By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The mystery behind the theft of $500 million worth of masterpieces from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 continues to baffle federal investigators.
But the FBI believes an aging Connecticut mobster knows the whereabouts of the paintings, the Boston globe reports.
An assistant U.S. attorney told a judge on Wednesday that a Robert Gentile, 79, told at least three people he knows where the paintings are since he was jailed several years ago on drug and gun charges.
An undercover agent posing as a drug dealer said Gentile offered to sell the paintings for $500,000 apiece before the deal collapsed.
“There is a legitimate law enforcement interest in trying to recover the paintings,” US District Judge Robert N. Chatigny said.
Among the stolen paints were three Rembrandts, a Manet, Vemeer and Flinck.
The theft is considered the world’s largest art heist.
