(A Rembrandt piece stolen from the Gardner Museum/Creative Commons)

The FBI says they have identified the thieves responsible for lifting the 13 masterpieces, including works by Vermeer, Degas and Rembrandt, 23 years ago.

A specialized Art Crime Team, which has 14 special agents, has been dedicated to the case since the night of March 18, 1990, when the two disguised thieves tied up guards and escaped 81 minutes later with the half-billion dollar loot.

Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of FBI’s Boston office, said the thieves are members of a criminal organization with a base in the Mid-Atlantic States and New England.

"The FBI believes with a high degree of confidence in the years after the theft the art was transported to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region and some of the art was taken to Philadelphia where it was offered for sale by those responsible for the theft," DesLauriers told ABC News.

The statute of limitations on the crime has run out, so officials cannot name the suspects while agents continue their efforts to recover the stolen masterpieces.

Additionally, investigators believe the art “changed hands several times” over the years, DesLauriers told the Boston Herald.

There was an attempted sale of the stolen art a decade ago, but after that the FBI lost track of the work, DesLauriers said.

Authorities will continue their search in Philadelphia and Connecticut, hopeful news to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where the 13 frames still hang as they have for the past 23 years, empty. 

Read the whole story at ABC News.

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