museum. this is where it all began march 18th, 1990. it was st. patrick s weekend. some time after midnight, a group of young men left the party and spotted a car with what looked like two boston police officers inside. they had no idea these two men weren t really police officers. and no clue that just a short time later, these two men would pull off the greatest art heist in history. come in, clock in, there would be two guards. reporter: rick abbot was one of the night watchmen on duty the night of the crime. until now, he d never done a television interview about what happened that night. rick was 23 years old back in 1990. he had been working at the museum for about a year. the guard s shift began at 11:30 p.m. a shift that most nights was
no doubt. it really was the boston police at the entrance. they were standing there. their pants and coats and badges and looked like policemen and buzzed them into the museum. and one of them came right over to my desk. and one of them kind of stood in the outcove right there, looking around. it seemed particularly odd to me. and he came up to me and the one guy, they asked me if i was alone. i said no, my parter in was off doing a round. i said get him down here. i called him on the radio. within seconds, rick s partner joined him at the security desk. the cop that was dealing with me turned to me and said don t i know you? can t i recognize you? i think there s a warrant out for your arrest. can you step out from behind the desk. and i m sitting there and i
outside world. a panic button at the security desk. but it wasn t so easy to reach. you know, those things like a panic button at a bank. it was up on the underside of the desk. but it was a fairly long desk and the computer was all the way over to the left and it was almost all the way over to the right. so it wasn t just within arm s reach. reporter: still, rick abbot never found any reason to use that panic button. that is until the night of march 18th. that night was unusual from the moment rick arrived at work. he learned his usual partner had called in sick. they couldn t find anyone else, so they paired him with a daytime gallery guard. when i got there, you know, my partner was there well, i knew him. i didn t know him very well. i knew him from just around the locker room and he was the only person they could get.
here alone? there were provisions for a single guard to be there. i wonder if are you here alone meant did they get anybody to come in? but i don t know. but that night watchman, the one who called in sick, was never charged, either. in fact, no museum employee has ever been charged with anything in connection with the crime. though investigators say no one has been completely cleared, either. so with no apparent connections with museum employees, who else could have been involved? notorious art thieves miles connor was already a known figure among art thieves in boston. in 1975, he stole a rembrandt from a museum of fine art. but in 1990, at the time of the gardener theft, he was in jail and no known connections were ever found. mobster david turner from boston was also considered a possible
it s about 1:30 in the morning, and it s time for the thieves to get down to business. he finished cuffing me, and he cuffed my partner. very dramatically said gentlemen, this is a robbery. you know, just do what we say and you won t get hurt. and i said we don t get paid enough to get hurt. i kind of diffused the situation a little bit. rick abbot laughs about it now, but as soon as he was tied up by the two thieves, he realized how vulnerable he really was. i was panicking. i didn t realize i was panicking. but i was completely panicking. the thieves lead rick and his partner down to the basement to different areas. rick is taken to the boiler room and cuffed to an electrical box. his eyes and mouth were duct taped and he feared for his life. i was afraid that they were going to set the place on fire