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Man linked to $500M art heist released from prison

HARTFORD, Conn. — A reputed Connecticut mobster who authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history reached the end of a four-year prison sentence in an unrelated weapons case.

Eighty-two-year-old Robert Gentile was from the Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey Friday.

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Federal prosecutors have said they believe Gentile has information about the still-unsolved 1990 heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Thieves stole an estimated $500 million worth of artwork, including works by Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer.

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Gentile has denied knowing anything about it.

He pleaded guilty in the weapons case stemming from federal agents' seizure of firearms and ammunition from his Manchester home. He cannot possess firearms as a convicted felon.

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