FBI Identifies Thieves In Gardner Museum Art Heist

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Federal law enforcement officials announced Monday that they have identified the thieves who stole more than $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, one of the largest unsolved property crimes in U.S. history.

“The FBI believes with a high degree of confidence that in the years after the theft, the art was transported to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region, and some of the art was taken to Philadelphia, where it was offered for sale by those responsible for the theft,” Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said in a statement. “With that same confidence, we have identified the thieves, who are members of a criminal organization with a base in the Mid-Atlantic states and New England.”

The FBI added that while they tracked the movements of the paintings after they were sold, they are not able to establish their current locations. Thirteen works of art—including rare paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer — were stolen in a brazen heist involving thieves dressed as Boston police officers.

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