FBI confident on a 23-year-old $500-million art heist, offers reward

The theives spent 81 minutes taking over 500 Million Dollars worth of art from  Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. To the day 23 years later the FBI know who did the crime.

"We have identified the thieves who are members of a criminal organization with a base in the mid-Atlantic states and New England," said Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office.

On the night of March 18, 1990, two thieves posed as Boston police officers. Once inside the museum, they tied up the guards and left with 13 masterpieces, including works by Degas and Rembrandt, valued at a total of $500 million.

"The FBI believes with a high degree of confidence in the years after the theft the art was transported to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region and some of the art was taken to Philadelphia where it was offered for sale by those responsible for the theft," DesLauriers said.

The announcement today marks a huge break in the case for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where 13 empty frames have hung on the walls for the past 23 years.

Anthony Amore, the museum's chief of security, highlighted a $5 million reward for "information that leads directly to the recovery of all of our items in good condition."

Authorities urged those who are in possession of the art to turn it in, whether they leave it at a church, go through an attorney, or find another way to anonymously return it.

"As we have said in the past, the U.S. Attorney's Office will consider the possibility of immunity from criminal prosecution for information that leads to the return of the paintings based on the set of facts and circumstances brought to our attention. Our primary goal is, and always has been, to have the paintings returned," Ortiz said.

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