His case had gone to the highest court in the land. Considerable thought was given to every detail. Despite the arrests and indictments in January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash, was still missing. While the theft was originally intended to be a burglary, rather than an armed robbery, they could not find a way around the building's burglar alarm. This article is about the 1950 robbery. Stanley Gusciora (pictured left), who had been transferred to Massachusetts from Pennsylvania to stand trial, was placed under medical care due to weakness, dizziness, and vomiting. Edward O'Grady, Officer Waverly Brown and Brink's guard Peter Paige were killed during the Oct. 20, 1981, robbery in Nanuet, New York. During this visit, Gusciora got up from his bed, and, in full view of the clergyman, slipped to the floor, striking his head. The person ringing the buzzer was a garage attendant. While OKeefe and Gusciora lingered in jail in Pennsylvania, Pino encountered difficulties of his own. During an interview with him in the jail in Springfield, Massachusetts, in October 1954, special agents found that the plight of the missing Boston racketeer was weighing on OKeefes mind. WebThe Brinks Robbery The idea for the heist came from Joseph Big Joe McGinniss, but career criminal Anthony Fats Pino. Apparently, they had planned a leisurely trip with an abundance of extracurricular activities.. McGinnis, who had not been at the scene on the night of the robbery, received a life sentence on each of eight indictments that charged him with being an accessory before the fact in connection with the Brinks robbery. McGinnis had been arrested at the site of a still in New Hampshire in February 1954. Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. Instead, they said the trailer was targeted near Frazier Park in the mountains along I-5. Vincent Costa was the group's lookout, and signalled with a flashlight from a nearby rooftop when he saw the vault being opened. Shakur's conviction includes planning the $1.6 million Brinks robbery in Rockland on Oct. 20, 1981. Three of the newspapers used to wrap the bills were identified. Here, we look at the people involved and where they are now. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. In the end, the perfect crime had a perfect endingfor everyone but the robbers. On September 8, 1950, OKeefe was sentenced to three years in the Bradford County jail at Towanda and fined $3,000 for violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. The pair recruited criminal Kenneth Noye, an expert in his field, who Three years later, almost to the day, these ten men, together with another criminal, were to be indicted by a state grand jury in Boston for the Brinks robbery. Less than $60,000 of the more than $2.7 million stolen would ever be recovered. [16] At 7:10 pm, they entered the building and tied up the five employees working in the vault area. OKeefe paid his respects to other members of the Brinks gang in Boston on several occasions in the spring of 1954, and it was obvious to the agents handling the investigation that he was trying to solicit money. Subsequently, he engaged in a conversation with McGinnis and a Boston police officer. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled. Andrew Cuomo commuted her 75-year-to-life sentence to time served and made her eligible for parole for the three slayings in the When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. Much of the money taken from the money changer appeared to have been stored a long time. With the death of Gusciora, only eight members of the Brinks gang remained to be tried. Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. This was a question which preyed heavily upon their minds. Examination by the FBI Laboratory subsequently disclosed that the decomposition, discoloration, and matting together of the bills were due, at least in part, to the fact that all of the bills had been wet. One of his former girl friends who recalled having seen him on the night of the robbery stated that he definitely was not drunk. On the evening of January 17, 1950, employees of the security firm Brinks, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, were closing for the day, returning sacks of undelivered cash, checks, and other material to the company safe on the second floor. Both OKeefe and Gusciora had been interviewed on several occasions concerning the Brinks robbery, but they had claimed complete ignorance. Well-meaning persons throughout the country began sending the FBI tips and theories which they hoped would assist in the investigation. At the time of the Brinks robbery, Geagan was on parole, having been released from prison in July 1943, after serving eight years of a lengthy sentence for armed robbery and assault. Many tips were received from anonymous persons. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. Police heard through their informers that O'Keefe and Gusciora demanded money from Pino and MacGinnis in Boston to fight their convictions. Shortly before 7:30 p.m., they were surprised by five menheavily disguised, quiet as mice, wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and soft shoes to muffle noise. The door opened, and an armed masked man wearing a prison guard-type uniform commanded the guard, Back up, or Ill blow your brains out. Burke and the armed man disappeared through the door and fled in an automobile parked nearby. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The loot was quickly unloaded, and Banfield sped away to hide the truck. One Massachusetts racketeer, a man whose moral code mirrored his long years in the underworld, confided to the agents who were interviewing him, If I knew who pulled the job, I wouldnt be talking to you now because Id be too busy trying to figure a way to lay my hands on some of the loot.. Another old gang that had specialized in hijacking bootlegged whiskey in the Boston area during Prohibition became the subject of inquiries. A trial began on August 6, 1956. On June 19, 1958, while out on appeal in connection with a five-year narcotics sentence, he was found shot to death in an automobile that had crashed into a truck in Boston.). WebBoudin plead guilty to murder and robbery for her role as a passenger in the getaway U-Haul van, where the $1.6 million taken from the Brinks armored truck outside the The gang members who remained at the house of Maffies parents soon dispersed to establish alibis for themselves. A passerby might notice that it was missing. Geagan claimed that he spent the evening at home and did not learn of the Brinks robbery until the following day. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. acknowledges it was involved in the gold transport. Information received from this individual linked nine well-known hoodlums with the crime. As this bag was being emptied later that evening, the glasses were discovered and destroyed by the gang. OKeefe was enraged that the pieces of the stolen Ford truck had been placed on the dump near his home, and he generally regretted having become associated at all with several members of the gang. After a couple of attempts he hired underworld hitman Elmer "Trigger" Burke to kill O'Keefe. In December 1948, Brinks moved from Federal Street to 165 Prince Street in Boston. Each of these leads was checked out. The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. After the truck parts were found, additional suspicion was attached to these men. In the late summer of 1944, he was released from the state prison and was taken into custody by Immigration authorities. The trial of these eight men began on the morning of August 6, 1956, before Judge Feliz Forte in the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. Many other types of information were received. On the afternoon of August 28, 1954, Trigger Burke escaped from the Suffolk County jail in Boston, where he was being held on the gun-possession charge arising from the June 16 shooting of OKeefe. From their prison cells, they carefully followed the legal maneuvers aimed at gaining them freedom. And it nearly was. There had been three attempts on his life in June 1954, and his frustrated assassins undoubtedly were waiting for him to return to Boston. Two days before Maffies release, another strong suspect died of natural causes. On the night of January 18, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora received $100,000 each from the robbery loot. Police who arrived to investigate found a large amount of blood, a mans shattered wrist watch, and a .45 caliber pistol at the scene. You get me released, and Ill solve the case in no time, these criminals would claim. Using the outside door key they had previously obtained, the men quickly entered and donned their masks. The robbers did little talking. Pino was determined to fight against deportation. Any doubts that the Brinks gang had that the FBI was on the right track in its investigation were allayed when the federal grand jury began hearings in Boston on November 25, 1952, concerning this crime. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Thirteen people were detained in the hours following the robbery, including two former employees of Brink's. By this time, Baker was suffering from a bad case of nerves. While Maffie claimed that part of the money had been stolen from its hiding place and that the remainder had been spent in financing OKeefes legal defense in Pennsylvania, other gang members accused Maffie of blowing the money OKeefe had entrusted to his care. On the afternoon of July 9, he was visited by a clergyman. In a report which was released on January 16, 1953, the grand jury disclosed that its members did not feel they possessed complete, positive information as to the identify of the participants in the Brinks robbery because (1) the participants were effectively disguised; (2) there was a lack of eyewitnesses to the crime itself; and (3) certain witnesses refused to give testimony, and the grand jury was unable to compel them to do so. On March 4, 1950, pieces of an identical truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Robinson died in a London Even if released, he thought, his days were numbered. Banfield was already dead. Brinks customers were contacted for information regarding the packaging and shipping materials they used. He was not with the gang when the robbery took place. The robbery remained unsolved for nearly six years, until estranged group member Joseph O'Keefe testified only days before the statute of limitations would have expired. Their plan was to enter the Brinks building and take a truck containing payrolls. At approximately 7:30 p.m. on June 3, 1956, an officer of the Baltimore, Maryland, Police Department was approached by the operator of an amusement arcade. Interviewed again on December 28, 1955, he talked somewhat more freely, and it was obvious that the agents were gradually winning his respect and confidence. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. Five bullets which had missed their mark were found in a building nearby. At the time it was Britains Charged with unlawful possession of liquor distillery equipment and violation of Internal Revenue laws, he had many headaches during the period in which OKeefe was giving so much trouble to the gang. During 1955, OKeefe carefully pondered his position. On January 10, 1953, following his appearance before the federal grand jury in connection with the Brinks case, Pino was taken into custody again as a deportable alien. An automobile identified as the car used in the escape was located near a Boston hospital, and police officers concealed themselves in the area. There was Adolph Jazz Maffie, one of the hoodlums who allegedly was being pressured to contribute money for the legal battle of OKeefe and Gusciora against Pennsylvania authorities. The month preceding January 17, 1950, witnessed approximately a half-dozen approaches to Brinks. Each robbers face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. At the time of his arrest, there also was a charge of armed robbery outstanding against him in Massachusetts. That same afternoon (following the admission that Fat John had produced the money and had described it as proceeds from the Brinks robbery), a search warrant was executed in Boston covering the Tremont Street offices occupied by the three men. Henry Baker, another veteran criminal who was rumored to be kicking in to the Pennsylvania defense fund, had spent a number of years of his adult life in prison. Like the others, Banfield had been questioned concerning his activities on the night of January 17, 1950. Gordon John Parry, Brian Perry, Patrick Clark, Jean Savage and Anthony Black were all given between five and 10 years in prison for their part in the crime. He claimed there was a large roll of bills in his hotel roomand that he had found that money, too. The truck found at the dump had been reported stolen by a Ford dealer near Fenway Park in Boston on November 3, 1949. Solicitor Michael Relton was jailed in 1987 for his part in the money He had been convicted of armed robbery in 1940 and served several months in the Massachusetts State Reformatory and the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony. Investigation revealed that Geagan, a laborer, had not gone to work on January 17 or 18, 1950.). This vehicle was traced through motor vehicle records to Pino. OKeefe had no place to keep so large a sum of money. Since the robbery had taken place between approximately 7:10 and 7:27 p.m., it was quite probable that a gang, as well drilled as the Brinks robbers obviously were, would have arranged to rendezvous at a specific time. During the period immediately following the Brinks robbery, the heat was on OKeefe and Gusciora. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. Richardson had participated with Faherty in an armed robbery in February 1934. OKeefe immediately returned to Boston to await the results of the appeal. This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. After continuing up the street to the end of the playground which adjoined the Brinks building, the truck stopped. The fiber bags used to conceal the pieces were identified as having been used as containers for beef bones shipped from South America to a gelatin manufacturing company in Massachusetts. When the pieces of the 1949 green Ford stake-body truck were found at the dump in Stoughton on March 4, 1950, additional emphasis was placed on the investigations concerning them. [18] The total amount stolen was $1,218,211 in cash and $1,557,183 in checks and other securities. The mass of information gathered during the early weeks of the investigation was continuously sifted. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) His records showed that he had worked on the offices early in April 1956 under instructions of Fat John. The loot could not have been hidden behind the wall panel prior to that time. Before the robbery was carried out, all of the participants were well acquainted with the Brinks premises. Even in their jail cells, however, they showed no respect for law enforcement. WebAt 6.30 am on 26 November 1983, a South London gang of six armed robbers, headed by Brian Robinson and Mickey McAvoy, broke into the Brinks Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport, expecting to make off with about 3 million in cash. Pino also was linked with the robbery, and there was every reason to suspect that OKeefe felt Pino was turning his back on him now that OKeefe was in jail. Before fleeing with the bags of loot, the seven armed men attempted to open a metal box containing the payroll of the General Electric Company. Again, he was determined to fight, using the argument that his conviction for the 1948 larceny offense was not a basis for deportation. All were paroled by 1971 except McGinnis, who died in prison. Following the robbery, authorities attempted unsuccessfully to locate him at the hotel. She also covered the 1950s Brinks robbery and was a medical reporter for the Boston Herald. Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. WebGordon John Parry, Brian Perry, Patrick Clark, and Jean Savage were all convicted at the Old Bailey. During questioning by the FBI, the money changer stated that he was in business as a mason contractor with another man on Tremont Street in Boston. Allegedly, other members of the Brinks gang arranged for OKeefe to be paid a small part of the ransom he demanded, and Costa was released on May 20, 1954. Many problems and dangers were involved in such a robbery, and the plans never crystallized. Gusciora died on July 9. He had been short changed $2,000. The FBI approached O'Keefe in the hospital and on January 6, 1956, he decided to talk. Except for $5,000 that he took before placing the loot in Maffies care, OKeefe angrily stated, he was never to see his share of the Brinks money again. In addition, although violent dissension had developed within the gang, there still was no indication that any of the men were ready to talk. Based on the available information, however, the FBI felt that OKeefes disgust was reaching the point where it was possible he would turn against his confederates. At the Prison Colony, Baker was serving two concurrent terms of four to ten years, imposed in 1944 for breaking and entering and larceny and for possession of burglar tools. At the time of Bakers release in 1949, Pino was on hand to drive him back to Boston. Adding to these problems was the constant pressure being exerted upon Pino by OKeefe from the county jail in Towanda, Pennsylvania. WebHe was the police intelligence officer who identified Noye as a suspect in the notorious Brink's-Mat 26m gold bullion robbery and began the surveillance operation from an old The robbery was first conceived in 1947; however, in 1948, after months of planning, the group learned that Brink's had moved to a new location. All denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. Two of the gang members moved toward the door to capture him; but, seeing the garage attendant walk away apparently unaware that the robbery was being committed, they did not pursue him. This phase of the investigation greatly disturbed many gamblers. Pino was known in the underworld as an excellent case man, and it was said that the casing of the Brinks offices bore his trademark.. [16] Brink's, Inc. offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the robbery, with an additional 5% of recovered cash offered by the insurance company. Then the lock cylinders were replaced. He later was to be arrested as a member of the robbery gang. All identifying marks placed on currency and securities by the customers were noted, and appropriate stops were placed at banking institutions across the nation. There were the rope and adhesive tape used to bind and gag the employees and a chauffeurs cap that one of the robbers had left at the crime scene. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. WebA Byte Out of HistoryThe Great Brinks Robbery. This phase of the investigation was pursued exhaustively. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. Before the robbers could take him prisoner, the garage attendant walked away. Jeweler and also a bullion dealer, John Palmer, was arrested. In addition, McGinnis was named in two other complaints involving the receiving and concealing of the loot. (On January 18, 1956, OKeefe had pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of Brinks.) Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. The robbery. He was so cold and persistent in these dealings with his co-conspirators that the agents hoped he might be attempting to obtain a large sum of moneyperhaps his share of the Brinks loot.
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