No Deathbed Confession Expected In Gardner Museum Art Heist

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The lawyer for a Connecticut mobster suspected to have ties to the notorious 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist says he doesn't expect a deathbed confession from his client.

Hartford attorney A. Ryan McGuigan tells the Boston Globe  he visited the hospital where 80-year-old Robert Gentile is in failing health on Friday to see if he'd talk about the artwork.

But Gentile, who has steadfastly insisted he has no knowledge of the heist, responded tearfully that "there's no paintings," McGuigan said.

Gentile is in federal custody for unrelated weapons charges. He's been identified by the FBI as the last surviving person of interest in the theft.

Thirteen paintings and other artwork by Rembrandt van Rijn, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Johannes Vermeer worth an estimated $500 million were stolen in the brazen heist.