Philly Mob Connection To Boston's Gardner Museum Heist

There is a clever bit in the 1963 film Dr No, the first James Bond film based on Ian Fleming's iconic character.

James Bond is captured on Crab Key by Dr No's thugs and he is invited to dine in style with the evil and mad doctor. As he is about to sit and eat, Bond, portrayed by the great Sean Connery, does a double take and glances at a painting.

Although many film viewers did not catch it at the time, the painting was Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington, which had been stolen from the British National Gallery just prior to the filming in 1962.

Very clever, Mr filmmakers.

Perhaps I'll come upon a Rembrandt painting hanging in a local South Philly bar.

Kevin Cullen in his Boston Globe column writes about the possible Philadelphia organized crime connection to the Gardner Museum robbery.

So, 23 years after the ­Gardner Museum gets robbed, the feds think the art heist was pulled off by a combination of wiseguys from Boston and Philadelphia. Makes sense to me. There was always a symbiotic relationship between the Mafia in Boston and Philadelphia.

Larry Baione, who used to be the number two man in the Mafia around here, positively gushed over the Philly mob. That’s because, like the Philly boys, Larry loved to shoot people. 

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/21/the-philly-boys/nY41zzz4han2hVYfs3zWdN/story.html

You can also read an earlier post of the robbery via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/03/largest-property-crime-in-us-history.html