Netflix's This Is a Robbery offers more possibilities than direct answers, but it also fails to follow up on what happened to petty criminal William "Billy" Youngworth. The four-part docuseries sorts through one of the most costly art heists in history: the infamous robbery of Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in 1990. Though largely overshadowed by other local, crime-related headlines at the time, the caper still made major waves - over $200 million worth, actually. Boston area local and former notorious art thief Myles Connor is featured in a good chunk of This Is a Robbery, nd the honest and unapologetic career criminal is a colorful character, but his former friend and associate, Billy Youngworth, is just as interesting.
While Connor was in prison, Youngworth was a caretaker of sorts for his illicit art collection. Connor says that, unbeknownst to him at the time, he believes Youngworth was secretly selling off different pieces when he needed money. But trouble hit the stash guarder when he was being arraigned for possession of firearms and a controlled substance in 1997. This was when he tried to haggle with authorities, offering to return 11 of the 13 missing Gardner pieces. He was hoping for immunity regarding his crimes, the $5 million reward that was still available, and funnily enough, Myles Connor's early release. Working with Boston Herald journalist Tom Mashberg (who detailed his relationship with the criminal in Vanity Fair), Youngworth attempted to prove his possession of some of the stolen Gardner artwork.
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Privately, Youngworth showed Mashberg what the reporter believed to be Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" - the 18th-century Dutch artist's only seascape piece, which made it one of the most distressing items to have been lost in the heist. With Mashberg helping negotiate between Youngworth and the authorities, there was a bit of back and forth. But, ultimately, the Gardner said that, after their own analysis, some of the paint chips Youngworth had supplied as proof didn't match the exact art they were looking for. And according to what Mashberg told The Guardian in 2000, law enforcement didn't like working with him anyways - they thought he was "behaving like a sleazy con man," and ultimately stopped dealing with him. Plus, giving him money could have set a dangerous precedent, egging on possible art heist criminals in the future. Later in 1997, he was sentenced to three years in jail for outstanding criminal charges.
Unfortunately for Youngworth, things continued to go downhill for him, even beyond his prison sentence. He started receiving threats from anonymous criminals, who said that if he didn't hand over his art stash, they'd kidnap his then-six-year-old son. And his wife died of a drug overdose soon thereafter. He's also been openly resentful about the FBI's refusal to play ball with his proposed deal. He believes he was framed by the agency for one of his charges. In the Gardner heist-related interview with The Guardian, he said, "Basically, their [law enforcement's] currency is image. If they can't kick in a door and hold a press conference, then they don't want to deal with it."
Over the years since the portion of his life featured in This Is a Robbery, Youngworth has fought tooth and nail for a chance at an appeal, and he's said that law enforcement repeatedly continued to try and cut deals with him in return for information while he was in prison. But he remained bitter and stubborn, not giving up anything, and was released in September of 2000. He said in The Guardian's piece that he "just wants to walk away" from everything Gardner-related. And it doesn't seem like anyone can blame him for that; certainly, none of his FBI involvement got him any of his desired outcomes. Still, it does prompt the question of how much does he truly know, or what pieces might he have? Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though fans of the Netflix doc will ever find out, as Billy Youngworth and the FBI don't seem like they'll ever be willing to work together, or even partially concede to the other side.
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