Gardner Museum Heist —Blog
One of the eyewitnesses from the Gardner heist, Justin Stratman, who unknowling approached the two thieves in a car outside the Museum, shortly before the robbery, was interviewed in the Netflix documentary, "This Is A Robbery,"
Stratman was last interviewed about the case in the 2009 nonfiction book, The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft. In that book, author Ulrich Boser uses the name "Jerry Stratberg," in referring to Justin Stratman, but makes clear that in the book's source-notes that this name is a pseudonym, as are some others. Gardner Museum guard Rick Abath, for example, is called, "Ray Abel."
In comparing the account in the Netflix Documentary and in The Gardner Heist, it is clear that the real life Stratman is the individual referred to as "Stratberg" in Boser's book.Boser covers many of the key points of what Stratman remembers seeing that fateful night, and reveals how the FBI did not follow up with Stratman, who was treated skeptically by Boston Police, as well.
"Stratberg heard about the theft [later] on Sunday, and he and his friends went to the police the following morning. 'The cops wrote everything down, but they didn’t seem to take us too seriously. I mean they made it clear that they were talking to minors who had been drinking, and it seemed like they kind of discounted what we said,' Stratberg told me [Boser]. 'I felt annoyed. I mean I had been drinking that night, but I wasn’t sloppy. I was confident in what I remembered.'” Published six years later, in Kurkjian's book, Master Thieves, an eyewitness who likewise approached the car, was a 19 year old named "Tim Conway." In neither the Boser or Kurkjian accounts in their respective books, did two men approach the thieves' car. But unlike the name "Jerry Stratberg" in Boser's book, Kurkjian, in his book, never identifies the name "Tim Conway," as a pseudonym. In his telling, Kurkjian's witness, "Conway" "had consumed much of the two sixpacks of Irish beer he’d brought to the party, and knew he was tipsy," when he approached the vehicle outside the museum, with the two thieves sitting inside, dressed as police officers. And Kurkjian's book leaves out entirely how the FBI failed to seek out or follow up with the small group of eye-witnesses, who saw the thieves sitting in a car that night. Nor does he make clear whether "Conway" is another witness who approached the thieves' car, in addition to Stratman, or is a pseudonym like "Stratberg," for Stratman. Who approached the thieves' vehicle? Was it Stratman, who says "we'd had a couple of beers, in the Netflix documentary, and was ignored by the FBI, according to Boser's work, The Gardner Heist? Was it "Conway," who "had consumed much of the two sixpacks of Irish beer," he brought to a party that night, who "knew he was tipsy," and whose experience afterward, as either an unwilling or ignored eye-witness is not worth the telling? Did both approach Stratman and "Kurkjian's "Conway" approach thieves car? Or are these factually diverging accounts, concerning the same person? Although Kurkjian never identifies "Tim Conway" as a pseudonym, Gardner Museum chief investigator of the heist, Anthony Amore, emailed me regarding Kurkjian's witness in 2017: "Oh, he [Kurkjian] must have used a pseudonym," Amore said. "The other kids were Harvey Korman and Lyle Waggoner," a reference to an American television show in the 1960's and 70's, The Carol Burnett Show.starring the actor, "Tim Conway." If Conway is at best a pseudonym, this is another example of Kurkjian's disinforming fabulism about the case. He undermines the credibility of an eye-witness to an event important enough for him to be publishing a book about it twenty five years later, in his exaggeration of the amount of alcohol the young witness had consumeed. October 30, 2021
Here are some interesting Gardner heist related quotes from people who had direct experiences with the investigation and investigators, or in some cases should have had, but did not. The quotes are from then Governor Dukakis, Mayor Flynn, Gardner Museum Director Anne Hawley, the current Gardner Museum Security Director, Anthony Amore, an FBI Special Agent who worked as a Gardner heist investigator, a Gardner Museum security consultant, two Gardner Museum security guards, two museum trustees, and two Gardner heist eye-witnesses.
"It's unreal to imagine I was there and saw them up close and that that information was not considered valuable or helpful to the FBI." Nancy Clougherty, Gardner heist eye-witness"I see so many different things that could have been done earlier [with the Gardner investigation] that I think could have ended this... There are certain avenues of the investigation that might have been taken more aggressively early on." —Gardner Museum Chief Investigator Anthony Amore
"To my knowledge, the folks I spoke with at the station were members of the Boston police force. I have no recollection of ever talking to the FBI. None of the FBI folks reached out to me later on." Justin Stratman, Gardner heist eye-witness "This Is A Robbery" on Netflix, April 6, 2021 "I always wondered about how thorough the FBI could have been with their initial investigation. The week previous to the Heist I not only left my job there, but moved to Watertown, MA. No one came to question me. Not once." —Jody Lathwell 1990 Gardner Museum staff member "In 2007 After 17 years of not hearing a word from the people charged with the task of solving the Gardner Museum Robbery, they popped up. They wanted to talk. 'Hey guys! Over here,' I shouted." —Gardner Heist security guard Rick Abath"It was an intimidating scenario where for me. I was escorted to a seat, [at the museum] and told to sit down, and there were two guys, and they stood over me, and at the time I was 22 or 23 and it's the FBI, it was a scary scenario. Gardner Museum heist era Security guard —Marjorie Galas "There was a big focus about people smoking pot at the watch desk or in the museum. Or the gallery guards taking drugs or something like that, so they asked questions about that." Gardner Museum heist era Security guard —Marjorie Galas I gave Amore the caller’s phone number, but he never called him . Nor did he—or Kelly—return my phone calls when I tried to determine what they thought of the information I had relayed to them, and what, if anything, they planned to do with it" —Stephen Kurkjian, author of Master Thieves about the Gardner heist
"As a former police detective and someone who knew infinitely more than they did about art crimes I felt that they were not interested in what I might be able to tell them because they knew it all already." —Gardner Museum security consultant Steve Keller
"After a few weeks of this run-around, I again sensed that something was terribly wrong in Boston, and that nothing was going to get done as long as I stayed there." Retired FBI Special Agent, and former Gardner heist investigator, Thomas McShane“Boston police were pretty much taken off the scene of the investigation by the feds and we never could quite understand why that was the policy. Our robbery squad knew every wise guy in the city and had some reliable informants." —Gardner heist era Boston Mayor Ray Flynn
“The wearing of police uniforms always bothered me, and then the seeming difficulty of being able to identify them [the thieves.]” Museum Director Ann Hawley "is highly skeptical of a lot of the stuff. Enough already." Gardner heist era Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis
"Their investigation was possibly corrupted and compromised from the start, “If people are afraid to step forward or hesitant to speak with the FBI, I encourage them to contact me directly, and I will promise anonymity.” —Gardner heist era Museum Director Anne Hawley
"The museum was experiencing these bomb threats coming from people in penitentiaries, who were trying to negotiate with the FBI on information they said they had - and the FBI wasn't responding to them so they were hitting us" —Gardner heist era Museum Director Anne Hawley
“They wouldn’t tell us anything about what they thought of the robbery or who they considered suspects.” Gardner heist era Museum trustee Francis W. Hatch Jr.
"I think I got there around 8:30, maybe, or quarter to 9:00. I can't remember exactly. The FBI was there, and they wouldn't let me in to any of the galleries." —Gardner era Museum Director Anne Hawley on Netflix, "This Is A Robbery" April 6, 2021"Early in the investigation, I was threatened with the charge of obstruction of justice when pursuing privately a lead that promised to crack open the investigation." —Gardner era Museum Director Anne Hawley
Globe Editor Lincoln Millstein said "he had been upset because on the day after the robbery, a Globe photographer wasn't allowed to take pictures in the room where the Vermeer had hung. The museum said the room was closed by the FBI to search for evidence"In a letter to US Attorney Wayne Budd, Gardner Museum trustee Francis Hatch Jr. wrote that he was “shocked and saddened” by Budd’s attempt to 'intimidate' the museum and that it cast “a pall over future cooperative efforts.”
Gardner heist era and current Trustee Arnold S. Hiatt: "We didn't have much confidence in the FBI. It [the Gardner heist] didn't seem to be a high priority. We didn't think we were getting, really, their full attention. They seemed distracted. I didn't know why at the time. "This Is A Robbery"Kerry Joyce
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