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FBI returns to home of man linked to $500M Boston art heist

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"article-text">&NewLine;<h1><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;2e0606&semi;"><span class&equals;"dateline"> <&sol;span>Federal authorities returned on Monday to search the Connecticut property of reputed mobster suspected of having knowledge about unsolved 1990 theft at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum&comma; Boston<&sol;span><br &sol;>&NewLine;<span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;2e0606&semi;"><br &sol;>&NewLine;Feds believe Robert Gentile&comma; 79&comma;  may hold key to the largest art heist in U&period;S&period; history<&sol;span><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<h1><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;2e0606&semi;">13 pieces of art estimated at &dollar;500 million  stolen&comma; never recovered&comma; including Rembrandt and Manet&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;No one has been arrested&period;<&sol;span><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"article-text">&NewLine;<h6><em><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-21647" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;empty&lowbar;frames&lowbar;at&lowbar;isabella&lowbar;stewart&lowbar;gardner&lowbar;museum&period;jpg" alt&equals;"empty&lowbar;frames&lowbar;at&lowbar;isabella&lowbar;stewart&lowbar;gardner&lowbar;museum" width&equals;"661" height&equals;"411" &sol;><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><span class&equals;"irc&lowbar;su" dir&equals;"ltr">Photo&colon; David L Ryan&sol;The Boston Globe&sol;Getty<br &sol;>&NewLine;A pair of anonymous antiques dealers say they can identify a major lead in the most famous American art heist in the last 30 years&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;span><&sol;em><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong><span class&equals;"irc&lowbar;su" dir&equals;"ltr"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-21649" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;p25&lowbar;raid&lowbar;vans&period;jpg" alt&equals;"p25&lowbar;raid&lowbar;vans" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"589" &sol;><&sol;span><span class&equals;"irc&lowbar;su" dir&equals;"ltr">Law enforecement officials searched the home of Robert Gentile in Manchester&comma; Conn&period;<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-21650" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;hadout&lowbar;abath&lowbar;met&period;jpg" alt&equals;"hadout&lowbar;abath&lowbar;met" width&equals;"844" height&equals;"536" &sol;>Boston police found the museum&&num;8217&semi;s night watchman&comma; Richard Abath&comma; handcuffed and duct-taped in the basement of the Gardner<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>FBI agents went to the Manchester home of Robert Gentile&period; It wasn&&num;8217&semi;t immediately clear why they were there&period; Agents sent up a small tent in the front yard&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Federal prosecutors believe the 79-year-old Gentile knows about the still-unsolved 1990 theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston&period; Thirteen pieces of art worth an estimated &dollar;500 million were stolen and never recovered&comma; including paintings by Rembrandt and Edouard Manet&period; No one has been arrested&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-21646" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;dutchroom&period;jpg" alt&equals;"dutchroom" width&equals;"595" height&equals;"325" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;Authorities have searched Gentile&&num;8217&semi;s home before&comma; including one time with ground penetrating radar in his yard in what Gentile&&num;8217&semi;s lawyer called a veiled attempt to find the artwork&period; Agents also have removed items from Gentile&&num;8217&semi;s house and searched a backyard shed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Federal officials declined to say why FBI agents went to Gentile&&num;8217&semi;s home&period; Gentile&&num;8217&semi;s lawyer&comma; A&period; Ryan McGuigan&comma; who was at the scene&comma; also declined to comment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;The FBI is conducting court-authorized activity &&num;8230&semi; in connection with an ongoing federal investigation&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Kristen Setera&comma; a spokeswoman for the FBI in Boston&period; &&num;8220&semi;We will have no further comment at this time&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-21648" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;wcisgmuseumarttheft&period;jpg" alt&equals;"wcisgmuseumarttheft" width&equals;"900" height&equals;"300" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;Gentile has told authorities that he doesn&&num;8217&semi;t know anything about the stolen paintings&comma; and McGuigan has denied prosecutors&&num;8217&semi; allegations that Gentile is a made member of the Philadelphia Mafia&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney John Durham has said in court that Gentile once told an undercover<br &sol;>&NewLine;FBI agent that he had access to two of the stolen paintings and could negotiate the sale of each for &dollar;500&comma;000&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Durham also has said that authorities have evidence Gentile&comma; who currently is charged in a weapons case&comma; talked about the paintings with at least three fellow prisoners at a Rhode Island jail&comma; including giving them information on who to call about the art and what code name to use&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;McGuigan has alleged that because the FBI believes Gentile has not been forthcoming with everything he knows about the heist&comma; the agency has set him up for arrests twice in the last three years&period;Gentile is charged with selling a loaded &period;38-caliber revolver for &dollar;1&comma;000 to a cooperating government witness at his Manchester home&period; He has pleaded not guilty and is detained without bail&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In May 2013&comma; Gentile was sentenced to more than two years in prison for illegally selling prescription drugs and possessing guns&comma; silencers and ammunition&period; In that case&comma; Durham said federal agents found in Gentile&&num;8217&semi;s home a handwritten list of the stolen paintings and their estimated worth&comma; along with a newspaper article about the museum heist a day after it happened&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Three years ago&comma; the FBI in Boston said investigators believed the art thieves belonged to a criminal organization based in New England and the mid-Atlantic&period; They believe the art was taken to Connecticut and Pennsylvania in the years after the theft and offered for sale in Philadelphia&period; After that&comma; the trail went cold&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The museum is still offering a &dollar;5 million reward for the return of the artwork<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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