Charlie Pappas, Leonard "Lenny" DiMuzio and George Reissfelder, who all worked at Merlino's garage, were also under suspicion. The two men were both dead, and their names would not be announced publicly ( though some have identified them as George Reissfelder and Lenny DiMuzio, who belonged to a criminal crew run by. And he said, "You can't leave me. He was employed as a milkman for H.P. According to criminal defense attorney Martin Leppo, who defended many of those tied to the heist, the fact that the FBI still hasnt recovered the paintings, its clear the robbery was carried out by people who knew what they were doing. Janice Santos was 22 years old and in the Army National Guard when she married George Reissfelder just two months after his release from prison in 1982. Reissfelder was a 26-year-old father with a criminal record for armed robbery, domestic. But, you know, it's business as usual for the Boston office of the FBI. And that's from very seasoned State Police investigators, as well. Sragow, who is now a judge in Massachusetts, and Kerry, the former U. S. Secretary of State and presidential candidate, won Reissfelders release in August of 1982. He is running on the 2018 Republican ticket for the office of Secretary of State in Massachusetts. The tests were inconclusive. Maria was adopted by another family many years ago, and has changed her name from Reissfelder. EXCLUSIVE: Pictures of Marilyn Monroe's naked corpse were taken just hours after her death after a famous photographer gained access to the morgue by bribing guards with alcohol, new documentary . I was 23 years old. Robert L Reissfelder Construction. You know somewhere on the outside, standing guard? He told Reissfelder and Turner that they should steal a piece of art as a sort of crime insurance. So the question is, whether they went through with that idea and now share the distinction of taking part in the greatest art heist in history. Why? HORAN: I guess I wonder-- Did you guys fall in love when, when he was in prison? So, that tells you they don't believe David Turner went inside. In the interview with. Clara J Reissfelder. Jeannine and Bill often played golf together according . It was during the period that George Reissfelder was associating with Merlino that his brother said he saw Chez Tortoni.. So, if it had ever been there, where did it go? HORAN: Someone else was waiting for George Reissfelder when he got out, too. RODOLICO: So, who is David Turner? In the same year, she won Gold Canada's Player of the Year. Last month, state prisoner Robert C. Beauchamp, 59, publicly made claims through his attorney that George Reissfelder might have stashed the stolen Gardner art in a safe house in Maine. Like I said, he could have changed, but the guy that I was married to could not have done that. Beauchamp remained on the lam for a decade before being caught. Thats what Boston Globe reporter Shelley Murphy wondered in 2016, when she made a sharp discovery. The feeling was that he was a very dangerous individual. George Reissfelder and Lenny DiMuzio are believed to have posed as police officers to gain access to the museum, tying up security guards and stealing 13 historic artworks by the likes of Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt van Rijn worth an estimated $500 million. You make a note in your casebook, and go back to reading the witness statements and looking at the suspect sketches. This is when David Turner, a free man, if not an innocent one, landed squarely on the radar of investigators for the Gardner robbery, too. And I don't think he could have done it, but--. SANTOS: So he wouldn't let me leave the house, so I couldn't go to work. A UH1. After Kerry and Sragow won him a new trial, then-Suffolk County District Attorney Newman Flanagan decided against re-trying the case against Reissfelder. And so I guess Merlino basically and maybe Reissfelder and Turner to a far lesser extent started canvassing museums in the Boston area. But no Manet. And he grabbed me by the hair, and then-- and then-- and of course, I was stupid. He was buying spy equipment from a Miami shop called the Spy Shops of Miami. During the same interview, Reissfelder said he believes his older brother is one of the two men depicted in new Boston Herald composite sketches of the two thieves who dressed as cops and robbed the Gardner before dawn on March 18, 1990. In this episode, we take a closer look at David Turner and George Reissfelder two criminals with very different backgrounds who found themselves pulled into the gravitational orbit of Merlino in the late 1980s. Amore gave Reissfelder a museum tour and showed him images of the 13 stolen treasures. Anthony Amore says Reissfelder had few prospects. KURKJIAN: I went looking for documents. TYSONS CORNER, Va., Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pangiam, a technology company defining the future of authentication and trusted movement, announced the . HORAN: By business as usual, Turner meant that he believed hed been set up for one crime the planned Loomis-Fargo robbery because the FBI needed leverage in order to question him in another one: the Gardner case. Charlie Pappas was a second-generation coke dealer for Carmello Merlino. RODOLICO: This is investigative reporter Michael Blanding. During a one-day furlough in 1974, Reissfelder fled the state. Reissfelders motive, in part, was his anger over the states refusal to compensate him for serving 14 years in prison for murder he had not committed. Steal a painting. BEAUCHAMP: It was a homosexual relationship. I mean, it was--, it was--, it was chilling to be in the same room at times. Skip to main content Home Memorials Cemeteries Famous Contribute Register Sign In Register Sign In Memorial updated successfully. She worked solely off the description given to her by one of the guards who had seen both thieves. HORAN: David Turners 38-and-a-half-year prison sentence was suddenly seven years shorter. Reissfelder described his brother as a follower who was hardened by his prison experience and fell in with a bad crowd upon his release. So that's when we started talking about getting some crime insurance, figuring that that was going to happen sooner or later. As the investigation progressed, the FBI turned their attention to the Merlino gang, a Boston Mafia crime family full of a number of the most likely suspects. His wife divorced him and he has two children, besides Maria, whom he has never seen. REISSFELDER: I was fortunate. Last time, we told you about the FBI sting in 1999 that brought Merlino and that criminal enterprise down. But his former sister-in-law, Donna Reissfelder, said in the docuseries that she may have unknowingly helped him hang one of the stolen paintings in his apartment. You can try. He was teary-eyed. Beauchamp and Reissfelder met in 1973 while they were imprisoned at MCI-Norfolk. The Boston man was released from jail in 1982 after he was wrongfully . Beauchamp is serving a life sentence at MCI-Norfolk for second-degree murder. Here he is in the 1986 documentary about wrongfully imprisoned men, "Exonerated: The Wrong Man.". In 2010, Guarente's wife, Elene, told the FBI that shortly before her husband's death, he gave two of the stolen paintings to a Connecticut mobster, Robert Gentile, during a rendezvous at a. And I figured, "Well, he just got out of prison. At the time, organized crime members seemed excited about the idea that they could trade a stolen painting in exchange for no jail time, if they were ever caught doing more unsavory business. Mr.. We never hear her voice. And when he saw it, he, I can only describe it as jumped in his chair and became very upset and told me I'm paraphrasing he said, "Anthony, I have to tell you. The other had none, and defaulted to one. The day that George A. Reissfelder was released from prison for a 1966 murder he did not commit, he hoisted a Heineken in Quincy Market with his court-appointed attorneys future senator John F. Kerry and a future judge, Roanne Sragow Licht. Mr. DiMuzio, who was shot to . The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was constructed under the guidance of art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) to house her personal art collection. Undisclosed sources in the investigation believed that the thieves the FBI identified were George Reissfelder and Leonard DiMuzio, both involved in the Merlino gang and both deceased shortly after the robbery in 1991. Anthony Amore was hired as director of security for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 2005 and still holds the position today. When he was arrested, he tried to pull a gun on the police and landed back in a Bay State prison. He doesn't have access to the paintings or he'd be out of prison. According to multiple sources, the team's CFO was seen attending several Celtics games with his family. That man, Robert Beauchamp, claimed that his former cell mate -- a man named George Reissfelder -- told him way back in 1990 that he had taken part in the heist. How do you defend yourself against that? Last Seenis a production from WBUR and The Boston Globe. Bowl haircut. And heres someone who spent years trying to follow the trail of both of them. View George Reinsfelder's 1940 US census record to find family members, occupation details & more. HORAN: Just not places like TRC Auto Electric. The FBI claims Gentile tried to sell the paintings to an undercover FBI agent but the mobster denies any involvement. Background. HORAN: David Turner told Boser that the FBI said, essentially, 'we know you did it.'. Immediate Family Johanna Ronellenfitsch wife Ignatius John Rollenfitch son Barbara A Leuthner daughter Vincent Ronellenfitsch son Cecelia Ronellenfitsch daughter Clara Ronellenfitsch daughter Agatha Ronellenfitsch daughter Johanna Ronellenfitsch daughter Marie Ronellenfitsch daughter Maria Theresia Ronellenfitsch mother Georg Joseph Ronellenfitsch Anthony Amore told us, his leads havent panned out. The other wasnt. I found receipts. JACK RODOLICO: David Turner and George Reissfelder found themselves pulled into the gravitational orbit of crime boss Carmello Merlino at TRC Auto Electric at the same time the late 1980s. Carmello Merlinos coke-dealing operation out of TRC Auto Electric was thriving. Long narrow face. Others named Bill Reissfelder. SANTOS:I was 22 years old. I don't know that he could have pulled it off. And if he did commit the robbery, and we don't know that for sure, right? And this is-- was always my problem, you know. So, um, eventually, after I didn't go to enough drills I got thrown out of the military thrown out with a dishonorable discharge. George Rainsford (born 31 July 1982) is a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Jimmy Wilson in the medical drama Call the Midwife and Ethan Hardy in Casualty, for which he has been nominated for a Best Actor award in the 2017 TV Choice Awards . This is David Turner, on a lousy phone line from prison, after his luck had run out. SIKELLIS:It was explained to me as a young prosecutor at the time by some very, very seasoned State Police agent that's the telltale sign of, "Don't be a rat. When law enforcement couldnt locate Reissfelder, a local mobster told the cops to try his residence again. The museum and the FBI have responded skeptically to Beauchamps claims about the art. A day after top House Democrats released their $56.2 billion budget plan for next fiscal year, the branch on Thursday whisked to passage a $1.1 billion tax relief bill that also makes statutory changes to the state's tax cap law and rainy day fund. I know Richard and know he is trying to help me recover our art. No one had let Reissfelder know. David A. Turner was considered a suspect in the Gardner heist early on in the investigation. What if he couldnt give them the paintings, but could give them something useful? They had all sorts of -- at the day non-digital devices, electronic devices, that could look over the fence. A confidential informant later told investigators that Reissfelder was among the members of Merlinos crew that pulled off the $300 million blockbuster art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum on March 18, 1990, according to FBI records. Reissfelder spent nearly a third of his life in prisons before authorities finally cleared him of a murder charge and let him go free in 1982. In 2010, Jeannine was ranked 15th place during the CN Canadian Women's Tour. Since 1987, I have taught Academic and General Biology, Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences, General Chemistry, Conceptual Physics and Human Genetics at Lewiston High School. BOSER:The Gardner is the perfect vehicle to tell the story of Boston. Ive seen it. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. . His mother died. I don't think he masterminded it, though. This is the story of David Turner and George Reissfelder, two men who prove that the criminal life is an equalizing one that erases distinctions like where you came from and where you could have gone. They were never able to pin Turner to the crime, however. You know, if you just look at the Vermeer per inch what you could buy with it. George A. Reissfelder was found dead of an apparent drug overdose 51 weeks after the heist, on March 11, 1991, in his Quincy apartment. This time he was found dead from cocaine poisoning a suspected mob hit that was never proven, he wrote. Digital content was produced in partnership with The ARTery, WBUR's arts and culture team. Crimes with dates that bookend the Gardner heist and with M.O.s that resemble it. George Reissfelder was found dead in his apartment of "cocaine poisoning" after Merlino told firefighters that he hadn't heard from his friend in several days. Writing from prison, Turner expressed his belief that the FBI had set him up for one crime -- the planned Loomis Fargo heist -- in order to squeeze him on another: the Gardner. In her book, Seinfeldia, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong gives the full story . Richard Reissfelder appears with Gardner museum director of security Anthony Amore, who holds up a picture of one of the stolen paintings. Multiple law-enforcement sources here have told Breitbart News that the two career criminals who committed the historic crime were Kerry's client, George Reissfelder, and a local thug named Lenny DiMuzio. Because I realized at that point-- I thought maybe they'd steal maybe up to five million dollars at the most, but when it turned out to be hundreds of millions, I said, "You know what type of investigation this is going to be compared to what it would have been?". And the last one was "Chez Tortoni." After being released on the wrongful conviction, he had few options. BOSTON, MA - MAY 11: George Reissfelder sits in the office of his attorney Roanne Sragow at One Post Office Sq. AMORE: And I replied and said, On a scale of one to 10, how certain are you? And the person replied, 10.. HORAN: Robert Sikellis says he believes that David Turner was behind the killing. SIKELLIS: In my opinion, it was just ice cold. HORAN:And someone who moved between those worlds and settled in the latter is David Turner. Read more on the Gardner heist fromThe ARTery. The publicity was mostly because of the legal defense work of John F. Kerry, and Kerrys law partner. He has even accompanied federal agents on the numerous searches of homes and other properties. So, he backed off. But let me be very clear. Access is free so discover George Reinsfelder Junior's story today. Well, I was married at one time to George Reissfelder. Robert Sikellis is the former assistant attorney general for Massachusetts who spent years in the 1990s trying to put David Turner behind bars for those crimes. The two men belonged to the crew of local criminal Carmello Merlino, who was first . RODOLICO: Amore says Richard Reissfelder put him in touch with someone else whod also seen Manet's "Chez Tortoni" in George Reissfelders apartment. And in my mind, you know, it was-- it was a form of bragging, right? She claims to have seen Manet's "Chez Tortoni" hanging in a "froufrou frame" in her. HORAN: David Turners high school career had been dotted with superlatives. And when I looked at it, I knew. And you kind of have to think on your feet doing something like that. HORAN: Now, David Turner has always said hed never cooperate with authorities investigating the Gardner heist. Dressed as police in order to fool the night watchmen, the two escaped with 13 pieces of artwork. This time he was found dead from 'cocaine poisoning' a suspected mob hit that was never proven," he wrote. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Bruins knock off Panthers for 1-0 series lead, Fans pour on the enthusiasm for the 127th Boston Marathon, Pentagon revokes access, culling through lists to highly classified information after Massachusetts Guardsman Jack Teixeira accused of leak, Man charged with shooting Black teen at front door, Ex-Cardinal McCarrick charged with sex abuse, DeSantis ups ante in Disney fight, floats nearby prison, After Massachusetts Guardsman Jack Teixeira allegedly leaked Pentagon documents, military expert calls it 'a failure by leadership', Bruins notebook: Patrice Bergeron sits out Game 1 vs. Panthers, Live Updates: Hellen Obiri wins women's race at 127th Boston Marathon, Martin Richard's friends get ready to run the Boston Marathon in his honor 10 years later: 'Carrying Martin's message of peace', Two missing Medford men found dead in Brighton storage unit, Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sues Colorado supermax for $250,000, Golden galore at Boston Common: Hundreds of golden retrievers gather in honor of Spencer, the Boston Marathon dog, Lucas: Democrats' choice of Chicago recalls a divided America, Gunmen storm Mexican resort, kill 7 people, including a child, California is changing how it goes after illegal cannabis farms, Caught off guard: How South Floridas rare storm compares to others, and where it sits in history, The final encore for Phantom: What the show means to one New Yorker who saw it dozens of times, For Varland brothers, now both in the MLB at same time, a dream come true. George Reissfelder was found dead in his apartment of cocaine poisoning after Merlino told firefighters that he hadnt heard from his friend in several days. He had that painting.". Robert Beauchamp says the idea to steal paintings as crime insurance was his. And John Kerry and Roanne Sragow are going to, you know, be his best friends forever now." Jeannine Russell was born on January 31, 1967. Their paths converged in the late '80s at TRC Auto Electric in Merlino's cocaine business. SANTOS: There were none. He's just got to adjust a little bit,' and it didn't happen. This is Episode 4: "Two Bad Men.". Sikellis next prepared to prosecute Turner for a 1990 home invasion. He went through her stuff, looking for evidence that he couldnt trust her. I think that the day (George) died, the art was taken by those bums who killed him.. But on that receipt is another drivers license number. HORAN: Was David Turner in on the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum? He was 51 and has never been formally connected to the theft. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. He was on the lam for three years until he was caught passing a bad check in Florida. SANTOS: I said, "Yeah, it looks like George. And I told Anthony right off, but I don't-- the George that I knew it would never ever put on a cop uniform, so I don't-- I really don't know that he would have done this. Sragows efforts to convince the Massachusetts Legislature to compensate Reissfelder for the 16 years he had served in jail for the wrongful conviction failed, however. RODOLICO: So, four years before the Boston FBI sting on TRC Auto Electric that would finally put David Turner in prison, Robert Sikellis, who had tried and failed twice to do so, had an epiphany about Turners alleged robberies: They looked an awful lot like the Gardner heist, but on a much smaller scale. And that's what happened. He was a cool customer, as they say. The late Merlino himself was a person of interest in the Gardner case see Meet the Suspects for April 26. However, the Celtics' Senior VP is conservative regarding his private life. ". It was 17 years ago. This one in particular really caught my attention because it mentioned the Gardner Museum robbery. Im truly struck by how earnest he and his entire family have been, Amore said. BLANDING: When I was a staff writer at Boston Magazine, I received a letter from a prisoner. RODOLICO: The people he knew were from prison. (Photo by Joseph Runci/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) There are clues that seem to let him off the hook. BLANDING: You know, I talked to several of his childhood friends who said he was just, you know, really intelligent, and charismatic, and loyal. Seinfeld. Convicted of killing a friend in Arlington 1971, Beauchamp started a relationship George Reissfelder while serving in prison. Last year, Jason Alexander spoke about why George Costanza's fiance, Susan, was killed off on Seinfeld. In 2013, when federal officials held a press conference to announce what they regarded as a break in the case, Amore spoke as the Gardner Museums representative. HORAN: Reissfelder had not only lost 16 years of his life in prison. Both Reissfelder and DiMuzio died in 1991, and both resembled police sketches of the thieves. Some of Turners letters, Blanding says, offered tantalizing hints about the Gardner heist and other unsolved crimes. Although Kerry would use the case to promote his then-budding political career, Reissfelder did not use it to his advantage, returning to his bad habits of using cocaine and hanging out with criminal contacts, both of which were in full supply at Merlinos garage. George Reissfelder and David Turner were both pulled into the gravitational orbit of crime boss Carmello Merlino at TRC Auto Electric in Dorchester in the late '80s. George Reissfelder. Yes, he had that painting and I want to give it to Anthony Amore as a present., Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Bruins knock off Panthers for 1-0 series lead, Fans pour on the enthusiasm for the 127th Boston Marathon, Pentagon revokes access, culling through lists to highly classified information after Massachusetts Guardsman Jack Teixeira accused of leak, Man charged with shooting Black teen at front door, Ex-Cardinal McCarrick charged with sex abuse, DeSantis ups ante in Disney fight, floats nearby prison, After Massachusetts Guardsman Jack Teixeira allegedly leaked Pentagon documents, military expert calls it 'a failure by leadership', Bruins notebook: Patrice Bergeron sits out Game 1 vs. Panthers, Live Updates: Hellen Obiri wins women's race at 127th Boston Marathon, Martin Richard's friends get ready to run the Boston Marathon in his honor 10 years later: 'Carrying Martin's message of peace', Two missing Medford men found dead in Brighton storage unit, Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sues Colorado supermax for $250,000, Golden galore at Boston Common: Hundreds of golden retrievers gather in honor of Spencer, the Boston Marathon dog, Lucas: Democrats' choice of Chicago recalls a divided America, Gunmen storm Mexican resort, kill 7 people, including a child, California is changing how it goes after illegal cannabis farms, Caught off guard: How South Floridas rare storm compares to others, and where it sits in history, The final encore for Phantom: What the show means to one New Yorker who saw it dozens of times, For Varland brothers, now both in the MLB at same time, a dream come true. Reissfelder did not stick with the Inmate #6875309 look after a couple of weeks from his release from prison as the photo (far right) taken six years before the Gardner Heist shows. HORAN: Yeah, so you hear the news and you think Carmello Merlino. And I looked at the Bureau of Prisons' website, which shows a release date. And then it got to where I was-- I wanted to leave, or wanted him out of there. He was wanted for questioning by the police in regards to the Gardner Museum heist, the largest museum robbery in U.S. history, a case still open and featured on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, Marks wrote. People Photos Purpose. The pair unearthed evidence that had been suppressed at trial. If Beauchamp had harbored any doubt at all about whether his old friend and lover had pulled off the Gardner heist, he didnt once he saw the police sketches of the suspects. I mean, he showed no emotion whatsoever. She recalled seeing it in a golden frame on the brothers bedroom wall at his apartment at 35 Brooks Ave. in Quincy, Richard Reissfelder said. Missing among its 29 charges is that social workers beating death in 1985 the summer after Turner graduated from high school. So that seems pretty impressive. !This is a rare jasper in the same state asGuadalupe Poppy and Morgan Hill Poppy Jaspers.This slab will pro At 2:15 P.M., the prisoner, George A. Reissfelder, 42 years old, was unmanacled in the Suffolk County Superior Court when the District Attorney's office declined to oppose his lawyer's motion that . In 2015, the organization revealed the names of its primary suspects: George Reissfelder and Leonard DiMuzio, two associates of the late mobster Carmello Merlino. HORAN: And after that? She was on track to become the first female helicopter pilot in Massachusetts. BEAUCHAMP: And they started a major cocaine operation for years. So he offered Reissfelder, who still visited him in prison sometimes with David Turner in tow some advice. Robert Beauchamp, one of those contacts, has stated that Reissfelder and David Turner, another devotee of Merlinos garage, visited him often in Massachusetts state prison during this term and in the vaguest of terms told him they were planning a major robbery and asked how they might hide the valuables in the immediate aftermath. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. Turner, Merlino and Rossetti were convicted in the late 1990s -- and sentenced to long prison terms -- for conspiring to steal millions from the Loomis-Fargo vault outside of Boston, a scheme which had been arranged by federal authorities to gain information on the Gardner heist. George Reissfelder and Lenny DiMuzio are believed to have posed as police officers to gain access to the museum, tying up security guards and stealing 13 historic artworks by the likes of Johannes . Investigates Possible Suspects In America's Biggest Art Heist.

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