Robert Gentile, linked to Gardner Museum art theft, dies

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Robert Gentile, a mobster who for years denied suspicions from authorities that he knew anything about artwork stolen in a 1990 museum heist, has died. He was 85. His attorney says Gentile died Sept. 17 after a stroke. Investigators had suspected that Gentile may at one time have had in his possession at least some of the artwork taken in March 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In that theft, two men restrained the security guards and left with 13 pieces, including works from Rembrandt, Vermeer and Degas. But Gentile always denied it.