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The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum...
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was a... art thief's delight.
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Everybody talks about the Gardner.
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This is... this is it.
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The biggest art theft
in the history of the world.
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Millions of dollars' worth of artwork.
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They disappeared.
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Somebody had to know something.
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Every reporter in this town
eventually did something on that heist.
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We were all hitting our sources
saying, "What's up?"
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People didn't seem to know.
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The crime occurred in 1990
on St. Patty's Day.
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Whatever drunken revelry was occurring
across the city, who knows?
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Happy St. Patty's Day.
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But it was a good time
to commit a crime.
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With this case,
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it is really Boston's
biggest unsolved mystery,
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in addition to being
the largest art heist in the world.
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Everybody has a theory.
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The people that did it...
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maybe they're dead.
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Maybe some who were involved
are still alive.
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When I start to think about
the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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and the drama and the obsession
with getting the paintings back
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and the whole obsession
around everything,
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I keep talking about it
because it's fascinating to me,
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because I was there.
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I was a witness.
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That night,
I had plans to meet friends.
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It was quiet on Palace Road.
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The street's very dark...
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just lit by this really faint amber glow
from the streetlights.
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We were outside the building
and I asked my friend Justin,
34
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"Can you give me a piggyback ride?"
Jumped on,
35
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and we started walking down the street.
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We're goofing around,
we'd had beers,
37
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and I noticed that this car
has its running lights on.
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We're coming from behind it.
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When I get up close to it,
I see that there are people in it.
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Two men in the front seats.
41
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There's a glare from a streetlamp,
42
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but I can see the shoulder
of a policeman's uniform.
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Boston police uniform,
44
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it's got a sort of distinctive
keystone shape.
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When we saw the officer,
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thinking at that time
that they had come to end the party,
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our feeling was, "Let's just go."
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I do remember that the car was parked...
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right next to the Gardner Museum.
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I probably wouldn't have
remembered this night...
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...if it hadn't been for
what happened later.
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The biggest art heist in history.
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Boston, a quiet museum, a daring robbery.
54
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Vipers are in the grass
and are moving towards you.
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The 13 art treasures stolen
are worth a half a billion dollars.
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Take a look at these composite drawings.
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I have the paintings with me. Now what?
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Easy to use as international currency.
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Japan.
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- France.
- Dublin.
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Saudi Arabia.
I know that's where they went.
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These paintings were
a get-out-of-jail-free card,
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and everybody knew it.
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How are those paintings
gonna get people out of prison?
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What are we talking about this shit for?
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Who could carry off
something like this?
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Italian mob or Irish mob.
68
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- How you doing?
- Good.
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Everybody is whacked.
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There's murders
on both sides, it's violent.
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Jesus!
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As long as you didn't do anything,
you got nothing to worry about.
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I had no idea what I was going into.
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It was just horrifying.
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For now, the empty frames
are all that remain on the museum walls.
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With works of art,
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they're only works of art
because you're interacting with them.
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I mean, they can't exist without you.
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I was the director
of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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from 1989 to 2016,
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and the first woman to be a director.
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The museum had become inward-looking.
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It hadn't connected deeply
to the community.
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So, I was brought in
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to bring the museum back to life,
was sort of my charge.
86
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I grew up in Dorchester.
87
00:06:06,824 --> 00:06:08,659
I went to South Boston High School.
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And the first time I went,
I fell in love with the place.
89
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I had been through all the galleries
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and I can remember so vividly
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.
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Loving that one in particular.
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This is gonna make me sound like
a wicked snob, and I'm not.
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It's sort of like the MFA in Boston
was like the Louvre,
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and the Gardner Museum
was like the d'Orsay.
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So pretentious,
I can't believe I said it.
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Has more character. Put it that way.
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It's such a beautiful environment
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that you go to another place.
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I like to call it the "a-ha" moment
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or the epiphanic moment,
which is a little too heady to say.
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It's built to echo
a Renaissance Venetian palace.
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It's very plain on the outside.
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You're just shocked when you come inside
to this verdant, luscious courtyard
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that is at the center of the museum,
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and all the galleries
on every floor surround it.
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And then every gallery...
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has its own theme.
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It's probably one of the most
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extraordinary creations
by an individual anywhere.
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When Isabella Stewart Gardner
built the museum,
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she broke ground in 1899.
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There was nothing here.
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It was a swamp.
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And when she died,
she left her infamous will.
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She said that if anything
were permanently changed,
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the collection should be crated,
shipped to Paris for auction,
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and the money should go
to Harvard University.
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She was an eccentric
in a world where being eccentric
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was a way of getting out of the house
for women.
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I believe she was flirtatious.
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She didn't mind being a little sexy.
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And she dressed to show it off.
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Which, you know, wasn't part of the time.
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Before the museum was open,
she wanted to test the acoustics,
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but you have to have people in the room
listening to the music.
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But she didn't want anybody
to see the place.
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She was connected
to the Perkins School for the Blind...
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and she had the blind children come in
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and be the bodies listening to the music
to test the acoustics.
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You know, it's not a museum.
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It was her work of art.
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It's an architectural spectacle.
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To this day, I still
have dreams about the Gardner Museum.
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All of that stuff really seeped in.
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As a gallery guard,
we had all this time to spend
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intimate time with the collection.
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There's no downside to working
in a Venetian palace.
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It was just beautiful.
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We had the Titian Rape of Europa.
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We had the Raphael,
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Matisse,
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Rembrandt.
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And it was just that whole environment.
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To feel like you could reach out
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and touch something
from that long ago.
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Here I am, staring at the actual marks
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made by the actual hand
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of this guy when he was, like, my age.
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You just can't get any better than that.
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If you got the call
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to work overnight shift,
you were happy to do it.
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It was kind of a treat.
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You were like,
"Cool. I get to go stay all night."
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All the lights in the museum were off,
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and you just had your flashlight
and a walkie-talkie.
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You'd do your round,
walk through the museum.
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It was pretty spooky.
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And then you'd sit at the desk...
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and wait for something to happen.
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And...
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nothing ever happened.
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That's the problem of the night watch.
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Day after day, week after week,
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year after year of nothing happening.
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Just absolute benign... Nothing happening.
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And then March 18th, 1990.
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Today is Sunday,
March 18th, 1990.
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A beautiful day in South Boston.
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Now, as the parade gets underway,
it's 48 degrees.
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00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,214
We'll see a high of 52 and clear skies.
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00:11:55,297 --> 00:11:57,466
St. Patrick's Day in Boston,
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the day itself,
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I'd call it just a drinking day.
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00:12:04,390 --> 00:12:05,975
People'd be drinking all day,
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rolling into Saturday,
then right into Sunday.
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00:12:11,439 --> 00:12:15,401
And Boston has its parade on Sunday.
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00:12:15,484 --> 00:12:16,694
It's not on the 17th.
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The parade in Boston
is confined to South Boston.
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It draws in hundreds of thousands
of people from outlying areas.
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Quick march!
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The other thing, it would attract
an enormous police presence.
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But in the area where the museum is,
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it's generally quiet.
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It was a total normal day.
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Just coming in to work
on Sunday morning in my role
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to replace the two guys
that would've been there all night
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at the alarm control center desk.
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Normally, one or both of them would be
in there and they would buzz us in.
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Nothing like that was happening.
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00:13:18,339 --> 00:13:21,175
There was no response,
this was completely unprecedented
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and very odd.
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Too much time is passing.
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So, I called the chief of security
and told him we couldn't get in.
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00:13:34,146 --> 00:13:35,898
He said, "I'm coming in."
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He took us around
some kind of a back door.
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As soon as we got in there,
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you just knew
something is really, really wrong.
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00:13:48,369 --> 00:13:51,038
The security cameras had been turned,
199
00:13:51,622 --> 00:13:54,583
the office door had been busted.
200
00:13:57,670 --> 00:13:59,672
There was a frame in there.
201
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It was like, "Oh."
202
00:14:02,049 --> 00:14:05,636
And there was a crowbar
leaning against the wall.
203
00:14:06,804 --> 00:14:09,348
The chief hands me the crowbar.
204
00:14:09,431 --> 00:14:11,559
He's like, "Here, hold this!"
205
00:14:11,642 --> 00:14:15,771
And so I'm holding this crowbar
and my mind is thinking,
206
00:14:15,855 --> 00:14:18,440
"This is part of the scene
of the crime, right?
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00:14:18,524 --> 00:14:22,820
This is evidence. My hand prints...
My hand prints are on this crowbar!"
208
00:14:22,903 --> 00:14:25,155
And then my next thought was,
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"He gave me this so that
I can pummel someone with it."
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00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,418
It's like I went in with this open vision
and curiosity, like,
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00:14:37,501 --> 00:14:38,586
"Whoa!"
212
00:14:38,669 --> 00:14:41,505
And then it just, like...
213
00:14:41,589 --> 00:14:43,883
shrunk down really fast.
214
00:14:44,675 --> 00:14:47,845
And then it was like,
"Where's the guys? Where's the guys?"
215
00:14:47,928 --> 00:14:49,513
And then the next thought was,
216
00:14:50,556 --> 00:14:52,266
"Are the bad guys still here?"
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00:14:56,687 --> 00:14:59,982
He picks up the phone
and called the Boston police.
218
00:15:01,734 --> 00:15:04,653
It seemed like all he could say was,
219
00:15:05,946 --> 00:15:07,781
"I'm calling from the Gardner.
220
00:15:07,865 --> 00:15:11,452
We've got big trouble.
We've got big trouble."
221
00:15:18,208 --> 00:15:20,502
Must have been about eight o'clock.
222
00:15:22,171 --> 00:15:24,757
We had some friends
come over for breakfast
223
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,509
when I got the phone call
from the security director.
224
00:15:28,594 --> 00:15:29,929
And he said,
225
00:15:30,012 --> 00:15:32,848
"There's been a theft
and you need to come right now."
226
00:15:36,644 --> 00:15:38,771
To me, it felt instantaneous.
227
00:15:38,854 --> 00:15:42,399
Like, the street was lined with cars.
228
00:15:44,902 --> 00:15:47,988
I ended up sitting
at the alarm control center.
229
00:15:48,072 --> 00:15:51,784
And the police come in,
and it was the first order of business
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00:15:51,867 --> 00:15:56,997
to plop down this big box of donuts
on the counter.
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00:15:57,081 --> 00:15:58,958
Right in front of me. Like, "Whoo!"
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00:16:02,211 --> 00:16:05,381
They went up and worked their way down.
233
00:16:06,590 --> 00:16:09,635
No one knows what's going on.
We don't know where the guards are yet.
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00:16:13,097 --> 00:16:16,433
I had never done the rounds
like the night guards had,
235
00:16:16,517 --> 00:16:19,979
but I had heard there were tunnels
under this building.
236
00:16:21,897 --> 00:16:23,399
And I'll never forget
237
00:16:23,482 --> 00:16:26,652
this astonished look
on the cop's face, and he says,
238
00:16:27,987 --> 00:16:29,446
"Oh my God.
239
00:16:30,447 --> 00:16:32,449
If there's a body to be found,
240
00:16:32,533 --> 00:16:34,076
it'll be in a tunnel."
241
00:16:47,256 --> 00:16:51,719
As it turned out, the guards were located
down in the basement.
242
00:16:53,929 --> 00:16:56,557
Tied up in the duct tape and everything.
243
00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:05,357
The day of the robbery
was the first and last time
244
00:17:05,441 --> 00:17:07,192
I was ever at the Gardner Museum.
245
00:17:08,986 --> 00:17:10,863
I was a forensic photographer,
246
00:17:10,946 --> 00:17:13,824
and I was also
an image analyst for the FBI.
247
00:17:15,659 --> 00:17:18,746
I may have gotten there about 9:15 or so.
248
00:17:21,832 --> 00:17:24,251
Those shots there were taken by BPD.
249
00:17:25,169 --> 00:17:26,670
They photographed Rick.
250
00:17:28,589 --> 00:17:30,591
Randy was in the other shot.
251
00:17:30,674 --> 00:17:32,968
But they seemed to concentrate on Rick
252
00:17:33,677 --> 00:17:35,054
and how he was taped up.
253
00:17:36,180 --> 00:17:37,806
He was duct taped.
254
00:17:37,890 --> 00:17:41,226
His head and his hair
in a roundabout fashion.
255
00:17:41,810 --> 00:17:43,353
And then his hands were bound.
256
00:17:44,104 --> 00:17:47,024
Which I thought was kind of odd.
They had a little pad.
257
00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:51,195
Why would you tape around the head?
258
00:17:51,278 --> 00:17:53,781
Why not just put tape on his eyes?
259
00:17:55,449 --> 00:17:58,452
I've seen people who were killed.
They were taped.
260
00:17:59,536 --> 00:18:02,081
But Rick's taping,
I never saw anything like that.
261
00:18:02,164 --> 00:18:06,001
I thought that was kind of odd
that he was taped in that fashion.
262
00:18:07,377 --> 00:18:12,132
We were thinking, "Jeez,
if these were any real serious hoods,
263
00:18:12,216 --> 00:18:14,051
why not just kill these people?"
264
00:18:16,929 --> 00:18:18,347
Dead men tell no tales.
265
00:18:35,614 --> 00:18:37,199
Wait a minute. Go ahead.
266
00:18:37,282 --> 00:18:40,452
I think I got there around 8:30, maybe,
267
00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:42,913
or quarter to 9:00.
I can't remember exactly.
268
00:18:47,626 --> 00:18:49,545
The FBI was there,
269
00:18:50,379 --> 00:18:53,924
and they wouldn't let me in
to any of the galleries,
270
00:18:54,591 --> 00:18:57,469
so I had no idea what I was going into.
271
00:18:59,346 --> 00:19:01,932
And when I got into the galleries,
it was just...
272
00:19:02,015 --> 00:19:03,684
...horrifying.
273
00:19:04,977 --> 00:19:07,229
Did you think you would be...
274
00:19:07,312 --> 00:19:09,022
- How's that?
- Good.
275
00:19:09,106 --> 00:19:10,357
No.
276
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,067
When I first entered,
277
00:19:12,151 --> 00:19:13,735
I saw the golden frames...
278
00:19:15,195 --> 00:19:16,822
overlapping one another.
279
00:19:19,616 --> 00:19:23,203
And you could see
that someone had used a knife.
280
00:19:24,663 --> 00:19:28,458
The paintings weren't unscrewed
from the back, they were cut out.
281
00:19:29,251 --> 00:19:32,045
I found that pretty interesting.
Why did they cut them?
282
00:19:33,463 --> 00:19:36,967
It wasn't like cutting a piece of paper.
As the conservators explained,
283
00:19:37,050 --> 00:19:40,095
the paintings are not just one canvas.
284
00:19:41,305 --> 00:19:44,474
You can't cut them out
and then roll them up like blueprints.
285
00:19:45,017 --> 00:19:48,395
They said it'd be time-consuming
and difficult cutting these things.
286
00:19:51,148 --> 00:19:54,026
We were starting
to hear things, like, "What?
287
00:19:54,109 --> 00:19:56,278
They just cut this stuff
out of the frames?
288
00:19:56,361 --> 00:19:57,863
Oh my gosh."
289
00:20:00,282 --> 00:20:03,702
It was, and it still is,
completely unbelievable.
290
00:20:07,539 --> 00:20:10,250
It was incomprehensible to me
291
00:20:10,334 --> 00:20:14,254
that even if you were wanting to steal art
that you would treat it that way.
292
00:20:16,548 --> 00:20:20,135
There were 13 works
that were taken altogether.
293
00:20:22,054 --> 00:20:24,973
In terms of art historical works,
294
00:20:25,057 --> 00:20:28,352
the most important work lost
is the Rembrandt seascape,
295
00:20:28,435 --> 00:20:30,729
Storm on the Sea of Galilee.
296
00:20:31,855 --> 00:20:34,524
It's Rembrandt's only seascape,
297
00:20:34,608 --> 00:20:38,737
and that was
brutally cut out of the frame.
298
00:20:40,364 --> 00:20:44,243
As was the Rembrandt portrait
of The Lady and Gentleman in Black.
299
00:20:45,327 --> 00:20:47,120
That was also cut out of the frame,
300
00:20:47,204 --> 00:20:51,375
and that picture had been altered
at some time in the past.
301
00:20:52,334 --> 00:20:55,087
There was a man and a woman,
and a space between them.
302
00:20:56,421 --> 00:20:57,714
When they X-rayed it,
303
00:20:57,798 --> 00:21:02,219
there was a child
between the man and the woman.
304
00:21:02,302 --> 00:21:05,973
Apparently, the child died,
and it was too painful,
305
00:21:07,140 --> 00:21:08,976
and it was painted out by Rembrandt.
306
00:21:12,396 --> 00:21:14,481
The Vermeer picture's called The Concert.
307
00:21:16,149 --> 00:21:21,196
And you have a woman
just about to burst into song.
308
00:21:23,282 --> 00:21:26,368
Vermeer's paintings,
there aren't that many.
309
00:21:26,451 --> 00:21:29,121
Some say 33, some say 35.
310
00:21:30,247 --> 00:21:33,458
For me, that Vermeer was
311
00:21:33,542 --> 00:21:37,004
the toughest one to realize,
"Boy, that thing is gone."
312
00:21:39,923 --> 00:21:41,091
As a guard,
313
00:21:41,883 --> 00:21:46,054
that was one of my favorite pieces
to just study.
314
00:21:46,138 --> 00:21:50,434
You could just be there
and you could just almost like talk to it.
315
00:21:53,478 --> 00:21:55,605
And then, of course, there was the Flinck,
316
00:21:57,774 --> 00:21:59,818
Obelisk in the Landscape.
317
00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:05,782
The Chinese beaker.
318
00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:09,745
That actually was the oldest work taken.
319
00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:14,750
Those were the works
that were in the Dutch Room,
320
00:22:15,917 --> 00:22:19,338
along with an etching of Rembrandt.
321
00:22:27,888 --> 00:22:32,017
The Rembrandt self-portrait
was also off the wall.
322
00:22:32,976 --> 00:22:36,521
And I thought, "Oh my God, that too?"
323
00:22:37,773 --> 00:22:42,402
And I pulled the frame out
and the picture was still there.
324
00:22:51,661 --> 00:22:54,081
Then, from the Short Gallery,
325
00:22:55,665 --> 00:22:57,501
there were five works on paper.
326
00:22:59,294 --> 00:23:03,757
Degas depicting jockeys riding horses,
327
00:23:04,549 --> 00:23:06,551
beautifully drawn and executed.
328
00:23:11,098 --> 00:23:13,809
And then, in that same gallery,
329
00:23:13,892 --> 00:23:16,686
the Napoleonic finial
330
00:23:16,770 --> 00:23:18,772
from the Napoleonic flag.
331
00:23:21,983 --> 00:23:26,571
They kinda theorized that that's where
probably they were out of time.
332
00:23:27,531 --> 00:23:30,117
Where they tried to unscrew the finial.
333
00:23:31,201 --> 00:23:34,496
The, uh, screws were in
the cigarette receptacle.
334
00:23:35,163 --> 00:23:37,874
They hadn't gotten through
taking all the screws out,
335
00:23:37,958 --> 00:23:40,293
so they figured it was time to go,
336
00:23:40,877 --> 00:23:42,879
that these particular items
337
00:23:42,963 --> 00:23:44,965
may have just been an afterthought.
338
00:23:47,259 --> 00:23:51,471
And then finally,
from the first floor, the Blue Room,
339
00:23:52,931 --> 00:23:56,143
a Manet called Chez Tortoni.
340
00:24:00,564 --> 00:24:03,108
There are
significant paintings missing.
341
00:24:03,191 --> 00:24:06,361
Ballpark figure on the cost
is about $200 million.
342
00:24:15,495 --> 00:24:19,624
The FBI didn't have
an art squad. Nobody did.
343
00:24:19,708 --> 00:24:21,001
It was just devastating.
344
00:24:21,084 --> 00:24:23,044
Uh, in terms of the rooms...
345
00:24:23,128 --> 00:24:26,798
So, they were struggling
to get up to speed on it.
346
00:24:26,882 --> 00:24:29,009
And, of course, we were shattered.
347
00:24:30,677 --> 00:24:32,721
It was like a death in the family.
348
00:24:32,804 --> 00:24:34,806
That's precisely why people...
349
00:24:34,890 --> 00:24:37,058
I was just totally numb.
350
00:24:39,227 --> 00:24:41,688
We were told by the FBI
351
00:24:41,771 --> 00:24:46,902
we needed to get a reward going
before the trail gets cold.
352
00:24:48,278 --> 00:24:52,115
That was considered to be
the most important move we could make.
353
00:24:52,782 --> 00:24:58,246
So, I called someone I knew
who was in the Philippines at the time.
354
00:24:59,122 --> 00:25:01,625
He was also the chairman of Sotheby's.
355
00:25:03,460 --> 00:25:06,129
"What do you want from me?" he said.
356
00:25:06,213 --> 00:25:09,049
And I told him we needed
a million dollars.
357
00:25:11,635 --> 00:25:15,096
Sotheby's and Christies stepped in,
358
00:25:15,180 --> 00:25:17,349
offering this million-dollar reward.
359
00:25:21,436 --> 00:25:24,564
We were just overcome
with calls coming in.
360
00:25:25,565 --> 00:25:27,192
The phone system broke down.
361
00:25:31,071 --> 00:25:34,115
A group of us
were just really around the clock
362
00:25:34,199 --> 00:25:36,952
working to get the reward out.
363
00:25:37,035 --> 00:25:40,205
I operate under the assumption
that we are going to return...
364
00:25:40,288 --> 00:25:43,667
Get these returned,
because we are a world-class museum.
365
00:25:44,251 --> 00:25:46,836
The press was brutal for a while.
366
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:47,837
Just brutal.
367
00:25:47,921 --> 00:25:49,601
How long have you been director?
368
00:25:49,673 --> 00:25:51,049
For six months.
369
00:25:51,132 --> 00:25:54,052
- Guards, how old were they?
- I don't know.
370
00:25:54,135 --> 00:25:57,430
- How long have they worked for you?
- Do you know? I don't know.
371
00:25:57,514 --> 00:25:58,640
What happened?
372
00:25:58,723 --> 00:26:01,977
Would you say that the guards
screwed up in this thing?
373
00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:03,728
Or were they taken advantage of?
374
00:26:03,812 --> 00:26:06,314
The FBI's handling all of that.
We will...
375
00:26:06,398 --> 00:26:08,108
I don't have more to say now,
376
00:26:08,191 --> 00:26:12,654
but we will continually update you
if there is any new information.
377
00:26:15,073 --> 00:26:17,075
I was there that morning.
378
00:26:17,158 --> 00:26:20,954
And I think I was maybe
the first FBI agent on the scene.
379
00:26:21,037 --> 00:26:22,872
Boston PD was already there.
380
00:26:24,291 --> 00:26:28,336
This was designated as a major theft,
and I had responsibility
381
00:26:28,420 --> 00:26:31,089
for the violent crimes program,
which included
382
00:26:31,172 --> 00:26:34,759
kidnappings, bank robberies,
fugitives, that type of thing.
383
00:26:36,469 --> 00:26:39,347
As I recall,
they showed me the security area...
384
00:26:40,473 --> 00:26:42,475
that had been breached.
385
00:26:45,270 --> 00:26:48,690
These guys obviously had some idea
of what they were doing.
386
00:26:52,068 --> 00:26:56,197
I had to sit down
with the supervisor of the squad
387
00:26:56,281 --> 00:26:59,492
that would handle violent crime like this.
388
00:27:04,205 --> 00:27:05,624
We tried to figure out,
389
00:27:05,707 --> 00:27:08,585
"What do we do? Who do we look at?
390
00:27:09,711 --> 00:27:11,546
Where could these things have gone?"
391
00:27:15,133 --> 00:27:18,470
I only saw the guards briefly upstairs.
392
00:27:21,097 --> 00:27:24,184
There were other people
that were interviewing them...
393
00:27:25,644 --> 00:27:27,395
in this conference room.
394
00:27:37,530 --> 00:27:40,992
I could see on the security camera
looked like two cops out there.
395
00:27:43,328 --> 00:27:45,455
They come to the door, they rang the bell,
396
00:27:46,539 --> 00:27:48,041
and they said,
397
00:27:48,124 --> 00:27:52,587
"Boston Police. We got a report
of a disturbance on the premises."
398
00:27:54,756 --> 00:27:55,965
I buzzed them in.
399
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:02,597
They asked me if I was alone,
400
00:28:02,681 --> 00:28:05,975
and I said that no,
my partner was off doing a round.
401
00:28:06,059 --> 00:28:07,686
They said, "Get him down here."
402
00:28:09,437 --> 00:28:12,691
The cop turned to me and said,
"Don't I know you? Don't I recognize you?
403
00:28:12,774 --> 00:28:15,110
I think there's a warrant out
for your arrest.
404
00:28:15,694 --> 00:28:17,904
Can you step out from behind the desk?"
405
00:28:20,448 --> 00:28:22,325
And he said, "Up against the wall."
406
00:28:25,704 --> 00:28:29,833
The guy who was dealing with me
was taller and skinny...
407
00:28:31,501 --> 00:28:36,589
was wearing these gold frame
round glasses, if I remember correctly.
408
00:28:36,673 --> 00:28:37,673
He had a mustache.
409
00:28:39,426 --> 00:28:40,844
It looked really greasy.
410
00:28:41,511 --> 00:28:43,388
It was probably a fake mustache.
411
00:28:44,848 --> 00:28:46,015
And he handcuffed me.
412
00:28:48,852 --> 00:28:50,687
Cuffed my partner.
413
00:28:51,396 --> 00:28:52,939
Very dramatically said,
414
00:28:53,022 --> 00:28:55,150
"Gentlemen, this is a robbery."
415
00:28:59,904 --> 00:29:01,544
The FBI released these pictures
416
00:29:01,614 --> 00:29:05,368
after conversations with guards
at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
417
00:29:06,286 --> 00:29:09,247
Suspect number one
is described as a white male
418
00:29:09,330 --> 00:29:10,707
in his early 30s,
419
00:29:10,790 --> 00:29:15,044
approximately 5'10" tall, 160 pounds,
420
00:29:15,128 --> 00:29:18,256
dark hair,
and wearing gold wire-rim glasses.
421
00:29:19,048 --> 00:29:24,429
Suspect number two is described
as a white male in his early 30s also.
422
00:29:24,512 --> 00:29:27,015
Approximately 6" tall with dark hair.
423
00:29:29,934 --> 00:29:32,479
I don't think the sketches
was that reliable.
424
00:29:32,562 --> 00:29:35,148
How long did they see them?
Did they get a good look?
425
00:29:35,231 --> 00:29:37,233
Were they wearing fake mustaches?
426
00:29:38,485 --> 00:29:40,820
Take a look at these composite drawings.
427
00:29:40,904 --> 00:29:45,033
They may, in a manner of speaking,
be worth several hundred million dollars.
428
00:29:45,116 --> 00:29:47,702
If, that is,
they bear a striking resemblance
429
00:29:47,786 --> 00:29:49,454
to the two men who inspired them.
430
00:29:54,918 --> 00:29:57,837
With something like this,
we try to take a minute,
431
00:29:57,921 --> 00:29:58,922
step back and say,
432
00:29:59,005 --> 00:30:01,132
"Okay, where do we go from here?"
433
00:30:02,967 --> 00:30:05,553
This is not a crime of opportunity.
434
00:30:05,637 --> 00:30:09,808
These guys were not dressing up
for Halloween in policeman's uniforms
435
00:30:09,891 --> 00:30:14,270
saying, "Gee, a good idea, let's go rob
the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum."
436
00:30:15,188 --> 00:30:16,981
You know, this was planned out.
437
00:30:18,274 --> 00:30:22,445
A lot of planning.
They had duct tape, handcuffs, uniform on.
438
00:30:22,529 --> 00:30:24,155
They were ready to get in.
439
00:30:25,448 --> 00:30:28,034
I've done organized crime cases for years.
440
00:30:28,117 --> 00:30:29,327
I've done wiretaps.
441
00:30:29,410 --> 00:30:31,579
I think I know
how criminals think and act.
442
00:30:33,540 --> 00:30:36,000
I don't think it was a cold call.
443
00:30:38,336 --> 00:30:41,256
You analyze the 13 pieces
that were stolen.
444
00:30:42,966 --> 00:30:45,718
It just seemed like they had
either cased the place
445
00:30:45,802 --> 00:30:49,472
or given specific information
about what to look for,
446
00:30:49,556 --> 00:30:51,057
what's on our shopping list.
447
00:30:52,058 --> 00:30:55,144
A finial off the Napoleonic flag?
448
00:30:56,312 --> 00:30:57,564
It's confounding.
449
00:30:57,647 --> 00:31:00,275
It's hard to figure out
why you would, in a museum,
450
00:31:00,358 --> 00:31:02,735
with priceless pieces of art,
451
00:31:02,819 --> 00:31:06,197
waste precious time with this finial
that is essentially worthless.
452
00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:10,869
They had taken a Chinese artifact.
453
00:31:11,494 --> 00:31:12,620
A Chinese ku.
454
00:31:12,704 --> 00:31:14,539
It's old, it's somewhat valuable,
455
00:31:14,622 --> 00:31:18,126
but not even close to some of the other
items of art just in that room.
456
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,630
Was the Chinese artifact a diversion?
457
00:31:24,299 --> 00:31:28,428
There was one self-portrait of Rembrandt
where his eyes follow you around the room.
458
00:31:29,470 --> 00:31:32,432
They tried to steal that
and they took it down off the wall,
459
00:31:32,515 --> 00:31:34,726
and for some reason, it was left behind.
460
00:31:34,809 --> 00:31:38,354
And they don't know if it was
just too big or they forgot it.
461
00:31:39,564 --> 00:31:42,191
One thing that stuck out
was the Rembrandt etching.
462
00:31:42,275 --> 00:31:45,403
It's the size of a postage stamp.
The frame isn't much bigger.
463
00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:48,990
And yet somebody wasted time
unscrewing that
464
00:31:49,073 --> 00:31:50,950
and then taking apart the whole frame
465
00:31:51,659 --> 00:31:53,161
and taking only the etching.
466
00:31:53,244 --> 00:31:56,706
Right, if you're carrying out
the biggest heist in history
467
00:31:57,290 --> 00:31:59,334
and you dunno
if the police are coming,
468
00:31:59,417 --> 00:32:02,086
and you have limited time
to get valuable artwork,
469
00:32:02,170 --> 00:32:05,298
are you gonna waste time
with an etching that isn't that expensive,
470
00:32:05,381 --> 00:32:08,468
waste precious moments
taking it out of a frame
471
00:32:08,551 --> 00:32:10,887
that you could
stick in your pocket regardless?
472
00:32:11,387 --> 00:32:12,555
I would say no.
473
00:32:14,098 --> 00:32:15,808
The paintings themselves,
474
00:32:16,726 --> 00:32:20,271
everybody knows about it
so you can't sell 'em on the market.
475
00:32:20,355 --> 00:32:22,106
At least not on the open market.
476
00:32:22,190 --> 00:32:24,025
Sold, 43 million.
477
00:32:24,108 --> 00:32:27,028
Even at a time
when prices are setting records,
478
00:32:27,111 --> 00:32:31,074
dealers and curators say these paintings
would be difficult to fence.
479
00:32:31,157 --> 00:32:33,618
Many believe they were hired
to steal what they took.
480
00:32:34,327 --> 00:32:36,579
But unless they had a buyer
already lined up,
481
00:32:36,663 --> 00:32:39,874
it may have been one of the dumber
robberies in recent history.
482
00:32:40,583 --> 00:32:42,794
Given that these pieces are well-known,
483
00:32:42,877 --> 00:32:45,880
who could possibly keep them?
484
00:32:45,964 --> 00:32:48,257
That's a very good question.
485
00:32:48,341 --> 00:32:51,469
Only probably a person who is determined
486
00:32:51,552 --> 00:32:53,930
to keep them private
for the rest of their life.
487
00:32:54,597 --> 00:32:56,933
Some masterpieces are so valuable,
488
00:32:57,016 --> 00:32:58,685
they may be too hot to sell.
489
00:32:58,768 --> 00:33:00,228
Which raises the question:
490
00:33:00,311 --> 00:33:02,438
were these thieves
working for a collector?
491
00:33:05,108 --> 00:33:06,776
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
492
00:33:06,859 --> 00:33:10,238
is the only seascape
that Rembrandt ever painted.
493
00:33:10,822 --> 00:33:13,449
Who is gonna have that
in their living room?
494
00:33:14,993 --> 00:33:16,744
We started speculating.
495
00:33:16,828 --> 00:33:21,833
"Well, maybe it's a... oligarch in Russia,
and he's got it in his basement
496
00:33:21,916 --> 00:33:25,086
and he goes down there
and he looks at it."
497
00:33:25,169 --> 00:33:28,798
You know, the only Rembrandt seascape
in existence.
498
00:33:31,634 --> 00:33:34,971
A lot of people have speculated
that it was a Dr. No theory.
499
00:33:39,267 --> 00:33:44,772
Some rich oil baron or billionaire
wanted these particular items,
500
00:33:44,856 --> 00:33:47,275
and they paid a crew
to carry out the robbery.
501
00:33:49,736 --> 00:33:53,740
It's somebody probably looks like
a villain from one of the Bond movies.
502
00:33:53,823 --> 00:33:55,867
He's sitting there with his cognac
503
00:33:56,451 --> 00:33:59,162
and his trophy wife
or girlfriend next to him
504
00:33:59,245 --> 00:34:01,998
admiring the art that was stolen
from the Gardner.
505
00:34:02,081 --> 00:34:04,959
I was the unwanted child
of a German missionary
506
00:34:05,043 --> 00:34:07,045
and a Chinese girl of good family.
507
00:34:07,712 --> 00:34:09,797
Any thought that these paintings
508
00:34:09,881 --> 00:34:14,052
are hung on the walls of Mr. Big
509
00:34:14,135 --> 00:34:16,220
who has them stolen to order
510
00:34:16,304 --> 00:34:17,513
is utter rubbish.
511
00:34:19,432 --> 00:34:21,809
The problem with your Dr. No theory...
512
00:34:22,727 --> 00:34:24,937
is that as soon as he's commissioned it,
513
00:34:25,521 --> 00:34:28,816
and the thieves see there's,
in the case of the Gardner Museum,
514
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:31,486
a reward for information
leading to the recovery,
515
00:34:31,569 --> 00:34:33,821
what are they gonna do?
They're gonna cash in.
516
00:34:35,031 --> 00:34:38,034
They're gonna set the guy up
and get their reward.
517
00:34:38,117 --> 00:34:41,788
No.
Dr. Nos and so on don't exist.
518
00:34:43,581 --> 00:34:45,917
You get some
very professional criminals.
519
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,045
But they don't know how to handle art,
what to do with art.
520
00:34:49,128 --> 00:34:50,922
And that's usually their undoing.
521
00:34:53,382 --> 00:34:55,802
Where you've got a professional art thief,
522
00:34:55,885 --> 00:34:58,262
the theft is professional, it's skilled.
523
00:34:59,931 --> 00:35:02,016
The artwork has been taken
524
00:35:02,100 --> 00:35:04,727
because they know
how they're gonna dispose of it.
525
00:35:04,811 --> 00:35:06,479
That's when you've got a problem.
526
00:35:19,033 --> 00:35:20,952
My name is Steven George Xiarhos.
527
00:35:21,035 --> 00:35:24,038
I'm the deputy chief of police
here in Yarmouth.
528
00:35:27,834 --> 00:35:31,671
Yarmouth is historic, quaint, quiet.
529
00:35:33,214 --> 00:35:36,342
And, looking back,
a good place to commit a crime.
530
00:35:39,554 --> 00:35:43,683
So, in '88,
I get called out to this scene.
531
00:35:44,767 --> 00:35:49,063
Pulling up to this beautiful museum,
the Bangs Hallet House,
532
00:35:49,814 --> 00:35:55,319
and seeing the immediate aftermath
of a really serious crime.
533
00:35:56,821 --> 00:36:01,200
They went in the back door,
they overpowered the caretaker,
534
00:36:01,826 --> 00:36:05,580
tied her up,
taped her mouth shut, her eyes,
535
00:36:06,789 --> 00:36:08,416
then stole all of these items.
536
00:36:15,506 --> 00:36:17,383
They knew what they were looking for,
537
00:36:17,466 --> 00:36:18,676
they had been inside,
538
00:36:19,343 --> 00:36:21,345
and they were very successful.
539
00:36:22,597 --> 00:36:23,806
And then disappeared.
540
00:36:25,266 --> 00:36:29,145
So you start putting pieces together.
You work with local police,
541
00:36:29,228 --> 00:36:32,064
and then state police, and then federal.
542
00:36:32,148 --> 00:36:36,611
And through all that, that name came up,
this man named Myles Connor.
543
00:36:38,029 --> 00:36:41,741
Myles Connor,
a legendary outlaw from Massachusetts.
544
00:36:42,450 --> 00:36:46,871
In 1975, he stole a Rembrandt
from the Museum of Fine Arts.
545
00:36:55,796 --> 00:36:59,800
I first met him,
I believe it was in Mattapan Square,
546
00:37:01,260 --> 00:37:05,014
when he had either a cougar
or a mountain lion on a leash.
547
00:37:06,641 --> 00:37:09,477
I said, "That's Myles Connor."
And I introduced myself.
548
00:37:11,604 --> 00:37:12,939
And I followed his career.
549
00:37:19,820 --> 00:37:22,073
And then got to represent him.
550
00:37:30,206 --> 00:37:31,666
Myles was the man.
551
00:37:35,294 --> 00:37:37,046
He could play the guitar and sing.
552
00:37:38,839 --> 00:37:40,633
And he put on a great show.
553
00:37:41,884 --> 00:37:44,470
He might've been really a big star,
554
00:37:44,553 --> 00:37:49,100
but everything always was interrupted
by his other activities.
555
00:37:50,393 --> 00:37:53,312
Myles Connor.
Yeah. He did a show at the...
556
00:37:53,396 --> 00:37:55,773
- The Beachcomber?
- Yeah, exactly that.
557
00:38:05,408 --> 00:38:07,910
My wife in her younger days
would go there
558
00:38:07,994 --> 00:38:11,622
with her sisters and a few friends
and see his shows.
559
00:38:22,717 --> 00:38:24,802
He was a robber, a thief...
560
00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:26,804
a killer.
561
00:38:34,312 --> 00:38:36,439
Depends upon whom you ask,
562
00:38:37,023 --> 00:38:40,276
but in general,
I'm known as an art thief.
563
00:38:40,359 --> 00:38:42,069
And some people...
564
00:38:43,070 --> 00:38:46,949
consider me the biggest art thief
in this country
565
00:38:47,033 --> 00:38:49,368
because I've robbed a number of museums.
566
00:38:49,452 --> 00:38:52,413
But then again,
I was a rock and roll guy.
567
00:38:52,496 --> 00:38:55,207
♪ Smoke rainbows
The halo out... ♪
568
00:38:55,291 --> 00:38:57,251
Myles Joseph Connor Jr.
569
00:38:57,335 --> 00:38:59,628
His father was a police officer,
570
00:38:59,712 --> 00:39:02,465
his step-brother
was a state police officer,
571
00:39:02,548 --> 00:39:04,967
his other brother is a priest.
572
00:39:05,051 --> 00:39:07,887
His favorite line was,
"Where did they go wrong?"
573
00:39:08,471 --> 00:39:09,555
He was a criminal.
574
00:39:12,683 --> 00:39:15,895
He was this 5'7 ", 5'8" guy
575
00:39:15,978 --> 00:39:17,438
with this booming voice.
576
00:39:18,105 --> 00:39:21,359
He was a member of Mensa,
he was like, brilliant.
577
00:39:21,442 --> 00:39:23,694
He has a doctor's knowledge
of human anatomy,
578
00:39:23,778 --> 00:39:25,905
and is a student of Eastern philosophy.
579
00:39:25,988 --> 00:39:29,742
He was always pulling off
crazy capers and getting into trouble.
580
00:39:30,326 --> 00:39:32,453
Anybody in law enforcement
that hears my name,
581
00:39:32,536 --> 00:39:38,125
I'm sure must think that I'm running
second neck-to-neck to Attila the Hun.
582
00:39:38,626 --> 00:39:42,380
He robbed museums up in Maine,
he had shootouts with police.
583
00:39:44,965 --> 00:39:48,594
Myles was shot three, four, five times
at once.
584
00:39:48,677 --> 00:39:51,597
And went through surgery
without anesthesia.
585
00:39:53,057 --> 00:39:56,685
He was the definition,
the quintessential art thief.
586
00:40:14,620 --> 00:40:17,039
When this crime happened in Yarmouth,
587
00:40:17,748 --> 00:40:19,208
we tried to find him.
588
00:40:20,292 --> 00:40:23,921
One day, I'm in my office
and I get a phone call.
589
00:40:24,004 --> 00:40:26,799
"Detective,
I heard you were looking for me.
590
00:40:26,882 --> 00:40:28,467
My name is Myles Connor."
591
00:40:29,385 --> 00:40:31,512
He said, "Yes, that's my thing,
592
00:40:32,471 --> 00:40:35,433
but I want you to know
I had nothing to do with this."
593
00:40:37,268 --> 00:40:39,395
No one really saw anything,
594
00:40:39,979 --> 00:40:42,356
but the cop in me wants to lock him up.
595
00:40:53,492 --> 00:40:55,619
Take a peek here if you want to.
596
00:40:55,703 --> 00:41:00,374
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine.
597
00:41:00,458 --> 00:41:04,170
No, I think that's wrong.
Actually 11 to 12.
598
00:41:04,253 --> 00:41:05,254
You lose count.
599
00:41:10,634 --> 00:41:13,888
When the Gardner Museum happened,
yeah, we thought back to this.
600
00:41:13,971 --> 00:41:15,806
It wasn't too long after, you know.
601
00:41:17,308 --> 00:41:20,311
Whoever did this, that's their world.
602
00:41:21,228 --> 00:41:22,271
Art theft.
603
00:41:22,938 --> 00:41:26,025
It's not like breaking into a house
and stealing a TV.
604
00:41:26,901 --> 00:41:28,319
This is different.
605
00:41:30,070 --> 00:41:31,906
Whoever did this and Gardner,
606
00:41:31,989 --> 00:41:35,117
in my opinion, may be connected.
607
00:41:36,744 --> 00:41:40,623
They absolutely have done it before,
they probably did it again,
608
00:41:41,290 --> 00:41:43,876
and that's professional thieves.
609
00:41:45,711 --> 00:41:47,713
How many art heists have you done?
610
00:41:48,214 --> 00:41:50,049
Probably 30. Thirty-plus.
611
00:41:50,758 --> 00:41:53,010
How many
did the authorities know about?
612
00:41:54,345 --> 00:41:55,429
Very little.
613
00:41:56,931 --> 00:42:00,476
He was so well-prepared to do something.
614
00:42:00,559 --> 00:42:02,269
You just don't go into a museum...
615
00:42:03,229 --> 00:42:05,564
and decide to take a painting.
616
00:42:06,857 --> 00:42:09,818
It's the getaway
that's the big thing here.
617
00:42:10,903 --> 00:42:14,114
And Myles was a great escape artist.
618
00:42:15,741 --> 00:42:18,953
He had always said, not necessarily to me,
619
00:42:19,036 --> 00:42:22,498
that the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,
620
00:42:22,581 --> 00:42:24,500
that that was on his bucket list.
621
00:42:28,671 --> 00:42:31,840
Any reasonable person on the planet
would assume
622
00:42:31,924 --> 00:42:34,176
that you masterminded it
from the beginning.
623
00:42:34,260 --> 00:42:36,762
Myles Connor,
the biggest art thief in the city.
624
00:42:36,845 --> 00:42:38,847
He would be suspect number one.
625
00:42:41,308 --> 00:42:43,978
If he wasn't in jail
at the time that this happened...
626
00:42:46,313 --> 00:42:49,942
On the day of the robbery
of the Gardner Museum,
627
00:42:50,025 --> 00:42:51,777
I was in federal custody.
628
00:42:53,028 --> 00:42:57,283
The FBI nailed him in a sting
involving art he'd stolen years before.
629
00:42:57,366 --> 00:42:59,368
The judge gave him 11 years.
630
00:42:59,868 --> 00:43:02,830
Which means that when the Gardner
was hit in 1990,
631
00:43:02,913 --> 00:43:06,500
the master thief Myles Connor
was behind bars.
632
00:43:09,295 --> 00:43:12,298
But there's a saying that the guards came
633
00:43:12,381 --> 00:43:15,593
and knocked on my cell door
to make sure I was there.
634
00:43:16,343 --> 00:43:19,972
But I think that's more legend
than it is fact.
635
00:43:30,983 --> 00:43:32,818
I think there was a feeling
636
00:43:32,901 --> 00:43:35,404
that somehow
this would shake out fairly quickly.
637
00:43:38,198 --> 00:43:39,783
And then as time dragged on,
638
00:43:39,867 --> 00:43:43,871
they realized this stuff was just
way too hot to handle,
639
00:43:43,954 --> 00:43:45,956
that it was gonna take some time.
640
00:43:51,837 --> 00:43:55,382
I started in Public Corruption
March of 2010.
641
00:43:56,175 --> 00:43:58,636
My first week was the 20th anniversary.
642
00:44:02,014 --> 00:44:04,391
It was a cold case, it was 20 years old,
643
00:44:04,475 --> 00:44:07,811
so I took time going back through,
looking at other angles.
644
00:44:08,979 --> 00:44:12,274
I wanna take this through step by step
how it happened.
645
00:44:12,358 --> 00:44:14,401
Not only minute by minute,
but second by second.
646
00:44:14,485 --> 00:44:16,195
How did this thing play out?
647
00:44:17,863 --> 00:44:19,907
And how many things had to go right
648
00:44:19,990 --> 00:44:22,451
for these two robbers
to still not be caught?
649
00:44:32,378 --> 00:44:36,965
What we know
is that 23-year-old Richard Abath,
650
00:44:37,049 --> 00:44:39,635
sort of a music school dropout,
651
00:44:41,553 --> 00:44:42,888
is on duty that night.
652
00:44:48,060 --> 00:44:49,520
Maybe around midnight or so,
653
00:44:50,312 --> 00:44:53,691
Rick Abath takes the first shift
to do the rounds upstairs.
654
00:44:54,441 --> 00:44:57,444
He says there were fire alarms going off,
655
00:44:57,528 --> 00:45:00,531
and that he ends up
shutting off the fire alarm.
656
00:45:16,505 --> 00:45:19,800
He comes down and relieves
the other guard at the desk.
657
00:45:20,843 --> 00:45:24,513
But what he does is
he opens the outside door
658
00:45:24,596 --> 00:45:28,684
and shuts it about 10 minutes
before the thieves show up.
659
00:45:34,022 --> 00:45:35,691
The first thing we know
660
00:45:35,774 --> 00:45:38,777
is that outside door
that they entered through
661
00:45:38,861 --> 00:45:42,281
was open 15, 20 minutes
before they enter it.
662
00:45:42,865 --> 00:45:43,865
Why?
663
00:45:44,867 --> 00:45:47,786
So, now at 1:24 a.m.,
664
00:45:47,870 --> 00:45:50,831
two men dressed as police officers
show up at the door.
665
00:45:50,914 --> 00:45:53,542
They say they're there
to investigate a disturbance.
666
00:45:54,251 --> 00:45:56,920
Rick Abath says he buzzed the door
and let them in.
667
00:45:59,965 --> 00:46:04,178
They say, "I might have a warrant
for your arrest. Step away from the desk."
668
00:46:06,263 --> 00:46:08,766
Now he's removed himself
from the only place
669
00:46:08,849 --> 00:46:11,059
where he can get help from the outside.
670
00:46:11,143 --> 00:46:13,937
There's a button
that will alert Boston Police
671
00:46:14,021 --> 00:46:15,981
that there's a problem at the museum.
672
00:46:17,566 --> 00:46:19,568
And now the thieves spend
673
00:46:19,651 --> 00:46:23,530
81 minutes in the museum,
helping themselves.
674
00:46:26,658 --> 00:46:29,703
Ten minutes in a robbery
seems like an eternity.
675
00:46:30,829 --> 00:46:33,874
That's what has always stood out for me,
676
00:46:33,957 --> 00:46:35,834
the fact they were comfortable enough
677
00:46:35,918 --> 00:46:37,961
to be in there for 81 minutes.
678
00:46:40,005 --> 00:46:42,257
That's an incredibly long time to spend
679
00:46:42,341 --> 00:46:45,969
when you have people tied up
and you don't know if police are coming.
680
00:46:47,387 --> 00:46:49,014
Another peculiar thing.
681
00:46:49,097 --> 00:46:52,184
In the Dutch Room,
there was a secret panel.
682
00:46:52,267 --> 00:46:56,063
There's a door that leads downstairs,
and it was slightly ajar
683
00:46:56,146 --> 00:46:58,649
when the investigators
arrived that morning.
684
00:46:59,399 --> 00:47:01,485
Which also raised the question,
685
00:47:01,568 --> 00:47:03,111
who'd know there was a door?
686
00:47:05,030 --> 00:47:07,241
There were security cameras,
687
00:47:07,324 --> 00:47:09,993
but the thieves knew
where the VHS system was,
688
00:47:10,077 --> 00:47:11,912
so they took tape from that evening.
689
00:47:14,122 --> 00:47:17,501
We know that at least one
of the proximity detectors went off.
690
00:47:18,836 --> 00:47:19,962
I think the Rembrandt.
691
00:47:22,256 --> 00:47:24,091
If an alarm like that goes off,
692
00:47:24,842 --> 00:47:28,011
typically they get out of there,
in case that alerted somebody.
693
00:47:29,012 --> 00:47:30,347
But these thieves didn't.
694
00:47:32,641 --> 00:47:36,770
I don't see how this was pulled off
without inside information.
695
00:47:43,819 --> 00:47:45,821
My understanding is at the guard desk,
696
00:47:45,904 --> 00:47:47,906
there was an old printer there
697
00:47:47,990 --> 00:47:51,618
that prints out
the motion detector alarms.
698
00:47:55,831 --> 00:47:59,293
Somebody took that.
They took the printout, the paper.
699
00:48:00,168 --> 00:48:02,588
But it was 1990,
so they probably didn't realize
700
00:48:02,671 --> 00:48:06,508
that there was a hard drive somewhere...
that had the data.
701
00:48:11,847 --> 00:48:16,351
The most peculiar thing about
what happened during those 81 minutes
702
00:48:17,060 --> 00:48:21,899
is that most of the stolen artwork
was taken from the Dutch Room.
703
00:48:22,983 --> 00:48:27,029
There were also some items
taken from the Short Gallery.
704
00:48:27,613 --> 00:48:28,655
The Chez Tortoni
705
00:48:28,739 --> 00:48:34,036
is the only piece
that was stolen on the first floor,
706
00:48:34,870 --> 00:48:36,872
from the Blue Room.
707
00:48:36,955 --> 00:48:40,959
And the only person
that the hard drive can show
708
00:48:41,043 --> 00:48:42,753
whose steps went into that room...
709
00:49:00,062 --> 00:49:01,521
...were those of Richard Abath...
710
00:49:03,690 --> 00:49:05,943
when he was doing his rounds
in the museum.
711
00:49:11,281 --> 00:49:14,993
Best we can tell in the data,
they never entered that room.
712
00:49:16,244 --> 00:49:19,373
So, that means somebody
either took it off the wall before...
713
00:49:20,415 --> 00:49:23,460
or after the police got there.
714
00:49:25,128 --> 00:49:26,630
♪ I know ♪
715
00:49:27,589 --> 00:49:29,091
♪ Something about ♪
716
00:49:30,092 --> 00:49:33,345
♪ Opening windows and doors ♪
717
00:49:33,428 --> 00:49:36,223
I think it happened before the robbery.
718
00:49:36,306 --> 00:49:37,891
♪ I know ♪
719
00:49:37,975 --> 00:49:39,977
♪ How to move quietly ♪
720
00:49:40,060 --> 00:49:42,771
♪ To creep across creaky wooden floors ♪
721
00:49:42,854 --> 00:49:46,274
Number one,
you've gotta look at the inner circle.
722
00:49:46,358 --> 00:49:47,484
♪ I know ♪
723
00:49:48,235 --> 00:49:50,904
♪ Where to find precious things ♪
724
00:49:50,988 --> 00:49:53,824
♪ In all your cupboards and drawers ♪
725
00:49:54,449 --> 00:49:56,493
Looking at it through today's lens,
726
00:49:56,576 --> 00:49:57,411
the question is,
727
00:49:57,494 --> 00:50:01,164
"Whoa, why wasn't there immediately
a lot of focus on Richard Abath?"
728
00:50:05,877 --> 00:50:07,921
Once I sat down with the FBI,
729
00:50:09,089 --> 00:50:10,090
I... I knew.
730
00:50:12,342 --> 00:50:15,262
I was like,
"I'm the guy who opened up the door.
731
00:50:15,345 --> 00:50:17,055
They're gonna be looking at me."