Master Thieves, Stephen Kurkjian
Master Thieves, Stephen Kurkjian
2 Rating(s)
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Master Thieves
The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist

Author: Stephen Kurkjian

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Unabridged: 7 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/17/2015


Synopsis

In a secret meeting in 1981, a master thief named Louis Royce gave career gangster Ralph Rossetti the tip of a lifetime. As a kid, Royce had visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and made a habit of sneaking in at night to find a good place to sleep. He knew the Museum's security was lax, and he gave this information to a boss of the Boston criminal underworld.

It took years before the Museum was hit. But when it finally happened, it quickly became one of the most infamous art heists in history: thirteen works of art valued at up to $500 million—including Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee." The identity of the thieves was a mystery, and the paintings were never found.

What happened in those intervening years? Which Boston crew landed the big score? And why, more than twenty years later, did the FBI issue a press conference stating that they knew who had pulled off the heist and what had happened to the artwork, but provided no identities and scant details?
These mysteries are the story of Stephen Kurkjian's revealing book. He will take the listener deep into the Boston mob and paint the most complete and compelling picture of this story ever told.

About Stephen Kurkjian

Stephen Kurkjian is one of the most acclaimed investigative reporters in the country. A veteran of the Boston Globe, he is the paper's former Washington bureau chief and a founding member of its investigative Spotlight Team. Stephen has won more than twenty-five national and regional awards, including the Pulitzer Prize on three occasions. He is a graduate of Suffolk Law School and lives in Boston.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kara on September 08, 2015

I stole—er, borrowed—this from my dad, who borrowed it from the library, because if you know me you know I can’t resist a heist story. Doesn’t matter if it’s movie, book, video game, whatever. Doesn’t matter if it’s a bank heist, an art heist, or even a golf heist. I just love the intricacy of the p......more

Goodreads review by Matt on September 20, 2019

It's most enjoyable when a nonfiction book often reads like a fictional one. This could be made into a fine movie, but it'd probably have a better ending with the artwork actually being recovered...and to date it still hasn't been. I visit the Gardner Museum pretty regularly and they've left the emp......more

Goodreads review by Christine on June 14, 2015

In March of 1990 two men dressed as police officers knocked on the door of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. An inexperienced security guard allowed them through the door. The two guards on duty were tied up in the basement and the thieves had free reign in the museum. Forty-five minute......more