The Thrilling Gardner Museum Heist

This week on BuzzFeed we did a solid investigation into the Gardner Museum art

heist

, the largest

museum

art

heist

in the world, also considered the largest property crime ever committed in the United States. I love it, what do you like? I love heists, this is fun, yes, heists are fun for the most part. there, I suppose, without victims, you are largely stealing from what the rich are, I suppose, yes, people who own a lot of marbles and oil paintings, yes, whatever they steal from them, I don't care and there is like a stranger impulse to support thieves, yes, me.

I don't know why it's so funny, well we'll see who you root for in a second, let's get into it. Oh, built in 1901, the Gardner Museum houses more than 15,000 works of art collected by the late Isabella Stewart Gardner and on March 18, 1990, the

museum

was the victim of an all-time high, although only 13 works of art were stolen. The combined value is worth more than half a billion dollars. Ironically, at the time of the theft, the museum was in the middle of updating its outdated security system. I can't imagine if I was upgrading my home security and in the two days I was doing it my house was robbed, that happens sometimes, you lose half a billion dollars, yeah I would lose fifty dollars in cash for an Xbox One.

I have one beautiful butterfly enclosed. You have a butterfly enclosed in glass. Are you like that? That's um, that's weird, right, I'm going to go down the route of having a room full of bugs and butterflies and I wanted to look like a dead serial killer, yeah, well traveled. to the serial killer the night of the robbery to inexperience There were guards on duty a security guard named Richard II Abbott dropped out of music school and was part of a rock band he was a rock performer by day and a security guard at the museum During the night he himself admitted that he sometimes showed up to work drunk or high after an acting date.

I had just gotten off stage somewhere and just wanted to slow down before moving on to the most boring job in the world. End of quote. I really respect this guy, I mean, he's a fool, but he's honest, no, he's not trying to say I did my best, I did it, this is my passion, this job, I took it very seriously, it's very communicative, yes, I didn't really like it. This is how often a robbery occurs. It really must be the most boring job in the world, although Abbott insists that he was sober the night of the robbery, around 12:54 a.m. m., half an hour before the burglars successfully entered the building, the fire alarm sounded.

On the third floor of the museum when it was investigated there was no fire, it is unknown if this was part of the thieves' plan at 1:24 a.m. two men dressed as police officers entered the security desk where abbath was stationed the men stated that they were responding to a disturbance call and demanding entry there were st. St. Patrick's Day parties are held in the neighborhood, so a disturbance call made sense to the security guard. Abbott also added that he wanted to avoid being arrested because he had tickets to a Grateful Dead concert later that day.

This guy has all the right motivation. I love him. He says he's high all the time, except for this day, he says, yeah, I'm always high, I wasn't that day and that his priorities, I know he has a dead show to go to and this is the thing if he was so communicative. with police officers who can charge him with criminal offenses, huh, I have to imagine he was that forthcoming in the job interview, so it's almost the museum's responsibility to hire this guy. Abbott ushered the two police officers through the employee entrance, violating museum protocol.

Then one of the men said to Abbott: "He looks familiar." I think we have a default court order. Come here and show us some identification. Abbath was tricked into leaving the control dial on him, which has the only button that would immediately alert the police. Then they ordered him to face the wall and he stood ready. Goliath remembers that while he was being handcuffed he thought it was strange that they were not frisking him in front of him and he realized that this could be a robbery. I don't know if these two thieves were as brilliant as they seemed, it's interesting to note that they knew that the only button to alert the police was on that desk, so they knew they had to move it away.

That's very good, so far it's ticking all the boxes because not only have they clearly done their research or at least come across something? They may have investigated the place. Yes, they have costumes. I imagine the whole team as a guy on a telephone pole. Oh yeah, he's always the guy on the phone. but I like to be attentive and all that there is a guy on a telephone let's get into how this gossip better be some kind of telephone we'll see at this moment the second guard arrived and the second one was also arrested The guard asked why They were arresting and the men responded, "You're not being arrested, this is a robbery, don't give us any trouble and you won't get hurt." The guard replied, "Don't worry, I don't get paid enough." to hurt me I'm not going to take a bullet for a rich person because he wanted to travel around the world and show his art.

Now I'm realizing how much fun it would be to bond with the thieves. I'm kicking. Back with these guys, the guards' heads, hands, and feet were bound with duct tape. Motion detectors at the museum showed that the thieves then went to the second floor and split up, removing several works of art from the walls during the heist, an alarm sounded. was meant to alert the guard that someone had gotten too close to the artwork, the thieves found the alarm and... okay, so this is why the security in the building was faulty, the alarm only reaches to the guards and the only way the police are alerted is because if the guards press that, they press the self-destruct button, then maybe they have more than two guards, they had a security advisor come in and say you have to change Everything, you have to have a control room where the guards are.

Sitting around, they have access to all this stuff, uh-huh, and they're like, I guess they ignored it for a while, yeah, and when they finally decided what you're some kind of security expert at 2:28 a.m., the thieves went back to safety. counter they did a second check on the guards in the basement they removed the tapes that captured their movement outside the side door and in other parts of the museum after 13 minutes they prepared to leave taking the art to their vehicle in two separate On the trips there were witnesses who remembered seeing the robbers near the museum sitting in a red hatchback, a hatchback, yeah, no, I started with the disguises and I thought we were going to take all the boxes from the heist, you know, like a big date, maybe maybe a helicopter or something like that.

Getting to a point where they ripped off their mustaches and getting away with half a billion dollars is disappointing, but still very embarrassing. I heard here first you get away with half a billion dollars, that's great, but you don't do that with a little pizzazz. Shana is unpleasant, how difficult she is. It was to rip your mustache off, I mean, they also had a moment, a really badass moment, where they said, "We're not going to arrest you, we're going to steal your 13 stolen items. Notable pieces include three Rembrandts and, interestingly, a golden filiol eagle from a Napoleonic banner outside the tapestry room, they attempted to take a fourth Rembrandt, but it was apparently too difficult to remove, jumping about four hours later, sometime between 6:45 and 8:16 a.m., The morning shift guards showed up for work unable to enter the museum, prompting the deputy director of security to call the police.

At 8:30 a.m. the police showed up and discovered the two night security guards in handcuffs. In the basement, despite wearing gloves that prevented leaving fingerprints, the robbers did not cover their faces, allowing the guards a good look, however, security guard Abbath could not remember what the men looked like when the police Boston asked him. Abbott remembers that the police sketch quote was horrible and quotes, although in 2005 Abbott mentioned quotes, one of them sounds like Colonel Klink in Hogan's. Heroes, that's all I can remember end of quote oh, they're heroes, yeah, the best, looks like the most over-the-top movie security guard, yeah, ever, yeah, like I can't write this guy, no , it's a caricature, some wonder why the thieves were left behind. pieces that were clearly worth more than a Michelangelo in a Titian and why they spent so much time trying to bring out an object as obscure as the filiol eagle.

I always wonder what you do with it, art, yes, because it is difficult to solve. I can't just jump on eBay, be like I have some Rembrandts lying around, buy it now for 1 million, yeah that doesn't work, you have a what do you sell it to other criminals? Did Saddam Hussein buy stolen art in the past? the day I don't know my knowledge well I don't these days I have no idea man my knowledge of Amazon and eBay is pretty extensive but when it comes to the black market I'm not much there. I really don't know how it works, maybe they have a Buy It Now auction!

Satan said, "Oh, how to push again, damn it, Kim." An interesting development occurred in April 1994, when the museum received an anonymous letter claiming to know the location of the art. The author seemed to have a great knowledge of the stolen pieces and the art world in general. The anonymous complaint states that the pieces were safe in a controlled environment, but the museum had to act quickly because a buyer in another country who did not know that the pieces were stolen could buy them and claim legal ownership. The writer asked for 2.6 million dollars to facilitate the return of the works of art the museum accepted the museum then received a second letter the author was glad that they were interested in negotiating, but was discouraged by local law, the state and federal authorities who intervened, the writer openly wondered if they were trying to arrest them, man, as well as get back the art they wrote in all caps.

You can't have both. End of quote. The insider also added that even if they don't see any way to fail. In the negotiations they would give some clues about the whereabouts of art they had never heard of from the author, since I think they probably knew some details that made the museum think okay, this is legit, mm-hmm, so who knows , maybe they regretted it, yes, it is. It's stressful being the middleman there, that feels like a date, you'd have to go where you're looking over your shoulder all the time, looking at the windows, you'd have to hope they have it, even if you don't hand it to them.

If it's random, you're delivering half a billion dollars worth of goods, that's a fair amount, so you should expect a couple of badges. That being said, let's get into the theories. The first theory is that a thief named Brian McDevitt was responsible for the crime. McDevitt had committed a similar art theft in the 1980s, where he hijacked a FedEx truck and gave the driver the uniform and duct tape. McDevitt's plan to find museum employees at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York, and cut paintings from the frames of him. Hilariously, McDevitt and his accomplice got stuck in traffic and arrived after the museum closed, ruining his plans.

McDevitt spent a few months in prison for attempted robbery. McDevitt also lived about a 10-minute drive from the Gardner Museum at the time of its greatest heyday. was questioned by the FBI in 1992 and then in front of a grand jury his lawyer told the world that his client knew nothing about the crime, you know, this was no, it was not a small change, attempted robbery, used a disguise, wore a disguise. he had oh he has a talent for theatrical proclivity costumes mmm I like that so maybe maybe talk about mustaches in that one. I didn't research that, oh maybe I'll research a little more, well the front of the mustache, yeah I will.

I'm sure I'll write it down you let me get that pin I don't really care The second theory is a classic that the robbery was an inside job This would explain how the robbers knew where the only alarm button was located and also their knowledge that the work of art did not have anti-theft devices the FBI stated that security guard Richard II Abbath has not been ruled out as a suspect the suspicion goes beyond Abbath being poor at his job as mentioned before Abbath in particular could not remember the faces of the thieves shortly after the robbery I don't know how I would describe your face to someone I would just say yes oh you had a nose that looks like a cartoon gopher yeah if I had to describe yours I would first say you? have some paper that can unfold because you're going to need a lot of room to cover this guy's head, yeah he's huge, probably the size of most barn doors, and even though the thieves didn't destroy the sensor equipment motion, motion sensors, curiously, did not. search the thieves on the first floor where they stole a piece, but that same team picked upAbbot's in that room before the thieves arrived.

Abbath also broke security protocol by allowing the disguised police officer to enter. Museum policy prohibits allowing unauthorized personnel, including police, to enter the museum. Abbott claims he was not aware of this policy, but this was not the first time Abbott had broken protocol and at one of the parties Some friends had missed the museum's New Year's Eve, which, to be fair, seems harmless enough, but it doesn't apply. In his third breach of protocol, a video released two years ago shows Abbath letting in an unauthorized visitor the night before the heist. Law enforcement officials believe this person may have been scanning the area for a trial.

Avid says he doesn't remember this visitor despite being caught on tape in 2015, however, Abbott stated in an interview that he's still angry about that night, yes, it's suspicious, that's something you'd remember even if you're a little intoxicated. or crazy. I guess he wasn't at work then. drugged or drunk who has passed outyes, otherwise what do I do if I go to work? You also said it yourself about how much activity you have in this night shift job at the museum. Nothing happened. How many times do you get up other than them going to urinate and get water?

I would remember it. oh yeah, I let that guy in, didn't I? I like that this could be kind of a Keyser söze situation where he's like with this stone hip, he was like, I don't know, man and then he starts walking down the street, his posture just straightens up. oh yes, yes, he comes home with all the beautiful works of art of his. Yes, the third theory comes from a Dutch private investigator. They are experts in international artistic crimes. In his impressive efforts to recover stolen art. The brand has posed as a Texas oil millionaire.

A representative of sheikhs. and princes, as well as a general criminal, in one case he negotiated with criminal gangs to recover 25 million dollars in works of art, so you get it, the guys do the work, yes, unlike our boy Sisi who was to do the job and then it became a job. himself for this man having disappeared don't worry CeCe is on the case Oops, someone has murdered me come get me now don't worry help has arrived help in 1991 about a year after the robbery they are on their mark images acquired from the Works of art stolen stored somewhere in Holland in 2010.

Brand heard the pieces were in the possession of a member of the Irish Republican Army after working on the case with the FBI for about 12 years. Brand theorized that the pieces were originally stolen by petty thieves. who sold the pieces to members of an American gang, who possibly in the mid-1990s sent the pieces to Ireland to some high-ranking commanders of the Irish Republican Army. Brand estimates he can recover the pieces in a matter of months; He won't give details. as to why, but believes the investigation and leads are making the haystack smaller and quoting FBI spokesperson Kristen Cetera, stated: The FBI believes with great confidence that we have identified those responsible for the robbery at even though we still don't know where the art is. is currently on, it's not just that they know they took a lot of money, yes, but if they stole the precious Rembrandt, yes, they lost to the culture, the culture, it's like someone stole every copy of Forrest Gump, yes, you will never be able to see Forrest.

Gump again, I love that they got theatrical as they wish they had a mustache, you know, they obviously wanted to cry at the light and phone like a guy on a telephone pole, but I like that they went in there, there were essentially no casualties . here, yeah, apart from the rich people they robbed, the ones they robbed, look, rob the rich, do it, you're a thief, be Robin Hood, who do you think did it? What is your? I think it had to be an inside job, yeah, mainly because knowing that button, which I guess is kind of something you'd assume anyway, there must be some kind of master control button, but knowing exactly where it is, I guess you'd guess it's at a control desk, but knowing that they were in the middle of updating security and that there was someone who was taken to the museum without authorization, the Red Door that you're not supposed to spend the night before on the treadmill and the motion detector didn't really sound very suspicious, it definitely seems like something that would be an inside job and it wouldn't even be that difficult because no one seems to be paying attention in this museum.

Well, if you have any advice, email it to us and we'll pass it on to you. Yes, yes, Anthony Amore, the museum's security director, commented that stolen pieces are recovered shortly after the crime or approximately a generation later. For many years the museum offered a $5 million reward for information that could lead to the return of the artwork in good condition, and the offer was even doubled. to a $10 million reward for a short period but the statute of limitations for prosecution for robbery passed in the mid-1990s expired on December 31, 2017. In 2005, the US attorney in Boston said he will not prosecute anyone. show up with the paintings even if that day comes remains to be seen, but for now the identity of the thieves and the location of the artwork stolen from the Gardner Museum will remain unsolved.