FBI believes it knows identities of thieves in massive ’90 Boston art heist; focus on recovery

BOSTON – The FBI believes it knows the identities of the thieves who stole art valued at up to $500 million from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.

Richard DesLauriers, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Boston, says the thieves belong to a criminal organization based in New England and the mid-Atlantic states. He says authorities believe the art was taken to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region in the years after the theft, and offered for sale in Philadelphia about a decade ago.

The FBI is to discuss the case later Monday. It has a new website aimed at getting help cracking the case at www.FBI.gov/gardner . In a video, DesLauriers says the statute of limitations has passed for the crime of art theft and authorities are focused on recovering the art.

There’s a $5 million reward in the case involving 13 stolen works, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet.