Do Go On - 310 - The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

In the early hours of March 18 1990, two thieves entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 81 minutes later, they left with 13 paintings worth over $250 million. Who were they? Let's find out.Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: dogoonpod.com or patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Stream our 300th episode with extra quiz (and 16 other episodes with bonus content): https://sospresents.com/authors/dogoon Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ For tickets to Matt's Live Shows: https://www.mattstewartcomedy.com/ Check out Matt’s Beer show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej4TUguJL58 Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/theft-storyhttps://allthatsinteresting.com/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-heisthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mobster-who-may-be-last-living-person-knowledge-gardner-museum-heist-set-be-released-prison-180971700/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum_theft Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Welcome to another episode of Do Go One. My name is Dave Warnocky and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart.

Hello. Hey Dave. Hey Jess. And hey Dave once again. Hello. Oh, two for Dave. Well, I'm going to say hello Dave. Hello Matt.

Hello Matt again. That's very nice and I'm going to say hello. To Matt. Great to be here and you. Oh, yeah. And one for you, Jess. That pause left me sweating. Now, Dave, can I ask you a quick question?

How does this show work? Well, let me answer that question with a quick answer, and that is often we take it in terms. In effect, every week, we take it in terms to report on a topic, often suggested by a listener, go away, do a bit of research on the topic, bring it back, and report to the other two. And it is Jess's turn to report on a topic.

Matt and I, we don't even know what it's going to be on. So to get us onto that topic, Jess, it's going to ask us a little question. Have you written a question, Jess? Yes, I have. I wrote it just before we started. Fantastic. And my question is, which museum is considered to be the target of the world's biggest art heist?

Oh, is it, oh, has it got Stuart in it? Yes. And Gardner? Yes. Oh, I've seen this. Okay, so you've got Stuart Gardner and Museum. Isabel? Isabel, Stuart Gardner.

Isabel again? Yes. Wow. Maddie, Stu, well done. Oh, that's so great. I don't know anything about it, but I've put it up for the vote before and I wanted, I love a hoist. And I was so keen to hear about this. This is actually in the bloody Bloctober vote.

Ah, well, no need. Because we're doing it right now, baby. Fantastic. Getting in slightly early. Yeah. Is it possible that this ranked up there and we've accidentally annexed the end of September? September once again. Oh my God.

What do we like? Let's call us to start a block. Happy block, everyone. Surprise block. I haven't had my spray tan ready for block. I'm not prepared. You can't just spring block on me. Yeah, that's crazy.

Spring block. Spring block. But new listeners, block is something we do every year around October time. Each episode's on the biggest, most requested topics of the year. year. So that's technically starting next week, but really, it feels like blockers come early this year. This one has been suggested by quite a few people. Liz Feltoner, Josh, McKenna Middlebrook, Rani Tarbri, Beth S, Teresa Jasino, Carly Wagner, Holly Garrets, Vera Bokovsky, Melissa

Ferguson and Brian V. Douglas. So lots of people have suggested this one. Great cropper names there. Incredible, as always. Each of them a piece of art that I'd love to steal. Well, that's funny you say that, Matt. That's quite relevant to today's story. Whoa. Yeah. A little bit of backstory to kick things off.

So Isabella Stewart was born in New York City on April 14th, 1840. She was the daughter of wealthy linen merchant David Stewart, and her mother was Adelia Stewart, beautiful. name, Adelia. Dealia, I've never heard that, but I do like it. It's lovely. It's great hearing about my family history. Yeah.

I've also never heard of a linen tycoon, loving that. Yeah, yeah, he's big in linen. I was left out of the wheel and I'm still furious about it. What'd you do to get left out of the wheel? I called him a cock knocker. A cock knocker. That'll do it. Very offensive in the 1840s.

I thought we were just mucking about and somehow he didn't like it. Sounds like a real cocknocker to me. I said it just after he'd punched a rooster in the mouth. I mean, how's he taking offence? Some people, so sensitive. So Isabella grew up in Manhattan, where from the age of 5 to 15, she attended a nearby academy for girls

where she studied art, music and dance, as well as French and Italian. Oh, Buono Vista. A well-rounded education. Oh, triple threat. So, Weno Vista, indeed. Oh, Buenos Vista. When she was 16, the family moved to Paris and she was enrolled in a school for American girls.

Her classmates included Julia Gardner of the wealthy Gardner family of Boston. They invented gardening. Yeah. Oh, gardening tycoon. Stuff was just growing wherever it wanted to. They were like, what if we organise this growing? Yeah. They brought order and it was absolutely needed.

Yeah. And the world thanks them for that. They worked very closely with Gregory Lawn. Yeah. Together they, yeah, they really made some magic happen. Yeah. And Harold Horticulture. Great dude.

Upon their return to America a few years later, Julia introduced Isabella to her brother, John or Jack, Low Gardner Jr. What was his middle name? Low. Wow. Amazing. Wow.

Hi, I'm Lauer. W-E-W-E-W-L, Loll, Lowl. How for the going to go with LOW. LOW. We'll just call him Jack. He was like one of Boston's most eligible bachelors. They got married in Grace Church in April of 1860 and then lived in a house that Isabella's father gave them as a wedding present.

Two incredibly wealthy families here. Yeah, I love a house as a present. Oh, yeah. That'd be so good. And you know it's not a shit house either. Well, my dad grew up in a house that his grandmother gave to his parents as a wedding present. Whoa. It was a two-bedroom house, two bedrooms, and they raised eight kids in that house.

Like, they wouldn't sell it or move because the house was a gift and, like, it would be disrespectful to do that. So they just raised eight kids in a house far too small. Is your family tycoons? Yes. What industry? Horse racing. gambling. Sounds like children.

Children, yeah, we are tycoons of making babies. Quite genuinely, so my, this is just a fun little tidbit for you. As the story goes, as told by Dad, and let's remember Dad's favorite catchphrases, never let the truth ruin a good story. So let's take this with a grain of salt. But his grandparents, his grandfather was a real, he would punt a lot on horse races. and sometimes he would win a lot. And when he would, his wife would buy property because she was real smart.

And by the time he died, she had like multiple properties, like 20 or more properties she owned. Wow. And she would just sell them off or give them out of presents. Or give them to her kids. Wild. The money dried up pretty quickly in the family. What about the? the gambling.

Are you also a very good gambler? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I thought so. I've got a very good poker face. You cannot tell when I'm lying. So anyway, they've gotten married. She's married Jack. This is from the Gardner Museum website.

In 1863, the gardeners had a son, John Low Gardner, the third, who they called Jackie. But sadly, he died of pneumonia at less than two years old. And in 1867, on the advice of her doctor and hoping to rouse her from her depression, Jack Gardner took Isabella to Northern Europe and Russia. This was the first of many trips aboard,

later including Egypt and the Middle East, Asia, through the late 1800s, and Isabella revelled in travel, keeping elaborate journals of her visits. She loved it. This is a real tease right now. As we're locked down, like travel tales. They went everywhere.

Let me tell you. Barely had a chance to sit still. They would just travel, travel, travel. They said to travel is to live. She would have killed for time to do a puzzle, but there simply was no time. Upon her return, she began to establish her reputation as a fashionable, high-spirited socialite.

Through their travels, Jack and Isabella developed a keen interest in art and accumulated quite a collection of pieces. Guns. Yeah, pieces. This is my OK. Got an Ozy here. You know, I'm sure some people would consider them art. After inheriting $1.75 million from her father,

this is in the late 1800s. Whoa. $1.75 million. She turned her focus to European art, and by the late 1890s, they had a world-class collection, primarily of paintings and sculpture, but they also had tapestries,

photographs, silver, ceramic, manuscripts as well as architectural elements such as doors, stained glass, mantel pieces. Like she just collected so much stuff. She's sounding like a hoarder. Yeah. All this art and then a pile of doors. Yeah, that's right. I want 80 doors in my house.

I saw them in hard rubbish. But they're all beautiful. Sadly, Jack passed away quite suddenly in 1898 and Isabella decided to turn her attention to the dream she and Jack had shared, to build a beautiful. museum to house their extensive collection of art. Fantastic museums famously have lots of doors. So, yes. Easy.

She's got that covered. Don't need to pay a trainee to make some doors. Awesome. That's going to save what, like $5,000, $10,000? Easy, great. Easily. That's classic. Isn't that classic museum?

It's just a lot of your time has spent opening and closing doors on your way. Yeah. Famously closed plan. Yeah. Yeah. That's why the lines are so long, out the front of the Louvre. It's just people going in and out of doors. It takes forever.

And heavy doors too. So it just, you know, it slows you down. You'll put your back into it, mate. She purchased land in Boston and hired architect Willard T. Sears, incredible name. To build a museum modeled on the Renaissance palaces of Venice. She loved Venice. It was her favorite. And so she's like, all right, we're in Boston.

I'm going to build a Venetian palace. Makes sense to me. I agree. If there's any city, I would liken. to Boston, it's Venice. Fantastic. This is from Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org.

A website Mac got me onto, actually. Fantastic resource. Yeah, it's great. It really is. It's got information on numerous subjects. I've seen more than 12 different pages on there. Get out. Wow.

Really, really good stuff. Wow. It says Gardner was deeply involved in every aspect of the design, though, leading Sears to Quip that he was merely the structural engineer making Gardner's design possible. She was very hands-on. After the building was ready, Gardner moved into the fourth floor living quarters and spent a year carefully installing her collection

according to her personal aesthetic. She was so hands-on. She was like, okay, I'm going to move in, obviously. Every museum has a living quarters for its incredibly wealthy owner. And then I'm going to single-handedly hang all the art. I doubt she was, you know, not single-handily, but... Hang in everything herself. Yeah, she would use both their hands.

Yeah, obviously. And probably a hook, maybe a hammer. I don't know, it depends on how heavy it is. Maybe you could just use command strips. Whatever. Blue tape. You aren't damaged the walls. The renter's dream.

The museum was finally opened in 1903, and over the next 20 years, Isabella Stuart Gardner filled her museum with visual and performing artists. She organized concerts. lectures, exhibitions, and encouraged artists to make themselves home in the museum. Oh, they also get to move in? Yeah, yeah.

There's actually a high-rise apartment building above it. It's very convenient. It was a hotel. John Singer Sargent painted in the Gothic room. Ruth St. Denise danced her famous piece, The Cobra and the Cloisters. Incredible. The cobra and the cloisters. A classic.

and Australian opera star Dame Nellie Melba performed from the balcony of the Dutch room. Dame Nellie Melba. Great name. Incredible name. She's on one of our notes, maybe. On the 100. On the 100.

Yeah, right. They put Nelly on the 100. She's our Benjamin Franklin. You see how Matt and I don't know that off the top of our head, but Moneybags McGee over here. Oh, yeah. Sir John Monash on the other side, so. I'm busy over here making the Nellys.

Dave, can I have a Nelly? No, but you can have a John Monash. Okay, you drive a hard bargain. He's the guy with a cowboy hat, is he? He's got a mustache. Oh, yeah. Is the freeway named after him? Or is that a coincidence?

I'm thinking of Banjo Patterson. What notes are you on? He's on the 10. How do you know all this, Dave? You've seen a $10 note now? Yeah, I've seen them all. Who's looking at money anymore? We live in a cash-free society.

Been on Wikipedia.org, forward slash Australian currency. Wow. My homepage, that's how I remember it. It's one of 12 pages I've seen too. I'm still furious from when they took Caroline Chisholm off the $5 note. Put the Queen on there. You two would be happy about that. Your bloody monarchy lovers.

When was that? Fucking 1600s? It was a while ago. Was it the 1600s? Yeah. Was it Queen Elizabeth the first? After Isabella passed away in 1924, she left an endowment of a million dollars. I've also read.

three million. So somewhere in the millions, she's left money and outlined stipulations for support of the museum, including that the permanent collection not be significantly altered. Apparently, her will was like pretty firm on what could be done or couldn't be done more specifically with the museum. Essentially, nothing could be permanently changed. Right. You could like move stuff, but probably don't like it. Yeah, everything sort of had to stay how it was. allowed to buy new pieces? I don't know.

I don't know if they're allowed to sort of add to the collection. Are you allowed to open any of the doors? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. They turned her living quarters into a door plus shop. Door plus, no, do. Door plus, no plus. Great jingle, one of the greats.

Great jingle. So that's just a little bit of background on the woman who created the museum. But now we need to jump forward 66 years. 1969? Nice. No. Oh. The last year I remember was 1903.

She died in 1924. I've had a blackout since then. In fact, just my next sentence will probably actually cover the exact date and time. I want you to picture. Fantastic. Yeah, just to make it real nice and clear. It was the early hours of Sunday, March 18th, 1990. You guys wouldn't know what that was like back then.

I remember those days. March 1990? No, we wouldn't remember it. You were just twinkles in your mother's wombs. It was a little twinkle. The museum guards on duty that night were Rick Abarth, it was 23, and Randy Hestand, who was 25. Randy is one of the great American names.

You know, there's an NFL player called Randy Gregory. First name Randy. Surname Gregory. Yeah. Amazing. This came across him this week. Randy Gregory. Yeah.

That's incredible. Such a good name. Rick was a regular night watchman, but it was Randy's first time on night shift. A different guard was originally supposed to work, but Randy had taken the shift for him. Fairly last minute. Suspicious. Maybe. Nah.

Policy was that one security guard stayed at the front desk while the other did patrols, and they would take turns. And Rick took first patrol. While he was patrolling the building, fire alarm sounded in different rooms of the museum, but upon inspection, he couldn't see any smoke or fire. He even went to the fire alarm control panel and it said there was smoke detected in multiple rooms but he hadn't seen anything

so he figured it was a malfunction and he shut down that panel. He went back on patrol and before he completed his rounds made a quick stop at the side entrance of the museum briefly opening the side door and shutting it again. He didn't tell Randy he was doing this or why. Rick completed his laps and returned to the security desk around 1am at which point Randy began his rounds. At 1.20 a.m., Rick was sitting at security desk when the intercom buzzed.

Two police officers were at the door of the building, and they explained they were investigating a disturbance, which Rick didn't think much of because it was St Patrick's Day, a big weekend in Boston, and people had been out celebrating. He could see the officers on the CCTV, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he let them into the museum at 1.24. I don't know why it took four minutes of chatting back and forth.

but that's when they came in, apparently. The two police officers asked Rick if there was anyone else working and he said Randy was doing a patrol and they asked him to radio Randy and ask him to come to the front desk. They needed to speak to both of them. While they were waiting, one of the officers said, you look familiar. I think we might have a warrant out for your arrest

and asked Rick to step out from behind the desk. Rick complied and as soon as he stepped out from the desk, he was forced against a wall and placed in handcuffs. Are they real cops? I'm like, who's, who's, the dodgy ones here. Yeah, who are we trusting? When Randy arrived, he was also immediately handcuffed and it was only now that the police officers revealed they were not in fact officers of the law. Strippers. But they were here to rob the joints. Robbers. That was my next

guess. They were here to get naked, loathe up and rob the place. It was a weird kind of fetish thing and hey, not to yuck your yum, but I prefer to do my thieven. fully clothed. The thieves blindfolded the security guard with duct tape and led the guards to the basement, handcuffing them to a pipe and a workbench. That's a brutal way to blindfold someone. They'll lose their eyebrows on that comes off.

Oh my goodness. It's messed up. There's photos of them actually, and Rick has duct tape not only over his eyes but also around his head from like chin to top of the head for some reason. Looks like an injured rugby player. Very kind of the photographer to take the photo

before helping the tape off their face. Hang on just a second. Let me get a snap of this. Sorry, the light is just so perfect right now. Can I get this? You are glowing. The thief said to the security officers, hey, we've looked at your IDs in your wallet. We know where you live.

Don't say anything to the authorities. And if you don't, you'll get a reward in about a year's time. It's a weird offer. So when everyone else comes in tomorrow and like there's seven Picasso's missing, just say you don't know what they're talking about. Just say, what? Just gaslight them. Just be like, you guys sound crazy.

My God, we don't have any Spanish art here. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Are you guys okay? Do you know anything about art? Just say stuff like that. So a few things already seem a bit off. Firstly, before they'd revealed their true intentions,

Rick had noticed that the shorter of the thieves appeared to be wearing a fake mustache. Secondly, they didn't need any directions to get to the basement. So they already had a pretty good understanding of the layout of the museum. Hello. With the mustache, he's like, hang on, things don't add up here. Most cops wouldn't put me in handcuffs and blindfold me and start robbing the place. Something's up here.

Something doesn't seem right. You know what it's sounding like to me? An inside job. They knew what to get either that or they've done their research and they've been to the museum the day before or something. They did the tour. They really cased the joint. Yeah. And somebody said, and that's the stairs down to the basement.

Oh, okay. And thirdly, by the time they got Rick and Randy down to the basement, it was 1.35 AM, but infrared motion detectors didn't record them entering the first room they robbed until 148, leaving a 13-minute gap. What were they doing in that time? Some people were sort of like, maybe they were just waiting to see if the police were coming. Who knows? Looping up takes time, Jess.

Oh, that's true. Not for some, but... I have a lube shower installed in my house. It's very easy. It was very expensive, but... You do not want to pull the wrong tap. In the morning, getting ready for work? Oh, no, the lube tap.

I just washed my hair. I'll be slipping around for hours. So the thieves entered the Dutch room and took two Rembrandt paintings. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee from 1633 and a lady and a gentleman in black from the same year. Both of these are very famous, particularly the storm on the Sea of Galilee,

because it's Rembrandt's only seascape. So it's very well known. So some people kind of like seems an odd one to steal because it's very famous. Like people would immediately be like, how do you have this? Right. If you were trying to sell it or... Okay. Yeah, that's interesting.

It's like you want to get the ones that are most valuable that you'll actually be able to sell. Yeah. If that's the intention, it's a bit, yeah. So the thieves, through the paintings on the green. smashing the glass and cut the paintings out of the frames with a blade, like cutting the canvas. I know. Monsters. Blasamy.

From this room, they also removed a large self-portrait of Rembrandt from its place on the wall, but ended up leaving it leaning against a cabinet. Investigators later theorised that they may have considered it too big to transport or the fact that it was painted on wood rather than canvas made it hard to conceal. You can't really like roll up a giant piece of wood. Do you think there's a chance they looked at it and went? That is ugly. What was he thinking?

Wow, Rembrandt was fugly. Overrated. Believe that. They also took a small stamp-sized self-portrait sketch of Rembrandt's, which staff of the museum found to be a pretty baffling choice as well. They're sort of like, you're in a room with all this amazing, expensive art, and you just take this little tiny sketch. Yeah, you just took this pocket-sized one that was easy to transport.

That's a bonus Rembrandt. Weird. An odd choice. On the other side of the Dutch Ruff. they stole Gover Flink's landscape with Obelisk from 1638 and the concert by Vermeer. The final item they took from the Dutch room was an ancient Chinese chalice type thing, which again kind of baffled staff who in the doco I watch described as not being worth very much. Again, a bit of a pointless sort of theft.

It feels a bit like they're just grabbing what they can. Not an inside job. I've changed my mind. Okay. After the Dutch room, the thieves moved to the. the other end of the second floor to a room called the Short Gallery. From this room they took five Degas sketches and an eagle finial, which is like a decorative feature from the top of a flagpole.

So I've just taken five sketches and a little eagle. Strangely, the only other piece that was stolen was an 1875 manet called Che Tortoni, which was taken from the blue room located on the first floor of the building. And the reason this is strange is because the motion detected, didn't detect any motion in that room during the time the thieves were in the museum. According to the motion detectors, the only person who entered that room that night

was a few hours earlier when Rick Abarth was doing his rounds. Oh, it's an inside job for sure. You said it all along. Before leaving the thieves checked on the security guards one last time, sweet, before stopping by the security director's office. And there, they took the security tape, and the printouts from the motion detector, which was kind of pointless.

The motion detection was still stored on a hard drive, but they've taken the security tape and they've taken the printouts. So I guess, like, you know, sure, we can still access the motion detector data, but it is a bit more tedious for us. So I guess you got us there. The frame from the Manet

was left in the security office and then the thieves moved the artwork out to their car in two trips and left at approximately 2.45 a.m. In total, really lasted for 81 minutes, which is a very long time. Yeah, they were getting comfortable there. Yeah, they were just browsing, helping themselves to tea and coffee from the cafeteria, which I assume it has.

I will, Jess, I probably should pull you up on this because people will be getting pretty annoyed smart buffs. It's not manet, it's Monet. So, yeah, I just thought I'd pull you up because I just know people would be yelling at their iPods right now. Why do you invite them to yell at you more? I don't know. Like if anybody was going to say, um, it's Monet, they'd be saying it to me, you'd be left out of it.

And now you're going to get people saying, actually, Matt, Monet and Manet are two different people. Well, that sounds ridiculous. Why would you have two artists with similar names like that? One of the chances of them both being super successful. So I doubt that very much, Jess. Just if you can, just pronounce it properly from now on. Sorry. Sorry, I will.

It's also pronounced de gas. Make sure we're directing any tweets to Matt. Thank you so much. So they leave at 245 a.m. 81 minutes robbery. At approximately 7.30 the next morning, the next shift of security guards arrive to relieve the overnight team. And in the dock, I was watching one of the security guards,

Karen San Gregory. Oh. Incredible. San Gregory. was one of the security guards arriving to work that morning. And she said that normally one or both of the overnight guards would be in the security office and would let them in. They'd sort of buzzed, they'd let them in.

But after buzzing and waiting, there was no response. And this happened for ages. And she's like, this is odd. So she called the chief of security and told him they couldn't get into the building. And he came down to the museum and led Karen and another security guard around to a back door, unlocked it, they get in. She said, as soon as they got inside, they knew something was. wrong. Security cameras had been moved, the office door was busted open, and the office had

been completely trashed. And there were two nude, lubed up guys, slipping and sliding around, like, something's not quite right. They'd made a slip and slide. I mean, they looked like they were having fun, but it's, you know. They turned the blue room into the loop room. They didn't know where their colleagues were, or if the offenders were still inside the building. That's like the scariest part. So the police were called. When police arrived, they started from the top floor, worked their way down, checking every room,

eventually making it to the tunnels that were underneath the museum. They feared the worst for the guards, kind of assuming they would be discovering bodies. But to their relief and surprise, they found Rick and Randy tied up in the basement. Shaken, obviously, but otherwise fine. Happy to pose for a photograph. Yeah.

I think Rick saw, could sort of feel the flash was like, can you just, can you just cut it loose first please? Just as like a mental image of it as well. So Rick, it was like 1990. Rick was a stoner guy who played in bands. He had really, really long, tight curly hair. It was like halfway down, like halfway down his torso, super long. So in this picture, you can see just his super long hair.

He's duct taped. across his eyes and all around his head, and he's still got, like, his security shirt is on over the top of a tie-dye t-shirt, and the security shirt's, like, open, and he's got a bum bag on. Like, it was not what I was expecting of a security guard. Manor's yelling at him. I told you to do that bloody shirt up, May? He's like, I've had a rough night.

So naturally, investigations start immediately. In total, 13 works were stolen, but the Ecclectic. mix of items had puzzled experts. While some of the paintings were valuable, the thieves passed other valuable works, even works from Michelangelo, and left them undisturbed, opting to take relatively valueless items like the chalice and the finial. So it was a bit puzzling. They never even entered the room on the third floor where Titans the Rape of Europa hung, which was one of the most valuable paintings in the city. They didn't even go in that room. and they're like, these people don't know anything about art.

So between their odd selection of pieces and the brutish way that they handled the artwork, investigators believed that the thieves were unlikely to be art experts themselves, but there wasn't a lot of evidence. Hey, they know what they like. Yes. True.

I does feel like these critics are being very snobby and elitist, aren't they? Art critics, art experts. They're going, oh, you took that. I wouldn't have touched that one. And then the, but they're also going, you took the really famous Rembrand, I wouldn't have taken that. Which is it? Are you, is it wrong that we're taking the famous ones or the non-famous ones? Can't please them.

No, you really can't. The museum itself had been pretty low on funds for a while. And because of Isabella's strict will stating nothing could be permanently changed to the museum, it had been hard to increase the number of visitors. So funds were a little low. They weren't super struggling. but apparently their insurance covered them for almost everything except theft, which feels like a bit of an oversight when you're insuring a museum.

So because of the low funds and their lack of insurance, Sotheby's and Christie's provided the funds for the museum to post a reward of a million dollars for information that leads directly to the recovery of all of their items in good condition. Except the jealous. We don't give a shit about that. Who can't? Whatever. But I want that finial back. Apparently this was the largest bounty ever offered by a private institution. Million bucks.

Information. As the R could easily be transported across state lines, the case fell into the FBI jurisdiction. But there was very little evidence to go on. Rick Abarth was investigated due to some of his questionable and suspicious behavior from that night, including randomly opening and shutting a door not long before the crime was committed. This is something he claimed to do quite regularly. He said it was to check that the door was locked. But in reviewing security tapes from previous shifts, that didn't seem to be true.

I'd never seen him do that before. Yeah. One of the people interviewed in their docker was like, I went through so many tapes. Never saw him do it. Except like the night before. So it's like, what? Little suss. Yeah.

In the doco, some people speculate that opening the door was a signal to the thieves that Rick was taking over the security desk and would be able to let them in shortly, but that is just speculation. No solid evidence was ever uncovered, proving Rick's involvement. And he'd already resigned from that role. He said it's because it was getting in the way of him playing in his band. So he'd already resigned before, like he'd put in his two-week notice or something before this happened. Oh, no, he was two weeks from retirement. So who was responsible? Well, this is a question.

Investigators are still asking today. Really? No. Yes, it's a mystery episode. Oh, it sounded so clear. I'm like, clearly he is the security guards in cahoots with the two cops. It's a mystery, baby. Whoa.

Yeah. So the art never turned up? No. No shit, that real famous Rembrandon on the sea, he's only seascape, still missing. Holy shit, that's wild. Yeah, there are some possibilities, suspects that the FBI have had. If the painting was being taken overseas, the strongest possibilities at the time was either Irish mob or Italian mob. Going to be mafia related.

With Boston having a large Irish influence and Irish American population, there was a theory that the art was stolen to hand off to the IRA, who would in turn use that to buy weapons, which one person who was like the director of art theft and stuff from Scotland Yard was like, yeah, that's happened before. We've busted, you know, people stealing art and weapons. And then there was a guy from the IRA interview and he was like, nah, never, that's never happened. So hard to say, hard to say. Selling pieces to buy pieces. Yeah. One of the most powerful crime bosses in Boston at the time was Whitey Bulger. Oh my gosh.

That is a fantastic name. Incredible name. He was the head of the Winter Hill gang. He claimed to have had nothing to do with the heist. And in fact, when he heard about it, he sent out a couple of his guys to find out who did do it because the heist had taken place on his turf. So he wanted to be recognised

and paid tribute. He's like, who's out here doing crime on my turf? Okay? This is where I do crime. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I want at least the Vermeer. All right. You think you could just a crime anywhere? Really funny. FBI agent Thomas McShane investigated and felt that Bulger's strong ties with the Boston police could explain how the thieves had acquired legitimate police uniforms or perhaps that real police officers were arranged to do the heist.

Bulger also had ties to the IRA and you might remember how while Rick was doing rounds the fire alarm was going off. Remember that a bit odd? Yes. Well McShane identified the bogus tripping of the fire alarm ahead of the highest, a calling card of the IRA. That was something the IRA used to do. Ah. So. IRA, okay, the fire alarm bandits. That calling card.

You've got to have a calling card. Yeah, you must. But McShane's investigation didn't produce enough evidence and no arrests were made, although some do believe that Bulger gave the artwork to the IRA and that the pieces are most likely in Ireland somewhere. Really? It's so funny to have a calling card going, hey, just by the way, I did this crime. Yeah, just so you know. I'll never admit it. This was me. But I did it.

In terms of Italian mafia, the Molino gang and associates of the gang were heavily suspected to have been involved as well. In fact, eight years earlier, undercover FBI agents had busted a plan to rob the museum by a gangster named Louis Royce. Royce, however, was in prison at the time of the 1990 theft. But he shared his plan with others and believed that another gangster by the name of Stephen Rosetti may have ordered the robbery or shared it with someone else. This guy Louis Royce cased the joint like eight years earlier. He'd set up this whole plan and these undercover agents were like working undercover obviously but they were doing it because of they suspected him of a different art theft.

And then in being undercover they caught him planning to rob this place. And then a few years later it gets robbed and they're like, hmm, but he was in prison. So it wasn't him. Because he told someone the plan. How would you be? You'd be like, that's my plan. My plan. God damn, he's such a dick, Stephen.

You promised you wouldn't use it. It's my plan. Copyright. I wanted to rob that museum. That's a dog act. Guys, we need to all agree that we should always communicate with one another when we want to, like if there's somewhere that you want to rob, you just let me know. And I won't do it.

All right. So this is sort of shotgun places. I call dibs. Absolutely, yes. I call dibs on NGV. Damn it. Fuck, that's so good. They've already been done, though.

So if you want to be a bit of a copycat thief, okay. Yeah, all right. I want to do it, though, as an inside job. So first I've got to get a job there. Yeah. As what? First step in my plan. I don't know.

Maybe as a painter. I'll paint some art works for them. Oh, okay. Do they do like home brand art there? At the National Gallery. of Victoria? I don't think they do home brand. I'll just get, you know, if you go to a bar and you say, I'll just have the house red.

It's a little cheaper. Yeah. Labelling, no big, you know, no big Monet or whatever splashed across it or day gas. It's just whatever. I could do those ones. I could just do the house paintings. The house art. I'll be a house painter.

Oh, fantastic. I never knew what a house painter did. Hmm. There you go. God, we learned so much on this. another associate of the Molino gang was David Turner, who the FBI believed may have been one of the thieves. Evidence indicated that he went to Florida to pick up a cocaine order just days before the highest. And credit card records suggest he remained there through the night of the robbery,

but some investigators believe this may have been Turner's attempt at creating an alibi. That is such a fun alibi. No, no, I couldn't have done that crime. I was buying coke. I was buying Coke. I was buying Coke. Check my credit card. Look how much coffee. Coke I was buying.

It's also just sort of that, it's like that confirmation bias thing of like, I reckon it was this guy. No, he was in Florida. Well, that's what he wants us to think. That's right. All alibis are lies. We don't believe any alibis anymore. No, you can't.

I like the idea that he bought the Coke with a credit card. Just to honestly, check my receipts. Who's got cash? They've got one of those little square things you beep on. Yeah, you got to have those. So they reckon it could have been David Turner even though he was in Florida. the FBI thinks that the other thief was his friend and another Molino associate, George Reisfelder. He died in July of 1991, so the next year.

And no clues were found in his apartment or the homes of friends and relatives, but his siblings recall a painting similar to Shea Tortoni in his bedroom. Investigators believe he looks similar to the slimmer man in police sketches. But that's, again, all they have and George is dead. So no way to really follow up on that one too much. Right. So Randy, is anyone suspecting Randy and Rich? They were a little suss on Rick because he was the one who let them in.

And he's the one that checked the door. Yeah, open the door. And he was the only one who was in the room where that other painting was taken. Man, that sounds like that's something. Yeah, but no concrete evidence. Nothing that you could charge you. and Randy wasn't. I mean, obviously he would have been questioned,

but there was never really any thought that Randy was involved. And the fact that they gave up info, like, the robbers told them to wait a year and they'll get cash and stuff like that. Seems like the kind of things that you wouldn't do if you're in on it, but maybe that's what they want you to think. Yeah, it's all very complex, isn't it? In 1994, the museum director Anne Hawley received an anonymous letter

from someone who claimed they were willing to negotiate a return of the artwork. The writer claimed to be a third party that said they did not know the identity of the thieves, but they said that the artwork was being held in a non-common law country under climate-controlled conditions. So that's good. They were taking care of the art. They wanted immunity for themselves and all others involved,

and $2.6 million for the return of the artwork. I think I know what country they're in, South Africa. They're asking for diplomatic immunity. It's the only place. I think that's clear as day for me. South Africa, do they have common law there? Or is there more rare? I don't know what a non-common law country is.

Do they have climate-controlled condition? I think we might have cracked this one wide open. Yeah, I think we've got it. The FBI, what a pack of idiots. If the museum was interested in negotiating, they should print a coded message in the Boston Globe. To establish credence, the writer, conveyed information only known by the museum

and FBI at the time. They reckoned like this is a pretty good lead. So they printed the coded message the 1st of May 94 and Hawley received a second letter a few days later in which the writer acknowledged the museum was interested in negotiating, but had become fearful of what they perceived

was a massive investigation by federal and state authorities to determine their identity. The writer explained they needed time to evaluate their options, but Hawley never heard from them again. Oh, are they still thinking about their options? Still thinking about it.

They're very careful. Sometimes you've got to really consider things for a long time. I don't want to push this, you guys, but we would love an answer. Yeah, we'd love to just, we would love to collaborate with you. We love your vibe. Let's chat. So just going through like some potential options here, some of the things that have been investigated.

In 97, the Boston Herald reporter Tom Mashberg was taken by a source, whose name was William Youngworth, who was an antiques dealer who had like, worked with some of the big crime bosses. He took him to a Brooklyn warehouse where he showed him what they believed to be storm on the sea of Galilee, the very famous seascape. They took tests of the paint chips, which were really only able to demonstrate

that it dated to that similar era. It couldn't confirm that it was that particular painting. I think I read somewhere else that it was like a different kind of oil. So they're like, no, it's not it. That's a different kind of boat. There was a speed boat with David Hasselhoff standing on it. Some people down in the darkness.

It's beautiful. But it is art. I can confirm that. I'll give you a million dollars for it, but it's not the one I'm looking for. But I must have it. There's a few empty spots there in the Dutch room. And I think Hasselhoff might be a Dutch of Dutch extraction, perhaps. Well, that's interesting that you say there were empty spots in the Dutch room.

They have literally just left blank frames on the wall. Oh, is that because of the, they're not allowed to change anything? Well, it might be a factor, but it's also kind of like in hope that they'll be returned. It's become quite a famous high. So you'd almost go to check out the spots they were in, you know what I mean? It's like the hires become the art. Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful.

You get some crime tourism. So, yeah, there was this source, Youngworth, also said that Boston criminal Bobby Donati and another guy called David Horton had masterminded the theft. See what I mean? Like, I've told you a few different options here. And there's no overlap in who the people are. It's like different names every time. It's like, I reckon it was this person.

No, I'm sure it was this person. So it's a real. mess. But so he believed that it was Bobby Denardi and David Horton, Donardi working as one of the fake police officers in the museum and Horton driving the van like the getaway car. Mashberg wrote about his experience in the Boston Herald. He left out Youngworth's identity and the painting's location, but the FBI were able to figure out the location of the warehouse several months later and they raided it, but there was nothing there. So these claims are disputed. And again, Bobby Donardi was murdered in 1991,

so impossible to question him about it now or, you know, or after the fact. Yeah. Dead men tell no tales. Well, with a lot of them being gangsters and working in various crime gangs, a lot of them died because they would murder each other. This one's my personal favourite. Two other suspects, were Robert Garante and Robert Gentile. Two Roberts. Garante died from cancer in 2004, but his widow told the FBI, his widow Elaine, told the FBI in 2010 that her husband had previously owned some of the paintings. She claimed though when a husband got sick with cancer in the early 2000s, he gave the paintings to Gentile for safekeeping. Gentile, no surprise, denies this, claiming he knows nothing of the whereabouts

and has never had the paintings in his possession. He was charged with drug charges in 2012, most likely is a way to pressure him to giving up information regarding the heist. It's sort of like, you know, oh, we can drop that sentence if you tell us about where the paintings are, which he denied, denied, denied. He agreed to a polygraph test,

which indicated he was lying when he denied any knowledge of the theft or location of the artwork. He demanded a retest during which he said Elaine gave, Elaine had once shown him the missing Rembrandt self-portrait to which the polygraph machine indicated he was telling the truth. This sort of sounds like something. So he said that Elaine has showed him the self-portrait. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But wasn't that the one that wasn't even stolen? Yes. So he is a fucking liar. The stamp size one, I suppose. Yeah, this is a little one, pocket size. The FBI searched his house a few days later and found a secret ditch beneath a false floor in the backyard shed, but it was empty. I've never heard of a secret ditch before. Secret ditch under the floor.

Check the secret ditch is fun. Most of the ditches I know are pretty well known. Oh yeah. Yeah. Gentile's son said the ditch had flooded a few years earlier and that his father had been really upset about whatever had been stored there. Oh no. All of this is very circumstantial, but it's like, oh, it feels. It feels right. In the basement, they found a copy of the Boston Herald from March 1990 reporting the theft, along with a piece of paper, indicating what each piece might sell for on the black market. I mean, they could have just been a true crime aficionado.

Yeah, well, he explained that the list was written up by a criminal trying to broker returns of the work from Garante and was talking to Gentile as an intermediary. So he's kind of blaming the other guy who died several years earlier. So he's kind of throwing his friend under the bus. When asked about what could have been in the ditch, Gentile could not recall, but believed it could have been small motors. Very sad about my motors. So again, no conclusive evidence was found to indicate his involvement.

Small motors or small monaise? Worth it, even on delay. So yeah, no conclusive evidence is very. And while he did serve 30 months on drug charges, he was not charged with anything to do with the heist. But in an update that has happened between me finishing writing this report and right now at the time of recording. Sold? Stop the presses.

No. They found a secret second ditch. News outlets reported that Robert Gentile passed away today. No. No. At the time of recording, he passed away today. What? Yeah, and a lot of the sort of newspaper articles or the stuff written about it is that he's sort of like the last person who might have known where they were.

He was in his 80s by now, but they believe that he, yeah, he knew where they were or at some stage along the line he knew where they were. But he passed away today. I love a deathbed confession. Come on. Yeah. You're going to die. Get it off your chest. That's what I'm going to tell you, Matt, that, hey,

I actually don't think you're so bad. What a, what a time to find out. Yeah, right as I'm dead. So in a very unsatisfying end, as the mysteries always are, we still don't know exactly who stole the artwork. Interestingly, the statute of limitations expired in 1995, only five years later. So the thieves and anyone who participated in the theft

can't be prosecuted. I did read they could face some charges, but they wouldn't throw the whole book at them. They can't. Statute of limitations passed. Wow. I love that. Statute of limitations are basically giving you like an end game.

You've clocked. You won this. You won this crime. I guess now you can sell that artwork really openly. Yeah. So why wouldn't they then? If I sell it anywhere legitimate, it's immediately going to set off alarm bells

because everybody in the art community knows these works are stolen. So it's got to be through like black market channels. It's, yeah, it's really messy. But if they can't get in trouble for it. I guess that would be a new crime though, wouldn't it? Selling stones. Good.

And they can still face some charges and it would probably be stuff like that. But, yeah, it wouldn't be the whole thing, I suppose. But is there anything that stops them putting it up like in their rumpus room? No. Just if it clashes with the couch, I suppose. You're under arrest. That's the only thing stopping you from fashion police. Style police.

But yeah, with so many suspects of being. gang members, like I was saying before, a lot of them are dead, so it's pretty hard to question them. In 1990, the FBI estimated the value of the hall at $200 million. This was raised to about $500 million by 2000. Some art dealers now would say more like $600 million. It was considered the largest museum heist in terms of value until it was surpassed by the Dresden Green vault burglary of 2019. Oh, that sounds like a future episode. Yeah, I was going to say. And thank you for the follow-up episode. I like cop so much shit.

Oh, you took all this junk. It's $600 million worth. Yeah, it's a lot of, it's expensive junk. And just a little tidbit here as well. Vermeer's The Concert is thought to be the most valuable work currently unrecovered with a value estimated at $250 million. So it's doing a lot of the heavy lifting, the concert. But yeah, it's still unrecovered.

We do not know where the art is. Gosh, I hope it still exists. I hope it wasn't flooded in the ditch, short. like burnt, like out of someone panicking or something like that. Yeah. Really hope it turns up somewhere. I'd love for us to get to do an update on it as so often happens. Hopefully we've sent out some good energy and now it's going to be found.

Because like the idea that it lasted like over 300 years and then someone just like, you know, put it under their bed and it got, you know, stood on or crushed or something. It's like, oh God. Or someone accidentally threw it out. Yeah, exactly. They turn up sometime in like an op shop. Yeah. That'd be great.

I didn't quite know where to drop that it was a mystery episode. But I felt like, I felt like, you know, where I did it was okay, you know? Yeah. I think it was okay. Just want you to be proud of me. But yeah, that is my very unsatisfying end to yet another mystery episode. The biggest highest in the world of the Isabelle and Stuart Gun. the museum.

Love it. I still think it was an inside job. I agree, Matt. I think that Rembrandt did it. Whoa. Just to get his painting back, he was like, fuck. I saw this a few hundred years ago. And it's actually my favourite.

I've only ever painted one ship before. Yeah. I want it back. In the family. Ships are actually really hard. People say hands are hard. Try painting a ship. Yeah.

Oh my God. That's like 50 hands. Yeah. And there's like ocean around it? Oh my God. It took me ages. I've looked it up. It's an absolute beaut.

Yeah. There are still beautiful high-deaf photos of it. And I'm sure it's looking real nice on somebody's mantelpiece. Yeah. I mean, unless you know, you could walk in and just be like, huh, nice print of something. Yeah, there's a print, didn't you? Why wouldn't you?

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know people who can afford actual art. Certainly not a Rembrandt. I don't want to know people who can afford actual art. Well, thanks so much for that report. Jess, that does bring us to everyone's favorite section of the show where we thank a bunch of our great supporters from Patreon.com. slash do go on pod or do go onpod.com.

If you go along there, you can sign up and support us at a bunch of different levels. Different levels give you different rewards. There's multiple bonus episodes each month. There's shoutouts. There's a newsletter occasionally. There's a Facebook group. There's a lot of stuff you can get involved with. And the first thing we like to do is for the people on the Sydney-Schenberg level,

they get to offer us a fact, a quote, or a question. I read those out and yeah, they also get to give themselves a title. I read out three each week or four even. How many is it? Well, is it three or is it four? Let's see how we go. I mean, it's been four every other week, but maybe it's a three kind of week. I'm not sure.

So first up, we have from James Edwards, who's given himself the title of Chief Trombone Soloist for when people will fall over. Oh, fantastic. Is that the want, want, want, want. That's what I was thinking, yeah. That's great. James Edwards, got one of the great laughs in the business. I don't think that says much about my stand-up that I can remember a single laugher from a gig.

No, James has a noticeable laugh. Never forget your only laugh. The show in London a few years ago, and his laugh was fantastic. James has got a question for us. And here it is. Hey guys, it's been so long since I did my first and only fat quota question, mainly because I forget until every Wednesday when I go, fuck, I forgot again.

Anyway, I was wondering, following the huge international success of Matt's critically acclaimed and presumably multiple nominated investigative journalism series, Beer Pioneers, what topic would you like to research and present in a documentary series? And he's answered his own question. you want me to read his answer first or do you have something there? Yeah. I'll read his out. James says,

Living in London, I'm always fascinated by stories about the London underground and would love to deep dive into that for a series. Either that or the dark web, but I think that might be too scary. Anyway, I hope you're all well and thanks for everything you do to keep us smiling during such strange times. Oh, cheers, James. Thank you, James. I think, yeah, so I did a show, which was in part about going around to craft breweries around Melbourne and Tasmania,

but also loosely following the trail of an escaped convict William Buckley. Well, I was going to do an episode about him. Yeah, I reckon that would be great. It's a great story. Yeah, this is a really interesting story, so I should do that sometime. So I think what I would do is series two of the beer pioneer, which is planned for next year. So I'm excited to do that once I'm allowed to leave the house. That would be nice. What would I like to, I mean, Dolly Pardon, obviously.

But I feel like it's been done. Imagine, yeah, your pilgrimage to Dollywood. Oh my God, I want to go to Dollywood so bad. That's a tough one, Dave. What do you reckon? Where I live, there's nearby in the same suburb. There's this beautiful old gardens that's surrounded by these old gold rush era mansions

that are very old, all in similar style, and it just goes in a U-shape around the gardens. And I'm like, I'd love to know the history of who's lived here, what's it like, you know, it's been over 150 years of these extremely beautiful homes. And I don't know, when I walk through there, I think about that. And I've looked it up online and there's not that much. so maybe I could be the guy that cracks that wide open.

And even if I'm the only one who is interested, at least I'd find it interesting. Yeah, I'd be interested in that, assuming there was anything to be found. It's the thing that they might not be, but maybe there is. Yeah, it does sound intriguing. And then on the show, we could like tour in the different houses.

And obviously some of them are older and haven't been looked after, and some of them are like absolutely brands making new, like grand design style on the inside. So that would be kind of cool too. That's great. Yeah, that's the only thing I could think of that I've been wondering.

I guess I haven't left my 5K zone in a couple of months, so that's why I'm thinking about that. Yeah, actually, I would be doing a documentary on international travel. Yeah, I'd love to join you as your sidekick for that, if that's okay. I'm doing a doco on a European summer. What's it all about? Let's go check it out. Yeah, I'm just really curious to find out what's it like to lie on a tropical beach.

I'm doing a report on gelato, and I must sample all of it. That's a great idea. Thank you so much for that question, James. The next one comes from Claire Norris, who's given herself the title of statistician, not accountant, for do go on. And Claire's offered us a fact, and this is it. Micro-morts measure risk of death from a given activity. One micromort is a one-in-a-million chance of death. The skydiving is eight micromort per jump, climbing Everest is 40,000 and running a marathon is seven per run. Lastly, sharks and kangaroos pose similar risks at about 0.1 micromort per year. That's fun.

I love that. A marathon is one micromort less than skydiving? Yeah, how's interesting. I mean, a marathon is, I guess that's... I guess it's heart attacks. And it'd be people who aren't quite prepared for it, I suppose. I've got some friends who are looking at doing. one next year. I'm like, not for me.

Start with like a 10K and then you'll realize how much that sucks and you'll go, oh, God, I thought I was going to do a marathon like an idiot. That's the thing. That's what they did. They did 10K ones. They've done half marathons and now they're training for, I'm topping out, I'm topping out at 10Ks. I'm trying to do a 10K run each week at the moment. And they suck every time, all of it. Non-stop, it sucks. I feel really good. afterwards, but yeah. But a half marathon or a full marathon, I just, I don't know, just to me it seems like

punishing yourself. But I imagine the high at the end of it would be pretty amazing as well. Yeah, yeah. Thanks love for that, Claire. I love that. Micro Morts. I'm going to try and remember that. That's awesome.

The next one comes from Dominic Stevenson, who's given himself the title of Chief Underling of that. Dominic has asked a question, which is, what's the most downloaded do-go-on episode ever. Oh, that's a tough one without notice. It's tricky because we've been across a few different hosts over the years. I think we're up to three or four ACAS who were with now. And they've counted the downloads differently across that time and that's changed a bit. And I'm not sure. My guess would be, Dave, do you have any idea? You're the stats, man. I think just going from ACAR,

because like you say, there's each different one, it reset each time. So you go to ACAS and something that's had thousands of downloads goes back to zero on their count. So I would say, I think it's something, maybe the Unabomber is. Oh, yeah. So it's normally, just like quite well-known topics are often the ones that go big. I reckon Shackleton's endurance was big on one of our previous hosts. I'll double-check that right now on ACAST, just so we know. Do you want thinking music?

Please, you're so good at it. Oh, no, no. That was on the recent bonus episode we did about the $64,000 question. Pop got this in my head. I think it only just left my head. He was as happy as can be. I'm just going to send you voice memos over the next few days doing that. Okay, I've got the answer here.

Yeah. This is over the last approximate two years. The number one is the Unabomber. It is Unabomber. Interesting. And number two, which really surprises me, is Roman Emperor Caligula. Ah, here you go. And his crazy antics.

There you go. I don't remember that. I think that was a Dave report? Yeah, it was. Apparently people like the Roman stuff, or they like the crazy antics. Probably that, probably that. Oh, there you go. Thanks for that question, Dominic.

Maybe some people find that one interesting. And finally from Dan Marshall, he's a first timer for the fat quota question section. And Dan has given himself the title of the 563,296 way to die in the West. And he's offered a fact. And here is Dan's fact. Modern body armour was created by an irate pizza guy named Richard Davis, who would test it on himself. Davis got his hands on some of this new material called Kevlar and fashioned some of it together into a body armour. He called it the second chance vest and created it with the intentions of putting it in police hands.

To try and sell this vest to the police, he would demonstrate it by shooting himself point blank in the chest with a revolver. While it hurt like hell, he was overall fine and his pitch was so effective it later became standard among all police in the US. Can you imagine being in the room for that pitch?

I would shit my pants. That's amazing. And I'd be like, later I'd be like, look, bold, love the example, but you are fucking insane. Oh man. That's like he's seconds away from joining my favorite wikipedia.org page.

list of inventors killed by their own invention. Though I suppose technically it's the gun that killed him, so maybe not. That's amazing. That's amazing. That's amazing. That's amazing. Wow. Never believe in anything you do.

That's my lesson. It made me think a little bit of the guy who had the parachute suit and jumped off off the Eiffel Tower. Oh, no. Mate, just so determined to try and make their mark. We've got to try something. He made a mark all right. So that's the end of our face.

Quote or questions section for this week. Thank you to all those who got involved. If you want to throw one in for us, you can get involved at the Sydney-Shaunberg level. The next thing we like to do is shout out to a few of our other great supporters. Normally, Jess comes up with a little game here based on the topic. So we read out the names, we thank them, and we normally, you know, we might give them a,

if it was an episode about pets, for instance, we'd give them all a pet. I'm thinking of what, um, uh, or institution, they rob. Great. I love it. All right. Now, if I may kick this off, Dave, do you know what an O with a line through it, how that's pronounced?

I'm afraid not. I'm afraid not. I'm going to pronounce it like an O. From Cobenhaven in Denmark, I'd love to thank Johann Otto Hove. Oh, my God. What a name. Great name. And I think Johann would have robbed the MCG Museum.

Yeah. A little sporting museum there at the MCG. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, they've got like the few baggy greens. Yeah, maybe Kathy Freeman's one of her running suits, those sort of things. Probably some bales from a big cricket test. Mm-hmm. Yeah, such things like that.

Such things. Such things. Probably a few footy guernsies. This makes sense now, having looked it up, but Copenhagen, that is the Danish way of saying Copenhagen. That makes sense. That does make sense, yes. Yeah, there you go.

I still don't get that we don't let people call their own places whatever they want. It's like, you can call that. I think we've got our own name for it. You'll be Germany, okay. Weishlands cute, but not for us. It's very strange. Very strange. Thank you, Johann.

I'd also love to thank from Oklahoma. Oklahoma City in Oklahoma and the United States, Jack Vesper. Ah, Jack Vesper, of course, are the mastermind behind the heist of the NGV National Geller of Victorian gift shop. Yeah. Robbed it blind. 70, 75 magnets gone. Novelty pens.

Yeah, they got good magnets, pens, books, sometimes T-shirts, a lot of, a lot of bullshit stuff. A lot of bullshit stuff. which like they put a high price point on but they're not worth that much. That's right. They're like, oh, they stole 15 grand of stuff, but really on, you know, they're only going to get about five, five, six dollars for it. A lot of them is just mark up, you know. Yeah.

Thank you, Jack. The day who the real thieves are, bloody, are those gift shops. And finally for me, I would love to thank from Address Unknown, only can assume from the home of the mole people. There's a few people around this time who signed up who didn't give us their address. We don't get the address if people opt out of having a reward sent to them like the Christmas card and that sort of stuff.

So for some reason, at around this point 18 months ago, people were not wanting us to send them things. So from address unknown, surname unknown, I'd love to thank Esther. Esther, of course, known for, it was a number of heists, actually. It was a heist ring of 7-Elevens. Wow. Oh. Yeah.

Took the slushy machine and everything, gone. Oh, no. Yeah, wiped the place out. I think Esther's genius move was going, look, well, I know they're open from 7 to 11. I'm going to rob them at 1130. Mm-hmm. And she got there, you know, with the jackhammer ready to sort of jackhammer through the window and just the door opened as she did it. So it was actually a lot easier than she'd

planned. Yeah. Thank you so much, Esther. Thank you, Esther. I would love to thank from Indianapolis in Indiana. Oh, so close to Gary, Indiana. So close. I would love to thank Chancellor Duval. Chancellor Duval. What a name. Oh, my goodness. The Chancellor, of course, would have stolen he would have thieved from Jay Leno's car collection. Oh, no. Which I believe is pretty extensive. Yeah, he's got quite a few cars. Which, honestly, you can only use one at a time, can't you?

Yeah. That's right. But at least there's a bit of variety. What about Jerry Seinfeld? He's just got like 100 Porsches. Yeah. It's all the same thing, man. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, I suppose I've got lots of mugs. They're all a bit different, aren't they? That's right. Who am I to judge Jay Leno? I know, he's airport worth of cars. I would also love to thank from Seattle in Washington. Well, I think, oh, you haven't said their name.

Love to thank. Hang on, you can say you all thinking just one sec. I would love to thank Derek Cossack. Derek Cossack, what a name. I brought this one. I'm not, just kidding. Just kidding. Matt had something ready to go.

I think Derek Kosak went in and did a raid on K-A-C-L. I fucking knew it. Fraser Crane's radio station. It was going to be Fraser-related. Oh man, I had no idea. Maybe I hear the music call it a little toss salad.

I actually paused after saying Seattle because I thought you might start singing. Oh, right. And my mind was drifting off into the Fraser verse. which of course also included cheers and wings. Yeah. There's a lot. Some people refer to it as the cheers of earth, but not me.

That'd be ridiculous. Thank you so much, Derek. And finally, for me, I would love to thank another person we don't know their location, so we can only see them deep within the fortress of the Moles. I'd love to thank Jess. Oh, Jess. Of course, known for absolutely clearing out. Ripley's believe it or not.

stole that giant statue of Robert Wadlow, and that is a difficult thing to hide. Jess, are you secretly supporting us? I'm just worried about you guys. So I just want to make sure that you're looked after financially. Appreciate that. So yeah. Thank you so much. I'm on the $4,000 a day level.

Wow. Yeah. We're millionaires from you. Bankrupt. Help me. Well, I'd like to thank three beautiful souls now if I could. Now, this one also assume deep within the fortress of the moles, surname unknown, but a big shout out, you know who you are, and that is Heather.

Heather. Great work, Heather. We appreciate you so much. Heather is responsible for a heist of the Coles Deli. Oh, my goodness. What are you talking? Meats, sliced meats? Strasbourg.

Chicken loaf? Yep. Calamatta olives. All of it. Wow. A bit of Yarlsburg or Jarlsberg. I once asked at the Coles Deli, I said, could I get a ward of Jarlsberg? And I said, and I sort of lant in, I said, or is it Yarsberg? I never know. And they land in as well. I said, I don't know either. That's beautiful. That's a nice moment of human connection.

Yeah. They lent in and said, I don't care. Maybe some semi-sumdried tomatoes. Oh man, I want to be involved in that hall. Yeah. Does it also count the seafood? Yes. Wow.

That's a smelly robbery. Yeah. That is the stinkiest part of a supermarket. I think maybe the only department in the supermarket I never worked in. I even did one day in cleaning the meat room. What is a meat room? That's where they cut the meat up and everything. And it's just like all the,

the cutting equipment and everything, there's just like meat jammed in everywhere and I had to give it a deep clean. There's meat jammed in it. They asked me at the last minute, I was meant to be doing trolleys or pushing trolleys or something and they're like, hey, our meat cleaner is cold and sick, can you do it? Our meat cleaner. I was like, oh, I prefer not to. I'm not a big meat fan.

And the boss is like, I'd really appreciate it. I'm like, they're all right. It wasn't too bad, really. You're sort of in the room by yourself, just spraying bits of old pig and stuff out of the way. And they're all hanging up around you. It's kind of fun, the big pig heads and stuff. The whole carcasses are in there. Start training for a boxing match.

Yeah, there was definitely. I'm sure there was a montage roll in there. What are we talking about again? We're thanking our great supporters. So thanks to Heather. A big thank you now. Also, location unknown. The fortress of moles, we obviously have a big.

appeal and about 18 months ago had extended that appeal to the fortress of the malls. We appreciate that. Thanks for listening deep within there. I'd like to thank Ashley B. What about Ashley B is known for the great blockbuster video heist? Oh. And this is just seconds before all the stores closed, so they were happy to get rid of their stock.

So it was a victimless crime, really. I bought a bunch of ex-rentals when they were closing some of those down at one point. Great. A lot of great stuff there. But, yeah, I reckon they've probably gone in there. They've taken a lot of the overnights. You know, the ones that might be a $6 or $8 overnight rental. And they're like, not for me.

This one's free. Overnight, how about every night? Guns waving around. Everyone. No sudden movements. And like, yeah, take them. Fine. Yeah, great.

Play smart with me. I'm not going to fall for your mind games. So I'm actually, B, you've got a lifetime supply of movies from around 2011 and before. So good on you. And finally, I'd like to thank from unknown location, Mark Hutchinson. Thank you, Mark.

Be Kevin's keyboard Emporium. Oh, yeah. He loves to tip-ty-tap on the old keyboards. What are we talking, computers or piano keyboards here? Bit of both. Wow. Got a couple of casios. Yeah.

Was I looking around the room? Saw a keyboard, yeah. Not only pianos and computer keyboards, also boards for hanging your keys on. Kev's got it all. And key tars. He's got them. And ties that look like keyboards.

And also the big floor keyboards that they used in big, got them all. Thank you so much, Mark. Also, Ashley, Heather, Jess, Derek, Chancellor, Esther, Jack, and Yohra. We thank you one and all for your great support. The last thing we like to do is thank a few of our long-term supporters. These next people are being welcomed into the Triptych Club, triptitch, we say.

I think technically it's meant to be triptych in an early episode, maybe the first episode. Dave said it wrong and Webb said it wrong ever since. Could not give a fuck. Well said. So I think Dave, there's five inductees today into the Triptych Club. Normally how this works is I'll read out the name. Dave hypes you up because you've been a supporter for the show for three straight years at the shoutout level or above.

So this is your moment. You're coming into the club. VIPs only. I'll read out your name. Dave will hype you up. Then Jess gives Dave a little bit of a tickle as well, a little bit of self-esteem boost because, you know, it's draining to be a hype man. And Jess, you normally have little cocktails people are coming through.

What's the cocktail you got sorted for tonight? It is a... Dave, you book a band normally. Who have you got playing in the triptych club tonight? I mean, we're actually talking about them off there, but then they ended up being absolutely essential. That is the Australian metal band Super Heist. Yes, D.W Norton and the gang.

That's right. And Bob, you've got obviously the cocktail I think you were talking about before was the Rembrandt. And it was like a look like waves in the sea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he was famous, as far as I'm aware, famous for his seascapes. That's right, absolutely famous for them. I think you painted quite a few. For our new inductees, just for this particular day, there is a black tie event because we're fancy hoist hoisty types and we're going to discuss art.

It's going to be very boring. So come on in if you want to put up with that. So five inductees this week, Dave, you're ready to go? Absolutely. Let me hype. Come on, Daveo. Thank you. Firstly, from, I'm going to say, MA in America.

Is that Maryland? That's going to be my guess. Massachusetts? I don't know. Maryland, because I think alphabetically that comes before Massachusetts. I'm afraid. I've looked it up. It is Massachusetts.

Oh, Dave. You got me again. So sorry. From Merrimack in Massachusetts, which is where Boston is as well, Jesse Russell. Oh, let me rustle up a good time. All right. Yes. Easy. Thank you, Jesse.

From Bonnie Bridge in Great Britain, it's Claire Hazard. Ooh, there's a hazard on the dance floor. Claire Hazard. Yes, maybe. She's tearing it up. From Goua in South Australia, it's Heidi Otterwell. Oh, this night started out bad, otter bad, but now it's Otterwell. Yes.

From Essex in Great Britain, it's Jack Jefford. Ooh, a sexy. SXE. It works if you see it written down. I've printed a t-shirt for you, Jack. You can wear that if you want. It's sexy. And finally, from New Glasgow in Nova Scotia, I think, in Canada,

it's Elizabeth and Fraser Green. Ooh, New Glasgow on in. Elizabeth and Fraser, the dangerous razor. Welcome in Jesse Claire, Heidi, Jack, Elizabeth and Fraser. I hope for you make yourselves at home and enjoy the music of super heist. But that's all we've got time for, really. I mean, it's not all we've got time for. This show has no time limit.

But that's all we've got for you, I guess, this week. Any final words, Jess? Buts. Dave, boot this baby home. Well, basically, all I've got left to say is if you want to get in contact with us, We've got a website. Check it out. Do go onpod.com. And there's links to our Patreon.

You can support us on there. You can email us. Do go on pod. At gmail.com or link to buy some merchandise or link to our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, most of which are at Do Go OnPod. Yes.

If you want, you can suggest topics via that website as well. There's a link there or in the show notes. And yeah, anyone can do that. But we'll be back next. week for the start of Blocktoberfest. We cannot wait. I'm pumped. Ready to block and roll, right?

Exactly. We always say. Let's block and roll, baby. So thank you so much for listening. Stop block and roll. The biggest topics start next week. Thank you so much for listening. And until then, I'll say thank you.

Goodbye. Bye. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are and we can come and tell you when we're. coming there. Wherever we go, we always hear six months later, oh, you should come to Manchester. We were just in Manchester.

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