The Biggest Unsolved Art Heist Happened 35 Years Ago: Why Lead Investigator Believes 'Paintings Will Be Recovered'

It's a good thing Anthony Amore does not give up easily.

For the past 20 years, the renowned security expert has been trying to crack the biggest, unsolved art heist in history at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, when two thieves made off with more than $500 million worth of masterpieces in 1990.

Since being hired in 2005 as the museum’s Director of Security and Chief Investigator, Amore has worked tirelessly to determine who stole 13 works of art — including pieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, Degas — and, more importantly, to recover them.

Speaking to PEOPLE a few days ahead of the heist’s 35th anniversary, Amore said that when he took the job in 2005, “little did I know it would completely dominate my life for the next 20 years. But it's an honor to get to work for this institution.”

“I speak to the FBI about it every day,” adds Amore, who previously worked at the Department of Homeland Security, where he helped rebuild security at Logan Airport after the 9/11 attacks.  “We're fielding emails and calls all the time,” he says. “A couple a day, typically."

Most of the "tips," alas, are just theories. "People love true crime, so they try to figure it out themselves and they send me their theories,” he says. “We are looking for leads and tips from people who have actual information. We appeal to people who have the facts.”

One of the biggest misconceptions the public has is that a team of slick professional thieves — like those depicted in The Thomas Crown Affair or Ocean’s 8 — committed the high-profile theft.

“That’s movie stuff,” says Amore. 

Another false belief is that daring thieves stole the pieces on behalf of a wealthy mover and shaker who is holding the art somewhere in a private collection.

“That never happens in real life,” says Amore, a New York Times bestselling author whose fourth book, The Rembrandt Heist, debuts in November.

How the Thieves Pulled it Off

The M.O. in the Gardner heist is much more prosaic than what people see on the silver screen. At 1:24 a.m., March 18, 1990, two thieves dressed as police officers told the guard on duty they were responding to a call about a disturbance at the museum.

The unwitting guard let them inside. Moments later, the pair handcuffed the two night guards and put them in the basement while they headed to the Dutch Room on the second floor. There they cut Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee and other works from their frames.

At 2:45 a.m., the thieves disappeared into the darkness of the night — and with them, some of the most precious artworks the world has ever seen.

Where Could the Pieces Be?

Prefacing his answer by saying the stolen art “could be anywhere, of course,” Amore replies, “if you look at history in terms of what happens to masterpieces like this, the overwhelming number of cases in the United States indicate that the pieces stay pretty close to where they were stolen.”

Most likely, the pieces were swiped by “common local criminals,” he says. 

No one has ever been arrested for stealing the artwork. Over the years, many names have been floated as possible suspects, such as alleged gangster Robert Gentile. 

“I can’t speak to any suspects but I will speak about him,” he says, noting that Gentile died (in 2021 at age 85.) “We have overwhelming evidence that points to him knowing something. But the value of it, we can't say because we don't know what it was. He took it to his grave.”

Does Amore think the case will ever be solved?

“Yes,” he says. “I think that one day the paintings will be recovered. And that's my definition of solved. The only thing in the world I'm interested in is getting the paintings back on the wall. I don't care about the fate of who has them. My interest is not in any sort of prosecution, just recovering our paintings.”

He notes that the loss of the art is about more than just its monetary value.

“Isabella Stewart Gardner made this as a collective work of art,” he says. “And when pieces go missing, her collective work of art is left less than whole.” 

Even after the Dutch Room's extensive restoration, the empty frames where the masterpieces once hung remain. “They are symbols of hope to the public that our paintings will come back,” he says.

(For a fun, fictionalized take on the heist, check out the new film, Any Day Now, premiering Friday, March 21, and starring Paul Guilfoyle (Saturday Night),  Taylor Gray (L.A. Confidential) and Alexandra Templer (Only Murders in the Building). The film was named an Audience Favorite Feature at the 2024 Boston Film Festival. Click on this link to see the trailer.)

The museum is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the works.