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orders. Terms apply. Hey,

2:30

June tonight, Aaron. I'm doing fine, Justin.

2:32

How are you? I'm doing wonderful.

2:35

I'm gonna be at the True Crime Podcast

2:37

Festival, July 12th through the

2:39

14th. If you

2:41

use the code GENY, you get

2:43

a discount on your ticket. And

2:46

Aaron and I will both be

2:48

at the Berkshire Podcast Festival, October

2:50

18th through the 20th, in

2:52

North Adams, Massachusetts. Use

2:55

code Generation2024. The

2:58

Berkshire Podcast Festival is just a

3:00

wonderful time in a beautiful city.

3:02

We have a big case tonight.

3:05

It's a case about an art heist,

3:08

and I will admit, Aaron, I

3:10

am not an art connoisseur, so.

3:14

I am having to do a

3:16

lot of background reading and

3:19

research on high-end artworks,

3:21

paintings, sculptures, and whatnot.

3:24

And when it comes to art, on

3:27

the surface, I just think, oh yeah, you have

3:29

a lot of money, so you

3:31

wanna show off your status in

3:34

life, and if you wanna buy

3:36

a nice work from 17 or

3:38

1800s, that's

3:40

worth a lot of money, hey, there

3:42

you have it. Look at me,

3:45

this is my possession, I'm rich.

3:48

Kinda like showing off a yacht or

3:50

a big mansion. But there's so

3:52

much more to art, and art

3:54

collecting than that. Not only can

3:56

you put it on your own wall, and...

4:00

have your property value go

4:02

up but you can display

4:04

it at local museums and

4:06

then you get more name

4:08

recognition. Also art

4:11

work the collection of art is

4:13

an investment it's kinda like buying

4:15

gold where you can have this

4:17

item that is probably gonna go

4:20

up in value more than even

4:22

gold will, because gold has a

4:24

set price that you know is

4:26

regulated by the government where

4:29

is art there isn't really

4:31

any set price art

4:33

is priceless and it's however

4:35

much the buyer wants to

4:37

pay. Can also take

4:39

art and you can go

4:41

to free ports or tax free areas and

4:44

sell that art so if you bought it

4:46

for one million dollars and then you took

4:48

it to a free port you can sell

4:50

it for ten million dollars and you do

4:53

not have to pay taxes on that nine

4:55

million dollars. Or you can

4:57

buy it for a million and then

4:59

donate it to a museum

5:02

and then you get nine million dollar

5:04

write off from your taxes so

5:07

there's a lot of different ways

5:09

that art can be an investment

5:12

attack shelter attacks write

5:14

off. It's a big

5:16

deal for collectors and

5:18

sellers for art so

5:21

this is why we have so

5:23

many movies where you know some

5:26

guy is breaking into a museum

5:28

and hanging down and flipping around

5:31

laser beams and motion detectors and

5:33

stuff to steal some priceless work

5:35

of art right. I

5:38

think there are many reasons people have

5:40

are or like to look at art

5:42

there's appreciation there's investment there's so many

5:44

different things here work i know there

5:46

are some people who spend their whole

5:48

lives just thinking about art and studying

5:51

it and have their favorite artist so

5:53

i think there are many reasons to

5:55

have it and that's what makes this

5:57

case that we're about to get into

5:59

so difficult. because if you're going

6:01

to steal art, it's

6:03

very difficult to understand why you would do

6:05

it because there are many reasons why you

6:08

would. If you were

6:10

to steal a priceless painting or piece

6:12

of art, you're gonna have to sell

6:14

that on the black market to someone

6:17

specific who wants that art. You can't

6:19

go out and say, hey, buy my

6:21

piece of art because everyone's gonna know

6:24

it's stolen. Also, people like art to

6:26

be in pristine condition. That's

6:28

another thing that's gonna come up in

6:30

this story is not everything

6:32

that you steal is going to be taken

6:34

care of as well as say a museum

6:37

will take care of it. With

6:39

that, what are we talking about tonight, Aaron? Tonight

6:42

we're talking about the March 18th, 1990 heist of

6:46

the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum wherein

6:49

13 pieces of art

6:51

were stolen. This happened in Boston,

6:53

Massachusetts, like I said, at the

6:55

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Isabella

6:58

Stewart obviously is the person who opened

7:00

this museum. She was born on April

7:02

14th in 1840 in New York City

7:07

to David and Adelia Stewart.

7:10

The family was well off with

7:13

the father making his fortune by

7:15

importing Irish linen. They lived in

7:17

the West Village of Manhattan. Isabella

7:20

was privately educated in New York and

7:22

was sent abroad in 1854 to a

7:24

finishing school. While

7:28

in Paris, she was introduced to

7:30

John Lowell Gardner Jr., the

7:33

brother of one of her classmates. He

7:36

was from a wealthy Boston family. In 1860,

7:38

days before her 20th birthday, John

7:42

and Isabella were married in Grace Church in

7:44

New York City. They moved

7:46

to a home gifted to them

7:48

by her father in Boston's back

7:50

neighborhood south of Charles River. On

7:53

June 18th, 1863, the couple welcomed a son, John

7:58

Lowell Gardner III. But

8:00

unfortunately, their son died from pneumonia on March

8:02

15th of 1865 when he was less than

8:06

two years old. He was their only

8:08

child and his death along

8:11

with a few other hardships sent

8:13

Isabella into a horrible depression. In

8:16

1867, on the advice of Isabella's

8:19

doctor, John took her on

8:21

a trip to Northern Europe and Russia.

8:23

This started a lifelong love of travel

8:26

for Isabella who wrote elaborate journals of

8:28

their travels. The trip

8:30

included Italy, Egypt, the Middle East,

8:32

and Asia. These trips allowed

8:35

her to view art and get started

8:37

on acquiring her own collection. In

8:41

1869, she bought Vermeer's The

8:43

Concert, her first major purchase.

8:45

At home in Boston, she

8:47

was also encouraged to collect

8:49

by Charles Eliot Norton, the

8:51

first professor of art history

8:53

at Harvard University. He invited

8:55

her to join the Dante

8:58

Society which started her collecting

9:00

rare books and manuscripts including

9:02

early editions of Dante's work.

9:05

Isabella became part of the intellectual

9:07

circles in Boston and Cambridge including

9:09

becoming a patron of the Boston

9:12

Symphony. By the late 1880s, she

9:14

was a serious collector of great

9:16

art. In 1891,

9:18

Isabella's father died causing her to

9:21

inherit 1.75 million. This

9:25

allowed her to take her small

9:27

personal art collection to a museum

9:29

quantity scale, meaning she could buy

9:31

all the stuff she wanted, all

9:33

the stuff she was trying to

9:35

collect, and she's going to need a

9:38

place to put this. Yeah, so

9:40

she gets an advisor and

9:42

his name is Bernard Bernsen. He was a

9:44

Harvard student. He helped procure

9:46

many of the art masterpieces that

9:49

she wanted. And in

9:51

1896, he acquired Titian's The

9:53

Rape of Europa. This was what

9:55

they said was arguably the jewel

9:57

of her collection as well as

9:59

Rembrandt's portrait age 23, which

10:01

after that, Isabella and John decided

10:04

their current residence was not large

10:06

enough to contain all these art

10:08

collections. So they started to consider

10:11

the idea of creating their own

10:13

museum. So the gardeners, they

10:15

reached out to Willard Sears, who was an

10:17

architect, to make plans for this new museum.

10:19

Now at first, they thought they could combine

10:21

their house with a house next door, but

10:24

it quickly became apparent that even two

10:26

houses would not be large enough to

10:29

contain all the artworks that she

10:31

was procuring. They spent much of

10:33

their time staying at the Palazzo Barbaro in

10:35

Venice and knew they wanted to style the

10:38

museum after that. In the summer of

10:40

1897, John and Isabella

10:42

traveled to Venice, Florence, and

10:44

Rome. They were looking for

10:46

architectural inspiration. This included

10:49

buying columns, windows, doors, reliefs,

10:51

balustrades, capitals, and statuary from

10:53

the Roman, Byzantine, Gothic, and

10:55

Renaissance eras to adorn their

10:58

new museum. But unfortunately,

11:00

on December 10th of 1898, Jack

11:03

suddenly died from a stroke. Six

11:06

weeks later, in January of 1899,

11:08

Isabella bought a property in the

11:10

Back Bay Fens. Now

11:12

this was a very sparse area

11:15

and it looked like a swamp. John

11:18

had already expressed interest in the area

11:21

and he had a feeling that it

11:23

would become a significant cultural area. So

11:26

you might wonder why is she building

11:28

in a swamp? Well, they had the

11:30

vision to look ahead and say, no,

11:33

this area could really be something. In

11:35

fact, the same year, Boston's Museum of

11:37

Fine Arts also bought land there, which

11:40

is where they would eventually move to.

11:42

In June of 1899, construction started on

11:44

the new museum and Sears found himself

11:46

running interference between Isabella and his

11:49

workers as she continually made changes

11:51

to the plan. This isn't surprising,

11:53

it's her museum and as

11:56

things are coming together, she has ideas.

11:59

She wanted to be there. every day to

12:01

ensure that her museum was coming along

12:03

just the way she wanted it. Not

12:07

only is this museum going

12:09

to house art, but the

12:11

museum itself is literally

12:13

a work of art. It is

12:15

an amazing building inside and out.

12:17

It's where you're going to go

12:20

and be immersed. And she wants

12:22

her audience, these people who are

12:24

going to come to her museum

12:26

to just feel completely encompassed with

12:28

art and an environment where they

12:31

can really appreciate it. And

12:33

if you want to see more of

12:36

this museum, check out on Netflix a

12:38

documentary series titled This is a Robbery.

12:40

You'll notice on the outside the museum

12:42

looks very nice but sort of plain.

12:45

But once you get inside, that's where

12:47

it's the wow. It's incredible.

12:50

So this museum was mostly

12:52

completed by 1901. There were

12:54

four floors with a glass

12:56

top central courtyard. Isabella had

12:58

private apartments on the fourth

13:00

floor, but the rest of

13:02

the museum was filled with

13:04

art. The bottom three floors

13:06

were devoted to art galleries

13:08

containing paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture

13:10

manuscripts, rare books, and decorative

13:12

arts. And many of

13:14

these rooms were themed. So you'd go into

13:17

one room and it was the early Italian

13:19

room. Another room was a Gothic room. The

13:21

courtyard is something, it's kind of like

13:23

what we have with the Nelson-Atkins. You

13:26

get in there and it's got plants

13:28

and flowers and it's got seating. It's

13:30

just really nice. And that's kind of

13:33

the center of the whole place. But

13:35

Isabella was able to take several distinct

13:37

artistic eras and cohesively display them. She

13:40

obviously knew art and knew what

13:42

she wanted people to see when they arrived at

13:44

her museum. In 1902, Isabella finished

13:47

installing her collection, but she did

13:49

continue to acquire and rearrange

13:52

it for the rest of her days. So

13:54

let's go to January 1st, 1903. She hosts a

13:58

grand opening celebration. So there

14:00

was music, there was obviously art and

14:02

horticulture. And in February, the museum

14:04

was officially open to the public. And

14:07

for the next 20 years, Isabella cultivated

14:09

this museum to be a place where

14:11

artists could feel at home. They

14:13

had regular schedule of visual

14:15

and performing artists. There were

14:18

concerts, lectures, exhibitions. And

14:20

among those were John Singer Sargent,

14:22

painting in the then private Gothic

14:24

room, Ruth St. Dennis performing her

14:26

dance, the cobra in the cloisters,

14:29

and opera singer Nellie Melva performing

14:31

from the balcony in the Dutch

14:33

room. This is

14:35

where you would go to

14:37

be seen on an elite

14:39

level. And this is what

14:41

makes this museum such a

14:43

big deal and why what happens

14:46

eventually is going to be

14:48

covered in the news so much.

14:50

But it's December 1919. Isabella suffers

14:52

a debilitating stroke. She

14:55

keeps the museum open, keeps

14:57

having guests. And in 1922,

14:59

John Singer Sargent painted Miss

15:02

Gardiner in white and it's

15:04

showing her somewhat frail but

15:06

very alert. And on July 17th

15:08

of 1924, Isabella will die at the age of 84. She's

15:15

done a lot in 84 years

15:17

and has made a huge splash

15:19

in the art scene. She

15:21

will end up being buried

15:24

at Mount Allbird Cemetery in

15:26

Cambridge in the Gardiner family

15:28

mausoleum with her husband and

15:30

son. In her will,

15:32

she gave the museum to the city

15:34

of Boston as a public institution for

15:36

the education and enjoyment of the public

15:39

forever. So she gives all of her

15:41

art and everything to the city of

15:43

Boston. This is just amazing. She

15:46

did stipulate that the galleries

15:48

and collections should remain exactly

15:50

as she had curated them.

15:53

An endowment was also gifted to

15:55

cover the museum's operating costs. The

15:58

museum is a unique experience. It's

16:00

different from all other museums of

16:02

its type and continues to draw

16:04

people to witness Isabella's vision and

16:06

her collection to this day. It's

16:09

quite incredible. I guess if

16:12

I had more of an appreciation for art,

16:14

I would travel up there and check out

16:16

this museum, but really a lot of it's

16:18

lost on me, I hate to admit. Well,

16:20

I wouldn't mind visiting the museum. Hopefully we

16:22

can get out to Boston this year. But

16:24

the stipulation is kind of a big deal

16:27

because she was going to make sure with

16:29

her stipulation that if things

16:31

were changed, then they would have to

16:33

auction all of the art off in

16:36

Paris and then all of the proceeds

16:38

would then go to the university, I

16:40

believe Harvard. This is her

16:43

way of making sure that even after she's

16:45

gone, her museum is the way she left

16:47

it because she put a lot of work

16:49

into it. So let's

16:51

go to the theft, what this

16:53

whole episode is really about. When

16:56

does this happen? This happens in the

16:58

early morning hours of March 18th, 1990. But

17:02

really when you talk about thefts,

17:04

heists, the reason they're successful is

17:06

because they have an in, they

17:08

have knowledge, or they're working with

17:11

somebody, or they have dumb luck.

17:14

And in this case, there's a security guard

17:16

sitting at his desk and

17:18

he's in the Worthington Street lobby. And

17:21

he's supposed to make sure that no

17:24

one gets in and yet there are

17:26

two police officers, they appear to be

17:28

police officers, walking up to the entrance.

17:31

This is this back entrance. And

17:33

through the intercom, they say they're

17:35

responding to a disturbance on the

17:38

museum grounds and they want access

17:40

to the inside. So, Abbeth buzzes

17:42

them in. This is against protocol.

17:45

This is at 1.24 a.m. He's

17:47

buzzing them in and there are two sets

17:49

of locked security doors. So the way it

17:51

works is you buzz them in, they come

17:53

inside, and then you have to buzz them

17:55

through again to get in through the second set of doors.

17:58

But It's a risky situation. If you're there

18:00

to. You. Know perpetrate a high speak

18:03

as if someone takes a look at you

18:05

in that room and decides they don't trust

18:07

you. Now they can just not buzz you

18:09

through any doors and you're stuck in there.

18:12

But. They're dressed as Police Officers

18:14

Boston Pd so he's looking at

18:16

them and thinking, I won't, they're

18:18

here for something. Ah, maybe there

18:21

is an alarm. Maybe there is

18:23

an issue they need to handle.

18:25

So he buzzes them in the

18:28

second set of doors. So.

18:30

He remained seated behind his desk and

18:32

these two officers are asking him how

18:35

many other guards are in the building

18:37

and Rick either says well, there's one

18:39

other guard. He's currently on the third

18:41

floor so one of the officer says

18:43

get him down here and Abbott does

18:45

is he asks. Then one of the

18:47

man says, you look familiar I think

18:50

we have a default warrant out on

18:52

you. Come out here and show us

18:54

some identification. So. Abbess he doesn't

18:56

have a warrant, but he still

18:58

steps out from behind the desk

19:00

and he hands them his driver's

19:02

license as well as his Berkeley

19:04

student Id. So then the officers

19:06

happenstance spread eagle against the wall.

19:09

And. The handcuff him. So Abbott's is. Again,

19:11

we could be thinking these are officers, I

19:13

need to comply. We know what happens if

19:15

you don't comply. So he's thinking, although, get

19:17

this worked out and I'll be out of

19:19

my hand cuffs in. But. Then he's

19:22

thinking wait a minute, don't they usually

19:24

frisk you because and officer needs to

19:26

make sure they're safe. But. He's

19:28

not frist and it's at that point

19:30

that Aba says he figures, wait a

19:33

minute, there's something fishy. Years This isn't

19:35

normal. So. This other guard arise

19:37

and they put him in handcuffs and he

19:39

asked them why are you arresting me and

19:41

one of the man says you're not being

19:43

arrested. This. Is a robbery? Don't give

19:45

a same problems and you won't get hurt. The

19:48

guard says back, don't worry, they don't pay me

19:50

enough to get hurt. That's a

19:52

line that goes straight to heart. Does

19:54

it just? and yeah and in This

19:57

is why we will have discussions later.

19:59

But. There's going to be

20:01

a lot as a debate over

20:03

whether these guards were in on

20:06

it or whether they were part

20:08

of an inside job. Yet.

20:10

That line right there kind of

20:12

sums up. Maybe they weren't Maybe

20:14

they were just incompetent not following

20:17

policies and procedures because they're just

20:19

not paid enough that we can

20:21

get into that later when we

20:23

give our final thoughts. Will

20:25

don't forget by this point that man is

20:27

the only one working at the museum

20:29

who's not handcuffed yet so he doesn't

20:31

have backup. And. Their two men there

20:34

so I could see where he's not

20:36

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22:40

So these two guards are led

22:42

into the museum's basement where they're

22:44

handcuffed and duct-taped. Their hands, feet

22:46

and heads are duct-taped. And

22:49

the guards, they're taped to these posts about

22:51

a hundred feet apart down there. And then

22:53

it gives the thieves complete access to the

22:55

museum. So at 148 in the morning, they

22:59

make their way up the main staircase to the second

23:01

floor. They're in there for 81 minutes.

23:04

Now there's a reason for this, right? Because there's

23:06

no one left to sound the alarm. Yeah,

23:09

I mean they can take all the

23:11

time in the world. They can be

23:13

there all night if they wanted because

23:15

the cavalry is not coming. Police aren't

23:17

notified. So they've disabled the

23:19

two guards and now they can

23:21

start taking whatever they want. When's

23:24

the next shift, right? It's probably

23:26

hours away. At least four

23:28

or five hours away. Now

23:30

they go in to the

23:33

Dutch room. This is where

23:35

a lot of the Rembrandt pieces

23:37

are that Isabella had bought. These

23:39

are, I would say, probably some

23:42

of the most expensive or high-valued

23:44

pieces in the entire museum. They

23:47

will cut these paintings

23:49

out of their frames because they

23:51

can't be bothered to take the

23:53

time to pull these frames apart

23:56

and pull these paintings out. They'll

23:58

end up getting a away with 13 paintings,

24:01

but they're cutting these paintings out, which

24:03

to me, it seems like it's an

24:05

amateur job in the sense of they're

24:08

not retaining the value of the paintings.

24:11

They say they have 81 minutes in there.

24:13

That's a long time. That's a very

24:15

long time. And so I'm not sure it's

24:17

about saving time because they make some odd

24:19

choices in the way that they try to

24:21

steal all these things. And these 13 pieces,

24:24

because they're not just all paintings,

24:27

there's some drawings, there's some other objects, but

24:29

it's just odd to me that they're choosing

24:31

to do it this way. And it could

24:33

come from people who don't know about art,

24:35

how you're supposed to handle

24:37

it, or maybe they don't care. It's tough to know. So

24:40

what all did they get away with? Well,

24:42

in this room, the thieves, it appeared

24:45

they attempted to steal all four of

24:47

the Rembrandt pieces Isabella had bought in

24:49

her lifetime. Now, the easiest one was

24:52

Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist as a

24:54

Young Man, which was taken from the

24:56

side of a chest. The

24:58

only chest is on the east wall. The

25:01

etching is a stamp size

25:03

portrait of Rembrandt himself from about 1633.

25:07

When she bought it, she bought it for $120 in the

25:09

late 1880s. But as you know, art increases in

25:14

value over time. So if you go from 1880 to

25:16

1990, obviously, there's a big jump in value

25:21

there. But the three large paintings

25:23

by Rembrandt proved to be more difficult

25:26

for the thieves. On the north

25:28

wall, the men were unable to remove self portrait age

25:30

23. And it was

25:32

left behind. On the south wall, the thieves

25:34

resorted to cutting Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm

25:36

in the Sea of Galilee, and

25:39

a lady and gentlemen in black from

25:41

their frames. Now, when you cut art

25:43

out of a frame, you're causing damage

25:45

to the paintings, they're still worth a

25:48

lot of money, but now you're lowering

25:50

the value. The Storm is believed

25:52

to be the only seascape by Rembrandt.

25:54

So it's a very unique piece of

25:56

art. It depicts Jesus and the disciples

25:59

on a boat. in a stormy

26:01

sea. I recommend looking it up if

26:03

you haven't seen this before. It's a

26:05

dramatic piece, but a lady and gentleman

26:08

in black, which I really like this

26:10

painting myself, it's a large, spatially complex

26:12

double portrait. It has a standing man

26:15

and a seated woman, both dressed in

26:17

black with white ruffs. If you look

26:19

into this painting, it originally had a

26:22

child between them, but Rembrandt himself had

26:24

painted over the child at some point.

26:27

These were acquired by Isabella in 1898 for about 6,000 pounds

26:29

and 13,000 pounds respectively. As the thieves

26:35

were trying to remove one of these heavy

26:37

frames from the wall, an alarm went off, which

26:39

was meant to go off when visitors got

26:42

too close to the art. The thieves quickly found

26:44

the alarm on the baseboard and they smashed

26:46

it into silence. They knew they had time because

26:48

who's going to hear that alarm? It's for

26:50

the guards. Yeah, and this

26:52

alarm isn't calling the police or anyone.

26:54

It's just this high pitched noise to

26:57

alert people to stay away

26:59

from the art. That is it. In

27:02

the Dutch room, the thieves also knocked two

27:04

paintings from the frames on the west wall

27:06

to steal them. One was Vermeer's The Concert

27:08

and the other was Slink's Landscape with an

27:10

obelisk. They were displayed back to back in

27:13

front of the windows. We can talk more

27:15

about these paintings, but really I would say look them

27:17

up because you and I won't be able to do

27:19

justice whether we're into art or not as to what

27:21

they really look like. Isabella

27:23

had procured this one in December of 1892 for 29,000

27:25

francs. The loss was particularly startling

27:31

because it's one of only 36 paintings

27:33

from Vermeer and it held an important place

27:36

in the museum. This is something that's very

27:38

common though with some of these things that

27:40

she collected because again, it's the

27:42

only one of this or it's one

27:44

of a small number of this style

27:46

of painting that this premier artist had

27:48

done. So they're probably all important in

27:50

some way. Anyway, the thieves

27:52

stole a total of six items from the Dutch

27:55

room, the last of which was sitting on the

27:57

drop leaf table on the south wall next to

27:59

the storm. This was a Shang

28:01

Dynasty Chinese bronze goo or vessel. It

28:03

looks kind of like a beaker. Isabella

28:05

had bought it for $17,500 in 1922.

28:07

She probably preferred Italian art, but

28:14

she liked other arts as well, including

28:17

stuff from Asia. So that just speaks

28:19

to her tastes. This is something that

28:21

caught her eye and she wanted it.

28:24

But they also go onto the second floor

28:26

where they go into the short gallery. This

28:29

is a small, more informal

28:31

room that connects the Raphael

28:34

room and tapestry room in

28:36

little salon. It houses prints,

28:38

old master drawings, books, textiles,

28:41

and family portraits of Isabella,

28:43

John, and Isabella's nephew, grandmother,

28:45

and great-grandmother. The thieves stole

28:47

five Degas drawings from the

28:50

drawing cabinet on the south

28:52

end of the room. They

28:55

also broke two of the frames to

28:57

achieve this. Now, they took drawings, which

28:59

at the time Isabella had paid 6,210

29:01

francs for. They took five of the

29:03

six drawings

29:06

from Degas. But they also

29:08

attempted to steal a Napoleonic silk banner.

29:10

It was hanging next to the entry

29:12

to the tapestry room on the south

29:15

end. They may have become frustrated,

29:17

this is just a theory, by the

29:19

many tiny screws that held the banner

29:21

inside its frame and given up because

29:23

they're trying to unscrew all these. Instead,

29:26

they ended up taking the Gilded

29:28

Bronze Eagle Finial. It's an insignia

29:30

of the first regiment of the

29:32

Grenadiers of Foot of Napoleon's Imperial

29:35

Guard. Now, this finial, it's an

29:37

ornamental end piece. It goes on

29:39

a flagpole. Isabella had paid $300 for it in 1880. A

29:41

lot of people say it's actually one of the things that

29:46

the thieves stole that really isn't

29:48

worth a lot. Obviously, Isabella liked

29:50

it, but this would have been

29:52

more for aesthetic purposes compared to

29:54

the other things stolen. Fifty

30:00

million dollars to things that are worth

30:02

a few thousand. A few thousand bucks

30:04

is still a lot to me a

30:07

new, but for our kind of sewers

30:09

and collectors, that's nothing. Ever. You

30:11

have access to the whole museum. Why steal

30:13

something that's not worth anything? Item in up

30:15

a comparatively anyway. But on the first floor

30:17

there was one painting missing from the blue

30:19

room. This room which as we

30:21

wallpaper it houses works from Isabella Close

30:24

circle of friends and there's an art

30:26

piece in their known as Shade or

30:28

Tony. It was knocked from it's frame,

30:31

the would casing was last behind on

30:33

the chair for the security supervisor Seats

30:35

or Tony is a small painting created

30:37

near the end of the artist Life

30:40

Monday in about eighteen seventy five. It

30:42

depicts a man in a black top

30:44

hat sitting on a terrorist looking directly

30:46

at fewer. His. Villa had paid

30:49

three thousand, four hundred dollars for it

30:51

in nineteen Twenty two. Now. At

30:53

to twenty eight in the morning that to

30:55

seize they go back to the main security

30:57

desk and they knew to remove the tape

31:00

of the security cameras from the recorder and

31:02

they took that with them. They also took

31:04

the print out for the motion detection system

31:06

because there were motion sensors throughout the building.

31:09

And. Both of these removals

31:11

were meant to obviously obscene

31:13

skate their identities and movements.

31:16

They. May Two trips to the side door

31:18

to forty and to forty five am. This

31:20

is presumably they're bringing the artwork out to

31:22

the car they had arrived in. They have

31:25

been in the museum for eighty one minutes.

31:27

Thirteen pieces of art for take. Them

31:30

in so they're covering their tracks. They're

31:32

taking the cassette tape out of a

31:34

Vcr for us. Genesis we know what

31:37

that means, But the. Central.

31:39

lower generous since there are these

31:41

big huge plastic thanks to had

31:43

you had pushed into of these

31:45

yard record from the security camera

31:47

footage even at eighty one minutes

31:49

i think that they were rushing

31:52

they were really trying to get

31:54

as much as they could and

31:56

eighty one minutes time and they're

31:58

taking the paintings out of the

32:00

frames so they can roll them up

32:03

and put more paintings,

32:05

more artwork into a smaller

32:07

vehicle. Otherwise, I would just

32:09

think you want a U-Haul truck or something

32:11

so you can just take the paintings and

32:13

the frames and stack them up, but they're

32:15

cutting them out and they're rolling up these

32:18

paintings and they're getting out the door. Yeah,

32:20

but it's really odd though, Justin, because one of

32:22

the things they steal is from

32:25

Rembrandt. It's a little stamp-sized piece

32:27

of art. They bothered to unscrew

32:29

that whole thing to take that

32:31

out. I know, it's weird. It

32:34

doesn't make any sense, but you know what? This

32:37

is life. We find it all the time. It's like, wait,

32:40

you believe in this or you say this and

32:42

yet you're doing this. We see it all the

32:44

time. So maybe we're looking into it too deeply

32:46

if we're pointing out that they are even taking

32:48

something out of a frame that's so small they

32:50

could have put it in a pocket. And

32:53

just another point of contention I

32:55

have is, have you ever had

32:57

a nice painting or

33:00

a print or anything framed?

33:03

Sometimes these frames are worth

33:05

more than the artwork they're

33:07

framing. Frames are not

33:09

cheap. Frames are very expensive. They are

33:12

works of art in themselves. So this

33:14

again is just, somebody breaks into your

33:16

house and they steal some petty cash

33:18

on your kitchen table, but they don't

33:21

take the laptop computer that's laying out

33:23

on the counter. You think the laptop

33:25

computer is worth hundreds of dollars, but

33:27

you took the 50 in the bowl.

33:30

Like what's going on here? And

33:33

I definitely get this vibe from this

33:35

art heist. They do get some high

33:38

value things, but the way they

33:40

go about it, not so intelligent. And

33:42

these are old paintings. And when you

33:44

roll them up, they're going to flake

33:46

and chip. You're ruining them

33:48

every step of the way. Yeah,

33:51

they'll still be very valuable. But I wanna

33:53

add when you're talking about the framing, I

33:56

know what you're saying about frames being valuable,

33:58

but the actual framing process. can cost a lot

34:00

of money. If you've ever seen

34:02

something framed by somebody who doesn't know what

34:04

they're doing, it won't hold up. There's a

34:06

process to this. And so it's really interesting

34:09

to me that they're just doing it this

34:11

way. And I guess it's the gotta have

34:13

it, because even if it's damaged, it'll still

34:15

have value to people. It just

34:17

things I want the audience to think

34:19

about when it comes to the process

34:22

of this theft. Generation

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Y. That's rocketmoney.com/G-E-N-W-H-Y, rocketmoney.com/ gen

35:24

Y. Now let's talk about something that

35:26

was done before these two thieves

35:28

left. One of the

35:30

thieves checked on the guards at around

35:33

2.30. This is just

35:35

before they left the museum. The guards obviously were

35:37

tied up in the basement, and

35:39

the guards didn't know when the thieves

35:41

left because they couldn't tell, they were

35:43

in the basement. But Avis

35:45

had been worried they would light the museum

35:48

on fire, And after a

35:50

while, he realized, wait, they're not gonna

35:52

do that because they don't hear anything

35:54

alarming. But For some reason, one of

35:56

the thieves checked on these guards twice,

35:58

and it's just, it's odd. The it

36:00

was actually asked him if you need

36:02

anything been to drink, etcetera. In.

36:04

This again, you can look

36:06

at it two ways either.

36:08

These thieves are professionals and

36:10

they're making sure that these

36:13

guards aren't suffocating under the

36:15

duct tape and everything. Or.

36:17

Be the other side of this is

36:19

one of these guards are both of

36:21

these guards are in on the high

36:24

since they're just checking on. I'm like

36:26

hey, to Spigot sure you're all right.

36:28

While we're finishing up here, this is

36:30

the argument out there on the inner

36:32

websites. Why are they being checked on?

36:34

Why are they being treated so well? So.

36:37

These guards were tied up for many

36:39

hours to day. Guards arrived just before

36:41

seven the morning but they couldn't get

36:44

into the building known was buzzing them

36:46

in so they called the deputy Security

36:48

director who came and open the side

36:50

door for them a call when in

36:53

Tude Boston Police Emergency Line at eight

36:55

Fifteen Am. And. Of course please

36:57

respond. Within fifteen minutes they discovered the

36:59

night guards tied up in the basement

37:01

and while the police were going around

37:04

the museum checking things or as some

37:06

would say, disturbing the scene, they did

37:08

call the F B I to take

37:10

over the case because this is who

37:12

you called. When a museum is rob

37:14

like this. F B

37:16

I has jurisdiction over own.

37:19

Most are heists. And.

37:21

They're going to go through and investigate

37:23

and they can do this internationally because

37:25

when it comes to hide dollar artwork.

37:27

Like I said before, you can send

37:30

that oversees. you can sell it and

37:32

not have to pay taxes on it.

37:34

You can sell it in Freeport's or

37:36

you can find collectors that are just

37:38

and another country that can put it

37:41

up on their wall and no one's

37:43

gonna be the wiser over here in

37:45

the United States. So.

37:47

this is as far as we

37:49

know the largest property crime in

37:51

the united states and in today's

37:54

value a will be about five

37:56

hundred million dollars that the stolen

37:58

among these thirteen pieces they

38:00

said the storm and the concert would

38:02

command at least fifty million dollars each

38:04

on the open market at the time

38:06

at then prices were talking about two

38:08

hundred million dollars and the

38:10

fbi was surprised because. They

38:13

hadn't seen anything like this they said this

38:15

is more of the way that something would

38:17

occur in europe not in the us. But

38:20

they still call the museum for clues and

38:22

one of the things you're obviously thinking is

38:24

if there was duct tape used then there

38:26

should be late in print but when i

38:28

ask the guards. They say that the

38:30

thieves were wearing gloves the whole time but

38:32

still if you do have duct tape then you

38:34

have some evidence right. Yeah and

38:37

i want to pause here real quick

38:39

and because there was some question about

38:42

how these guards were duct taped.

38:45

One of them had duct tape over

38:47

his mouth and then kind of another

38:49

piece that was almost look like a

38:51

bandage like under his chin and up

38:53

over his head and people are saying

38:56

well that's not how you would duct

38:58

tape somebody would just go around his

39:00

mouth. Over and over again but this

39:02

guard had a full beard and kind

39:05

of big frizzy hair so

39:07

i feel like to me there isn't

39:09

a question of why did they duct

39:11

tape him this way it was more

39:13

of out of necessity because he had

39:15

so much facial hair and other things going

39:17

on that they were like okay we gotta

39:19

get this one over his mouth and then

39:22

we gotta somehow hold that over his mouth

39:24

but. Personally i think it was probably more

39:26

painful and horrible to remove the duct tape

39:28

off of this guard because of all the

39:30

hair on his head. I think

39:32

that it would have been better if they

39:34

just would have done one strip around his

39:37

mouth around the back of his head but

39:39

whatever reason they did it in this weird

39:41

way and. Investigators

39:43

definitely looked at that and question why was

39:45

he duct taped this way and of course

39:47

there's a lot of speculation to it but

39:50

i think it had more to do with

39:52

the amount of hair this guy had on

39:54

his head and face. Yeah

39:57

i get both ways that they're

39:59

theorizing about. this I just

40:01

wonder like the one guard they make sure

40:03

he can't see but then this guy they

40:05

don't really do that so trust me I

40:08

don't care how much hair you have if

40:10

someone wants to cover your eyes with tape

40:12

they can do it it just it will

40:14

go into the box that says possible connection

40:16

here because not only is he breaking protocol

40:19

to let these people in he's also now

40:21

not taped the same way as the other

40:23

guard but you know

40:25

handcuffs duct tape those are pieces

40:27

of evidence and for some

40:29

reason they go missing so you

40:32

could say well if there aren't going to

40:34

be fingerprints who cares well they could give

40:36

other clues other evidence because for one what

40:38

if some of these handcuffs were handled when

40:40

they didn't have their gloves on what

40:42

if they did take off their gloves for

40:44

the duct tape we don't know it might

40:47

have collected other evidence that would have been useful we

40:49

just don't know because it can't be tested they don't

40:51

have it and we don't know why that is did

40:54

Richard Abbeth get released and he went around collected all

40:56

that and got rid of it or

40:58

if he wasn't involved then you know this

41:00

is all speculation but did the police just

41:02

go ah it's all messy I mean according

41:04

to what we know the Boston police had

41:07

kind of balled it up and tossed it

41:09

aside the duct tape so it wasn't like

41:11

there was collection of evidence the way it

41:13

should have been but you know the police

41:15

at the time would tell you we didn't

41:17

have any protocols like that and

41:20

DNA and hair follicle testing and

41:22

all that stuff wasn't quite a

41:24

thing back then so I could

41:26

see why they would

41:28

toss a lot of this if they weren't

41:30

able to see fingerprints if

41:33

they didn't think there'd be

41:35

anything worthwhile collecting here I

41:37

understand why it would

41:39

be tossed although I disagree with it

41:41

I understand why they would the

41:45

guards were interviewed the same morning Richard

41:47

Abbeth was able to remember details about

41:49

what the thieves look like he said

41:51

one was in his late 30s about

41:53

five foot nine tall slim with gold

41:55

wire glasses and a mustache but he

41:57

thought the mustache was probably a fake

42:00

And he said that's the man who did

42:02

most of the talking the other guy was

42:04

in his early thirties six foot tall and

42:06

heavier with chubby cheeks he also had a

42:09

mustache that was probably also fake the fbi

42:11

they created sketches based on the two guards

42:13

description, but i have a later

42:15

said that the sketches were awful. If

42:19

you see the documentary they are they

42:21

look cartoonish i've seen better sketches going

42:24

to a county fair or carnival or

42:26

something and paying the guy five bucks

42:28

to do a version of me i

42:31

mean they're not good. It's

42:33

definitely not the kind of sketches you

42:35

see from someone like michael w street

42:38

who sketch cop right. It's

42:40

just you get what you get what you

42:42

got and apparently whoever is doing the sketching

42:44

here you know not the best as you

42:46

would say. So

42:48

the first thought justin is the fbi

42:51

thinking how could these guys have just

42:53

gotten access and we're gonna get into

42:55

these two theories which is on one

42:57

hand it's all richard abbeth. So

43:00

on the one hand richard abbeth may

43:02

have just made a bad choice and

43:04

just buzz these cops in right even

43:06

though they were told you don't buzz

43:08

anybody in i mean if cops need

43:10

access they can contact somebody they can

43:12

make a call. Or if

43:14

it was about the museum they would have

43:16

called the cops but they're just coming by

43:19

in a vehicle that's not even a police

43:21

vehicle it's a little dodge daytona. But

43:23

the security guard wouldn't know what kind of vehicle

43:26

they rolled up and he's just seeing these two

43:28

guys at the front door and he might not

43:30

paid any attention he's just seeing the cops and

43:32

going well maybe i'll buzz them in. But on

43:34

the other hand what if he buzz them in

43:37

because he knows they're gonna show up. Exactly

43:39

and why do we think he knows

43:42

they're gonna show up there. Well

43:44

there's a possibility that he does because the

43:46

policy is you're not supposed to open that

43:48

back door not supposed to do it and

43:51

just within what ten fifteen minutes

43:54

before these so called cops show

43:56

up. Abba opens that door

43:58

and look out. and looks around

44:01

and then he closes it, around and then

44:03

he closes it. And of course

44:05

they ask him about that. They say, why did

44:07

you do this? It seems really weird. And he

44:09

said, oh, I did that all the time. But

44:12

according to everything they can find, they

44:14

don't know that he did that before.

44:17

And I could see, you know,

44:19

if you're just wandering around on your

44:21

board, you open up the door, you

44:24

get some fresh air, you come back

44:26

in, but it wasn't his normal practice.

44:28

He didn't seem to do this. And

44:30

he just happens to open the door,

44:32

look outside and close the door and

44:35

lock it, close to 15

44:37

minutes before this robbery takes place.

44:40

A lot of people interpret that as, he's

44:42

looking to see if these

44:45

assailants, these perpetrators are

44:47

outside. He's looking to check

44:49

and give them a signal. Hey, now's

44:51

the good time to come up and

44:54

then close the door. Well, the idea

44:56

is if he opens that door and

44:58

looks out, they'll see him and they'll

45:00

know that he is now the guy

45:02

manning the desk with the alarm and

45:04

the way in. So it could be

45:07

a signal. But I mean, if this is all

45:09

planned out, he doesn't have to look for him because

45:11

this would have all been set up. And all he

45:13

has to do is signal that he is now at

45:15

the desk and it's good because why? There are usually

45:17

two guards there. So there's a

45:19

chance that he could not be at

45:22

the desk. But here's another thing. Normally,

45:24

Avath was working with an older guard

45:26

who had a lot of experience, but

45:29

he called in sick. And

45:31

so they had a replacement guard who'd only worked

45:33

at the museum for a few months, not a

45:35

guy that has a lot of experience

45:37

here. And in fact, he thought it

45:39

was just gonna be an easy shift. And

45:42

he planned to bring a music instrument, which he

45:44

did, a trumpet. And he probably thought, oh, this

45:46

is gonna be easy. But here it

45:48

is, now they're dealing with these thieves. And

45:51

I wonder if there was some

45:53

communication, if this was an inside

45:56

job of, hey, tonight's a

45:58

good night because the sun's up. other guys

46:00

not working and I'll

46:02

let you know when I'm

46:05

at the front desk. That's how

46:07

that's interpreted. I'm not going to

46:09

say that's exactly how it happened

46:11

because nobody knows exactly how it

46:13

went down, but that's how most

46:15

people interpret this inside job theory.

46:19

Now two guards would man the night

46:21

shift here. One would

46:23

watch the video monitors at the main

46:25

security desk where Abbeth was when these

46:27

so-called cops approached. The other one would

46:29

patrol the building and they would take

46:31

turns. One would sit and watch the

46:34

video monitors and the other one would

46:36

patrol. This is

46:38

a routine that they had. On

46:41

the night of the theft, about a half an

46:43

hour before the thieves got into the building, a

46:45

fire alarm went off on the third floor. Abbeth

46:48

left his patrol of the building to

46:50

go and investigate. He said he discovered it

46:52

was a false alarm. So he went to

46:54

the basement to the alarm box. He

46:57

wanted to take care of the alarm. Then he returned

46:59

to his patrol. Which is

47:01

interesting because we have a false

47:03

alarm, then we have fake

47:06

police officers showing up. Again,

47:08

I feel like if you're looking

47:10

at the inside job version of

47:13

this, we're going to set off

47:15

an alarm which would prompt a

47:17

response from law enforcement or somebody.

47:20

So this all looks normal. This all

47:22

looks like it's playing out. Now

47:25

these guards, like we said, were not allowed to let

47:27

any unknown person in the building, but that didn't mean

47:29

they couldn't do it. They were

47:31

told even if police officers showed up, do not

47:33

let them in. The director of

47:36

security at the museum said all night

47:38

shift guards have been told in writing

47:40

not to admit any police who were not summoned

47:43

by them. So if your guard and police show

47:45

up and you didn't summon them, do not let

47:47

them into the building. The

47:49

deputy director of security agreed with this and said

47:52

that the policy was written into the security manual

47:54

kept at that guard desk. Abbeth

47:56

refuted that. He said he had never been told

47:58

what to do if police arrived. unannounced.

48:00

He said he was under the impression he

48:02

had to comply with their demand for entry

48:05

because they were police officers and he said

48:07

he was a little intimidated by them too.

48:10

Which he might not be lying. He

48:12

might not be lying. How many people

48:14

read their employee handbook and follow it

48:16

to a T, especially when you're getting

48:18

paid minimum wage? It's plausible

48:21

here, but they definitely were told,

48:23

they definitely had it in writing

48:25

that they should not be letting

48:28

police officers or anybody in. But

48:30

that's not to say that he didn't

48:32

do it on accident. He didn't do

48:34

it because he didn't know. And Aaron,

48:36

didn't he just put in his notice

48:39

that he was leaving this job? Yeah,

48:42

basically two weeks notice. So

48:44

he had just days left in that museum

48:46

as an employee. Yeah. I mean,

48:49

how hard are you trying at your job when you've

48:51

put in your notice? I mean, come

48:53

on. Well, I definitely did, but

48:55

I mean, it varies by person. You're right.

48:57

Some people, they start to tune out because

48:59

they're already halfway out the door. But

49:02

that's not the only mistake he made or

49:04

choice he made, I should say. He also

49:06

stepped out from behind the security desk. So

49:08

if we're going to believe that he did

49:10

this because these are cops, Boston police, which

49:13

I'm sure he didn't want to mess with,

49:15

he would also step out from behind the

49:17

desk because again, it's police and he's not

49:19

worried about, well, I've just left my only

49:21

way to alert the police because they're right

49:23

there in front of him. So

49:25

now he's walked out from the desk

49:27

and there's no way once he leaves

49:29

that desk for anyone to call the

49:32

police because that's it. He was the

49:34

guy and now he's been handcuffed. He

49:36

said he didn't realize that they were not

49:38

police until after they handcuffed him and they

49:40

didn't frisk him. Richard Abbeth here,

49:43

this is the most realistic thing he

49:45

says in my opinion, because he said

49:47

they didn't frisk me and he knew

49:50

enough about police encounters that this was

49:52

not normal. Again, police always

49:54

secure you so you're not a danger to

49:56

them or yourself. So this single panic button

49:58

that was at that at that desk, it's

50:01

a weakness of the security system. This

50:03

desk is in the open, anybody can just walk

50:06

up if they already have access to the museum.

50:08

Now there were plans to

50:11

renovate and make the security

50:13

situation even stronger, where

50:15

you had to have pass keys to get in

50:17

to where the security desk was, but that's not

50:19

happened yet. This is still old

50:21

school, right? There's a desk there where anybody can

50:23

walk up to it. Yeah, and when

50:25

you've not had a lot of incidents,

50:28

this is a museum, it's not exactly

50:31

the first place people will target to

50:33

rob, they take their time. And it's

50:35

1990, you know, to me,

50:37

the level of security is on par

50:40

with what I would expect in 1990.

50:44

Let's talk about this, Justin, because since

50:46

this security desk is just out in

50:48

the open, who's to say that somebody

50:50

didn't case the museum on a prior

50:52

day walking around and kinda looked over

50:54

and saw that there was that panic

50:56

button and knew what they were dealing

50:58

with and knew if they were going

51:00

to commit a robbery, that they would

51:02

need to get that guard away from

51:04

that desk and they would be home

51:06

free. Yeah, it would

51:08

be simple. In fact,

51:10

the hardest part about

51:12

this whole heist would

51:14

probably be acquiring realistic

51:17

Boston police officer uniforms.

51:20

Like everything else is kinda amateur to

51:22

me. I mean,

51:24

you could walk around the museum, you could

51:26

look at, okay, they have cameras, I

51:29

know that there's gonna be some recording

51:31

VCRs back in the back, here's the

51:33

security desk, here's the panic button, here

51:35

are the art pieces I wanna take,

51:37

all I gotta do is just come

51:39

up with a uniform and a badge now.

51:43

I think you're right. You know, I was

51:45

thinking about this and I thought, well, getting

51:47

access to the building is the hardest part,

51:49

but actually, I think you're right. Having these

51:51

uniforms that apparently from some witnesses looked very

51:53

legitimate, once they had those, it

51:56

was sort of an easy gamble, right?

51:58

Because they have that authority. It's

52:00

boston pd so the guards also would

52:02

say that we're there that night they

52:04

would say well we often talk about

52:06

the ridiculousness of the security at the

52:08

museum to people at parties and stuff

52:10

so, you know it's also possible that

52:12

word got out and that kinda got

52:14

the interest of people who are thinking

52:16

wow this art at this museum is

52:18

worth all this money and then no

52:20

one's really watching it the way they

52:22

should. Even an opportunist

52:24

could have tried to pull this high

52:26

stuff. So the

52:29

fbi they do what they can they

52:31

don't really have evidence they have employees

52:33

though past and current employees from the museum

52:36

that they're able to get a hold of.

52:38

What is the current guard who wasn't working

52:41

that night told them about an incident two

52:43

weeks before the fact the guard notice that

52:45

there was a young man being attacked by

52:47

several other man i want the security cameras

52:50

on the outside of the building and this

52:52

young man who is being attacked he made

52:54

his way over the door and he banged

52:57

on it saying please let me in. What

52:59

the guard said it's against policy i'm

53:02

going to call the police though so

53:04

the group including both these attackers and

53:06

the young man got into a car

53:08

and sped off before the police can

53:10

arrive. This is highly suspicious

53:13

and what that tells me is it's another

53:15

tick in a box that says richard abbott

53:17

had nothing to do with this because this

53:19

looks like a ruse. Looks

53:22

like a test to see will

53:24

you buzz somebody in and

53:27

they won't just let anybody so hence

53:29

get the uniform. Why

53:31

would they all get in the same car and

53:33

speed off before the police arrive i could understand

53:35

if the attacker is getting to a car and

53:37

leave but all of the people got into the

53:39

car and left. Seems like a ruse

53:41

seems like a test like you're saying so

53:43

a trial run but here's the

53:46

thing investigators say they're able to

53:48

identify the group as museum employees

53:50

who are playing a prank. Again

53:53

a little twist maybe richard

53:55

abbott was complicit we don't know

53:58

but at first this. This appears to be

54:00

something that would totally let them off the hook

54:02

because otherwise why would they be doing this? But

54:04

then it turns out museum employees are playing a

54:06

prank. I really wonder, Justin,

54:09

if any other museum with real security

54:11

guards would ever try to do something

54:13

like this. To

54:15

me, it speaks to the level of

54:17

security this museum has. Sure, it has

54:19

some bells and whistles, but it always

54:21

comes down to the people. And

54:24

man, it really feels like they don't have the right

54:26

people to be the security at this

54:28

place. So the investigators

54:30

are also trying to figure out how many people

54:32

are involved. Could they have had a getaway driver

54:35

waiting for them? In other words, once they load

54:37

up the car, is someone ready to just peel

54:39

away? But several weeks after

54:41

the theft, there were four young people who

54:43

came forward with information. They were at a

54:46

St. Patrick's Day party in an apartment that

54:48

was directly behind the museum. And

54:50

sometime between midnight and one in the

54:52

morning, they left that party and they

54:55

noticed a small red hatchback parked on

54:57

Palace Road just outside of the Palace

54:59

Road side door to the museum, this

55:01

back door. The two men

55:03

inside were dressed in police uniforms. The

55:05

students were surprised to see policemen there

55:07

in such a car and left

55:10

quickly since they had been drinking and they were

55:12

underage. So there's speculation that the

55:14

thieves waited to rob the museum until

55:16

after that party had dispersed so there'd

55:18

be less people around. It also

55:20

dismissed the idea of a getaway driver because there were

55:22

only two people seen in the car. Yeah.

55:26

And now we know they have a tiny little

55:28

car and not a truck. Therefore

55:30

they got to cut the paintings out and

55:32

roll them up, thus damaging them

55:34

more because they can't take the

55:36

paintings in their frames and have

55:38

enough space in their vehicle. I

55:41

mean, why not get a van? I'm going to keep coming back to this. Yeah,

55:44

I know. Exactly. I mean, are

55:46

vans that suspicious that somebody would have called it in? Is that why

55:48

they took a car? I know, right?

55:51

Yeah, I just really wonder about that. So

55:54

there's no evidence really from the thieves.

55:56

The handcuffs are gone, the duct tape's

55:58

gone, they have eyewitness accounts. from the

56:00

two guards and these four young people. So

56:02

the investigators are kind of stuck. They're like,

56:04

okay, so now we need to take this

56:07

investigation into a different direction. So

56:09

they did take the VCR tape.

56:11

They took the motion sensor printout,

56:13

but what did they not take?

56:16

Well, they already know that the

56:18

thieves were inside there, and they were looking

56:20

at what they didn't steal. And

56:23

hopefully that would shed some light

56:25

on who they were, because it's

56:28

what did you take, what didn't you

56:30

take? And from there, you can start

56:32

looking at who would be interested in

56:34

this, who would not be interested in

56:37

that. I guess that's the connection they're

56:39

trying to make. And of course, they're

56:41

going to go out and check on

56:44

other art dealers, art thieves, other people

56:46

in the so-called art industry to

56:48

see what they make of the

56:50

art that was stolen and the art that

56:52

wasn't taken, right? Well, yeah, because

56:54

they can look at the sketches that were taken,

56:56

but there were sketches left

56:58

behind that were a lot more

57:00

valuable than the sketches that were

57:02

taken. But really what was

57:05

left behind by the thieves was

57:07

the motion sensor data that was

57:09

in the computer system. So

57:12

they took the tape, they took the printout,

57:14

but they didn't go after the computer system,

57:16

which again would be another tick this time

57:18

for real in the box that says maybe

57:20

Richard Abbess wasn't needed to be a part

57:22

of this, because if he was, you think

57:24

he would say, well, there's still data in

57:26

the computer, maybe we should take care of

57:28

that as well, but that didn't happen. The

57:31

time stamped readouts showed exactly where the

57:33

thieves went and when they went there

57:35

so they could create a map of

57:38

their time in the Gardner Museum. And

57:40

like you said, they want to know what they

57:43

took, why they didn't take other things. And

57:45

maybe this would give them some information

57:47

that would be useful if they could

57:50

ID some suspects or persons of interest.

57:52

So one of the things they look at

57:54

was that Napoleonic banner and it

57:57

really looked like the thieves spent some

57:59

time. trying to get that banner out. And

58:02

like we said before, they theorized that

58:04

when they couldn't get that, they decided

58:06

to take the Bronze Eagle Finial. But

58:08

it's possible if these didn't know what

58:10

it was made of and thought, well,

58:13

this is made of gold, so it'll

58:15

be worth something. But it wasn't,

58:17

it was bronze. But they also just took things

58:19

out. You and I already believe that they took

58:21

stuff out, they cut it out because they could

58:24

roll it up. They have a small car. But

58:27

again, still gonna have value, but

58:29

they're ruining a lot of these paintings

58:31

by doing this. And I'm

58:34

amazed that they didn't think that

58:36

one through and get a van.

58:39

The other thing they looked into was there was

58:41

a prior theft from the gardener. In

58:44

1970, someone smashed a bag of

58:46

light bulbs on the gallery floor, which distracted

58:48

the guard long enough for someone to steal

58:50

a tiny sketch. Now this sketch was later

58:52

returned to the museum by an art dealer

58:55

after someone gave it to him after finding

58:57

it on a New York subway train. The

58:59

thieves in that case were never caught, but they

59:02

wondered if there was a connection between the two

59:04

thefts. It's not surprising that someone

59:06

left something on a subway train in New York,

59:08

right? I mean, that happens to everybody, it seems

59:10

like. This is almost

59:12

20 years apart here. I don't think

59:15

there's any relation between the two and

59:18

the way they went about it.

59:20

Smashing light bulbs to distract guards,

59:22

to grab this one little thing.

59:25

It doesn't feel like there's a connection, but

59:27

don't you want the investigators looking to everything?

59:30

I mean, as soon as they start saying

59:32

this isn't possible, they might lose the focus

59:34

on where it needs to be. We

59:37

never want them to have blinders on, we

59:39

want them to investigate every single lead. So

59:41

as much as I can dismissively say, yeah,

59:43

it was 20 years earlier and blah, blah,

59:46

blah, what if it was the same guy?

59:49

So decades go by, the FBI and

59:51

the gardener continue to search for the

59:53

missing artwork. The museum itself

59:55

put out multiple rewards. These are

59:57

cash money rewards, right? They're saying,

1:00:00

We don't care what the story is, we just

1:00:02

want this art back. That's one

1:00:04

of the keys to this case, maybe, is

1:00:06

it doesn't matter if the art's damaged, where

1:00:08

it's been taken, for what reason, by who.

1:00:10

At the end of the day, the museum, they

1:00:12

just want this stuff back. They'll try and restore

1:00:14

it as best they can. It's too

1:00:17

important. That's why you know it's so valuable, is

1:00:19

they're saying, we don't care who has it and

1:00:21

why, just get it back to us. There's money

1:00:23

waiting. These are

1:00:26

timeless and priceless pieces. Three

1:00:28

days after the theft, they're offering a

1:00:31

$1 million reward. And

1:00:34

then in 1997, they increased it to $5 million, which

1:00:39

is, at the time, the largest

1:00:41

private reward ever offered in the

1:00:43

world. And that remained in place

1:00:45

for 20 years. And then in May of 2015,

1:00:49

the museum offered a separate $100,000 reward

1:00:52

for the return of the Bronze

1:00:54

Eagle, top of the flag, the

1:00:57

least valuable of the stolen artwork.

1:00:59

And it was such an

1:01:01

obscure piece. And $100,000 for that was well above its

1:01:03

value, but

1:01:07

it was something special to the museum.

1:01:09

And I guess this is what they're

1:01:11

trying to do to get someone to

1:01:14

talk, trying to, even if you

1:01:16

are the thief, you could come in, no

1:01:18

questions asked, collect a reward and hand them

1:01:20

over this art, right? Yeah, because

1:01:22

you could claim that you found it in

1:01:24

a house somewhere, or you don't remember where

1:01:26

you found it, but you kept it and

1:01:28

then now you're handing it back in. In

1:01:31

May of 2017 though, the museum raised

1:01:34

its total reward to $10 million until

1:01:36

December 31st, a limited time offer. If

1:01:38

you want $10 million, now's the time,

1:01:41

get in touch, right? But in January

1:01:43

of 2018, the museum decided

1:01:45

to indefinitely extend that reward because

1:01:47

no one came forward. No one

1:01:49

said, here it is. And

1:01:52

they did have incremental rewards if

1:01:54

you brought back one piece. Yes,

1:01:56

there would be something if you

1:01:58

brought in something. you know, one

1:02:00

or three pieces, whatever. Partial rewards for each

1:02:02

piece of art that was returned, but if

1:02:05

you brought in all 13, it was 10

1:02:07

million. So

1:02:09

another thing we have to talk about here though is, let's

1:02:12

just say you're the thief. You're one of

1:02:14

the thieves, or both the thieves are involved

1:02:16

here. The statute of limitations ran out in

1:02:18

1995. So it

1:02:20

doesn't matter if you came forward and

1:02:22

said, that was me, because the statute

1:02:24

of limitations ran out, right? So

1:02:27

you would think with all the money being offered,

1:02:29

that someone would come forward, even if one of

1:02:31

these thieves said, here, I'm gonna give this stuff

1:02:33

to a friend of mine, and have him go

1:02:35

in. I mean, you can't be prosecuted, but you

1:02:38

know, if you tried to sell it, or

1:02:40

if you're knowingly hiding it, you could face charges.

1:02:42

But I mean, if you're bringing it back to

1:02:44

the museum, it looks like you'd get away scot-free

1:02:46

and be paid for it. So this

1:02:48

is one of the mysteries of this case is,

1:02:50

why would someone hold out on this? I mean,

1:02:52

one of my first thoughts is, are they dead?

1:02:55

Because this is easy money. This is

1:02:57

good. This sets you up. It's

1:03:00

known, at least in the criminal

1:03:02

world, that you could use this

1:03:04

as a bargaining chip to either

1:03:06

lessen a sentence that you're getting,

1:03:08

or if you are currently in

1:03:10

prison or behind bars, you could

1:03:12

come up with this, hey, I

1:03:14

know where these paintings are, use

1:03:17

that as a bargaining chip to

1:03:19

get out. So

1:03:21

the FBI, they kept a lot of information

1:03:23

close to the vest throughout a lot of

1:03:25

this investigation. But what we come to understand

1:03:27

is in late of April 1994, this

1:03:31

was four years after the heist,

1:03:33

the gardener received an anonymous letter

1:03:35

postmarked from New York. Now this

1:03:37

person claimed that he could facilitate

1:03:39

the return of the missing paintings.

1:03:41

He asked for $2.6 million. This

1:03:45

is well over the offer at the time of

1:03:47

$1 million. He also asked

1:03:49

for full immunity for prosecution for

1:03:51

both the thieves and those who

1:03:53

held the art. But see,

1:03:55

this is about a year

1:03:58

before the limitations ran out. Right?

1:04:01

So the FBI was saying, we're

1:04:03

not doing any immunity deals, but since the letter

1:04:05

contained a request for immunity, the museum turned it

1:04:07

over to the FBI, and

1:04:09

it was found that the letter showed

1:04:11

considerable knowledge of both the paintings and

1:04:13

the international art world, pointing to the

1:04:15

possible legitimacy of the letter writer. He

1:04:17

said the paintings had not been sold.

1:04:20

They were being stored in archival conditions.

1:04:22

I'm sure that was doubted, but the

1:04:24

storage was in a country where the

1:04:26

buyer could claim legal ownership if they

1:04:28

did not know the art had been

1:04:30

stolen. What a cover, eh? So

1:04:32

the writer asked for haste because of that. Like, I

1:04:34

don't have a lot of time here, we need to

1:04:36

move. And the

1:04:38

Gardner Museum is totally open

1:04:41

to negotiations. They want

1:04:43

to get these paintings back. So

1:04:45

they're all for talking

1:04:48

to this person, this unknown suspect,

1:04:50

and getting these paintings back, right?

1:04:53

Yeah, this letter writer, he instructed

1:04:55

the gardener, the museum, to signal

1:04:57

him. So the

1:04:59

way they were gonna signal is on Sunday, May 1st, 1994,

1:05:02

the Boston Globe included a numeral one

1:05:06

in the US foreign dollar exchange listing for

1:05:08

the Italian lira. It was printed a few spaces before

1:05:11

the actual exchange rate so

1:05:13

that the exchange rate isn't inaccurate, but

1:05:16

there's this odd number there, this one.

1:05:18

And the editor saw the inclusion of the

1:05:20

code as a community service. So they arranged

1:05:22

this. There's this signal given. And then a

1:05:24

week later, the gardener museum received a second

1:05:26

letter he said

1:05:28

he was encouraged by their willingness to

1:05:30

negotiate, but was concerned about the aggressive

1:05:32

reaction by the FBI. He was

1:05:34

worried they were all more interested in arresting

1:05:37

a low level intermediary than recovering the actual

1:05:39

artwork. He said, you can't have both.

1:05:41

And he said, you'd have to think about it.

1:05:44

So with the FBI not really on board,

1:05:46

this is complicating the whole situation. So

1:05:48

the letter writer said he would provide

1:05:50

the museum with clues to the artwork's

1:05:52

location if he decided not to continue.

1:05:55

But the museum, they never heard

1:05:57

from him again. He ghosted them. Yeah,

1:05:59

and this... This changes the way the FBI

1:06:01

approaches this case because they think, damn,

1:06:03

it felt like they were really close,

1:06:05

but maybe we need to include immunity

1:06:08

in the future because they might have

1:06:10

been able to shut this whole thing down right there. And

1:06:13

I think the FBI, since the statute of

1:06:15

limitation hadn't run out, they're thinking, we could

1:06:17

still get an arrest. We could still do

1:06:19

something here. But their

1:06:21

motivations and the Gardner Museum's motivations

1:06:24

are separate. The museum wants

1:06:26

the art back. The

1:06:28

FBI, they want an arrest. Yeah,

1:06:30

that makes them look effective, right? We got

1:06:33

the bad guys. But I

1:06:35

think the museum did what they could. They

1:06:37

were trying to explain to the FBI, at

1:06:39

this point, no one's died. No one was

1:06:41

really hurt. We just need our art

1:06:44

back. It's priceless. They

1:06:46

couldn't cover it with insurance. I mean, how

1:06:48

do you cover something with insurance? It's not

1:06:50

like the museum can buy more art. I

1:06:53

mean, Isabella Gardner stated that they couldn't change

1:06:55

anything. So it was all

1:06:57

about just getting the art back and

1:06:59

trying to restore it and put it

1:07:01

back in their empty frames. Most

1:07:04

of these things were sketches or paintings, so they

1:07:06

needed to go back in those empty frames. It's

1:07:08

not like they could change it up and say, oh, well,

1:07:10

we have these different pieces now. No,

1:07:13

that's not how it works. So let's talk

1:07:15

about some people who they believe were involved

1:07:17

or could have been involved. I've got a

1:07:19

little list here of people. Yeah,

1:07:21

we've got some suspects. As

1:07:24

much as this has been

1:07:26

going on for decades, the

1:07:28

FBI is investigating. Even the

1:07:30

Boston police have been investigating.

1:07:33

This is one of the

1:07:35

biggest art thefts, you know, heists

1:07:37

in history, if not the

1:07:40

biggest. I mean, yeah. So they're going

1:07:42

for it. They come

1:07:44

across Miles Connor Jr., who was

1:07:46

a notorious art thief. He was

1:07:48

active in the late 20th century.

1:07:52

In 2009, he

1:07:54

wrote The Art of the Heist,

1:07:56

Confessions of a Master Art Thief,

1:07:58

Rock and Roller, and prodigal son

1:08:01

that mentioned the Gardener Heist and

1:08:04

connected it to Robert Donati.

1:08:06

Donati had been in and

1:08:09

out of jail for robbery and

1:08:11

was known to hang out with

1:08:13

the local mobsters and mafias and

1:08:16

mafiosos. There are several interconnected theories

1:08:18

related to these two men. And

1:08:21

in his biography, Connor wrote that years

1:08:23

before the theft, he and Donati talked

1:08:25

about how they could rob the Gardener.

1:08:28

And this errand is definitely, they

1:08:30

could go in, walk around, case

1:08:32

the joint, you know. They

1:08:34

talked about including the flaws in the

1:08:37

security system, how they could get over

1:08:39

the fence and even casing the museum.

1:08:42

When they did that, Connor

1:08:44

pointed to that Chinese vessel

1:08:46

as something he liked, which

1:08:49

ended up being that same

1:08:51

Chinese goo that was later

1:08:53

stolen. Connor was

1:08:55

in prison for drug trafficking at the time

1:08:57

of the theft. So

1:09:00

he obviously wasn't one of

1:09:02

these robbers. But

1:09:04

David Houghton, an old friend, visited

1:09:06

him there shortly after the heist.

1:09:09

And Houghton said that Donati perpetrated

1:09:11

the Gardener theft and was planning

1:09:13

to use some of the paintings

1:09:15

as leverage to get Connor out

1:09:18

of prison. And

1:09:20

that's something. Because this guy's

1:09:22

behind bars, he's your buddy, I

1:09:25

can go get these paintings, make some

1:09:28

money and use it as a bargaining

1:09:30

chip. But David Houghton, he would

1:09:32

later die of a heart attack in 1992.

1:09:37

So possibly dead

1:09:39

end with that lead, right? Well,

1:09:41

yeah, I mean, if he was planning to use

1:09:43

some of the paintings as leverage to get Connor

1:09:45

out and then he dies, well, he obviously can't

1:09:48

pull that off. So

1:09:50

to back this up though, in 2016, Paul

1:09:52

Calentropo, he was a Boston jeweler

1:09:54

and appraiser, he talked to investigators.

1:09:57

He said in April 1990, Donati, an old man, was a

1:10:00

friend from his teenage years showed up his

1:10:02

shop with the Eagle Finial. This is what

1:10:04

they say is one of the easiest things

1:10:06

to identify that was stolen. Though

1:10:08

it made this guy nervous, he had to

1:10:10

praise diamonds, jewelry, and other items for Donati

1:10:12

over the years. So this time, Donati's asking

1:10:15

him, how much do you think this is

1:10:17

worth? But this guy, this Paul

1:10:19

guy, he refused to even touch it. He

1:10:21

said it's worthless because anyone in the art

1:10:23

world would immediately know what it was and

1:10:25

that it was stolen. Paul

1:10:28

Calentropo, he's saying, I don't get

1:10:31

involved in criminal stuff. But

1:10:33

he said, I was intimidated by Donati because

1:10:35

even though he wasn't mafia, he had ties

1:10:37

to it. He was always hanging

1:10:40

out with those guys. So he's saying,

1:10:42

I waited until 2016 to talk because

1:10:44

man, I didn't want anybody looking at me.

1:10:47

I wanted to get far out from when

1:10:49

this happened before I talked. Yeah. If you're

1:10:51

considered a rat, not only snitches

1:10:53

get stitches, but in the mafia world,

1:10:56

you get some concrete shoes and thrown

1:10:58

into a river. So

1:11:00

there were other rumors that Donati stole

1:11:02

the artwork to free mafia, capo, Vincent

1:11:04

Ferrara. And shortly after the theft, Ferrara

1:11:07

says Donati visited him twice and said

1:11:09

he stole the art to free him

1:11:11

because he was in jail facing federal

1:11:13

racketeering charges. But Donati was worried

1:11:15

about the intense manhunt being conducted immediately after

1:11:18

the theft. So there's this idea that he

1:11:20

needed to let things cool down. So he

1:11:22

decided to hide the artwork and lay low.

1:11:24

This is a theory. But in September

1:11:26

of 1991, Donati was

1:11:28

found murdered in the trunk of

1:11:31

his white Cadillac. So he's dead.

1:11:33

No artwork is found. If

1:11:35

he did steal the artwork, it's likely

1:11:37

he stashed it somewhere and the location

1:11:39

may have died with him. Yeah. And

1:11:42

I don't want anyone to think that

1:11:44

all of these people are being murdered

1:11:47

or whacked, as they say in that

1:11:49

world, because of this art heist. No,

1:11:51

they're all criminals in this criminal world.

1:11:54

And there are a whole litany

1:11:56

of reasons why they might be

1:11:58

meeting. leading their demise that

1:12:01

has nothing to do with the stolen

1:12:03

artwork. It could be

1:12:05

just disagreements between gangs

1:12:07

and mafia and mafia shot

1:12:10

callers and whatnot. There's

1:12:12

nothing here that suggests they're being

1:12:14

murdered because of this art heist.

1:12:17

Well, because of this news in 2016, the

1:12:20

FBI searched the Everett home of

1:12:22

Tenati, his ex-wife and sister, and

1:12:25

they weren't able to find the Eagle Finial or

1:12:27

any of the other works that were stolen. But

1:12:30

there was another theory related to Miles Conner, which

1:12:32

on August 18, 1997, in the early morning

1:12:35

hours, Tom Mashberg, who was a

1:12:37

reporter for the Boston Herald, he

1:12:39

claimed an informant showed him Rembrandt's

1:12:41

The Storm in a Brooklyn, New

1:12:43

York warehouse. On August

1:12:45

27, the Boston Herald published an article

1:12:47

about the sighting and the FBI quickly

1:12:49

got involved. So what it

1:12:52

turned out to be was this informant,

1:12:54

William Youngworth, Jr., who was an antique

1:12:56

dealer in Brighton, he and

1:12:58

the investigators spent the next few months negotiating

1:13:00

the return of all the artwork. Youngworth

1:13:03

asked for the $5 million reward,

1:13:05

immunity from prosecution, dismissal of pending

1:13:07

state criminal charges against him, as

1:13:09

well as the release of his

1:13:11

friend, Miles Conner, from prison. Investigators

1:13:14

thought Conner was cunning enough to get possession

1:13:16

of the artwork, which might explain how Youngworth

1:13:19

had it. But they want proof, don't

1:13:21

they? So they're like, we'll make a deal,

1:13:23

but you got to show us something. We got to know this is

1:13:25

real. And this

1:13:27

reporter, Tom, who witnessed the

1:13:30

painting, it was in a dark

1:13:32

warehouse out in the middle of

1:13:34

nowhere, and it was at night,

1:13:36

and he was shown with a

1:13:38

flashlight. But he's told, or he's

1:13:40

shown, that he pulls this tube

1:13:42

out and he unrolls this painting,

1:13:45

and then it's shown to him. But

1:13:47

it could be a fake. This reporter

1:13:50

doesn't know anything about artwork. So

1:13:52

they want this proof, and

1:13:54

the FBI will receive a

1:13:57

vial of paint fragments that

1:13:59

are to be from one of

1:14:01

the Rembrandts. And so there's

1:14:03

an analysis done on these paint chips,

1:14:06

and it's a specific color

1:14:08

of red that has been given

1:14:10

to them. And in

1:14:12

all of these Rembrandt paintings, that

1:14:15

color of red does not exist.

1:14:18

So it's thought to

1:14:20

be a replica or it's thought,

1:14:22

hey, this isn't from the Rembrandt,

1:14:24

so this isn't going to be

1:14:27

what you're claiming it's to be.

1:14:30

And on top of that, it could have

1:14:32

been from another painting, Aaron, which I'm like,

1:14:35

I might have gotten that wrong if I

1:14:37

had, you know, it's like, oh,

1:14:39

give us proof you have this Rembrandt and then I

1:14:41

just go over to a group of paintings and I

1:14:43

just chip off a piece of paint from any of

1:14:45

them because I don't know what a Rembrandt is from

1:14:48

a Vermeer. But they said that

1:14:50

it could have been from the Vermeer,

1:14:52

the concert, which was another one that

1:14:54

was missing. But here's the

1:14:56

sticker, Aaron, is they're saying

1:14:58

that this painting that they

1:15:01

showed the reporter was the

1:15:03

storm. This is probably one

1:15:05

of the most high-valued ones,

1:15:07

but the storm had a

1:15:09

protective coating on it. And

1:15:11

so they're claiming it would

1:15:13

be impossible to roll this

1:15:15

painting up and then

1:15:17

put it into like a cylinder or

1:15:19

a container. It would have

1:15:22

cracked it. It would have just destroyed

1:15:24

the painting if you tried to roll

1:15:26

it up. So they're thinking this painting

1:15:28

that was shown to the reporter was

1:15:30

a fake because you could not have

1:15:32

rolled it up. And they're

1:15:34

saying that the paint chips are not matching

1:15:36

any of the Rembrandts that had been stolen.

1:15:40

Yeah, they're trying too hard to get

1:15:42

out of this. I don't understand. Maybe

1:15:44

they thought that the Vermeer at the

1:15:46

concert was a Rembrandt. How

1:15:49

do they know what these people really know? They don't even know who

1:15:51

they are. I don't understand. It's like

1:15:53

they're just saying, well, it's not from this one

1:15:55

that they say it is. So how

1:15:57

do we know who's involved here? What if the guy that

1:15:59

knows? just told his underling, I'm

1:16:02

sure everyone's seeing Young Frankenstein, I'm

1:16:04

sure everyone's seeing Young Frankenstein, right?

1:16:06

Go get me this brain. And then he ends

1:16:08

up with Abby Normals brain. I

1:16:11

feel like they're trying too hard to get out of

1:16:13

this. They should have taken it to

1:16:15

its end. They should have just agreed and say,

1:16:17

okay, let's get a deal going. Because if they

1:16:20

don't hold up their end of the deal, then

1:16:22

the FBI doesn't have to hold up their end

1:16:24

of the deal. I don't understand this, but we'll

1:16:26

move on. Before we move on though, do

1:16:29

we know that this protective coating would

1:16:31

have destroyed the painting? Have they ever

1:16:33

tried to roll up a painting with

1:16:35

the protective coating on it? Probably not.

1:16:38

And as far as the paint chip goes, how

1:16:41

can you tell if it's older, newer? I

1:16:44

mean, obviously it didn't come from the Rembrandt, but

1:16:46

I think they should have taken this further and

1:16:48

I agree with you. And then

1:16:51

at the time of the exchange

1:16:53

or whatever the negotiated setup is,

1:16:56

they could have done a lot

1:16:58

more to figure out if these

1:17:00

were replicas. They could have had

1:17:02

an expert on site that could

1:17:04

quickly verify and confirm that this

1:17:06

was the correct artwork. And

1:17:08

obviously they could say, we need to

1:17:11

confirm this before the release of anyone

1:17:13

and before the transfer of any money.

1:17:16

Or, hey, we could give you a partial

1:17:18

payment for the paintings and then once we

1:17:20

confirm and verify what they are, we'll give

1:17:22

you the rest. There's a lot of ways

1:17:24

this could have gone down, but

1:17:27

it appears, at least according to the

1:17:29

media and the documentary, that the FBI

1:17:31

and investigators just took one look at

1:17:34

this and said, no, that's not it

1:17:36

and just turned their backs on it.

1:17:38

So the thing for me is, if it says that

1:17:41

they can't roll this painting up, well, how'd they get

1:17:43

out of the museum? Because they're dealing with a very

1:17:45

small car. And so I would

1:17:47

say, never say never. Because

1:17:50

it seemed to me like these thieves wanted

1:17:52

to roll these things up to take them away

1:17:54

because it would be easier to get them

1:17:56

out all together. They'd only have to make

1:17:58

two trips with 13. 14 items. So

1:18:01

I'm thinking just based on that alone, I

1:18:03

don't see how they didn't roll it up,

1:18:05

no matter what they say about the protective

1:18:07

coating. I doubt anyone

1:18:10

would ever have tried to roll something

1:18:12

up because these are priceless works of

1:18:14

art. Yeah, but the thieves will.

1:18:17

They're trying to get away with them. Hey everybody,

1:18:19

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1:18:21

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the app today. Nancy's love

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story could have been ripped right out of

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the pages of one of her own novels.

1:19:49

She was a romance mystery writer who happens

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to be married to a chef. But

1:19:54

this story didn't end with a

1:19:56

happily ever after. And

1:19:58

I stepped into the kitchen. and I could see

1:20:00

that Chef Brophy was on the ground, and I

1:20:03

heard somebody say, call 911s. As

1:20:06

writers, we'd written our share of murder

1:20:08

mysteries. So when suspicions turned to Dan's

1:20:10

wife, Nancy, we weren't that surprised. The first

1:20:12

person they looked at would be the snows. We

1:20:14

understand that's usually the way they do it. But

1:20:17

we began to wonder, had

1:20:19

Nancy gotten so wrapped up in her

1:20:21

own novels, there are murders in all

1:20:23

of the books, that she was playing

1:20:25

them out in real life? Follow

1:20:28

Happily Never After, Dan and Nancy,

1:20:30

on the one.