded info he had on the museum for a pass on his gambling debt,” the retired agent said. “The guy had the skinny on the joint because he used to work there as a maintenance man and knew what little security they had going on at the place.”
The one problem was that although Bobby D had stolen and fenced a lot of things in his life, he had never stolen artwork and knew nothing about the complicated black market associated with moving such exclusive and rare hot merchandise. So according to what the FBI has been told by informants, Donati brought in an expert. That expert was Myles Connor, a Bostonian considered the No. 1 art thief in the United States by the federal government at his peak in the 1970s and 80s.
Today, Connor, 71, is retired. Sort of – he’s stopped pulling big scores, at least, switching to petty crime. Two years ago he took a pinch for robbing a woman of her cell phone in Rhode Island. He’s authored a book and currently lectures about his life in the Eastcoast underworld and time as a gallivanting pilferer of artistic masterpieces throughout the latter-part of the 20^th Century.
Back then, however, in the late-1980s, Connor was as active as ever and heavily intrigued by Donati’s tip and the mother-load of priceless riches that lied within the confines of the Isabella Gardner.
The two of them planned to take it down. Connor has admitted to the FBI that he and Donati cased the museum in the summer of 1989.
But Connor was locked up in January 1990 on series of racketeering and art-theft charges, sentenced to serve the next 20 years in prison, leaving Donati all by himself on the job.
Bobby D got antsy. He wasn’t intending on waiting another two decades for Connors to get out of prison before acting on the tip.
Enter David Houghton.
Donati and Houghton, a hulking gangland strong-arm and street-tax collector, hung out together at TRC Auto Electric, a car repair shop in working-class Dorchester, Massachusetts, just outside Boston’s city limits, owned by Patriarca Mafioso Carmelo (The Auto Man) Merlino.
“The Auto Man, Carmelo Merlino, told Donati he had a buyer for the score overseas, they got the okay to pull it and the rest is history,” the former Fed says.
The take could have been much larger. The thieves, believed by most authorities to have been Donati and Houghton, both had untrained eyes and bypassed several, even more valuable pieces in the museum.
“Those two didn’t know a Rembrandt from a root beer bottle,” the one-time mob-buster said of the pair. “They were in over their heads on the whole thing.”
FBI records from the early-1990s reveal intelligence coming in from informants on the street pointed to Ferrara and East Boston mob chief and Patriarca street boss and consigliere Joseph (J.R.) Russo as giving the go-ahead for the job to Donati through Merlino.
However, things fell apart quickly. Merlino’s buyer fell through and literally a week after the epic heist Ferrara and Russo, along with 19 others, were swept up in a giant federal racketeering case that sent both of them to prison (Russo would die while incarcerated, Ferrara has been out for a decade and reportedly has gone legit and surrendered any and all of his interests in the mob).
The artwork was placed into storage in Revere, Massachusetts until Donati, Houghton and Merlino could line-up another prospective buyer, according to Massachusetts State Police documents. Revere is a suburb of Boston and known for years to be where many of the Patriarca mob brood held and currently hold residence.
With the indictment and incarceration of Ferrara and Russo, Bobby D and his two accomplices had more pressing concerns to worry about than selling the boosted art. The Patriarca syndicate, which had recently seen tensions calm after a spattering of violence the year before (Boss-candidate Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme survived an assassination attempt and underboss William (The Wild Man) Grasso was killed by the Ferrara-Russo faction of the Family on the same day in June 1989) was back at war. Cadillac Frank Salemme took the reins in Boston from his rival, the departing Russo, and took aim at those he considered responsible for the botched hit on him and were still on the street following the March 1990 bust.
One of the people he turned his attention to was Bobby Donati, 50 years old and tabbed by some as a frontline soldier in the early-stages of the dispute repping Ferrara, someone he sometimes acted as a driver for and escorted around town to the city’s most posh restaurants and clubs in Vinnie the Animal’s heyday as a big shot in the Beantown underworld.
The rare art Donati had access to, his share of whatever was sold, was simply an added bonus, per the former FBI agent.
“Bobby D was in the crosshairs the second Vinnie and J.R. were put away,” he said. “Frank Salemme knew about the Gardner Museum stash, but he would have been killed anyway. Salemme wanted to get rid of anyone he saw as overly loyal to Vinnie Ferrara. Donati fell into that category.”
On September 24, 1991, Donati’s badly-beaten body was found hogtied in the trunk of his car. Massachusetts State Police reports indicate that certain groups in the state’s law enforcement community believed Bobby D’s murder was carried out by East Boston mafia henchman Mark Rossetti, a future New England mob capo who would be outed as a Confidential Informant for the FBI.
“Informant B3467MSPOCU tells Officer redacted name that Rossetti slit Donati’s throat,” it said in one particular MSP file.
Rossetti’s uncle, Boston wiseguy Robert (Bobby Boost) Guarente, was about to get in on the action.
Guarante and two more Bobbys and New England Goodfellas, Robert (Boston Bobby) Luisi, Jr. and Robert (Bobby the Cook) Gentile entered the picture after Donati was murdered and his accomplice, David Houghton, died of cancer a year later in 1992. Merlino needed help moving the artwork on the black market (something he also had zero experience in, since he had no criminal history in the art-heist racket, just as Donati and Houghton didn’t) and according to federal authorities, “The other three Bobbys” would try to help him.
They would find limited success in their endeavors.
Part II; The Three Bobbys
The piping-hot paintings were up for grabs.
It was 1993. In less than three years, the whole back-end of the Isabella Gardner robbery had gone to shambles and wasn’t even close to completed.
The men that pulled off the most infamous and lucrative art heist in history, Boston mobsters Robert (Bobby D) Donati and David Houghton, were both dead, their $500 million dollar score – 13 original paintings and drawings spawned from the hands of Rembrandt, Dega, Manet and Vermeer and stolen from the Isabella Gardner Museum in March 1990 – stashed away, in storage, hidden somewhere in the greater Beantown area.
Two of the paintings alone could be worth over $100 million a pop: Rembrandt’s only seaside work, entitled, “Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” and Vermeer’s “The Concert,” an oil-canvassed masterpiece by the 17^th Century Dutch painter and considered the crown-jewel of the notorious theft.
According to Massachusetts State Police records, after Donati and Houghton died, the art haul landed in the sole possession of Carmello (The Auto Man) Merlino, a Boston Mafioso alleged to have conspired with Donati and Houghton to pull off the robbery in the first place. However, Merlino, who ran a series of racketeering operations out of his Dorchester, Massachusetts car-repair business, TRC Auto Electric, had neither, the expertise needed nor the access to the pockets of the black market geared towards historic treasures, to move the art.
Prior to the robbery Merlino thought he had lined up a fence in Europe set to sell it to collectors in France and possibly representatives of the IRA in England, per the MSP files. Neither came to fruition.
The FBI knew via informants early on that Merlino was most likely involved and were watching him with intense scrutiny throughout the entire decade of the 1990s. In 1997, they inserted two agents undercover into Merlino’s crew, coming away with nothing but some innuendo and boasts by Merlino of having access to the hidden score, however nothing concrete to link anybody to.
The most promising intelligence the FBI attained was revealed in an inter-agency memo with the Massachusetts State Police and the Boston Police Department.
“Agent REDACTED was told that MERLINO was given approval by his superiors in the NEW ENGLAND LCN to move pieces of the Isabella Gardner score. MERLINO is alleged to have been passed word of the okay by NEW ENGLAND LCN Consigliere CHARLES (Q-BALL) QUINTINA.”
Throughout the course of the undercover work, the FBI found out of Merlino’s plan to rob an armored car depot and arrested him and two accomplices in February 1999 en route to pulling the job. Questioned about his knowledge of the Isabella Gardner heist, Merlino refused to answer any questions. He would die in prison.
Merlino’s right-hand man was Robert (Bobby Boost) Guarente, a lifelong crook and Boston Mafioso with a lengthy rap-sheet. His first bust was back in 1958 for forging checks. A decade later, he was nabbed for heading a bank-robbery ring and earned his nickname for knocking over some three dozen banks or armored-trucks in his career in the New England underworld.
Bobby Boost was a well-liked wiseguy and often used as a go-between for various east coast mob factions during the 1980s and 90s. His best friend and gangland running buddy was Robert (Bobby the Cook) Gentile, a like-minded gangster and thief that was frequently seen in Guarente’s company. The pair were known to have pulled numerous scores together.
Gentile’s arrest-record dated back to the late-1950s just like his pal Bobby Boost, and included collars for aggravated assault, robbery, receipt of stolen property, bookmaking and counterfeiting. For his legitimate income, Bobby the Cook was in the concrete-pouring business and his company was quite well-regarded for its quality work. His skills in the kitchen were quite well-regarded as well, gaining him his nickname.
Around 1997, Guarente and Gentile went to work for Robert (Boston Bobby) Luisi, Jr., a recently-named capo in the Philadelphia mafia operating in New England. Mainly, they acted as bodyguards and cocaine distributors on his behalf. Boston Bobby lost his father and brother to a November 1995 mob slaying in a Charlestown restaurant, two of the final victims of the long-ranging conflict that engulfed the Patriarca syndicate throughout the late-1980s and into the early-to-mid 1990s.
Luisi, Jr. met some members of the Philly mob in prison and defected for the offer of being made into La Cosa Nostra, something he failed to do while serving under the Patriarca regime. Initiated into the mafia by Philadelphia LCN boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino (no relation to Carmen), Boston Bobby was immediately promoted to captain status and allowed to put a crew together to run in Massachusetts. The “Three Bobbys,” Bobby Luisi, Jr., Bobby Guarente and Bobby Gentile were all inducted into the mafia in the same ceremony.
“Those three were mob vagabonds that anchored their ship to whatever or whoever suited their individual interests the best,” said a retired FBI agent of the threesome of New England goombahs. “Frankly, they were second-rate wiseguys and their involvement in this whole thing demonstrates how desperate things got with trying to move this artwork, to just find any kind of money to show for their efforts.”
According to FBI and Massachusetts State Police records, Luisi, Jr. was given paintings from the Isabella Gardner robbery via Guarente, who in turn had got them from Carmello Merlino (no relation to Skinny Joey), and took them to Philadelphia, possibly selling them to an art collector in suburban Bucks County.
Skinny Joey’s Boston mob crew was short-lived and ill-conceived. Luisi, Jr. was busted in a drug-distribution conspiracy and turned over on Guarente, Gentile and Skinny Joey himself.They all went to prison and the paintings remained unearthed.
When Bobby Boost Guarente got out from behind bars in 2000, he retired to Maine. The FBI believes he brought the Isabella Gardner artwork with him.
In March 2002, Gentile drove from Boston to Portland, Maine to meet Guarante for dinner. It was immediately after finishing their meal at a fancy seafood restaurant on the water that authorities think Bobby Boost passed two of the stolen paintings to Bobby the Cook Gentile in the eatery’s parking lot.
So says Guarente’s widow, Elene. She came forward in early 2010, some half-dozen years following her husband’s death as a result of cancer, and told investigators that Guarente had a stash of the paintings in their cabin in the woods in Maine and removed at least two of them prior to leaving for their 2002 rendezvous, which he handed over to Gentile after they ate but before they parted ways.
Gentile, 77, denies Elene Guarente’s allegations or ever possessing the ripped-off art. However, the case for that argument took a blow in a 2012 federal raid of his Manchester, Connecticut home, where the FBI discovered amongst an arsenal of weapons and a large cache of prescription painkillers that he had no prescription for, a hand-written list of each of the stolen pieces of Isabella Gardner artwork accompanied with their estimated black-market values. Further hurting his cause is the fact that Gentile reportedly failed an FBI-administered lie-detector test.
Facing narcotics and gun charges, Bobby the Cook stayed true to the code of the streets and refused to spill the beans. Instead, he took the fall and last year he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Gentile was under constant surveillance by the FBI in Connecticut during the 2000s, as his Clean County Used Cars lot was a local Hartford mob hangout.
The paintings remain missing.
The Isabella Gardner Museum displays blank frames in the places on its walls where the 13 stolen pieces once hung. It’s going on 25 years and every single frame is still empty.
“Besides the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance, I think not solving the Gardner heist sticks in the Bureau’s crow more than any other case ,” the former FBI agent said. “And these weren’t super thieves, Thomas Crown-types. They were knockaround guys that fell into the score of a lifetime  by sheer blind luck and didn’t know what the fuck to do with it. Now in the end, everyone’s deprived. The people that got the art aint selling it, or if they did sell some of it, they got a pittance of what they stole. So they aren’t coming out ahead. And then in terms of culture and history, everyone, the whole god damn world, is deprived of appreciating that brilliant artwork because it’s sitting in hiding in someone’s basement, not on display in a museum or where people can view it. Nobody won in this thing, everybody got screwed.”
To this very day, the Isabella Gardner leaves the frames where the artwork once hung from the museum walls empty.

George Burke, the Ex-Norfolk County D.A. and now Defence Lawyer, is being used unwittingly as a proxy to return the Gardner Museum Eagle and to collect the $100,000 reward.

When he announced a couple of days ago to the press he has a longstanding client who has information on the mystery man seen in newly released CCTV images from the night before the Gardner art Heist, George Burke was putting into play a strategy whereby a bone is thrown to investigators, who might be able to go arrest Richard Abath and the Florida based accused, opening the way for George Burke to then, shortly, announce that he has been given the Gardner Museum Eagle to hand back and he will claim the $100,000 reward offered by the Gardner Museum without naming his client or source.

This will be done by way of getting media to attend his office whereby George Burke will allow himself to be filmed with the Gardner Museum  Eagle as he calls up either Anthony Amore, Gardner Museum security director, or the FBI or the Boston D.A. Carman Ortiz to tell them he has the Gardner museum Eagle and for them to come over to collect it.

This will be followed by the media filming the actual handing over of the Gardner Museum Eagle to authorities and then George Burke will hope for the $100,000 reward to be paid Swiftly.

This scheme has been conjured up by the client of George Burke and the naming of the Florida man as the person of interest seen in the CCTV images recently released of the Gardner museum the night before the Gardner heist was done to try and link Richard Abath to this man so the Feds can arrest Richard Abath and the Florida man, thereby creating a smokescreen and a sweetener for when George Burke announces he has been given the Gardner Museum Eagle.

Plan B is George Burke is told where the Gardner Museum Eagle can be found, which will be in a Catholic Church Confession Box, so George Burke can attend with authorities to recover the Gardner museum Eagle and claim the $100,000 reward.

I must stress George Burke has done nothing wrong and will do nothing wrong, but given his history in recovering the stolen Rembrandt back in 1975 from Myles Connor he was chosen as a right man for this scheme.
Furthermore, George Burke may not even be aware of this plan until it unfolds shortly.

Speaking of the Rembrandt stolen back in 1975, it was stolen by a then sixteen year old William Youngworth on the instructions of his then mentor Myles Connor, who then used the Rembrandt as a get out jail free card when he handed it back to George Burke, who was the Norfolk County D.A. at the time.
So, if all goes to script, expect to see the Gardner museum Eagle handed back by George Burke shortly.
Then in the words of George Burke, "It has a sense of coming full circle."
Gentile said the FBI told him he would die in prison if he didn't help locate the paintings. Some of the most important art ever created disappeared about 1:30 a.m. on March 18, 1990, as St. Patrick's Day celebrations wound down around Boston. The museum is a century-old, Italianate mansion that was full of uninsured art and protected by an outdated security system

Mobster Suspected In Museum Theft Case Pleads Not Guilty To Gun Charges

'Slab' Murphy wins right to challenge criminal charges at Supreme Court

Whitey Bulger Fast Facts

Here's a look at the life of longtime fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger, on trial for murder and racketeering charges.

Pat Nee July 2013

 

'We were up to our necks in murders': Hitman implicates Whitey Bulger in nine killings as he describes brutal reign of terror at Boston mob trial

• John 'The Executioner' Martorano has admitted to 20 murders
• He worked for James 'Whitey' Bulger in for decades and is expected to reveal many details of Bulger's alleged crimes
• Martorano, 72, served just 12 years in prison after striking a deal with the federal government
• He currently lives on social security on a golf course outside Boston
• Martorano was paid $250,000 for the movie rights to his life story, $80,000 more for a book and thousands by the federal government

A former Boston mob hitman has revealed even more chilling details in his second day of testimony at the trail of his long-time boss, James 'Whitey' Bulger.
John 'The Executioner'Martorano, who has admitted to killing 20 people, implicated Bulger in nine murders in less than two days on the witness stand. He is expected to tie the former organized crime kingpin to 11 killings from the 1970s to the early 2000s.
Martorano, a 72-year-old who lives a quiet life on a golf course, calmly described brutal executions of associates, cold-blooded betrayals of friends and mistaken hits on victims who weren't mixed up in organized crime at all - just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He admitted to gunning down six people who he hadn't meant to kill - including a bartender Michael Milano who had the misfortune of driving the same kind of car as one of Martorano's targets.

The Boston Globe reports Martorano portrayed himself as a 'man of honor' and claimed Monday he 'wasn't a hitman' because he never accepted money for the murders he committed.
He said he only killed people to help friends or family members. On Tuesday, though, he admitted that he had been paid $50,000 to murder an Oklahoma businessman in 1981.
The money was given to him by, John Callahan, who had been skimming profits off the businessman's Florida company. Martoano said he considered Callahan a good friend.

But in 1982, Bulger an the other leaders of Bulger's Winter Hill gang decided that Callahan had to go, too.

'I felt lousy. But these were my partners,' Martorano testified.

'We were up to our necks in murders already. If it had to be done, it had to be done.'
He subsequently went to Miami with an associate, Joe MacDonald, and set up a meeting with the unsuspecting Callahan. When Callahan met Martorano at a van he had rented, Martorano shot Callahan in the back of the head with a handgun wrapped in a towel.

Callahan's body was later found in the trunk of an abandoned car at Miami International Airport.
Another slaying he described seemed to come right out of a scene from a Martin Scorsese film.
Thomas King was a mobster with a rival gang that Bulger and his crew had been forced to work with. Bulger hated King, Martorano testified.
'Him and Tommy couldn’t get along, He wanted to get rid of Tommy,' he said.
Bulger decided to kill the dangerous King, but knew he would be wary of being lured into a trap. So, he had Martorano and his allies contact King and tell him they needed his help murdering another mobster. 
They gave king a bulletproof vest and then a gun. The gun had only blanks in it.
King got into the front passenger seat of a car he believed would take him to the bar where his target was. Martorano got in the back seat behind him.
'I shot Tommy,' Martorano told the court. 'Where did I shoot him? In the head.'
Martorano also said he witnessed Bulger kill mobster Edward Connors in 1975 because he had bragged about helping Bulger's gang murder a rival.
Bulger and his partner Stephen 'The Rifle' Flemmi lured Connors into a phone booth in Dorchester.
'They walked to the phone booth and shot Eddie,' Martorano testified.
Martorano, is a star witness in the Bulger trial. He has said he had a detailed knowledge of many of the 19 murders Bulger is accused of committing.
He described shooting dead rival mob member Alfred 'Indian Al' Notorangeli from a car in 1974 while Bulger rode behind him another car that was ready to block out anyone to tried to get in the way of the hit.
Before Martorano killed Notorangeli, he gunned down bartender Michael Milano, who had the misfortune of driving the same car as Notorangeli. Martorano called that murder 'a mistake,' because Milano wasn't the intended target.
A crime scene photo from the time reveals Milano's car riddled with bullet holes.
Martorano also said he killed one of Notorangeli's henchmen, Albert Plummer, in a hail of bullets.
He served just 12 years in prison after admitting to the killings under a plea deal. He now lives in a quiet suburb of Boston on a golf course. He testified that he collects Social Security.
However, he was also paid $250,000 for the film rights to his story and has made $80,000 off a 2012 book about his life titled 'Hitman.'
He has also been paid thousands by the U.S. government, including a check for $20,000 from the Drug Enforcement Agency gave him when he was released from prison.
Martorano worked closely with Bulger and Flemmi from the 1960s until the 1990s. On the witness stand on Monday, he called the men 'my partners in crime, my best friends, my children’s godfathers,' according to the Boston Globe.
'After I found out they were informants, it sort of broke my heart,' Martorano said on the witness stand. 'They broke all trust that we had, all loyalty.'
Martorano is, by his own admission, a brutal killer. He worked as the lead enforcer and hit man for Bulger's Winter Hill Gang, for whom he gunned down at least 20 people.

His victims include two businessmen who Bulger allegedly ordered killed because they had discovered that Bulger was skimming profits of a Connecticut company.
Martorano shot millionaire Roger Wheeler between the eyes in the parking lot of his Tulsa, Oklahoma, country club in 1981. The following year Wheeler's business partner, John Callahan, was found shot dead in the trunk of his car at Miami International Airport.
In 1968, he tracked down a black man who had beaten up Flemmi and found him in his car with a 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old teen. He killed all three with close-range gunshots.
Bulger, 83, face 32 counts of a federal indictment alleging he committed murders, ordered others, extorted bookies, drug dealers and legitimate businessmen, laundered his profits and amassed an arsenal of weapons.
During much of his criminal career he was protected by a corrupt FBI agent, who designated him as a high-level informant.
When he was indicted in 1995, he skipped town and evaded police for 16 years. For much of the time, he lived a quiet life in Santa Monica, California. 
He has denied all charges.

UPDATE: List of charges against Whitey Bulger via Boston.com
Count 1: Racketeering Conspiracy - Guilty
Count 2: Racketeering Substantive Offense - Guilty
Racketeering Act No. 1: Conspiracy to Murder Members of the Notorangeli Group - 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 2: Murder of Michael Milano - 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 3: Murder of Al Plummer - 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 4: Murder of William O’Brien - 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 5: Murder of James O’Toole - 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 6: Murder of Al Notorangeli - 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 7B: Murder of James Sousa – 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 8: Murder of Paul McGonagle – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 9: Murder of Edward Connors – Proved
               
Racketeering Act No. 10B: Murder of Thomas King – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 11: Murder of Francis “Buddy” Leonard – Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 12: Murder of Richard Castucci – Proved
              
               Racketeering Act No. 13B: Murder of Roger Wheeler – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 14: Murder of Debra Davis – 
No finding
               Racketeering Act No. 15: Murder of Brian Halloran – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 16: Murder of Michael Donahue – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 17A: Conspiracy to Murder John Callahan – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 17B: Murder of John Callahan – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 18: Murder of Arthur “Bucky” Barrett – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 19: Murder of John McIntyre – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 20: Murder of Deborah Hussey – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 21: Extortion Conspiracy: “Rent” –
               Racketeering Act No. 22: Extortion of Richard O’Brien –
               Racketeering Act No. 23: Extortion of Kevin Hayes – 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 24: Extortion Conspiracy: “Fines” – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 25: Extortion of Michael Solimando – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 26: Extortion of Stephen Rakes and Julie Rakes – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 27: Extortion of Richard Bucheri – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 28: Extortion of Raymond Slinger – 
Not proved
               Racketeering Act No. 29: Narcotics Distribution Conspiracy – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 30: (Concealment) Money Laundering Conspiracy – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 31: (Concealment) Money Laundering (Sale of 295 Old Colony Ave., South Boston, Massachusetts) – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 32(A): (Concealment) Money Laundering (Sale of 295 Old Colony Ave., South Boston, Massachusetts) – Proved
               Racketeering Acts No. 32(B) – 32(PPP): (Concealment) Money Laundering (Mortgage Payments) – Proved
               Racketeering Act No. 33: (Concealment or Promotion) Money Laundering (Transfer of $10,000 to John Martorano) – Proved
Count 3: Extortion Conspiracy: Rent – Guilty
Count 4: Extortion of Kevin Hayes – 
Not guilty
Count 5: Concealment Money Laundering Conspiracy – Guilty
Counts 6 through 26: Concealment Money Laundering (Mortgage Payments) – Guilty
Count 27: Concealment or Promotion Money Laundering (Transfer of $10,000 to John Martorano) – Guilty
Count 39: Possession of Firearms in Furtherance of Violent Crime – Guilty
Count 40: Possession of Machineguns in Furtherance of Violent Crime – Guilty
Count 42: Possession of Unregistered Machineguns – Guilty
Count 45: Transfer and Possession of Machineguns – Guilty
Count 48: Possession of Firearms with Obliterated Serial Numbers – Guilty
UPDATE: Bulger guilty on all but count 5.
UPDATE: Boston gangster 'Whitey' Bulger found guilty of gangland crimes, including 11 slayings - @AP
UPDATE: Jury Finds James "Whitey" Bulger GUILTY on first 2 racketeering counts, Extortion, Money Laundering
After almost five full days of deliberations reaching some 32.5 hours, the jury has reached a verdict in the James "Whitey" Bulger federal case. The trial has captivated the nation throughout its entirety due to its severity of the crimes, mysterious deaths of witnesses, and loud profane-laced outbursts in court as well as the infamous reputation of the South Boston mobster and his story of being on the run for 16 years.
The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in the South Boston neighborhood of Massachusetts' capital is currently swarmed with members of the press, friends and relatives of victims, and Boston residents showing just how much of an impact the trial as whole has made on the community at large.

Key events in the life of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger

Key events in the life of James `Whitey' Bulger, who was convicted Monday by a jury that believed the mob boss took part in 11 slayings, finding him guilty of racketeering and other a slew of other crimes:
_ Sept. 3, 1929: James Bulger is born to Irish immigrant parents living in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He is the second of six children. His shock of platinum blonde hair earns him the nickname "Whitey."
_ 1956: Bulger is sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery. After he's suspected of plotting an escape from one prison, he's transferred to Alcatraz to serve part of his term.
_ 1960: Bulger's younger brother, William, is elected to the state House of Representatives. John Connolly, a childhood friend from South Boston, works on the campaign.
_ 1965: Whitey Bulger is released from prison and comes home to "Southie." He becomes a top lieutenant to Somerville mobster Howie Winter, head of the Winter Hill Gang.
_ Mid-1960s: Gangster Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi develops a relationship with Boston FBI agent H. Paul Rico. Flemmi, using the code name "Jack from South Boston" informs on members of the Providence, R.I.-based New England Mafia.
_ 1969: Flemmi is indicted for the murder of a mobster, and with childhood friend "Cadillac" Frank Salemme, for a car bombing. Rico tips off Flemmi that the indictments are coming, and the two flee Boston. Flemmi spends the next 4 1/2 years on the lam.
_ 1970: William Bulger is elected to the state Senate.
_ 1972: John Connolly, now an FBI agent, recognizes Salemme on the street in New York City and arrests him. Salemme is later sentenced to 15 years in prison. The arrest earns Connolly a transfer back to his hometown of Boston.
_ 1974: Flemmi returns to Boston after criminal charges are dropped when several key witnesses recant. He hooks up with Winter, who counts Whitey Bulger among his key allies.
_ June 1975: Edward Connors is killed by Flemmi to prevent him from telling authorities about an earlier murder by the Winter Hill Gang.
_ September 1975: Acting partly on Flemmi's recommendation, Bulger cuts a deal with Connolly to provide information on the Italian Mafia in exchange for protection from the FBI, according to testimony from Flemmi. (Bulger during the trial strongly denied he was an informant.)
_ 1977: Veteran agent John Morris is appointed to oversee Connolly and his underworld informants.
_ 1978: William Bulger becomes president of the state Senate and goes on to serve in the post longer than anyone in its history.
_ 1979: After a former business associate implicates Whitey Bulger and Flemmi in a horse race-fixing scheme, FBI agents Connolly and Morris persuade federal prosecutors to leave the two out of the indictment. Twenty-one people are charged, including Winter, whose conviction paves the way for Bulger and Flemmi to assume control of the Winter Hill Gang.
_ November 1980: Bulger and Flemmi help the FBI plant a surveillance bug in the North End headquarters of Boston Mafia boss Gennaro Angiulo.
_ May 1981: Roger Wheeler, the owner of World Jai Alai, a gambling enterprise from which Bulger and Flemmi have been skimming money, is shot between the eyes in the parking lot of his country club in Tulsa, Okla. The killer is Winter Hill Gang hit man John Martorano.
_ Spring 1982: Bulger and Flemmi allegedly gun down a former henchman in broad daylight on a South Boston street to prevent him from telling about the Wheeler murder. Connolly files a report with the FBI saying rival gangsters made the hit.
_ July 1982: Flemmi and Bulger allegedly order Martorano to kill John Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai, to prevent him from telling investigators about the Jai Alai scheme.
_ December 1994: Bulger disappears on the eve of his indictment on racketeering charges. Indictment comes down in January 1995.
_ 1997: The FBI, under court order, acknowledges that Bulger and Flemmi were "top echelon" informants as a federal probe into the agency's corrupt ties to its mob informants begins.
_ May 2002: Connolly is convicted of racketeering for warning Bulger, Salemme and Flemmi that they were about to be indicted in January 1995.
_ June 2003: William Bulger testifies before a congressional committee investigating the FBI's ties to mobster informants such as his brother. After receiving immunity, he acknowledges receiving a call from Whitey Bulger shortly after he fled, but says he has not heard from him since and has no idea where he is.
_ August 2003: William Bulger resigns as president of the University of Massachusetts system amid growing pressure.
_ 2005: Federal and state law enforcement officials investigate leads and Whitey Bulger look-alikes in at least 19 countries.
_ 2006: Authorities release 26-year-old surveillance video of Bulger in the hope that someone will recognize his mannerisms.
_ 2007: FBI releases video of a couple resembling Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, in Italy.
_ 2008: Connolly is convicted of second-degree murder in the hit on John Callahan as prosecutors argue the information he provided the mobsters was critical to the hit.
_ 2010: FBI appeals to plastic surgeons in the effort to locate Bulger and Greig.
_ June 20, 2011: FBI announces an effort to target Greig in the hopes of reaching Bulger.
_ June 22, 2011: Bulger arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., with Greig.
_ March 14, 2012: Greig pleads guilty to helping Bulger evade capture during 16 years on the run.
_ June 12, 2012: Greig is sentenced to eight years in prison. Her attorney says she still loves Bulger and doesn't regret helping him stay on the run.
_ Nov. 4, 2012: Bulger is taken from jail to Boston Medical Center, where he is treated after complaining of chest pains, then back to jail.
_ March 4, 2013: A judge rules that Bulger can't present evidence at his trial about his claim that a now-deceased federal prosecutor gave him immunity for future crimes, including murder.
_ March 14, 2013: A federal appeals court removes U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns from the Bulger case, ruling that his background as a former federal prosecutor could create the appearance of bias. Judge Denise Casper replaces him and upholds his decision on the immunity claim.
_ June 12, 2013: Opening statements in Bulger's trial begin.
_ Aug. 12, 2013: Bulger is convicted of racketeering and other crimes, including extortion, conspiracy, money-laundering and drug dealing. The jury believed he took part in 11 of 19 killings. Sentencing is set for Nov. 13.