Mr.. Steal a painting. Wolf was never shown an image of George Reissfelder or any other suspect while she was preparing her sketches with the former guard. So that seems pretty impressive. 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. Amore also showed an image of the missing Manet to Reissfelders ex-wife, Donna. Boser typed notes as he listened to Turner on speaker phone. Learn more about Sports. What did you see in him? He was sentenced to life in prison and incarcerated at the old Walpole state prison, where he maintained his innocence. I was 23 years old. Donna said she didn't know that the painting was a highly sought-after piece of art until years later when people from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum contacted her about the stolen collection. I fought back. One of them was born lucky. SHELLEY MURPHY: I was hearing some things about whether or not he might cooperate. All these theories are frustrating. Seinfeld. She worked solely off the description given to her by one of the guards who had seen both thieves. Shes so young. Steve Kurkjian explains. I married a beautiful young girl. Charlie Pappas was a second-generation coke dealer for Carmello Merlino. HORAN: Wow. Resides in Mashpee, MA. His wife allegedly told the FBI in 2010 that her husband confessed he gave two of the paintings to alleged Connecticut mobster Robert Gentile, now in his eighties. GEORGE REISSFELDER: One night I woke up about 12, 1 oclock in the morning, sweating, shaking. According to news report published two months before Reissfelders release, four Boston police detectives and Special Agent John J. Connolly of the Boston FBI office quoted informants as telling them that Sullivan and at least two other men none of them Reissfelder were involved in the holdup. I mean, if you knew who it was you could just look at it and tell them it was who it was. Beauchamp is just trying to extort money over a robbery and a dead body, Richard Reissfelder said. A Quincy man eyed as a fresh suspect in the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist had one of the museums 13 stolen works of art in his possession shortly before his death in 1991, his younger brother told the Herald. HORAN: Carmello Merlino. Reissfelder, who bore a remarkable resemblance to the sketch drawn of one of the thieves, died of a cocaine overdose in July 1991. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. Fred Reissfelder. Includes Address (2) See Results. The two men belonged to the crew of local criminal Carmello Merlino, who was first . Not in person Turner was on a phone line from prison. At Boston Celtics, Bill Reissfelder has 25 colleagues including Wycliffe Grousbeck (CEO), Irving Grousbeck (Managing Partner) Industry Colleagues In the Sports industry, Bill Reissfelder has 10,918 colleagues in 650 companies located in 26 countries. Best regards.. 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. Robert Beauchamp says the idea to steal paintings as crime insurance was his. And I told him probably the best museums to rob would be university or college ones because they probably have the least amount of security. It's a helicopter. George Reissfelder, on the other hand, left prison in 1982 after serving 16 years for a murder he didnt commit. I said to myself, "This is real, and I just might be spending the rest of my life in here.". But let me be very clear. The man who would become his cellmate, George Reissfelder, had been in since 1967, serving a life sentence for a murder he said he did not commit. Let's just be clear, right. This is David Turner, on a lousy phone line from prison, after his luck had run out. 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. So that's when I suggested to him, "You know, if you could steal a few million dollars worth of art and just put it away, then if you get popped you can, you know, wheel and deal it at that point." David Turner had been a standout athlete in high school, described as charismatic and loyal by friends. In my opinion, I think the overdose he died from had something to do with the stress of being caught. You know somewhere on the outside, standing guard? Hes a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress now, but still has a mild obsession with the Gardner case. And, um, when she unveiled these portraits to me, and she brought up one of the images the thief with the slimmer face I looked at it and said, "Wow, that's George Reissfelder." HORAN:And running through this story, Boser says, is a tale of two cities. He has even accompanied federal agents on the numerous searches of homes and other properties. SIKELLIS: The feeling was to, you know, to really take a run at David Turner. RODOLICO: From WBUR Boston and The Boston Globe, this is Last Seen. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. Its just not clear, based on that different drivers license number on the receipt, that it was actually David Turner. Boston on May 11, 1984. George Reissfelder. Related To Janice Reissfelder. Reissfelder drove a red Dodge Daytona, similar to the car the students saw outside the Gardner.. 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. 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. Jan 04, 2022, 08:02 ET. Skip to main content Home Memorials Cemeteries Famous Contribute Register Sign In Register Sign In Memorial updated successfully. But the celebratory scene from his release date on Aug. 30, 1982, did not last for Reissfelder, then 42. They had all sorts of -- at the day non-digital devices, electronic devices, that could look over the fence. HORAN: But Janice Santos didnt become the states first female helicopter pilot. But as he began his new life, Reissfelder said he always had faith that the system that wrongly convicted him would release him. Reissfelder family history, genealogy, and family tree. He would always be there for you. Law enforcement was watching it closely, and would take it down in 1991. These are five hundred million dollars worth of art that's stolen. HORAN: Sikelliss first run at David Turner in the so-called Cheers robbery ended in an acquittal. 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. They're gonna sell out their mothers to get out of jail. I found receipts. So, he backed off. According to both men, Reissfelder immediately recognized the Manet painting, which depicts a formally dressed man sitting at a table outside the Tortoni cafe in Paris. 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. His brother believes that Merlino. It was also being surveilled by a law enforcement operation that would take it down in 1991. There was a robbery of the Bull & Finch pub, the Cheers you know, the pub that serves as the model for Cheers. He was very upset. Reissfelder said he recognized his brothers appearance in the digital painting the Herald is calling Suspect One. Nicole C. Wolf, a medical illustrator and animator, prepared the image after weeks of input from one of the two Gardner watchmen who was on duty the night of the theft. His kids were taken away. George A Reissfelder. One of them was born lucky. Im truly struck by how earnest he and his entire family have been, Amore said. You have to be really planned and articulate. 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. I stood up at the cell door, looked out at the cell block it was quiet. RODOLICO: So, who is David Turner? He is running on the 2018 Republican ticket for the office of Secretary of State in Massachusetts. The tension between those who possess the Old Masters, and those who would risk everything to steal them. HORAN: Two months after George Reissfelders release, Janice Santos married him. Lived In Milford NH. . 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. Doubtful the thief took off his hat to show his unique hair style to the two Gardner guards. The pair unearthed evidence that had been suppressed at trial. (Courtesy Boston Globe). Anthony Amore told us, his leads havent panned out. According to multiple sources, the team's CFO was seen attending several Celtics games with his family. Thats because Turner was one of the men, alongside Carmello Merlino, arrested in that early morning Loomis-Fargo vault sting on TRC Auto Electric. Only after he was contacted by Amore in recent months and shown all 13 items taken from the museum did he recognize the Manet painting he now says his brother at one time displayed. As a lawyer in the the early 1980s, Roanne Sragow worked with John F. Kerry (who would go on to become a U.S. senator, Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Secretary of State) to free George Reissfelder from prison on the basis that he had been wrongly identified and convicted at his criminal trial for murdering a security guard in 1966. HORAN: Charlie Pappas had been shot twice in the mouth. The publicity was mostly because of the legal defense work of John F. Kerry, and Kerrys law partner. But yeah. And I kept telling Reissfelder the same thing: "Sooner or later you guys are gonna get popped because you're dealing with the scum of the earth with junkies, and as soon as one of them gets busted, you know, they have diarrhea of the mouth. And when Janice Santos first learned about the heist, she had an immediate intuition about who that was. He'd been shot, if I remember, twice in the mouth, if memory serves. I really did well on the test, and I went and took the flight physical, and I was going to be going to flight school. And it's remarkable. I just want this crime against civilization to be solved, Reissfelder said. The other one was middle aged and beaten down and had done hard time for a murder he didnt commit. 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. And he said, "You can't leave me. Pappas himself is also a person of interest in the Gardner case see Meet the Suspects for April 6. HORAN: Just not places like TRC Auto Electric. BLANDING: He was always just a consummate gentleman in all of his correspondence with me. Prominent chin. His body was found after reputed New England Mob figure and Dorchester drug lord Carmello Merlino told firefighters that he had not heard from his friend in several days. I think that the day (George) died, the art was taken by those bums who killed him.. 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. BEAUCHAMP: Turner was interested in getting out of the drug business. Hood & Sons in Charlestown, Mass. His name was Charlie Pappas. Amore gave Reissfelder a museum tour and showed him images of the 13 stolen treasures. Reissfelder was a 26-year-old father with a criminal record for armed robbery, domestic abuse against his wife and passing bad checks when he was fingered for the Oct. 14, 1966, shooting death of railway clerk Michael Shaw. HORAN: Reissfelder was vicious to Santos. I would have been the first. HORAN: On March 11, 1991, almost the anniversary of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery, George Reissfelder died. Thats my brother, said Reissfelder. Wife: Eugene Reinsfelder. BOSER:My name is Ulrich Boser, and I'm the author of "The Gardner Heist." Sikellis next prepared to prosecute Turner for a 1990 home invasion. Likely the most informed reporter in Boston on the citys rich organized crime history, Murphy was co-author of the New York Times best-seller Whitey Bulger: Americas Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice. In recent years, Murphy has spearheaded the coverage of the Gardner investigation for The Boston Globe with such articles as the most likely theories for the theft of the artwork; how federal investigators had cut seven years from one suspects long prison sentence to gain his cooperation in the case and how a long-ago Boston mob figure had passed on to the FBI a key tip about the whereabouts of the paintings in the late 1990s. He spent time with underworld figures from the mid-1980s until his death, and was a free man at the time of the theft, state and federal documents and witnesses say. Im Jack Rodolico. He was on the lam for three years until he was caught passing a bad check in Florida. 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 . BEAUCHAMP: When he came to see me after the Gardner robbery I just looked at him and shook my head and said, "Way too much, George." Who was he going to be friends with when he got out of jail? RODOLICO: The people he knew were from prison. SANTOS: A helicopter. After more than 28 years, authorities have yet to make an arrest, or recover any of the artwork stolen, in the Gardner Museum heist. (Photo by Joseph Runci/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) One of them had options and from them, chose a life of crime. Theres only one reason for it, according to the Bureau of Prisons: because he cooperated. One of the Boston detectives was John Ridlon, the uncle Charles O. Pappas, another member of Merlinos crew. So I just became a prisoner for six, seven years., HORAN: George Reissfelder had an altogether different take on his life with Santos. And that's what happened. More than a decade before, he had drawn front-page headlines and network TV interviews when he was freed from prison after serving 16 years on the wrongful conviction of a murder charge. Led by the convicted criminal, Carmello Merlino, these men are among the top suspects of the Gardner art heist examined in This Is A Robbery. Aug 23, 1903 - Dec 1969 . BLANDING: You know, I talked to several of his childhood friends who said he was just, you know, really intelligent, and charismatic, and loyal. I was working a supply job, but I had just taken the flight aptitude selection test, and I had, like, the second-highest mark in the battalion. 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. Down in 1991 the description given to her by one of the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum robbery, George,! 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