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🎙️ Mugshot Mysteries: Episode 10 - The Gardner Heist: Thirteen Ghosts in Empty Frames (Part 1 of 3)

Episode Summary:
In this episode, Kathryn takes us inside the night of March 18, 1990 — when two men dressed as police officers walked into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and walked out with thirteen pieces of art worth over half a billion dollars. No arrests. No recoveries. Just empty frames that still hang on the walls like scars.

We break down the crime itself, the eerie details of the break-in, the riddles left behind — and then hand it over to Gabriel, who dives into the suspects and conspiracy theories that have swirled for decades. From suspicious guards, to dead mobsters to whispers of Whitey Bulger, this case is as tangled as Boston’s underworld itself.

And yes, there’s even a guest appearance from our cat.

This is Part 1 of 2. Next week, we’ll continue pulling apart the suspects and theories that still keep the Gardner heist alive thirty-five years later.

🔗 Learn More About The Heist

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – Official Theft Page
  https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/theft
• FBI – Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft (official case page)
  https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-heist
• The Boston Globe – Extensive Gardner Heist Coverage (anniversary reports, theories, suspects)
  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/12/arts/30-years-gardner-heist-still-mystery/
• Smithsonian Magazine – “The Biggest Art Heist in History”
  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-biggest-art-heist-in-history-13503886/
• WBUR – Last Seen Podcast (deep-dive investigative series)
  https://www.wbur.org/lastseen

🔗 Learn More About Whitey Bulger & His Alleged Ties

• FBI: James “Whitey” Bulger — Ten Most Wanted Archive
  https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/james-whitey-bulger
• Boston Globe: Whitey Bulger and the Gardner Heist Rumors
  https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/18/fbi-rules-out-whitey-bulger-gardner-museum-heist/5i1XbAq0nJq0c1n3xYF08O/story.html
• WBUR – Last Seen Podcast: Mob Ties and the Gardner Theft
  https://www.wbur.org/lastseen
• Smithsonian: The Gardner Heist and the Mob
  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/whitey-bulger-was-never-involved-in-the-gardner-heist-180964085/
• NPR Coverage of Bulger’s Trial and Myth
  https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/06/12/191168687/whitey-bulger-on-trial
  
  

📞 Got a Tip?

The Gardner Museum and the FBI still want your help.

• Call the FBI: 1-800-CALL-FBI
• Submit a tip online: https://tips.fbi.gov

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Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.