Gardner Museum Heist Research

Reference: The 11 times, before August 7, 2015, that Boston Globe news stories mentioned the FBI's saying they knew the identity of the the Gardner heist thieves at their 2013 press conference, without reporting anything about the thieves being dead.

1. Internet helps untangle a web of purloined art by Todd Wallach Boston Globe May 13, 2013
"In March the FBI said it believed it knows who committed the crime and traced some of the art to Philadelphia where it was offered for sale."
https://gardnerheist.com/The_Boston_Globe_2013_05_10_A16.pdf

2. Our Riddles Have Solutions Like It Or Not By Billy Baker Boston Globe July 12, 2013
"In March, the Boston FBI office announced they know who was behind the most infamous art heist in history. The FBI didn't say who mind you, only that they know."
https://gardnerheist.com/The_Boston_Globe_2013_07_12_A10.pdf

3. A Mother’s Love Boston Globe Editorial July 26, 2013
"After obtaining some promising leads in recent years, the FBI may be closing in on the culprits…but both the Gardner and the FBI are right to prioritize the return of the paintings over the prosecution of those who perpetrated the crime."
https://gardnerheist.com/The_Boston_Globe_2013_07_12_A10.pdf

4. Boston’s lost art By Stephen Kurkjian Boston Globe March 8, 2015
"Two years ago, the head of the Boston office of the FBI made headlines when he asserted that federal investigators had discovered who was responsible for the theft and that those who held the artworks had tried to fence them in Philadelphia in 2002. However, FBI Special Agent Richard Deslauriers provided no names of those responsible for the theft or who had tried to fence the works."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/03/08/the-gardner-heist-boston-lost-art/j1nhPQ39wInzLHUhlSWRWI/story.html


5. Does a Connecticut shed hold the secrets of the Gardner heist? by Stephen Kurkjian Boston Globe March 11, 2015
“That they had determined who the robbers were and had tracked the stolen artwork to Connecticut and Philadelphia was remarkable. That they weren’t releasing more details of the identities of those involved, they said firmly, had more to do with the sensitivity of the investigation than its certainty.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/03/11/does-connecticut-shed-hold-secrets-gardner-heist/LHOwffI4jrOegKupbLdHwJ/story.html

6. FBI should open its files on Gardner heist By The Editorial Board Boston Globe March 16, 2015
In 2013, the bureau and the museum announced that they believed they knew who stole the paintings, and identified them as “members of a criminal organization with a base in the mid-Atlantic states and New England.” Apart from that, though, investigators didn’t make much specific information public.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/03/16/fbi-should-open-files-gardner-heist/Zi1QvPDNIlOfjchuidB1JO/story.html

7. Search for artworks from Gardner heist continues 25 years later By Shelley Murphy Boston Globe, March 18, 2015,
"Two years ago, the FBI announced it was confident it had identified the thieves, but declined to name them, citing the ongoing investigation. Authorities said they believed some of the artwork changed hands through organized crime circles, and moved from Boston to Connecticut and Philadelphia, where the trail went cold."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/17/gardner-museum-art-heist-one-boston-most-enduring-mysteries-years-later/9U3tp1kJMa4Zn4uClI1cdM/story.html

8. Works are at risk of being lost forever, observers say By Milton J. Valencia, Shelley Murphy and Stephen Kurkjian Boston Globe March 25, 2013
"The FBI also disclosed that investigators believe they know who stole the paintings, though they would not identify the thieves, saying it would hinder their investigation." https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/24/observers-investigators-say-now-time-find-gardner-art-before-lost/Z4HQc74zz6ek7QWOcZvNsO/story.html

9. FBI has confirmed sightings of Gardner artwork By Globe Staff Mary 22, 2014 Amore "said in 2013 that the tip was so fruitful — leading to the announcement that investigators know the identities of the thieves and could trace the art from Boston to Connecticut and Philadelphia — that the FBI has since rededicated significant resources to investigating the heist."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/05/22/fbi-has-confirmed-sightings-gardner-artwork-agent-says/ganlgCOOl6dSB66AOYsEcK/story.html

10. Conn. mobster said he had stolen Gardner art, FBI alleges By Shelley Murphy Boston Globe,April 20, 2015 "Two years ago, the FBI announced it was confident it had identified the thieves but declined to name them, citing the ongoing investigation." Authorities said they believed some of the artwork changed hands through organized crime circles and moved from Boston to Connecticut and Philadelphia, where the trail went cold.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/04/20/connecticut-crime-figure-allegedly-offered-sell-gardner-museum-heist-paintings/kVb4bYdAjaOIxdC0JkypbI/story.html

11. Release of video after decades raises questions By Milton J. Valencia Boston Globe August 6, 2015,
“FBI officials have said they know who took the paintings, though they did not identify the robbers, and said the paintings made their way through underground organized crime channels through Connecticut and into Philadelphia, where they were last seen.” Milton Valencia Boston Globe August 7, 2015
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/06/museum-heist-video-dumfounds-investigators/XmLSZnagAMCanu7WDSwnsI/story.html

And the one time the Boston Globe got the history right after August 7, 2015. In the story, written by Shelley Murphy and Stepehn Kurkjian,

Gardner suspect’s sentence was cut, published on January 13, 2016, Kurkjian and Murphy wrote: "In 2013, the FBI announced it was confident it had identified the thieves, but declined to name them, citing the ongoing investigation. Authorities said they believed some of the artwork changed hands through organized crime circles, and moved from Boston to Connecticut and then to Philadelphia, where the trail went cold. Later, the FBI said it believed the two thieves were dead."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/01/13/longtime-suspect-gardner-art-theft-had-his-sentence-reduced-records-show/1aJ79PcuEbckNjCVk2w5FM/story.html

The fact that the Boston Globe did get the history right one time combined with the fact that in the Murphy repeated the big lie in the Netflix Gardner heist documentary "This Is A Robbery,"episode 4 in 2021, as did Kurkjian in Season 8 Episode 5 of CNN's true crime show How It Really Happened demonstrates that the misinformaton is not the result of an erroneous cut and paste job spanning ten years and 14 instances.

 

 

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