Manchester Man And Suspect In Infamous Art Heist Dies At 85

MANCHESTER, CT — Robert Gentile, a reputed mobster, Manchester resident and a person believed to be connected to the infamous 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist in Boston, has died at 85.

Gentile's Connecticut-based lawyer, Ryan McGuigan, announced the death to several media outlets Wednesday. He told Boston.com the Gentile died Friday of a stroke at Hartford Hospital. The FBI considers Gentile the last person known to have been in possession of items from the theft, but Gentile had vehemently denied any connection.

Gentile had been ailing for years.

In 2016, the FBI paid a visit to the Manchester home of Gentile, a man the bureau considered "a person of interest" related to paintings stolen from the Gardner Museum.

In 2016, an FBI spokesman told Patch the art theft is valued at $500 million.

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 that day, but a year later, Gentile, then 80, entered a guilty plea in Hartford federal court to federal firearm offenses, and also admitted that he violated the conditions of his supervised release from a 2012 federal conviction. According to court documents and statements made in court, on Feb. 10, 2012, Gentile was arrested after a federal investigation had revealed that he was involved in the illegal distribution of prescription narcotics.

In 2015, the FBI released never-before-seen images that relate to the Gardner Museum art heist.

A $5 million reward is on the books from the museum for information that leads directly to the recovery of all of the stolen items in good condition.

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, two white men 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, according to case records.

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

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

Though the combined value of the 13 works of art stolen during the Gardner theft is at least $500 million, they are considered priceless within the art community, museum officials told Patch in 2016.

The following works of art 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