As reported by Sarah Cascone of artnet.com, Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum may still be missing its beloved Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer paintings (although thanks to the Google Art Project, they can be viewed online), but the names of the perpetrators of the notorious crime have finally been released. As first reported by Breitbart News, citing sources within the FBI, the two robbers were George Reissfelder and Lenny DiMuzio, both of whom died within a year of the 1990 heist. The hunt for the paintings from the robbery continues.
The two men belonged to the crew of local criminal Carmello Merlino, who was first mentioned in connection with the 25-year-old robbery back in 1992. Reissfelder and DiMuzio have also been suspects in the case for many years, but their role in the burglary is only now being confirmed.
The FBI announced last year that they had identified who was responsible and have revealed details about the investigation over the years but declined to name names.
Reissfelder, a career criminal, was only free to commit the notorious crime because he was cleared of a murder charge in 1982. His court-appointed lawyer was John Kerry, now Secretary of State. It would appear that John Kerry was involved incidentally and tangentially in the Gardner Museum Heist.
Kerry was appointed by the court to defend Reissfelder during his appeal, after the other man involved in the killing gave a death bed confession identifying another criminal as his accomplice.
After Reissfelder was released, he and Kerry, then a candidate for lieutenant governor, went out for a celebratory beer, an occasion that made local newscasts. Before long, however, Reissfelder was back to his criminal ways, including the Gardner job.
Merlino arranged the now infamous heist (possibly at the behest of another, unknown party), in which Reissfelder and DiMuzio dressed as Boston police officers in order to trick the night watchmen into letting them in.
Then, they took their time, stealing 13 artworks, including Rembrandt's only seascape, “The Storm in the Sea of Galilee,” and Vermeer's “The Concert.”
Less than a year later, however, Reissfelder died from a drug overdose, and DiMuzio was murdered, possibly because Merlino discovered a planned coup he was leading.
Merlino died in 2005 from diabetes.
Image courtesy of artnet.com.