Man linked to $500M art heist to be released from prison

HARTFORD, Conn. – A reputed Connecticut mobster who authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history is nearing the end of a four-year prison sentence in an unrelated weapons case.

Eighty-two-year-old Robert Gentile is scheduled to be released from the Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey on March 17.

Federal prosecutors have said they believe Gentile has information about the still-unsolved 1990 heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Thieves stole an estimated $500 million worth of artwork, including works by Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer.

Gentile has denied knowing anything about it.

He pleaded guilty in the weapons case stemming from federal agents’ seizure of firearms and ammunition from his Manchester home. He cannot possess firearms as a convicted felon.