Worcester Art Museum Heist was 42 Years Ago

FBI and WPD with the recovered WAM paintings, 1972

     This past week marks 42 years since the Worcester Art Museum was brazenly robbed. It is a seldom discussed, but very important event in the museum's history. On the afternoon of May 17, 1972, during open hours, two thieves (armed with a concealed revolver) entered the museum and removed four valuable works from the walls of the European Galleries: including Gauguin's "Brooding Woman" and Rembrandt's "Saint Bartholomew". While exiting through the Renaissance Court with the paintings, the thieves drew the weapon and shot the Salisbury door guard when he hindered their haphazard escape. Critically wounded, the guard survived, thanks to First Aid care provided by a visitor (Security can be a thankless and potentially dangerous job. Please, on occasion, let the guards know you appreciate it). Due to the efforts of the FBI, Worcester Police and information provided by other criminals, the four masterpieces were returned to WAM mere weeks later.
     Anthony Amore, Chief Investigator and Director of Security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, has co-written a book on the subject, "Stealing Rembrandts". Full of great insight and detail, his book offers a thoroughly researched account of the 1972 Worcester Art Museum Heist, as well as other daring art thefts. Anthony's book can be purchased here: Stealing Rembrandts by Anthony Amore , or you can attend one of his many lectures on Art Theft throughout New England.

Stealing Rembrandts by Anthony Amore

Stolen (2005): Documentary about the March 18, 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

     Directed by Rebecca Dreyfus, Stolen (2005) is a documentary that focuses on the March 18, 1990 heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum… during which two thieves, disguised as Boston police officers, gained access to the museum and stole 13 valuable works of art. In remains the largest property theft in history. In addition to describing the robbery, the film focuses on the efforts of detective Harold Smith and others, whose obsession with finding the stolen masterworks is contagious. 

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum- Boston, MA: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

The 13 Stolen Artworks:

Vermeer, The Concert, 1658–1660: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, ca. 1634.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Rembrandt, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Rembrandt, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, 1633. : Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Govaert Flinck, Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638. : Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Degas, La Sortie de Pesage.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Degas, Program for an artistic soiree, 1884.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Degas, Program for an artistic soiree, 1884.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Degas, Three Mounted Jockeys.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Degas, Cortege aux Environs de Florence.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Chinese bronze beaker or Ku, Chinese, Shang Dynasty, 1200–1100 B.C.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Finial in the form of an eagle, gilt metal (bronze), French, 1813–1814 : Stolen. 2005 Documentary

Manet, Chez Tortoni, 1878–1880.: Stolen. 2005 Documentary

ARCAblog: Fox 25 News (MyFoxBoston.com): "FBI talks exclusiv...

ARCAblog: Fox 25 News (MyFoxBoston.com): "FBI talks exclusiv...: " FBI has confirmed sighting of Gardner artwork after heist " reports Bob Ward in a television segment on May 21 for Fox 25 New…

May 22, 2014

Fox 25 News (MyFoxBoston.com): "FBI talks exclusively to Bob Ward about Stolen Art" [The 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Unsolved Heist]; Compare it to what Ulrich Boser reported in his book in 2009

"FBI has confirmed sighting of Gardner artwork after heist" reports Bob Ward in a television segment on May 21 for Fox 25 News (MyBoston.com).

In his first TV interview, FBI Special Agent Geoff Kelly, the Bureau's leading investigator on the Gardner Case, tells FOX 25's Bob Ward the trail for the missing Gardner artwork has not grown cold. Kelly said the Bureau has confirmed sightings, from sources the Bureau deems credible, of the Gardner artwork in the years after it was stolen. He also identified three persons of interest in the Gardner case, all with ties to organized crime: Carmello Merlino, Robert Guarente, and Robert Gentile. Kelly said in the late 1990's, two FBI informants told the Bureau that Merlino was preparing to return Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, in an effort to collect the reward. However, Merlino and his crew were soon arrested in an aborted armored car heist and the painting was never returned. Kelly believes Guarente somehow passed control of the stolen Gardner artwork to Gentile, a Manchester, Conn. man. Kelly believes Gentile has ties to organized crime in Philadelphia, PA and that Gentile helped bring some or all of the stolen Gardner artwork to Philadelphia where it was last seen in 2000, offered for sale. In 2012 Gentile's home and property in Manchester, Conn. were extensively searched but no sign of the stolen Gardner artwork was located. However, Kelly said authorities recovered police paraphernalia, including "clothing, articles of clothing with police and FBI insignias on it, handcuffs, a scanner, two way radios, and Tasers" and these are not common items. Gentile, through his lawyer, denied having any connection to the Gardner art heist or with moving the artwork after the fact. Both Merlino and Guarente are now dead. If you have any information about the Gardner Museum artwork, call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. There is a $5 million reward in this case. 

Read more (and see the video which includes an appearance by Anthony Amore, security director of the Gardner museum):http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/25583520/fbi-has-confirmed-sightings-of-gardner-artwork-after-heist#ixzz32SaaZt9e

In Ulrich Boser's book, The Gardner Heist: The True Store of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft(HarperCollins, 2009) the index included 11 references to Carmello Merlino who died in prison in 2005. Merlino is described as the "gangland captain" of David Turner who was picked up by the FBI on Feb. 7, 1999 and questioned about the Gardner heist (page 100):

"The FBI told me that they had information from several sources that I was an actual participant in the robbery," Turner recalled. "What was said was 'Give us the paintings right now, and you can go home."

Boser described Merlino as a 'South Boston mobster' (p. 101) whose:

'body shop grew into an underworld flea market for looted goods. "If there was something you wanted stolen, that was the place. You could go there and just put in an order, and they would have crews running all sorts of places, South Shore Malls, downtown, everywhere," retired state police officer Eddie Whelan told me.

[Interesting sidebar -- the art stolen from Jeffrey Gundlach was recovered by police in an automobile stereo shop in Pasadena, CA in 2012.]

Boser wrote on pages 105-107 that:

Merlino was picked up on a drug charge in 1992, and through an intermediary, he offered to return the paintings for a reduced prison sentence. He told prosecutors that the masterpieces were "very big and international," that the deal has to be kept quiet or he would be killed. But Merlino never offered any hard evidence of the lost art ... [but] it was clear that Merlino did not have direct access to the art, that he was attempting to secure the masterpieces from someone else.

Boser wrote on page 201:

Perhaps mob associate Robert Guarente was the mastermind? He was a friend of Turner's, a frequent visitor to Merlino's body shop, and had connections to Myles Connor. But Guarente died in 2004 without any sign of the paintings. The FBI confidential informant reports also imply that Turner himself had the loot. That seems impossible. Turner would have almost certainly given up the canvases to get out of his thirty-eight year prison sentence. 

"Stealing Rembrandts" by Anthony Amore

Stealing Rembrandts, by Anthony Amore

     "Art security expert Anthony M. Amore and award-winning investigative reporter Tom Mashberg reveal the actors behind the major Rembrandt heists in the last century. Through thefts around the world—from Stockholm to Boston—the authors track daring entries and escapes from the world’s most renowned museums. There are robbers who coolly walk off with multimillion dollar paintings; self-styled art experts who fall in love with the Dutch master and desire to own his art at all costs; and international criminal masterminds who don't hesitate to resort to violence." -amazon.com

     The book features a lot of intriguing information about the Worcester Art Museum Heist in 1972, during which Rembrandt's "Saint Bartholomew" and three other works were stolen and subsequently recovered.

"Saint Bartholomew" by Rembrandt. Worcester Art Museum

     Anthony M. Amore is the head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and contributes to the Boston Herald and The Huffington Post. He serves as trustee of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art and lectures widely on art crime.

Anthony Amore, 2014. by Travis Simpkins

Anthony Amore

Purchase "Stealing Rembrandts" HERE:

Stealing Rembrants by Anthony Amore

ARCAblog: ARCA's Sixth Annual Interdisciplinary Art Crime Co...

ARCAblog: ARCA's Sixth Annual Interdisciplinary Art Crime Co...: Amelia, Italy  The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) will be hosting its sixth annual Interdisciplinary Art ...

Worcester Magazine Interview: Two Minutes with... Travis Simpkins

Worcester Magazine: Two Minutes with… Travis Simpkins

Read the full article HERE

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Worcester Magazine: 2 Minutes With… Travis Simpkins