Thirteen Perfect Fugitives
The true story of the world’s largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case.
We are proud to announce the new book by Argus Cultural Property Consultants partner Geoffrey Kelly about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist.
Thirteen Perfect Fugitives: The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World’s Largest Art Heist
On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of a disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world’s most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt’s only known seascape. The total loss associated with this robbery has been estimated at over $1 billion.
Based on meticulous investigations conducted to the standards required of an FBI special agent, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives offers author Geoffrey Kelly’s insights and theories about the infamous heist.
Due in stores March 10, 2026. Reserve your copy today!
About the Author
Geoffrey Kelly is a retired FBI agent with more than thirty years of state and federal law enforcement experience. As one of the original members of the FBI’s elite Art Crime Team, he managed numerous high-profile cases throughout his career and recovered more than $100 million in stolen artwork and cultural property. An internationally recognized expert in the field of fine art and antiquities theft, Geoffrey has trained domestic and international agencies and institutions around the world on proven methods and best practices to prevent art and cultural property theft.
Geoffrey is a graduate of Boston University where he earned his master’s degree in criminal justice. He is a founding partner of Argus Cultural Property Consultants. He also serves as an instructor at Harvard University’s Extension School, teaching a graduate-level course on art crime and investigations.