FBI Searches Manchester Home Of Reputed Mobster Linked to Historic Boston Art Heist

MANCHESTER, CT - The FBI has paid a visit to the Manchester home of Robert Gentile, a reputed mobster who the the bureau considers a person of interest in paintings stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, according to authorities.

The art theft is valued at $500 million, according to authorities.

Officials from the FBI said they were acting on, a “court-authorized activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation.” The FBI declined further comment.

Manchester police Spokesman Capt. Christopher Davis told Patch that it is the FBI's investigation and he would not venture a guess as to how long federal investigators would be there.

In 2015, the FBI released never-before-seen video that relates to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist, an infamous incident which Gentile, from Manchester, is reported to have information about.

Watch that video here.

A $5 million reward has been offered by the Museum for information that leads directly to the recovery of all of the stolen items in good condition.

The recovery of an individual object will result in a portion of the reward, based upon the object’s market value relative to the other stolen objects.

Details on the Famous Art Heist

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, two white males dressed in Boston Police uniforms gained entrance to the Gardner Museum by advising the security guard at the watch desk that they were responding to a report of a disturbance within the compound.

Against Museum policy, the guard allowed the thieves into the facility. Upon entry the two thieves subdued the on-duty security personnel, handcuffed them, and secured both guards in separate remote areas of the Museum’s basement.

The suspects did not brandish weapons, nor were any weapons seen during the heist. No panic button was activated and no Boston Police notification was made during the robbery.

The video surveillance film from the evening of the robbery was seized by the thieves prior to departure. They did not take the video footage from the night before.

The combined value of the 13 works of art stolen during the Gardner theft is at least $500 million, though they are considered priceless within the art community.

The following objects were stolen during the burglary and have been missing for the past 25 years:

Vermeer’s “The Concert”
Rembrandt’s “A Lady and Gentleman in Black”
Rembrandt’s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee”
Rembrandt’s “Self Portrait”
Govaert Flinck’s “Landscape with an Obelisk”
A Shang Dynasty Chinese Bronze Beaker from 1200-1100 BC
Degas’ “La Sortie du Pelage”
Degas’ “Cortege Aux Environs de Florence”
Degas’ “Three Mounted Jockeys”
Degas’ “Program for an Artistic Soiree” (charcoal on white paper)
Degas’ “Program for an Artistic Soiree” (less finished charcoal on buff paper)
Manet’s “Chez Tortoni”
Napoleonic Eagle Finial

Gentile's 2015 firearms charge

Also in 2015, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut announced that Gentile, 78, was charged on a federal criminal complaint for firearms offenses.

Gentile was accused of selling a .38 Colt Cobra revolver, loaded with five rounds of ammunition on March 2 to a man he allegedly knew to be a convicted felon.

Gentile, a convicted felon himself, is not allowed to possess ammunition or sell a firearm to a felon. Each of those two crimes carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.

In 2015 Gentile told the Hartford Courant, that he denies any knowledge of the Gardner job or the missing art, which some value at $500 million.

Among the stolen masterworks are three Rembrandts — including the master's only known seascape, "Storm on the Sea of Galilee" — a Vermeer, a Manet and five drawings by Degas.

The Courant depicts an arrest record for Gentile that dates back the 1950s.