Mobster Linked to Gardner Museum Heist Arrested Again

Photo Illustration by Marco Prozzo for “The Art of the Story”

Robert V. Gentile, the last surviving person of interest in the infamous 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist, was arrested in Connecticut Friday on a gun charge.

Gentile, 78, was arrested while meeting with probation officials and charged with selling a weapon to an undercover agent, his attorney A. Ryan McGuigan told WCVB. McGuigan expects the arrest is related to the federal investigation into the long unsolved heist.

“It would be a hell of a coincidence [if it isn’t],” McGuigan said.

On March 18, 1990, two men dressed as Boston cops absconded with 13 works of art worth between $200-500 million. No arrests have been made in connection to the case, and no artwork has been recovered. Their frames remain hanging in the museum—part indefatigable hope, part haunting reminder.

McGuigan told the Globe that his client has “never seen the paintings nor does he have any idea as to the whereabouts of the paintings.”

Gentile is no stranger to trouble with the law. Authorities raided his Manchester home in 2012 and found a list of the 13 missing works and their respective worths. Gentile proceeded to fail a polygraph test, indicating a 99 percent chance that he was lying when he denied any knowledge of the paintings’ whereabouts, prosecutors said.

Gentile recently spent two years in jail on gun charges and charges of selling prescription drugs to an FBI informant.

The museum has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the works in good condition.