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FBI searches home of mobster suspected in Boston art heist – Metro US

FBI searches home of mobster suspected in Boston art heist

FBI searches home of mobster suspected in Boston art heist
The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The FBI has launched its third search of the Manchester, Connecticut, home of convicted criminal Robert “Bobby the Cook” Gentile, who has been linked to an investigation into a 1990 Boston art theft.

On March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as Boston police officers robbed the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of 13 works of art, according to the Hartford Courant, which stated that the stolen art was valued at about $500 million.

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On Monday around noon, FBI agents began searching the home of Robert Gentile, whose involvement has been suspected in the 26-year-old art heist though he was never charged in connection to it, the Boston Globe reported. Gentile is currently serving a sentence for illegal gun possession and selling prescription drugs.

“If they didn’t find [the paintings] in the first two searches, how could they find them this time?” Gentile’s attorney A. Ryan McGuigan was quoted by the Globe, commenting on this search being the FBI’s third of the property in pursuit of the paintings.

Officials have put a tent in front of Gentile’s Frances Drive house, and area police have blocked off the street, the Courant added. FBI agents brought heavy equipment in three trucks to help conduct the search.

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McGuigan said that his client was adamant that he had no role in the robbery or knowledge of the paintings, according to the Globe, which added that among the stolen Gardner canvases were three Rembrandts, a Vermeer and a Manet.