Life Upon the Wicked Stage

Missing Masterpieces: The Gardner Museum Heist


Listen Later

The hosts of Wicked Stage Pod introduce an episode about the still-unsolved 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist in Boston, including background on Isabella Gardner's Venetian-palace-style museum, her restrictive will, and spotty security. On March 18, 1990, two men posing as Boston police were buzzed in, handcuffed and duct-taped two guards in the basement, and spent 81 minutes stealing 13 works, including Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's Christ in a Storm on the Sea of Galilee, cutting canvases from frames; the guards were later found unharmed. The discussion covers mishandled evidence (missing VHS tape and duct tape), theories involving organized crime and art thief Miles Connor, alleged sightings and attempted deals in the late 1990s, FBI focus on the Rossetti crew, and later investigations, with the empty frames still hanging and a $10 million reward outstanding.

00:00 Listener Warning

00:15 Meet the Hosts

00:49 Cold Weather Banter

03:45 Heist Episode Setup

05:33 Gardner Museum Origins

07:18 Isabella's Ironclad Will

09:55 St Patrick's Night Security

17:39 Morning Discovery of Break In

28:05 Missing Art and Masterpieces

34:33 Guards' Story Fake Cops

40:05 81 Minutes Inside Theories

46:05 Inside Job Suspicions

50:48 Guard Lets Them In

51:48 Evidence Mishandled

53:41 Scotland Yard And Mobs

56:06 Italian Crew Suspects

59:21 Cold Case And Storage Shed

01:01:36 Warehouse Art Proof

01:04:27 Paint Swatch Showdown

01:08:56 Rosetti Sightings And Deaths

01:13:54 Wiretap And Loomis Plot

01:20:31 Gentile Sting And Trapdoor

01:27:38 FBI Names Suspects

01:30:32 Where Things Stand Today

01:34:40 Final Wrap And Next Episode

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Life Upon the Wicked StageBy Upstage Right

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

5 ratings