Twenty-five years ago this
month, two thieves dressed as police officers tricked their way into the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and stole 13 important works of art.
In 81 minutes, they cut the 1.5
metre tall Sea of Galilee painting by Rembrandt out of its frame, along with
precious art from Manet, Vermeer and Degas.
Pulitzer Prize winning writer
Stephen Kurkjian has written a book on the crime, Master Thieves: The Boston
Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist.
"It's a disgrace that this
crime has not been solved," Mr Kurkijan says.
When the buzzer rang at 1.24am
at the museum, the guard saw two men in police uniforms and let them in.
They asked him to step away
from his desk and he complied.
"[The guard's] favourite
band, the Grateful Dead, was playing the following day," Mr Kurkjian says.
"He desperately wanted to
go to that concert. He knew if he did not comply with what the men who he presumed
were police said, he would be arrested and he would miss that concert."
The guard and the only other
man on duty were tied up and the thieves went to work, slashing works from
their frames and breaking glass.
"Did they know what they
were looking for? Yes," Mr Kurkjian says.
"They were not collecting
commissioned art work to order like say Dr. No in a James Bond movie. This is
the work of thugs. That gives me an idea as to the kind of people who made
their way into the museum."
Mr Kurkjian has spent 20 years
researching the heist, and says he discovered a link with organized crime in
Boston.
He says Boston gang leaders
believed they could use the masterpieces to negotiate with the FBI.
"It made sense that if you
get artwork and the FBI wants it dearly enough to get it back, they will do
business with you," says Mr Kurkjian.
After 25 years, and a
longstanding $5 million reward, none of the artwork has ever been recovered.
"It's not common knowledge
who pulled off this score," according to Mr Kurkjian.
"My sense is the people
who did this got scared they were going to get arrested and most of them got
killed before they could say what happened to it."
Empty frames still hang where
the Rembrandt and Vermeer once graced the museum walls.
Mr Kurkjian is convinced the
paintings would one day return to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
"I do believe there are
members of the bad guy's family who know pieces of the puzzle and if those
people can be appealed to, it can be recovered. This artwork is our collective
treasure. It belongs to all of us."