Within minutes, theyd stolen more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and other securities, making it the largest robbery in the U.S. at the time. Even in their jail cells, however, they showed no respect for law enforcement. Shortly after 6.40am, six armed robbers in balaclavas entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport belonging to security company Brinks-Mat. Executive producers are Tommy Bulfin for the BBC; Neil Forsyth and Ben Farrell for Tannadice Pictures; and Kate Laffey and Claire Sowerby-Sheppard for VIS. A man of modest means in Bayonne, New Jersey, was reported to be spending large sums of money in night clubs, buying new automobiles, and otherwise exhibiting newly found wealth. Within a week, six of the Brinks suspects Costa, Anthony Pino, Henry Baker, Michael Vincent Geagan, Adolph Jazz Maffie, and Joseph McGinnis were arrested by FBI agents. 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. 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. The detainer involved OKeefes violation of probation in connection with a conviction in 1945 for carrying concealed weapons. There was James Ignatius Faherty, an armed robbery specialist whose name had been mentioned in underworld conversations in January 1950, concerning a score on which the gang members used binoculars to watch their intended victims count large sums of money. 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. With the death of Gusciora, only eight members of the Brinks gang remained to be tried. This is good money, he said, but you cant pass it around here in Boston.. 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.). When questioned concerning his activities on the night of January 17, 1950, Richardson claimed that after unsuccessfully looking for work he had several drinks and then returned home. O'Keefe cooperated with writer Bob Considine on The Men Who Robbed Brink's, a 1961 "as told to" book about the robbery and its aftermath. O'Keefe pleaded guilty January 18. On January 12, 1956, just five days before the statute of limitations was to run out, the FBI arrested Baker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pino. In the succeeding two weeks, nearly 1,200 prospective jurors were eliminated as the defense counsel used their 262 peremptory challenges. After continuing up the street to the end of the playground which adjoined the Brinks building, the truck stopped. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Brink%27s_Robbery&oldid=1134169121, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 09:19. Pino previously had arranged for this man to keep his shop open beyond the normal closing time on nights when Pino requested him to do so. There had been three attempts on his life in June 1954, and his frustrated assassins undoubtedly were waiting for him to return to Boston. He was not able to provide a specific account, claiming that he became drunk on New Years Eve and remained intoxicated through the entire month of January. Shakur's conviction includes planning the $1.6 million Brinks robbery in Rockland on Oct. 20, 1981. Police heard through their informers that O'Keefe and Gusciora demanded money from Pino and MacGinnis in Boston to fight their convictions. They apprehended Faherty and Richardson on May 16 in Dorchester. The pair recruited criminal Kenneth Noye, an expert in his field, who McAvoy wanted members of the Arif crime family, specialists in armed robbery, on the job. Brian Reader, 76, was jailed over the 26m Brink's-Mat armed robbery in 1983. It was later claimed that most of O'Keefe's share went to his legal defense. Like the others, Banfield had been questioned concerning his activities on the night of January 17, 1950. Both are real characters. He arrived in Baltimore on the morning of June 3 and was picked up by the Baltimore Police Department that evening. If Baker heard these rumors, he did not wait around very long to see whether they were true. Since he claimed to have met no one and to have stopped nowhere during his walk, he actually could have been doing anything on the night of the crime. (On January 18, 1956, OKeefe had pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of Brinks.) During the regular exercise period, Burke separated himself from the other prisoners and moved toward a heavy steel door leading to the solitary confinement section. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. Adolph Maffie, who had been convicted of income tax violation in June 1954, was released from the Federal Corrections Institution at Danbury, Connecticut, on January 30, 1955. OKeefe was wounded in the wrist and chest, but again he managed to escape with his life. OKeefes reputation for nerve was legend. I think a fellow just passed a counterfeit $10.00 bill on me, he told the officer. [16] At 7:10 pm, they entered the building and tied up the five employees working in the vault area. Pino admitted having been in the area, claiming that he was looking for a parking place so that he could visit a relative in the hospital. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. Yet, when he was From their prison cells, they carefully followed the legal maneuvers aimed at gaining them freedom. During these approaches, Costaequipped with a flashlight for signaling the other men was stationed on the roof of a tenement building on Prince Street overlooking Brinks. acknowledges it was involved in the gold transport. Many other types of information were received. He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. By fixing this time as close as possible to the minute at which the robbery was to begin, the robbers would have alibis to cover their activities up to the final moment. OKeefe was the principal witness to appear before the state grand jurors. Banfield, the driver, was alone in the front. At 4:20 p.m. on January 6, 1956, OKeefe made the final decision. Pino had been questioned as to his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950, and he provided a good alibi. Subsequently, this machine gun was identified as having been used in the attempt on OKeefes life. During their forays inside the building, members of the gang took the lock cylinders from five doors, including the one opening onto Prince Street. Jeweler and also a bullion dealer, John Palmer, was arrested. On November 16, 1959, the United States Supreme Court denied a request of the defense counsel for a writ of certiorari. Two hours later he was dead. WebThe Brinks Robbery The idea for the heist came from Joseph Big Joe McGinniss, but career criminal Anthony Fats Pino. A Secret Service agent, who had been summoned by the Baltimore officers, arrived while the criminal was being questioned at the police headquarters, and after examining the money found in the bill changers possession, he certified that it was not counterfeit. Each of the five lock cylinders was taken on a separate occasion. Only $58,000 of the $2.7 million was recovered. And the gang felt that the chances of his talking were negligible because he would be implicated in the Brinks robbery along with the others. The pardon meant that his record no longer contained the second conviction; thus, the Immigration and Naturalization Service no longer had grounds to deport him. WebOne of the robbers, Micky McAvoy, entrusted his share to associates Brian Perry and George Francis. FBI agents tried to talk to O'Keefe and Gusciora in prison but the two professed ignorance of the Brink's robbery. Banfield drove the truck to the house of Maffies parents in Roxbury. On March 4, 1950, pieces of an identical truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. WebRobbery Seven of the group went into the Brink's building: OKeefe, Gusciora, Baker, Maffie, Geagan, Faherty, and Richardson. WebOn the evening of January 17th 1950, a group of armed gunmen entered the Brinks Building on Prince Street and robbed the company of $1.2 million in cash and $1.6 million in 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. On August 1, 1954, he was arrested at Leicester, Massachusetts, and turned over to the Boston police who held him for violating probation on a gun-carrying charge. [13] Most of the cash stolen was in denominations of $1 to $20, which made it nearly impossible to trace the bills through serial numbers. She also covered the 1950s Brinks robbery and was a medical reporter for the Boston Herald. Before his trial in McKean County, he was released on $17,000 bond. After weighing the arguments presented by the attorneys for the eight convicted criminals, the State Supreme Court turned down the appeals on July 1, 1959, in a 35-page decision written by the Chief Justice. Another old gang that had specialized in hijacking bootlegged whiskey in the Boston area during Prohibition became the subject of inquiries. OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. 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. The robbers removed the adhesive tape from the mouth of one employee and learned that the buzzer signified that someone wanted to enter the vault area. None proved fruitful. In examining the bill, a Federal Reserve note, the officer observed that it was in musty condition. After being wounded on June 16, OKeefe disappeared. On June 2, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora left Boston by automobile for the alleged purpose of visiting the grave of Guscioras brother in Missouri. They had brought no tools with them, however, and they were unsuccessful. From left, Sgt. Former inmates of penal institutions reported conversations they had overheard while incarcerated which concerned the robbing of Brinks. In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. [14] By 7:37, one of the Brink's employees managed to free themselves and raise the alarm. Gusciora died on July 9. Richardson had participated with Faherty in an armed robbery in February 1934. Again, the FBIs investigation resulted merely in the elimination of more possible suspects. Members of the Purple Gang of the 1930s found that there was renewed interest in their activities. Instead, they said the trailer was targeted near Frazier Park in the mountains along I-5. You get me released, and Ill solve the case in no time, these criminals would claim. He had been convicted of armed robbery in 1940 and served several months in the Massachusetts State Reformatory and the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony. Three of the remaining five gang members were previously accounted for, OKeefe and Gusciora being in prison on other charges and Banfield being dead. (Costa, who was at his lookout post, previously had arrived in a Ford sedan which the gang had stolen from behind the Boston Symphony Hall two days earlier.). Thieves stole more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and. WebJudith Clark was paroled in 2019 after then Gov. From this lookout post, Costa was in a position to determine better than the men below whether conditions inside the building were favorable to the robbers. In April 1950, the FBI received information indicating that part of the Brinks loot was hidden in the home of a relative of OKeefe in Boston. When the employees were securely bound and gagged, the robbers began looting the premises. The thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. Although Gusciora was acquitted of the charges against him in Towanda, he was removed to McKean County, Pennsylvania, to stand trial for burglary, larceny, and receiving stolen goods. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. The police officer said he had been talking to McGinnis first, and Pino arrived later to join them. He later was to be arrested as a member of the robbery gang. Vincent Costa was the group's lookout, and signalled with a flashlight from a nearby rooftop when he saw the vault being opened. Subsequently, OKeefe left his carand the $200,000in a garage on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston. The following is a brief account of the data which OKeefe provided the special agents in January 1956: Although basically the brain child of Pino, the Brinks robbery was the product of the combined thought and criminal experience of men who had known each other for many years. After each interview, FBI agents worked feverishly into the night checking all parts of his story which were subject to verification. After a couple of attempts he hired underworld hitman Elmer "Trigger" Burke to kill O'Keefe. Speaking on film for the first time since the robbery almost 40 years ago, Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Boyce, head of the investigation and DC Tony Yeoman, disclose the challenges they faced and the strategy they used in This occurred while he was in the state prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts, serving sentences for breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and for having burglar tools in his possession. The money inside the cooler which was concealed in the wall of the Tremont Street office was wrapped in plastic and newspaper. Even after these convictions, OKeefe and Gusciora continued to seek their release. Apparently in need of money he kidnapped Vincent Costa and demanded his part of the loot for ransom. An acetylene torch had been used to cut up the truck, and it appeared that a sledge hammer also had been used to smash many of the heavy parts, such as the motor. Underworld sources described him as fully capable of planning and executing the Brinks robbery. WebHere is what we know of those involved in the robbery. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. 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. (Investigation to substantiate this information resulted in the location of the proprietor of a key shop who recalled making keys for Pino on at least four or five evenings in the fall of 1949. While action to appeal the convictions was being taken on their behalf, the eight men were removed to the State prison at Walpole, Massachusetts. OKeefe had left his hotel at approximately 7:00 p.m. Pino and Baker separately decided to go out at 7:00 p.m. Costa started back to the motor terminal at about 7:00 p.m. Other principal suspects were not able to provide very convincing accounts of their activities that evening. During his brief stay in Boston, he was observed to contact other members of the robbery gang. In a series of interviews during the succeeding days, OKeefe related the full story of the Brinks robbery. Six members of the gangBaker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pinowere arrested by FBI agents on January 12, 1956. A federal search warrant was obtained, and the home was searched by agents on April 27, 1950. Fat John and the business associate of the man arrested in Baltimore were located and interviewed on the morning of June 4, 1956. Shortly after these two guns were found, one of them was placed in a trash barrel and was taken to the city dump. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. At approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950, members of the gang met in the Roxbury section of Boston and entered the rear of the Ford stake-body truck. Neither Pino nor McGinnis was known to be the type of hoodlum who would undertake so potentially dangerous a crime without the best strong-arm support available. The record of the state trial covered more than 5,300 pages. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. Since Brinks was located in a heavily populated tenement section, many hours were consumed in interviews to locate persons in the neighborhood who might possess information of possible value. The missing racketeers automobile was found near his home; however, his whereabouts remain a mystery. (McGinnis trial in March 1955 on the liquor charge resulted in a sentence to 30 days imprisonment and a fine of $1,000. OKeefe was bitter about a number of matters. Here, we look at the people involved and where they are now. Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled.
Which Statement Accurately Describes Functional Annexes,
Man Jumps From Stratosphere Las Vegas Pictures,
Dr Zaghi Myofunctional Therapy,
Articles W