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Mashberg was working on an unrelated story this summer when a con told him that he had celled with Connor in California, and that Connor had fingered Donati and Houghton for the Gardner heist. Mashberg then saw a story about a stolen artifact, the more than 300-year-old Great Seal of Massachusetts, that turned up at Youngworth's home. Connor had already been tagged by cops as the suspected thief of the seal, which was lifted right out of the statehouse, so now he was tied to Youngworth. And before summer ran cold, Youngworth, facing serious time on the stolen-vehicle rap, was making a unique offer: drop the charges against him, give him immunity and the $5 million reward, and free his best friend, Myles Connor, from prison, and he'd return the Gardner goods.
It was a blowout story for the Boston press, but there was nothing to follow it up with. Youngworth was a small-time hood who carried no weight and drew little attention. "What's wrong?" he demanded of Mashberg when the story faded fast from the sassy, 25[cent] tabloid. The reporter told him he needed proof, or the yarn was dead. Then came the call.
In the middle of the night on Aug. 18, Mashberg was picked up in a late-model sedan and taken on a 40-minute drive. The car stopped at a warehouse, and he was led inside, where one of the men opened a padlocked room, grabbed a long poster tube and unrolled what was inside. By the glow of a flashlight, Mashberg examined a painting of a wave-tossed ship. The last thing he saw before being whisked away was a signature on the rudder: Rembrandt. Either he had just seen the Gardner's stolen Storm on the Sea of Galilee, or he'd just seen a very good reproduction. Several days later, the Herald headline read: WE'VE SEEN IT!
The Herald had photographs of other paintings and paint chips from the alleged Rembrandt, and the newspaper hired Walter C. McCrone, an art authority, to examine the chips. McCrone used microscopic analysis and studied the available research. Finally he issued his verdict. He was convinced the chips were from an actual Rembrandt.
Meanwhile, officials of the Gardner met with Youngworth (the Gardner will neither confirm nor deny the meeting). He claims they gave him $10,000 as a show of good faith and a promise of further cooperation.
But there wasn't any. In truth, neither the Gardner nor the Feds were convinced beyond all doubt that Youngworth had the actual Rembrandt or that he could get the other pieces. They also worried, considering the rolled-up Rembrandt and the pile of paint chips, whether the works had been damaged beyond repair. There would be no negotiating, the aptly named U.S. Attorney Donald Stern vowed, until more proof was offered. Such as the return of one of the pieces.
Youngworth and Connor, through heavyweight Boston attorney Martin Leppo, a gravel-voiced man who says he likes "hard cases and 20-foot putts," demanded immunity before they would show anything. But the government demanded to see more proof before they offered any immunity. A stalemate.