it all happened so fast he never had a chance to hit the one panic button by the guard desk. he knew no one was coming to help. did the thieves know that, as well? it appears they did. since they were in no rush to get out. half as interesting, they took the guards after they handcuffed them and taped them and brought them into the basement. about 24 minutes elapse, though, before we see them again. reporter: motion detectors placed throughout the building picked up their trail for nearly an hour and a half. but that didn t matter. those motion detectors were not connected to police outside. they only alert the guard sitting at the computer by the entrance. a computer that was now
contact the outside world. his only way to prevent what was about to happen. in a matter of minutes the two thieves had both night watchmen completely under their control. finished cuffing me and he cuffed my partner. and very dramatically said gentlemen, this is a robbery. reporter: the thieves lead rick and his partner document to the basement to different areas. it all happened so fast he never had a chance to hit the one panic button by the guard desk. he knew no one was coming to help. did the thieves know that, as well? it appears they did. since they were in no rush to get out. half as interesting, they took the guards after they handcuffed them and taped them and brought them into the basement. about 24 minutes elapse, though, before we see them again.
reporter: around 5:45 a.m. you see him and fellow inmates line up for breakfast. he s seen here, holding his tray and questioning the contents of his food with the guard. minutes later, he apparently continued to discuss his food while sitting with inmates. i knew what he was thinking, you know, should i eat this? should i not. reporter: ultimately he took a bite. moments later, he was back at the guard desk using his inhaler. according to a damages claim, saffiotti said he needed to see a nurse. a guard told him to get into lockdown in his cell while he called the nurse s station. for the next half hour, you can see inmates checking in on him as he tries to get the guard s attention, jumping up and down. michael s needs were completely ignored. that his medical distress was completely ignored. reporter: 45 minutes later, a guard doing a routine check found saffiotti unconscious.
after they were done. that was my maybe because i was right across from the boiler. but my predominant fear was god, i hope they don t burn the place. reporter: he couldn t see. couldn t hear. and he had no idea what was happening upstairs. all that he knew was that his museum was unguarded and about to be robbed. it all happened so fast, he never had a chance to hit the one panic button by the guard desk. he knew no one was coming to help. did the thieves know that as well? it appears they did. since they were in no rush to get out. the path is interesting. they took the guards, after they handcuffed them and taped them and brought them into the basement, about 24 minutes elapsed, though, before they would see them again. motion detectors placed throughout the building picked up their trail for nearly an hour and a half. but that didn t matter. those motion detectors weren t connected to police outside. they only alert the guard sitting at the computer by the entrance.
apparent reason. so does another alarm on the fourth floor. after all that, rick returns and the gallery guard takes his turn making the rounds. the clock reads 1:24 a.m. and rick is alone at the guard desk. suddenly, the night takes a dangerous turn. he rang the doorbell. i could see him on the outside camera. i could see him walking down the street. i thought they were just clearing drunks off the street. there were a lot of drunken people in the street that particular night. but then they stopped and buzzed the buzzer. i leaned over to the intercom and i said yeah? and they said boston police, we got a report of a disturbance on the premise. so i buzzed them in. that decision to buzz them in is something rick abbot has had to live with for the past 23 years.