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Subscribe to RSSConnecticut police and the FBI are searching the homes and grounds of a reputed mobster for paintings from a 1990 art heist. NBC's Pete Williams has the details.
Law enforcers in Connecticut are searching the yard of a reputed mobster, apparently in search of master paintings stolen in a massive 1990 museum heist, NBC reported Thursday.
More than 20 agents, some wearing haz-mat gear, using ground-penetrating radar and bloodhounds descended on the Manchester home of Robert Gentile, 75, in connection the theft, which included three works by Rembrandt, a painting by Dutch painter Vermeer, a Manet painting and five drawings by Degas, the Hartford Courant reported.
See the paintings that were stolen in this slideshow from the Boston Globe.
The heist -- believed to be the biggest art theft in history -- involved two men dressed as policemen who entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston 22 years ago, bound the guards with duct tape while they took 13 pieces of art, and drove off in a red car. The FBI website says the irreplaceable works now are worth about $500 million.
No one has ever been charged in the case, and none of the paintings have ever been recovered despite years of investigation, and despite a $5 million reward offered by the museum.
Gentile was arrested on federal drug charges in February after allegedly selling prescription painkillers to an FBI informant, The Associated Press reported.
Gentile, as a convicted felon, also faces charges for weapons possession after a subsequent search of his property turned up an arsenal that included three pistols, shotguns, ammunition, silencers, brass knuckles and a sap, according to the Courant.
Gentile’s attorney, A. Ryan McGuigan, told AP that he believed the FBI search warrant allowed the agents to use ground-penetrating radar to look for buried weapons, but he believed they were really looking for stolen paintings. His client has denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing artwork.
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"This is nonsense," McGuigan told AP. "This is the FBI. Are you trying to tell me they missed something the first time? They're trying to find $500 million of stolen artwork. ... All they're going to find is night crawlers."
One or more police uniforms were found with the drugs, weapons and cash hidden in the ranch-style home, federal prosecutors said at one of his previous court appearances, according to the Courant.
At a bond hearing on the case in April, a prosecutor said federal agents have had "unproductive discussions" about the art theft with Gentile but that the FBI believes "he had some involvement in connection with stolen property" related to the heist.
After the hearing his McGuigan, the attorney, told the Washington Post that Gentile "doesn't know anything about art. He's never been to an art gallery in lis life and couldn't tell a Rembrandt from an Elvis painting."
Federal officials say they have been instructed by the local US attorney's office to say nothing about the search.
Gentile has been a player in the Connecticut rackets for years, and he has an arrest record dating to the 1950s, the report said. In 1996, according the AP, Gentile was convicted of larceny.
NBC News correspondent Pete Williams and Jon Dienst contributed to this report.
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So, "Arsenal" = three pistols, (some) shotguns, ammunition, silencers, brass knuckles and a sap " LoL.
Using that reporters fancy firearms words-Logic, my gun safe = The Deathstar. hahhahaha.
The bigger question should be what he was doing with police uniforms. Also, as far as I know it is illegal to possess a silencer in any state and brass knuckles are illegal in many (I do not know about CT). I seriously doubt that they are going to find the artwork they are searching for. My guess is that they are in some rich person's private gallery that only they see. A crook does not steal artwork to keep it, they steal it to sell it. The idea of using ground penetrating radar seems a little absurd if they are really looking for the art. No one in their right mind is going to bury works of art like these and risk damaging them.
You can get a license to possess a silencer.
They are sniffing around the wrong person. The FBI & Boston Police should question Whitey Bulger. He most likely had a hand in the robbery.
Silencers/suppressors are legal in 40 of the 50 states as long as you get a federal tax stamp. A guy I know makes them for a living. Nothing wrong with saving your hearing.
Why does a 'reputed' mobster even have a yard - but all SUSPECTED terrorists are interred in DHS camps????
Mobsters have to be tried and convicted in US Courts, using actual evidence, juries, and all of the niceties of civilized society. To stick a terrorist in a camp, all you need is somebody claiming that they are a terrorist.
I was born and raised in Wethersfield right outside of Hartford.... they'll never get Mr Gentile for this no matter how hard they try. I'm surprised they got him for the drug charge but I guess his age is catching up to him.
Apparently the lawyer should've informed his client that the mere possession of a silencer is a Class D Felony in Connecticut. He's screwed, paintings or no, the FBI's going to be crawling up his arse with a microscope, and his lawyer isn't going to be able to do a thing about it.
Correction: It's apparently legal if you go through the appropriate steps, including getting a stamp of approval from the ATF, though, given this person's history, I'm not entirely sure that would have ever happened.
But, if those steps aren't taken, the mere possession is a class D Felony.
Convicted felons are prohibited by federal law to possess firearms of any sort. So it doesn't matter if he had a silencer or not. All weapons were illegal
@ 420: Oh yeah, if he's a convicted felon, just having a silencer would be a felony, let alone actual firearms.
UNTRUE. Convicted felons CAN have their gun rights restored. The process varies by state and, in some cases, the nature of the felony.
In Minnesota ..."non-violent felons regain their firearms rights when they complete their sentences." my source: The New York Times.
The deprivation and restoration of a felon's civil rights is almost exclusively a matter of state law, not a function of federal law.
Hey y'all just google your state for the particulars!
@ B Reccia: Yep, but without that expunging of the record (in Vermont it's like 2 grand) he'd be in deep do.
Who the heck proof-read this article? My eight year old? Rembrandt is misspelled, sentences don't make sense grammatically, and one doesn't even read right at all "After the hearing his McGuigan, the attorney, told the Washington Post that Gentile "doesn't know anything about art." What?
Proof-reading went out when the news media decided that journalism was too hard so they turned to blogging.
I only read the comments to see the ones about the proper English. lol
What r yoo peeple talkin about? This artacul red reel goodly to mee.
Who would ever need a silencer except someone who kills people? They actully issue a permit for this?
It's not a permit. It's a $5.00 tax stamp. A short barrel rifle or shotgun is also a $5.00 tax stamp. A machine gun is a $400 tax stamp. These are called NFA weapons. This law is called the National firearms act of 1929. It was enacted during prohibition to try to keep machine gun ownership down due to gangland violence with the Tommy guns. The law is written as a tax under the authority of the US treasury Dept. This was done to skirt violating the 2nd Amendment. They cannot prevent ownership. They just try to tax it away. Back then, $400 was a lot of money & they thought it would deter ownership of machine guns. Now, they just use the tax stamp requirement to make a citizen jump through many hoops & wait months for checks & paperwork to own a fully automatic weapon. Suppressors (silencers) were perfectly legal with no permit back then. Mossberg & other makers sold supressed .22 rifles for hunting. The add read that if you missed, the shot would not scare away the game animal for a 2nd shot.
I like how they specify that Vermeer is a Dutch painter but not Rembrandt... who was also Dutch... just saying... and I concur with Michael England about proof-reading... ugh.
Vermeer is lesser known , but his paintings, maybe 20-30 total are much more impressive than Rembrandt.
what difference does it make the statue of limitations is over and they cannot prosecute the people involved.
I thought these were paintings...
The insurance companies are driving this. I'll bet the informant was paid by the insurance companies to come up with the whole deal.
You mean Statute of Limitations? Not a Statue of Limitations.. A Statue of Limitations would be like Lady Liberty, or David in the Louvre.
420,
You're close. However, Lady Liberty and David both have all their appendages. A Statue of Limitations would be something like Venus de Milo.
420,
I appreciate your correction of statue/statute; however, the Statue of David is not in the Louvre. I've been there multiple times because I lived in France for 3 years as a college student at the Université de Grenoble. The Statue of David, by Michelangelo, is actually in Florence. I also have been there and seen it in the Accademia delle Belle Arti, where it has been since 1873, and a copy of the work was erected in the plaza in 1882.
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Manet??? Maybe Monet?
Cringe
They were contemporaries...look it up. Claude Monet is considerably more famous, but the paintings could easily be by Edouard Manet, his works are quite valuable as well.
You say Monet, I say Manet. You say Monet, I say Manet. Monet, Manet, Monet, Manet, let's call the whole thing off.
A potato can be used as a silencer....or so I've heard!
They used it on CSI on TV so it must be true.
Potatoe...eh, er...potato used as a silencer - not around my house...we eat potatoes and "B-O-O-M!!!!" we got at least 4 hours of farts going on!!!!!
Taters makes you fart?
Hi Doc. Been a long time.
Manet...Really??, Maybe you meant Monet?
Claude Monet and Edouard Manet were both impressionist painters. And it was a Manet painting stolen from the Gardner.
I don't know a lot about art history, but it's pretty easy to do a Google search...for some people.
Wow Zorro - I'm impressed!
Now that's good law enforcement work. Find a suspect mobster, get a search warrant and purge the premises. I wish I would of thought of that after 22 years.
aw leave the old mobster alone, he is old what does he remember at his age? probably getting senile, poor old uncle,if he had hte paintings so you erally think he would of sold prescription pain killers? thats no money man, he is broke, poor old guy, sniff sniff,
John Travolta tried to grab my penis!
Did he miss the grab because it is too small?
This heist has remained a complete mystery for 2 decades. Almost as much as seeing the paintings recovered, I'd like to hear the story of who planned and executed the robbery, and for whom.
HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY!!! the fbi doesnt have a lead. its the same lead they had for the last 10yrs. this is just somethin to keep it in the news. after 22yrs...by now...the thiefs coulda made the art come to live & walk off with her...to never neverland. this isnt like a murder where u can get dna samples...forensics...there were no witnesses to the crime...they have no creditable leads...they dont know what they look like...they dont no sh!t. they are the Fuggedup Boneheads Inc.
Wrong, there was at least one witness, the guard, who was considered a suspect. The crooks disabled the alarm, which was next to useless anyway, they posed as Boston cops and told the guard to let them in...he did and the rest is history. BTW, the museum didn't have any insurance.
Nice little art history lesson here. Yes Manet was as good as Monet and Johannes Vermeer remains my favorite too.
so, "what time do women want it?" article won't accept my comment. I simply am tired of paying $60/month to have my home page filled with trash. Maybe I can sneak by komrade censor goon.
I pay $60/mo for wireless and MSN floods my home page with "What time do women want it?". They won't take my comment over there because they like their trash for all their pervert fans. So, I'm here because this article probably has a classier clientele.
FBI couldn't find it's own ass, they screw up everything they touch.
On the surface, it may look silly to be scanning to find out what is underground. But, in many investigations you start off by using the process of elimination, you do not want to be months into your search and stiil wondering about what was underground. Watch to see how a room is searched, nothing is overlooked. I would move the Fridge and Stove and Washer/Dryer and see if there was a trap door or new tile put in that would be included in the searching every square inch. A criminial mind can be amazing. Look High - Look Low - Look inside - Look Outside
Unbeleivable, it's only been 22 years. www.mobilebondsmen.com Mobilebondsmen/los angeles bail bonds in orange county, Any bail, Any jail, Any time 714-367-6353