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The six-minute,
40-second video shows a young white man with a short jacket
being let in by the guard through a rear entrance to the museum
shortly after midnight on March 17, 1990, about 24 hours before
the heist.
The statute of limitations on the crime has long passed, meaning
that if the thieves are found they will not face prosecution.
But the FBI, the Boston office of the Justice Department and the
museum hope to recover the art.
"This latest request for the public's assistance illustrates the
FBI's continued commitment to the Gardner investigation," said
Vincent Lisi, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in Boston. "By releasing this video, we hope to
generate meaningful leads and ultimately recover the stolen
artwork."
The newly released grainy video shows a car pulling up to the
museum that matches the description of a vehicle spotted outside
shortly before the heist.
The theft occurred when two men dressed as police officers were
admitted by security guards to the museum in the early morning
hours of March 18, 1990. They allegedly went on to overpower the
guards who were found duct-taped to chairs in the museum's
basement the next morning.
Works of art including Rembrandt's "Storm on the Sea of
Galilee," Vermeer's "The Concert" and Manet's "Chez Tortoni,"
were among the 13 pieces stolen from the museum, which features
the collection of the eccentric Boston socialite Gardner.
Due to a quirk in Gardner's will, the empty frames from which
the paintings were cut still hang on the museum's walls.
The video is one of several avenues investigators are pursuing
in their attempt to recover the art.
They also have filed a gun charge against Robert Gentile, 79, of
Connecticut, who has a criminal record dating to the 1960s and
in whose home FBI investigators found police uniforms and a
handwritten list of the stolen art.
Gentile contends he has been arrested twice in an attempt to
extract information about the heist but says he knows nothing.
(Corrects description in 2nd paragraph of person admitted by
guard to make clear he was young rather than in his 50s or 60s)
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott)
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