Rick abath voiceover i was panicking. I didnt realize i was panicking, but i was completely panicking. I was afraid that they were going to set the place on fire after they were done. That was my fear. God, i hope they dont burn the place down. [suspenseful music] hello. And welcome to how it really happened. Im jesse l. Martin. Bostons Isabella StewartGardner Museum is known for its vibrant Art Depicting Picturesque Dutch and renaissance scenes. But on One Dark Night in 1990, the Museum Became the scene of a horrifying crime. Robbers swept in, terrorizing the guards, and taking 13 works of art now worth half a billion dollars. The sinister smash and grab left the fbi with a mind boggling mystery on their hands. Where are the missing masterpieces and who were the masterminds behind this audacious heist . This is how it really happened. [suspenseful music] kelly horan voiceover march 17th, 1990, is st. Patricks day, which is practically a National Holiday in boston. Randi kaye voiceover there are a lot of celebrations, a lot of parties. Stephen kurkjian the police are out en masse. Every Police Officer who wears a uniform is on duty. But it was really what should have been a typical night at the Gardner Museum. Stephen kurkjian voiceover there were two Night Watchmen the museum had in place. Randi kaye voiceover at 1 24 am, rick abath, one of the Security Guards, was at the Security Desk, and the buzzer went off. This is on palace road, which is the Service Entrance to the side of the museum. He answered it and saw two uniformed Police Officers standing outside. Rick abath i could see them on the outside camera. I thought they were just clearing drunks off the street. I just kind of leaned over to the intercom and said, yeah. And they said, boston police. We got a report of a disturbance on the premises. So he buzzed them in. Randi kaye voiceover according to rick abath, the two men at the door were both white. One was tall, about 61. Another one, he said, was shorter and wider. Both had mustaches. He seemed to think that they were fake mustaches. They just looked like boston cops. Rob fisher right when they walk in, they walk up to the Security Desk. They say, is there anybody else here. Rick says, yes, theres another guard. Stephen kurkjian voiceover the second guard, randy, was on the third floor. They said, well, can you call him down. So rick gets on the radio and asks randy to come down. And as soon as he was there, the cop that was dealing with me turned to me and said, dont i know you, dont i recognize you. I think theres a warrant out for your arrest. Can you step out from behind the desk . So i came out from behind the desk. He said, up against the wall. And so, i put my hands up against the wall and he handcuffed me. There was one alarm called the panic button that you had to press if something went wrong. It was up on the underside of the desk, and that was the only alarm that went outside the museum. So by getting rick away from the panic button, theres now no way for either Security Guard to send a signal of distress. Randy and the other guard had never spoken to the press before. And chasing him down was quite a feat, but we went on the record. Randy voiceover he told rick to stand against the wall and put his arms up. He does the pat down, he puts the cuffs on, and im just standing there with my jaw open. Kelly horan voiceover randys really worried. Then the cops say, you too. And hes thinking, what did i do. Randy voiceover i kept asking him over and over, why are we being arrested. Why are we being arrested . And he wouldnt answer. Very dramatically, he said, gentlemen, this is a robbery. And then all of a sudden, randy and rick are being led by these two men who they now realize are not real Police Officers to the basement of the museum. They were both tied up. Kelly horan voiceover rick was duct tape around his head. Randi kaye voiceover its very peculiar the way they were subdued. If you look at photos at the time, the duct tape is just wrapped right around the face, which is kind of strange. Randy thought he was going to die. Randy voiceover it was scary. And i remember feeling like i needed to prepare myself for death. [dramatic music] reporter the Isabella StewartGardner Museum stands as it has for more than a century. Within these walls is a remarkable private collection, some of the finest artwork ever created, much of it displayed here still according to the will of Isabella Stewart gardner. Kelly horan voiceover Isabella Stewart gardner was dubbed by a boston newspaper of her time as one of the seven wonders of boston. It was the gilded age. Isabella was a boston socialite. Kelly horan voiceover she had thought, as a young woman, that what boston really needed was art. And she began collecting voraciously. Patricia vigderman voiceover titians rape of europa, rembrandts, in particular, the storm on the Sea Of Galilee. She had a vermeer. Kelly horan voiceover gardner herself prized the concert by vermeer possibly more than any other painting in her museum. This was a painting that she bought at auction in paris. She beat out the Louvre Museum. Its a masterpiece. Kelly horan voiceover at some time, with this growing collection, she decided, well, this all belongs in a museum. Patricia vigderman voiceover when she came to build it, she modeled it on a venetian palazzo. All the artwork goes up and down the walls. Stephen kurkjian when she opened the museum in 1903, she mandated that it be free of charge to gain the appreciation and the attendance of all of boston. Her museum at that point in time was the largest collection of art by a private individual in america. Kelly horan voiceover august 21st, 1911, the mona lisa is found to be missing from the Louvre Museum in paris. Immediately, Isabella Stewart gardner gives her guards a Shoot To Kill order. Anybody tries to take anything from this museum, you shoot them dead. I think she would have been horrified to hear 80 something years later that neither Security Guard on duty that night wanted to risk their lives for her art. [suspenseful music] rick abath we talked about it a lot, how easy it would be to rob the museum. It seemed like a foregone conclusion. It was not at all inconceivable that the place could get robbed. Once randy and rick were secured in the basement, the thieves made a beeline for the dutch room. Up there, these scheming, cunning thieves turned into werewolves. The frames are broken, the glass is shattered. Kelly horan voiceover they took down storm the Sea Of Galilee, enormous, rembrandts only seascape, they took down lady and gentleman in black, also by rembrandt. They took down tiny Postage Stamp size rembrandt etching. Randi kaye they took vermeers the concert, they took a piece of Art By Flinck called landscape with an obelisk, and then they take whats really called a chinese coup. But its sort of a vase or an urn. Stephen kurkjian voiceover then they moved to the short gallery. Randi kaye they took five degas sketches, and they also took a bronze eagle finial, which was part of a napoleonic flag. Apparently, it seemed to investigators that they had tried to get the flag itself, but they werent able to. So they took the finial off the flag. Kelly horan voiceover also that night, manets shay tortoni was taken. Randi kaye voiceover the thieves didnt protect the paintings in any way. They cut some of the artwork out of the frames. Kelly horan to even leave remnants of the painting behind was savage. In my mind, its sort of like slashing someones throat. Today, the value of what was stolen, 13 pieces of art, is placed at more than 500 million, probably well above that. Randi kaye voiceover the thieves didnt leave until sometime after 2 00 am, and they exited through the very same door that they came in. [suspenseful music] they tried to get buzzed in from that same Employee Entrance and nobody answered. They immediately see that things arent right. There are no guards at the desk. They called the police. Randi kaye voiceover police came, security came. Shelley murphy voiceover the fbi was called in immediately. They find the guards, luckily, Alive And Well in the basement. Randi kaye voiceover and they saw what turned out to be the biggest art heist in history on their hands. Reporter where the artwork once hung is now just empty space inside this boston museum. Reporter paintings by vermeer, rembrandt, and others stolen. But so far, publicly at least, authorities have only these composite sketches to go on. Kelly horan voiceover the thieves took the Security Camera tapes and they took the printouts of the motion detectors, which would have tracked where they were in all of their movements throughout the museum. Kelly horan voiceover not knowing, however, that there is backup. So investigators were able to track their steps. Rob fisher there were fingerprints recovered in various points in the museum, whether on frames or on broken glass. Randi kaye voiceover but nothing that allowed investigators to link any of these fingerprints to a particular suspect. Dna wasnt around at the time. And a lot of the forensic capability that exists, not even a fraction of it existed at the time. The security in museums at the time, it was almost primitive. So the investigators did what they could with what they had. I think initially, there was a lot of speculation, a belief that organized crime was involved. Randi kaye voiceover there was talk of whitey bulger, who was one of bostons most notorious gangsters. Could he have been involved . Kelly horan but if youre in boston on the morning of march 18th, 1990, and you hear that not one, not two, but three rembrandts have been stolen, you think of only one person. You think of myles connor. I collected art and antiques. Later on, i learned that it was not the hardest thing in the world to rob museums. Myles connor he was a Career Criminal known for stealing art. He had stolen a rembrandt at one point. Kelly horan it was a rembrandt from the Museum Of Fine Arts. It was a very brazen daylight robbery. Myles had a specially made oversized trench coat into which he could put a painting. It caught the attention of a guard who gave chase. And myles goes to the waiting van and they take off. So myles was the first person that we know the fbi looked at in the Gardner Heist. He would have been the number one suspect if not for the fact that he was in federal prison at the time. Randi kaye voiceover so he couldnt have actually been in the museum that night. But there was still a lot of questions about whether or not he orchestrated it. The feeling is if they dont explore all options to get the paintings back, they might be painting themselves into a corner. Stephen kurkjian voiceover William Youngworth had an antique shop. His importance in this case begins in 1997. Reporter William Youngworth says he knows where the paintings are and will reveal it for a share of the 5 million reward. If i can produce on what theyre asking for, then i deserve the reward like any other citizen would. Randi kaye he claimed that he had information about the missing artworks and that he could provide more information about them and maybe even access to them. Youngworth somehow connected with a reporter from the Boston Herald, and they asked for proof. Lets see the art. And the scheme that was arrived at was showing me a painting in its hidden location. [suspenseful music] Stephen Kurkjian tom mashberg was picked up at the herald on 11 oclock at night, and they drove to brooklyn. They went up to a warehouse and there is a container with several large rollup cylindrical tubes. And youngworth takes a canvas out of the bin and holds it over his head and lets the canvas roll down. Randi kaye voiceover this reporter thought what he saw was storm on the Sea Of Galilee, one of the missing rembrandts. And the herald was thrilled. Ran with the story. The big headline, weve seen it. But had they really . And theyre all coming . Those who are still with us, yes. Grandpa whats this . Your wings. Light em up gentlemen, its a beautiful. Day to fly. C music] reporter bostons Isabella StewartGardner Museum is an intimate showcase of some of the finest works of art. But its perhaps best known for what was stolen. William youngworth, who has a rap sheet of some 60 convictions, claims to know where the gardner art is. [suspenseful music] randi kaye William Youngworth got in touch with a reporter from the Boston Herald. Youngworth took this reporter to a warehouse of sorts. And this reporter was shown a storm on the Sea Of Galilee. Stephen kurkjian voiceover he only showed for a flash of a second. Shortly thereafter, i was also given photographs and paint chips which purported to be indicative of the real art. Shelley murphy as soon as the fbi sent the paint chips to its lab for analysis, they concluded that these were not from the storm on Sea Of Galilee, and they just stopped all negotiations with youngworth. It all comes to nothing for the museum. Randi kaye voiceover the fbi was getting so many tips. But then it went silent. Even though there were these 13 works of art that were missing, the information just dried up, until 2005 when the fbi got a big tip. Interviewer recently, you took a trip to france in tracking down potential evidence in this case. You can confirm that you did go . Yes, we did go to france. I cant get specific on what we were doing over there. But in broad terms, i can tell you that we were covering yet another lead thats come up. Randi kaye around 20052006, the fbi gets a big tip that two frenchmen living in miami are trying to broker a deal regarding two paintings, a rembrandt and vermeer. What was really interesting about that statement, the vermeer there is only 34 verifiable vermeers in the world. And the only one that was missing at that time is the concert that was stolen from the Gardner Museum. [suspenseful music] randi kaye voiceover bob wittman is an undercover agent with the Art Heist Unit for the fbi. It was formed after the theft at the Gardner Museum. So bob wittman goes undercover as an art buyer. I was acting as a shady dealer, so to speak, who was representing clients around the United States who had a lot of money, and they would be very interested in buying stolen artworks. We were able to make an arrangement to go meet with these people in miami. Bob wittman really gets in close undercover with two criminals, sonny and loronze. Bob wittman so sonny was working with groups that stole paintings. He had information about two paintings that had been stolen from the United States back in the early 90s, late 80s. Bob wittman is told that the two paintings are in the hands of corsican mobsters. Corsica is an island in the mediterranean. And its a french territory. Whats interesting is that this finial was stolen from an napoleonic flag the night of the robbery. It was sort of an odd choice for the thieves to take. But it turns out that corsica is essentially the homeland of napoleon. Kelly horan its a very compelling notion that a corsican band of gangsters might have tried to steal back their flag and pull off the entire rest of the heist in the process. Bob wittman so sonny said that he had access to these paintings. They were in the south of france. And he told me that they wanted 30 million for the two paintings. So we started the investigation. At that point, we called it operation masterpiece. And this was an undercover operation to try to do a buy bust to get these two paintings back to the United States. We contacted the ocbc, which is the french Art Crime Team in paris. They became our partners in the investigation. And they set up wiretaps, and listening in, and they heard sonny using a code. They were talking about the rembrandt and the vermeer being streets. So the idea was my person in the United States wants to buy something from Rembrandt Street or vermeer street. And that was the code they were using, thinking that no one could figure out what they were saying. [suspenseful music] sonny said that they had four paintings. These paintings had all been stolen in an Armed Robbery for the Museum Of Fine Arts in nice, france. So sonny said we needed to buy those first. So we set up a meeting in marseille. They brought the paintings and they were arrested. All four paintings were recovered, but my cover was shot. They knew not to try to sell any more paintings to bob, the dealer from the United States. The whole operation falls apart. Bob wittman voiceover and as a result of my cover being blown, the leads vanished. There was a lot of time and energy spent on