Disclaimer: (The following story is pure fiction. All names, places and events are coincidental and are only used to embellish the story.)The Marblehead Heist
by Mark Ryan © 2009
During a warm Monday afternoon in June the Romeo gang met for lunch at the Boston Yacht Club in historic Marblehead, MA. The Romeos (Retire Old Men Eating Out) are retired school teachers and supervisors who meet once a month for camaraderie and laughs. This month they would enjoy lunch at BYC as guests of Paul Giraldo who is a life member there. After lunch we were all invited to visit Abbot Hall (Marblehead Town Hall) which houses the town government offices and the town art gallery. The gallery was honored to have on display a valuable painting titled “The Spirit of 76” painted by the famous American Artist, Archibald Willard. The painting was purchase by General John H. Devereux and given to his native town of Marblehead as a gift in 1880. Joe Balsaro had made the arrangements for the visit with John Daniels from the local Marblehead Historical Society.
Joe was also a local history buff from Swampscott where he lived and was an active member of the Swampscott Historical Society. It was a short distance up the hill from yacht club, so we decided to walk and leave our cars parked at BYC. As we walked along the narrow streets of Marblehead, we could see all the historic houses with small signs attached to their front siding. On Front St. the signs all depicted the names of the original home owners and their profession. Some were ship builders, sailors, ship captains, sail makers, cobblers, butchers, dress makers, carpenters and the like. These names illustrated the trades of the hard working people who inhabited this New England town in the early 1700s.
When we got to Town Hall we entered the front door and were greeted by the security guard at the front desk. After telling him that we were expected by Mr. Daniels he directed us to the second floor art gallery. It was here that the great painting “The Spirit of 76” was on display. As we entered the gallery we saw John Daniels who apologized for not calling us earlier and canceling our visit since the gallery had a robbery on the previous night and everything was in disarray.
Mr. Daniels said that the only item stolen from the gallery was the painting titled “The Spirit of 76” which had been cut out of its frame. Evidently the frame was too large and difficult to remove. After cutting out the canvas, the thieves just rolled up the painting in a long tube and carried it out the front door as they quickly made their get away in a small car parked on the street.
When questioned by FBI Agent Bob Turner, the guards revealed that they heard the front door bell ring at about midnight and saw two Marblehead policemen standing in the foyer. Speaking through a locked door and an intercom system, the police said they were responding to a silent alarm from a house next door where an intruder had entered the second floor of Town Hall by jumping across from an adjoining roof. Consequently, they needed to come in and investigate the second floor rooms. Although the security company policy prohibited any unknown personnel entering after hours, the guards let the police in since they saw their official uniforms and they were in hot pursuit of a criminal.
As soon as the police entered, the two security guards were overpowered, tied up and the security system disabled. One of the assailants disguised as a policeman brought the tied up security guards to the basement and bound them with duck tape to separate support posts. At the same time, the other assailant ran upstairs to the art gallery, cut out the large painting from it’s 8 x10 foot frame and quickly returned to the first floor. As soon as the other thief came up from the basement they walked out the front door and got in their car and drove away. The entire operation took less than ten minutes. When the FBI was called in to investigate early the next morning they said that the robbery was similar to the Gardner Museum Art Heist that took place nearly 20 years ago. The thieves used the same policeman disguise, disabled the alarm and got away in a small car. The eleven paintings taken during the Gardner Heist are now valued at over 500 million and a reward has been offered for 5 million.
Although we were disappointed not to see the art gallery and paintings we were glad that no one was hurt. We then said are goodbyes and told Mr. Daniels that if he needed any help to please call us anytime. After exiting the front door we all thought that it would probably be a long time before things were back to normal at Town Hall.
The next day John Daniels received a note and Town Map that had been left at the front desk. However the guard did not see who had left it. The note read that if Mr. Daniels wanted to get the painting back safely he was to go to the Old Burial Hill Cemetery (Town Cemetery) in two days at exactly 6:00 PM on Wednesday and find instructions left there at the tomb of General John Glover. Since the note did not demand a ransom he decided not to call the FBI but instead called his friend Joe Balsaro for help.
After hearing from John, Joe called a few of the Romeos (Marco and Paul) for additional help and we all decided to meet back at BYC the next day and make a plan. It was Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM and we all met in a small private dinning room for coffee. When Marco heard that a map was included with the note, he brought some other maps of the area and a computer just to be prepared. Marco was an amateur Geocacher and liked reading maps, GPS coordinates and finding secret treasures.
After some discussion, we decided to let John Daniels go to the cemetery alone the next day and to track him by the GPS App on his iPhone. To make sure it all worked we even had a dry run on Tuesday and it worked like a charm. We further decided to let the FBI know our plan only after getting the instructions at the cemetery on Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon we met back at BYC and setup a command center in the coffee room. As John left BYC we watched his progress on the computer screen using Google Maps and the GPS App on his phone as he drove his car to the Town Cemetery. He also kept his phone in his pocket with the phone line open to Marco’s phone. This allowed us to hear any conversation and background sound as well as track him on the computer screen.
When John got to the cemetery he saw an older women standing near the General Glover tomb. He walked over to the woman and asked her if she knew about the painting. She had been crying and her face was all flushed. As we listened on the Marco’s phone, she introduced herself as Mrs. Gertrude Spinney and explained that she knew where the painting was because she heard her boss talk about it. She was a live-in house keeper to a person who lived near Crocker Park and believed that the painting was brought there late Monday night and stored in the basement. She also said that she had worked there for over 25 years and had recently been let go by the owner’s new mistress who disagreed with her about how to manage the house. As the live-in housekeeper, she had a small room at the back of the house and was requested to move out by the weekend.
She further explained that she needed to meet at the cemetery away from the house so as not to attract attention from the neighbors and also to determined if Mr. Daniels could be trusted to help her. She was also disgruntled about her firing and only had a few days to do what was right. Feeling confident that she could trust Mr. Daniels, she said that the owner was away for the day and that she still had a key to the house and knew the pass code for the security alarm. Furthermore, we could go there today and see if the painting was in the basement without the owner knowing.
She said that the house was shaped like a Castle and built into the side of the mountain located in back of Crocker Park on the corner of Front St. and Crocker Park Lane. John said he would go with her but would also have a few friends meet them there for help. He picked up his phone and told us to meet there in 15 minutes. I also thought it was time to call FBI Agent Bob Turner and left a message about what happened and where we were on his voice mail.
Since Crocker Park is only one block up from BYC, the three of us (Paul, Joe and Marco) walked over to the Castle House and met John and Mrs. Spinney as they drove up in John’s car. As we walked to the front door I saw the name plaque on the house siding just like those on Front St. identifying the home owner’s profession. Here it read: Rocco Angelini with a silhouette of the Archangel of Death. This must be the house of Rocco Angelini, the Angel of Death – Assassin for the Mob. As I gulped, I asked Mrs. Spinney if that was the same name as the mafia family Angelinis. She said yes but Mr. Angelini had always been the nicest man to her. We all shivered in our boots and wondered if we should go any further.
Since Rocco Angelini was not home, we had a surge of courage and decided to continue our search for the painting and knew that the FBI would soon be here to assist if there was any trouble. When we got to the front door, Mrs. Spinney entered the pass code into the security panel and we all sighed with relief as we heard the door unlock. Mrs. Spinney turned the door handle and walked inside. She then turned on the lights and we followed her to the basement. The basement had several furnished rooms with an office in the far corner. After searching for several minutes we couldn’t find any painting.
We all gathered in the small office and Mrs. Spinney recalled that she had not been in the basement for a few years but thought there was a closet in the office where a bookcase now stood. I went over to the bookcase and tried to move it. After a few tries it opened into a long hallway instead of a closet. After turning on the hall lights we cautiously walked down the hallway which eventually turned into a rock tunnel. When we got to the end of the rock tunnel, it opened into a giant cavern lined with glowing quartz crystals. Evidently, the one hall light caused multiple internal reflections in all the quartz crystals as if there were millions of stars covering the cavern walls.
Thinking out loud, Joe Balsaro said that we must be standing in the center of a giant Geode formed millions of years ago as the hot earth cooled and pockets of gems stones formed. He also said that we must be standing in a cave directly under Crocker Park which from outside looked like a solid mountain of granite. As our eyes adjusted to the bright light we saw hundreds of paintings delicately hung on the cavern walls. As we closely examined each painting we knew that they must be priceless originals done by the masters like Rembrandt, Degas, Manet, and Vermeer. I recognized many of the paintings to be those from the Gardner Museum theft which Agent Turner told us about and the cavern served as an ideal place to store them. The quartz lined walls were like a silica gel that absorbed damaging moisture. The depth of the cave under ground and under the frost line kept the temperature cool but constant.
A loud gun shot brought us all back to realty as we turned and saw a big man standing near the entrance with his gun in the air. It was Rocco Angelini who had returned home unexpectedly. He shouted for us all to come to the center of the cavern immediately or be shot dead. When we all had assembled in the center he saw his house keeper and realized how we had got into his secret place.
John Daniels said that all we wanted was the Marblehead painting and that we would leave without revealing his secret. Rocco laughed at the flat out lie and said we would never leave alive. He further said that he had kept this hidden cavern a secret for many years and would continue to keep it hidden after getting rid of his intruders. He also said that his priceless art collection was for his own enjoyment without the intrusion of the outside world. However, he knew that there were other ruthless men who enjoyed a similar passion for the arts and periodically would sell pieces from his collection to buyers from around the globe. These deviously rich men were from Japan, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South America and would pay millions for these world treasures.
Without warning he quickly grabbed Mrs. Spinney and threatened to shoot her in the head if we didn’t follow his directions. He then told us to move down the entrance hallway into his private office. As we assembled in the office he directed us to a small anti room and pushed us all inside and locked the door. As we stood in the pitch black cubicle, we heard steam fill the space from vents on the floor and realized we were standing in a sauna room. The temperature kept on climbing as we choked for our next breath. After a while, Mrs. Spinney passed out and lay on the floor. We needed to make a last ditch effort and escape this death trap. Although the room was in total darkness I felt a bench seat against the wall and pull it free. With the help of the other men we used it as a battering ram and jammed it against the door. After a few whacks the door broke and fell open. Luckily Rocco Angelini had left the office when he heard noises upstairs. With the fresh air streaming in, Mrs. Spinney came to and we all could finally breathe with relief.
In the distance we heard some gun shots and then they stopped. Afraid that Rocco Angelini would return and finish us off, we turned off the room lights and hid in the corner. After what seemed an eternity, we heard the door knob turning and then open wide and saw the silhouette of a man standing in the bright light. Instead of the angel of death, it was FBI Agent Bob Turner, the angel of mercy and we all gasped with relief that we were saved.
Evidently, Agent Turner had surrounded the house with a squad of other agents and seriously wounded Rocco Angelini and some members of his gang. They had come back to the house unexpectedly to plan another heist and were not expecting the FBI. After being handcuffed, they were all arrested for possession of stolen property and later would be charged with numerous counts of theft.
During the next few weeks the paintings were all inventoried and arrangements were made to return them to their true owners. “The Spirit of 76” was reframed and brought back to Abbot Hall with a promise of better security measures. Mrs. Spinney was notified that she would receive a 5 million dollar reward from the Gardner Museum for the recovery of their paintings lost for nearly 20 years.
Hearing this, Mrs. Spinney was overcome with joy and said she would share the reward with all of us. However, we all declined since she initially made the find and put her life on the line. The rest of us only helped.
As for the Romeos, we were glad that another exciting adventure had come to a happy ending and couldn’t wait for the next lunch date so we could share the story with our friends and "Oh Boy" would we exaggerate our roles.
Comments: (always welcome). Email to markryan82@comcast.net
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank my Romeo friends for their colorful backgrounds and giving me the inspiration for my stories.
References:
Boston Yacht Club
http://bostonyachtclub.net/
The Spirit of 76 - Painting – Town of Marblehead
http://www.marblehead.org/index.aspx?NID=708
Geocaching
http://www.geocaching.com/about/
Google Maps – Marblehead,MA
http://maps.google.com/
Gardner Museum Heist
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gardner_heist/heist/
Gardner Reward – 5 Million
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/gardner_heist/news/view/2009_03_12_The_year_of_the_heist/
FBI Art Theft Program
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/arttheft/northamerica/us/isabella/isabella.htm
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