FBI Receives New Tip in Gardner Museum Heist

Just days after "never before released" surveillance video from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist was made public, necn has learned a tip could potentially crack the quarter century old mystery that asks- Who stole more than a dozen works of art valued at half a billion dollars from the Boston museum?

Quincy Attorney George Burke is a former Norfolk County District Attorney. He says that tip floored him, and came from a client.

Burke says his client is now "afraid for his life," that's why he doesn't want to be named publicly, but says his client recognizes the man in the video.

"He said there is one point in the video where he turns slightly sideways," said Burke.

Burke says his client knows the man through the antiques business. The FBI says they've received the tip and will follow up on it.

The recently released security footage is from roughly 12:50 a.m. on March 17, 1990, almost exactly 24 hours before the museum heist.

In the video, you also see a vehicle backing down the road. The mysterious man leaves the vehicle, enters a side door to possibly case the museum, and is buzzed in by a security guard, long suspected by many to be involved.

The next day, two men masquerading as Boston Police stole the artwork. The FBI believes those men have since died, but the focus remains on the orchestrator of the heist, and finding the art.

Burke won't say who his client believes the mystery man in the video is, but says the man knew Myles Connor, a notorious art thief, who ironically Burke says he recovered a Rembrandt from when he prosecuted him as District Attorney.  

Contact Us