BY KIM HARRINGTON
Photo Credit: Martin Institute Instagram
It’s been 32 years since thieves robbed the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum, stealing priceless paintings. Author Stephen Kurkjian, author of Master Thieves, is still trying to solve what is described as the largest art theft in history.
About 100 people from the Easton and Stonehill community filled The McCarthy auditorium Thursday, November 17, to hear Kurkjian discuss the case and his book.
Kurkjian described his experience in trying to solve the heist, which offered the world’s biggest reward.
Two fake security guards claimed that they were investigating a disturbance at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum just after midnight the night after St Patrick’s Day.
The imposters chose this day because they knew that many cops in the city were on overtime and busy with the large crowds after the holiday.
According to Kurkjian, the men had obvious fake mustaches glued to their faces, as they kept pressing them above their lips.
He said security coud best be explained as lax. The security guard, Rick Abbott, who was watching the museum chose the job because he could maintain his lifestyle as a member of a rock band playing in bars and go to work after gigs to sober up, since no problems ever arose while he was working.
There was no insurance on the paintings, so if one was stolen then it would not be covered financially, which Abbott was aware of, Kurkjian said.
“Abbott knew that he was not allowed to let anyone in the backdoor or the museum in general,” Kurkjian said. “However, he had tickets to the Grateful Dead concert in Connecticut the next day and did not want to miss it, so he cooperated with them and stepped away from his desk which was the only place he could call for help from.”
There was a burst of laughter throughout the crowd as Kurkjian showed a photo of Abbott being tied up and duct taped in the basement, while these "yegs" or thieves in journalism language, raided the museum and stole millions of dollars worth of paintings from the Dutch room and other areas.
All frames in the Dutch room, which contained all the masterpieces, were cut out of their stretchers and stolen by the thieves.
After the robbery, the feds said that if anyone had any information, to come forward, and if the people that stole the masterpieces brought them back, then there would be no charges pressed or arrests made, he said.
No one ever came forward, though, until Vinny Ferrara, who was in prison on racketeering charges, was visited in prison by Bobby Donati, a low-level mobster, who said that he would commit a large theft to get him out of jail.
Ferrara advised him not to do this. The museum was robbed not long after.
No one was ever officially caught with the paintings, said Kurkjian, but his theory was this robbery was for the shock effect, not so much for the money.
There was also a theory that Robert Gentile, a “gangster”, had a shed with containers underneath it where the paintings were allegedly in. However, the works were damaged by a flood in the 2000s. This theory was never proven. Gentile claimed there were stolen engines, not paintings, under the shed.
Kurkjian said the thieves stole not only from the museum but the community.
"Our kids will never be able to see these masterpieces, and neither will our grandchildren or generations after them. The empty frames still hang in the museum, making it look like a graveyard. Let’s get these artworks back for us and our families, since openness and diversity rules society now, not organized crime,” Kurkjian said.