Art heists have always held a certain allure, captivating our imagination and providing the perfect backdrop for thrilling movies. From “The Thomas Crown Affair” to “Ocean’s Twelve,” these daring acts of theft make for compelling stories. Yet, in the real world, museums invest heavily in state-of-the-art security systems to safeguard their precious collections.
However, there is one audacious art heist that stands out among the rest, a heist that took place on March 18, 1990, and involved the notorious Whitey Bulger. Even with a relatively robust security system, the thieves managed to make off with over a billion dollars’ worth of artwork—an invaluable treasure.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist
In the early morning of March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers gained entry to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Displaying fake badges and claiming to be responding to a disturbance call, they deceived the security guards and swiftly made their way inside. What ensued was an 81-minute looting spree that left the museum stripped of its most prized possessions.
Surprisingly, the case remains unsolved over three decades later. No arrests have been made, and none of the stolen artworks have ever resurfaced, not even in the depths of the black market.
The Museum’s Origins and Security Measures
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum owes its existence to the eponymous philanthropist and art collector, Isabella Stewart Gardner. Born into wealth in 1840, Isabella accumulated an extraordinary collection of masterpieces from her global travels. In 1903, she opened the museum to house her private collection, leaving behind a remarkable endowment and an unparalleled assortment of art upon her death in 1924.
Isabella’s will stipulated that no item in the collection could be sold or added, preserving the arrangement of the artwork for generations to come. However, by the early 1980s, the museum faced financial challenges and struggled to maintain the building. Despite the discovery of a robbery plot in 1982, the museum’s board of trustees could not afford the recommended security upgrades due to the limitations set by Isabella’s will.
The Night of the Heist
On that fateful night, the museum’s security guards, Rick Abath and Randy Hestand, were on duty. As the alarms triggered sporadically, Abath investigated but found no signs of a fire. Assuming it was a malfunction, he deactivated the system and continued his patrol. Meanwhile, Hestand, a rookie night shift guard, followed the museum’s protocol.
At approximately 1:20 am, the thieves, disguised as police officers, rang the buzzer at the side door. Abath, communicating through the intercom, believed they were genuine law enforcement officers responding to a disturbance. Trusting their appearance, he granted them access. However, this decision unwittingly played into the hands of the criminals.
Once inside, the thieves handcuffed and subdued Abath and Hestand, leaving them bound in the basement. Over the next 81 minutes, the perpetrators systematically removed valuable artworks from the walls, smashing glass frames to extract the canvases. They even confiscated the videotapes capturing their entry and the printouts from the motion detectors, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
The Priceless Loss
Thirteen invaluable works of art vanished that night, including pieces by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Degas, Manet, Vermeer, and Flinck. Remarkably, the thieves avoided taking masterpieces by Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael,and Titian, puzzling investigators and art experts alike. To this day, empty frames hang in the museum as a haunting reminder of the stolen artwork, as Isabella Gardner’s will strictly prohibits any rearrangement of the collection.
The stolen pieces had an estimated value of $200 million at the time of the heist. However, as the years passed, their worth skyrocketed. By 2000, the value had reached $500 million, and today, experts estimate the stolen artworks to be worth well over $1 billion.
Despite extensive investigations by the police and FBI, the case remains shrouded in mystery. Various leads were pursued, including an anonymous letter received by the museum in 1994 and the possible involvement of local art thieves and the Boston Mafia. However, none of these avenues provided a breakthrough.
One intriguing theory involves notorious crime boss Whitey Bulger, who had strong ties to the Boston police. It is speculated that Bulger might have orchestrated the heist, possibly supplying authentic police uniforms to the thieves. A retired art expert from Scotland Yard even suggests that Bulger may have handed the stolen artwork to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), with the pieces potentially hidden in Ireland to this day. However, no concrete evidence has emerged to support these claims.
Efforts to recover the stolen artwork have been relentless. Sotheby’s and Christie’s have offered escalating rewards, starting at $1 million and eventually reaching $10 million in 2017, for the safe return of the stolen pieces. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations expired in 1995, meaning that anyone returning the artwork cannot be prosecuted.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist stands as a testament to the audacity and cunning of the thieves involved. It remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the art world, leaving investigators and art enthusiasts alike yearning for answers and the return of the priceless treasures that vanished that night.
