Why?
An Uncommon Criminal
There are many common criminals, but the one who committed the infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner robbery is not of the common variety. He is unique, but not a criminal genius. A true mastermind remains free, possibly because he knows when to quit.
Our protagonist made mistakes but accomplished what he set out to do. His crimes stand out, separating him from other recidivists who share his prison.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner robbery is the Holy Grail of art crime, the largest single property theft in America's history. Over time, it has become a legend.
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The Green
In Boston, St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) is treated by many as a holy day, a day when hell-raising, and bit of fun can be had, a day when everyone is Irish. Authorities in the city look the other way unless things get out of hand.
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St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural, and for some, religious celebration held on the traditional death date of one of Ireland's patron saints, St. Patrick (AD 385-461). The day is commemorated in the United States by the wearing of the green, and some celebrators drinking themselves silly. Probably not behavior a revered Catholic Saint would appreciate, but who can say?
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The March 17th date is a shared one. It is also Evacuation Day, a happy day during the American Revolution when the British Army, unable to move their forces inland after a prolonged siege of the city, removed their occupying forces from Boston and took refuge in British friendly Nova Scotia.
St. Patrick's Day is not a public holiday in most locales, but there are two notable exceptions, Suffolk County, Massachusetts which includes the city of Boston, and Savannah, Georgia.
The early morning hours of Sunday, March 18, 1990 were a good choice for a museum robbery in Boston. After celebrating, the cities populace wasn't operating at peak efficiency.
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My Home Town
New Britain Connecticut is my hometown. It was a great place to grow up but as I grew into a young adult I realized that remaining there was not what I wanted to do, so I left, only coming back to visit.
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In 1985, Bruce Springsteen released a ballad named My Home Town on his Born in the USA album and when I heard it, I identified many of the lyrics to my birthplace. There are parallels such as factories closing, vacant storefronts, and moments of extreme violence. There is nothing unique about older manufacturing communities experiencing drastic changes, and to its credit, New Britain has survived the evolution and fared better than other locales sharing similar problems.
Be it sports, politics, or criminals, New Britain is a force to be reckoned with.
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And ... the Reasons Why
The Sears Christmas Wish Book
The post-war Baby Boomer years were a good time to grow up in America. There was a lot to do, lots of new stuff, and exciting television shows and movies to stir our imaginations.
The downside to it was the Cold War, a missile crisis, nuclear war alerts, massive power outages, political upheaval, race riots, assassinations, and a huge mistake called Vietnam and the misery it brought with it.
On the positive side, Sears, J.C. Penney, and Montgomery Ward put out hefty catalogs in October and November to make sure everyone got their greed glands into overdrive for the must-have toys of the upcoming holiday season. The projected big sellers had the best picture layouts making them the most coveted. I along with my brothers and sisters would fight over the catalogs and jockey into position to view the featured treasures. We occasionally did some damage to the catalog and each other in the process.
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My older brother once tore the pages out of a Sears "Christmas Wish Book" that contained his choices for Christmas presents. This aggressive behavior did not go over well with my father and it had the opposite effect my brother wanted. In our household, one did not do deliberate damage to books, magazines, or even to a catalog without hearing about it.
I believe that the Gardner thieves knew little about art but were familiar with the tried and true method of Baby Boomer marketing techniques, so they used one. An old Isabella Stewart Gardner Guide inadvertently became their shopping catalog for fine art. The guides even told them how to find the art featured in the photos.
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That is how they chose their targets.