November 14 (RIA Novosti) - An elderly, suspected mobster believed to have been involved in the largest art heist in history pleaded guilty Wednesday in the US state of Connecticut to illegally possessing weapons and illegally selling prescription drugs in an unrelated case.
Robert Gentile, 76, faces a prison sentence of 46-57 months under the plea deal; he had faced a maximum of 150 years.
"They have him in a hole 24 hours a day where he can't see anybody," said his attorney, A. Ryan McGuigan, according to The Associated Press (AP).
The art theft occurred at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 just as the city was finishing celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.
Thieves dressed as Boston police officers handcuffed two guards in the basement of the museum, using duct tape to secure their hands, feet and heads, and made off with 13 pieces of art worth more than half-a-billion dollars, including works by Rembrandt, Degas, Manet and Vermeer.
Assistant US Attorney John Durham has said that authorities believe Gentile has knowledge about the art heist, according to the Boston Globe, but he hasn’t been charged in the museum theft. Gentile has been questioned about it repeatedly, and his home has been searched twice this year.
McGuigan on Wednesday said Gentile apparently knew people who federal investigators believe were involved in the art theft, the Washington Post reported.
During the search of Gentile’s home, investigators found items including dynamite sticks, homemade silencers, a bulletproof vest, handcuffs and $22,000 in cash hidden in a grandfather clock, reports the AP.
But the stolen art hasn’t been found and the crime has never been solved. The museum is offering a $5 million reward in the case.
McGuigan said his client “looks terrible,” but knows nothing about the art theft. He has charged in the past that prosecutors are trying to make Gentile uncomfortable enough to cough up information about the heist.
Sentencing for Gentile is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2013.
