According to McShane, the Gardner Museum was on the FBI’s short list of museums that were at a high risk of theft. Despite the warning, there were no video cameras and the motion detectors in place at the museum were designed to alert only the security guards. The museum was robbed in 81 minutes.

McShane, who grew up in Valley Stream, joined the FBI in 1968 and quickly became the bureau’s lead art operative. Following the Boston museum robbery, he was called in to work the case. He went over the crime scene, where it was clear the robbers left behind north of $1 billion in other works of art. It became a mystery as to why certain works were stolen but others were left behind. McShane talked to informants, generated leads and went undercover domestically and abroad in search of the paintings, but none have ever been found.

He is now a part of an informal group that includes ex-FBI, ex-police and an art expert in search of the missing paintings. “I’ll work on it as much as I can,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to furnish some leads and get it to the FBI. It’s been 24 years.”

During his 26-year FBI career, McShane made a lot of contacts. One of those contacts was Mel Weinberg, who wrote The Sting Man, and who Christian Bale’s character in the film American Hustle was based. McShane said that the character Bradley Cooper portrayed in the film was loosely based on him.

McShane said Weinberg cooperated with the FBI in order to lighten his sentence and worked with him to recover stolen art. Much like in the film, McShane used a phony sheik to attract unsavory people. The sting started out as an art theft case before it was used as a political sting, which was portrayed in the film.