The FBI is ramping up its efforts to solve a 23-year-old art heist that's been billed as the biggest art theft in history, and today announced some major updates to the case.
The agency said it has determined the identity of the thieves, and where they transported the 13 missing works in the years after the theft from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
The works are valued today at $500 million.
Authorities did not identify the thieves by name, but Richard DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said in a press release that authorities believed they were "members of a criminal organization with a base in the mid-Atlantic states and New England.”
They likely took the stolen works to Connecticut and the Philadelphia area, where they tried to sell them, according to the FBI. The agency said it did not know the whereabouts of the works since the attempted sale, which took place around a decade ago.
Information is still being sought about the location of the art, which was stolen 23 years ago today in a brazen St. Patrick's Day theft.
The museum is offering a $5 million reward for the safe return of the works, which include pieces by Degas, Vermeer, and Rembrandt.
In addition to today's news about the identity of the thieves, the FBI launched a new website about the crime in an effort to drum up publicity for the case.
Investigators have said in the past that they hope to crack the case by using tactics like those used to capture notorious gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, who was eventually caught after authorities publicized the case on billboards, TV commercials, and other ads, according to the Associated Press.
SEE ALSO: 23 Years Later, The FBI Is Still Trying To Solve The Largest Art Heist Of All Time
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