Thirteen Perfect Fugitives
The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World's Largest Art Heist
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3.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The true story of the world’s largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case.
On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of a disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world’s most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt’s only known seascape. The total loss associated with this robbery has been estimated at over $1 billion.
Based on meticulous investigations conducted to the standards required of an FBI special agent, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives offers author Geoffrey Kelly’s insights and theories about the infamous heist.
Customer Reviews
A Colossal Failure
This book is about a colossal FBI failure which the author (an ex-FBI agent himself) wears as some kind of badge of honor. Priceless art was stolen from The Gardener Museum and not a single piece has been recovered in more than 30 years.
If the FBI cannot find Nancy Guthrie despite the fact that 500 agents have been assigned to the case, how on earth can they retrieve a billion dollars worth of art with only two agents on the job? It also doesn’t help that the FBI considers museum theft a brand of shoplifting and doesn’t warrant a high priority. Years ago an FBI agent told me the bureau is primarily focused on optics. If it’s sexy, like busting a child porn ring, that makes the agency look good on the evening news, that’s all that’s important.
If you’re interested in a better account of the robbery, read “The Gardener Heist” by Boser.