The FBIs jurisdiction to investigate this robbery was based upon the fact that cash, checks, postal notes, and United States money orders of the Federal Reserve Bank and the Veterans Administration district office in Boston were included in the loot. Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. In the hope that a wide breach might have developed between the two criminals who were in jail in Pennsylvania and the gang members who were enjoying the luxuries of a free life in Massachusetts, FBI agents again visited Gusciora and OKeefe. Before the robbery was committed, the participants had agreed that if anyone muffed, he would be taken care of. OKeefe felt that most of the gang members had muffed. Talking to the FBI was his way of taking care of them all. 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. 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. Jazz Maffie was convicted of federal income tax evasion and began serving a nine-month sentence in the Federal Penitentiary at Danbury, Connecticut, in June 1954. Solicitor Michael Relton was jailed in 1987 for his part in the money Other members of the robbery gang also were having their troubles. Binoculars were used in this phase of the casing operation. One of his former girl friends who recalled having seen him on the night of the robbery stated that he definitely was not drunk. Early in June 1956, however, an unexpected break developed. It was used by the defense counsel in preparing a 294-page brief that was presented to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. Later, when he counted the money, he found that the suitcase contained $98,000. 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. He had been released on parole from the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony on August 22, 1949only five months before the robbery. 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. 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. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled. Police who arrived to investigate found a large amount of blood, a mans shattered wrist watch, and a .45 caliber pistol at the scene. The results were negative. In 1936 and 1937, Faherty was convicted of armed robbery violations. His explanation: He had been drinking at a bar in Boston. OKeefe and Gusciora had been close friends for many years. 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. WebRobbery Seven of the group went into the Brink's building: OKeefe, Gusciora, Baker, Maffie, Geagan, Faherty, and Richardson. Two other Baltimore police officers who were walking along the street nearby noted this maneuver. The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. As the loot was being placed in bags and stacked between the second and third doors leading to the Prince Street entrance, a buzzer sounded. As the investigation developed and thousands of leads were followed to dead ends, the broad field of possible suspects gradually began to narrow. Apparently, they had planned a leisurely trip with an abundance of extracurricular activities.. Considerable thought was given to every detail. A passerby might notice that it was missing. In a series of interviews during the succeeding days, OKeefe related the full story of the Brinks robbery. After careful checking, the FBI eliminated eight of the suspects. Following the federal grand jury hearings, the FBIs intense investigation continued. On October 11, 1950, Gusciora was sentenced to serve from five to 20 years in the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. The person ringing the buzzer was a garage attendant. At least four movies were based, or partially based, on the Great Brink's Robbery: Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}422202N 710327W / 42.3672N 71.0575W / 42.3672; -71.0575. The missing racketeers automobile was found near his home; however, his whereabouts remain a mystery. 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. As the robbers sped from the scene, a Brinks employee telephoned the Boston Police Department. Both men remained mute following their arrests. Immediately upon leaving, the gang loaded the loot into the truck that was parked on Prince Street near the door. I think a fellow just passed a counterfeit $10.00 bill on me, he told the officer. In June 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora were arrested in Pennsylvania for a burglary. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. OKeefe and Gusciora reportedly had worked together on a number of occasions. Much of the money taken from the money changer appeared to have been stored a long time. Both are real characters. (Following pleas of guilty in November 1956, Fat John received a two-year sentence, and the other two men were sentenced to serve one years imprisonment. OKeefes racketeer associate, who allegedly had assisted him in holding Costa for ransom and was present during the shooting scrape between OKeefe and Baker, disappeared on August 3, 1954. 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. Each of the five lock cylinders was taken on a separate occasion. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. It was positively concluded that the packages of currency had been damaged prior to the time they were wrapped in the pieces of newspaper; and there were indications that the bills previously had been in a canvas container which was buried in ground consisting of sand and ashes. Following the robbery, authorities attempted unsuccessfully to locate him at the hotel. As of 2004, it was It was at the time the largest robbery in the history of the United States, and has been called "the crime of the century". OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. 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. In the fall of 1955, an upper court overruled the conviction on the grounds that the search and seizure of the still were illegal.). Two days before Maffies release, another strong suspect died of natural causes. 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. As the truck sped away with nine members of the gangand Costa departed in the stolen Ford sedanthe Brinks employees worked themselves free and reported the crime. Somehow the criminals had opened at least threeand possibly fourlocked doors to gain entrance to the second floor of Brinks, where the five employees were engaged in their nightly chore of checking and storing the money collected from Brinks customers that day. 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. In pursuing the underworld rumors concerning the principal suspects in the Brinks case, the FBI succeeded in identifying more probable members of the gang. It was reported that on May 18, 1954, OKeefe and his racketeer associate took Vincent Costa to a hotel room and held him for several thousand dollars ransom. Well-known Boston hoodlums were picked up and questioned by police. 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. 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. The hideout also was found to contain more than $5,000 in coins. [19] Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, took over supervision of the investigation.[20]. 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. Two members of the gang were quickly caught but the Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. WebThe robbery occurred around 9:35 a.m. as the Brinks truck was parked in front of Pete's Fresh Market in the 1900-block of Sibley Blvd., Calumet City spokesperson Sean Howard WebBrian Robinson was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The robbers killed Peter Paige at the Nanuet Mall in front of a bank. Commonly regarded as a dominant figure in the Boston underworld, McGinnis previously had been convicted of robbery and narcotics violations. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. From left, Sgt. According to the criminal who was arrested in Baltimore, Fat John subsequently told him that the money was part of the Brinks loot and offered him $5,000 if he would pass $30,000 of the bills. Due to his criminal record, the Immigration and Naturalization Service instituted proceedings in 1941 to deport him. Banfield drove the truck to the house of Maffies parents in Roxbury. In addition to mold, insect remains also were found on the loot. They had brought no tools with them, however, and they were unsuccessful. Again, he was determined to fight, using the argument that his conviction for the 1948 larceny offense was not a basis for deportation. Thus, when he and Gusciora were taken into custody by state authorities during the latter part of January 1950, OKeefe got word to McGinnis to recover his car and the $200,000 that it contained. Pino would take the locks to the mans shop, and keys would be made for them. At 4:20 p.m. on January 6, 1956, OKeefe made the final decision. Fat John and the business associate of the man arrested in Baltimore were located and interviewed on the morning of June 4, 1956. Adolph Maffie was convicted and sentenced to nine months for income tax evasion. Even before Brinks, Incorporated, offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible, the case had captured the imagination of millions of Americans. Because the money in the cooler was in various stages of decomposition, an accurate count proved most difficult to make. Others fell apart as they were handled. After receiving the go ahead signal from Costa, the seven armed men walked to the Prince Street entrance of Brinks. other securities in the 1950 Brinks heist. This chauffeurs cap was left at the scene of the crime of the centurythe 1950 robbery of a Brink's bank branch in Massachusetts. 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. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. For other similarly-named robberies in 1981, 1983 and 2008, see, "Historical Photos: Boston's Great Brinks Robbery", "A quarter-century laterBrink's robber admits guilt to Globe", "O'Keefe Says Brink's Holdup Gang Vowed To Kill Any Member Who Periled Others", "Specs O'Keefe, Informant In Brink's Robbery, Dies", "Tony Pino, 67, Participated In '50 Boston Brinks Holdup", "Adolph (Jazz) Maffie; Last Survivor of Brink's Gang", "Six Arrests Break $1,218,211 Brink's Robbery", "Brink Robbery History Recalled After Decade", "$1,500,000 HOLDUP: 7 Masked Men Rob Brink's, Boston; Leave Another Million", "The False-Face Bandits: Greed Wrecked the Brink's Case Gang", "Gang of Nine Robs Brink's at Boston; $150,000 Reward Out", Historical Photos: Boston's Great Brinks Robbery. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. On January 13, 1956, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the 11 members of the Brinks gang. By this time, Baker was suffering from a bad case of nerves. He was through with Pino, Baker, McGinnis, Maffie, and the other Brinks conspirators who had turned against him. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. Their success in evading arrest ended abruptly on May 16, 1956, when FBI agents raided the apartment in which they were hiding in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. WebTwo of the prime suspects whose nerve and gun-handling experience suited them for the Brinks robbery were Joseph James OKeefe and Stanley Albert Gusciora. Five bullets which had missed their mark were found in a building nearby. Shakur's conviction includes planning the $1.6 million Brinks robbery in Rockland on Oct. 20, 1981. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. This man, subsequently identified as a small-time Boston underworld figure, was located and questioned. FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. The eight men were sentenced by Judge Forte on October 9, 1956. 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. Andrew Cuomo commuted her 75-year-to-life sentence to time served and made her eligible for parole for the three slayings in the [16] At 7:10 pm, they entered the building and tied up the five employees working in the vault area. Even with the recovery of this money in Baltimore and Boston, more than $1,150,000 of currency taken in the Brinks robbery remained unaccounted for. [17], Immediately following the robbery, Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan sent a mobilization order for all precinct captains and detectives. A number of them discontinued their operations; others indicated a strong desire that the robbers be identified and apprehended. Costa claimed that after working at the motor terminal until approximately 5:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950, he had gone home to eat dinner; then, at approximately 7:00 p.m., he left to return to the terminal and worked until about 9:00 p.m. In addition, McGinnis was named in two other complaints involving the receiving and concealing of the loot. It appeared to him that he would spend his remaining days in prison while his co-conspirators would have many years to enjoy the luxuries of life. 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. Some persons claimed to have seen him. This lead was pursued intensively. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. Underworld rumors alleged that Maffie and Henry Baker were high on OKeefes list because they had beaten him out of a large amount of money. The The record of the state trial covered more than 5,300 pages. 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. The police officer said he had been talking to McGinnis first, and Pino arrived later to join them. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. 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. More than 100 persons took the stand as witnesses for the prosecution and the defense during September 1956. The gang members who remained at the house of Maffies parents soon dispersed to establish alibis for themselves. THE Brink's-Mat robbery is one of the most notorious crimes in British history. WebGordon 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 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. Subsequently, this machine gun was identified as having been used in the attempt on OKeefes life. 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. 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. Many other types of information were received. He advised that he and his associate shared office space with an individual known to him only as Fat John. According to the Boston hoodlum, on the night of June 1, 1956, Fat John asked him to rip a panel from a section of the wall in the office, and when the panel was removed, Fat John reached into the opening and removed the cover from a metal container. The Boston hoodlum told FBI agents in Baltimore that he accepted six of the packages of money from Fat John. The following day (June 2, 1956), he left Massachusetts with $4,750 of these bills and began passing them. While the officer and amusement arcade operator were talking to him, the hoodlum reached into his pocket, quickly withdrew his hand again and covered his hand with a raincoat he was carrying. 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. After a couple of attempts he hired underworld hitman Elmer "Trigger" Burke to kill O'Keefe. The other gang members would not talk. During November and December 1949, the approach to the Brinks building and the flight over the getaway route were practiced to perfection. Soon after OKeefes return in March 1954, Baker and his wife left Boston on a vacation.. Almost immediately, the gang began laying new plans. And it nearly was. Again, the FBIs investigation resulted merely in the elimination of more possible suspects. Despite the arrests and indictments in January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash, was still missing. On February 5, 1950, however, a police officer in Somerville, Massachusetts, recovered one of the four revolvers that had been taken by the robbers. [15] Two vehicles were stolen: a truck, to carry away the loot from the robbery; and a car, which would be used to block any pursuit. Two hours later he was dead. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. Many tips were received from anonymous persons. Interviews with him on June 3 and 4, 1956, disclosed that this 31-year-old hoodlum had a record of arrests and convictions dating back to his teens and that he had been conditionally released from a federal prison camp less than a year beforehaving served slightly more than two years of a three-year sentence for transporting a falsely made security interstate. 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. This man subsequently identified locks from doors which the Brinks gang had entered as being similar to the locks which Pino had brought him. 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. At that time, Pino approached OKeefe and asked if he wanted to be in on the score. His close associate, Stanley Gusciora, had previously been recruited, and OKeefe agreed to take part. He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. Within two months of his return, another member of the gang suffered a legal setback. To muffle their footsteps, one of the gang wore crepe-soled shoes, and the others wore rubbers. 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.. As a protective measure, he was incarcerated in the Hampden County jail at Springfield, Massachusetts, rather than the Suffolk County jail in Boston. McGinness masterminded the crime. In the deportation fight that lasted more than two years, Pino won the final victory. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. 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. During these weeks, OKeefe renewed his association with a Boston racketeer who had actively solicited funds for the defense of OKeefe and Gusciora in 1950. He told the interviewing agents that he trusted Maffie so implicitly that he gave the money to him for safe keeping. Evidently resigned to long years in prison or a short life on the outside, OKeefe grew increasingly bitter toward his old associates. After the truck parts were found, additional suspicion was attached to these men. Both denied knowledge of the loot that had been recovered. Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. Edward O'Grady, Officer Waverly Brown and Brink's guard Peter Paige were killed during the Oct. 20, 1981, robbery in Nanuet, New York. At the time it was Britains Despite the fact that substantial amounts of money were being spent by members of the robbery gang during 1954, in defending themselves against legal proceedings alone, the year ended without the location of any bills identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. All efforts to identify the gang members through the chauffeurs hat, the rope, and the adhesive tape which had been left in Brinks proved unsuccessful. Continuous investigation, however, had linked him with the gang. 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. While OKeefe and Gusciora lingered in jail in Pennsylvania, Pino encountered difficulties of his own. Even Pino, whose deportation troubles then were a heavy burden, was arrested by the Boston police in August 1954. [14] By 7:37, one of the Brink's employees managed to free themselves and raise the alarm. [14] They each wore a chauffeur cap, pea The amusement arcade operator told the officer that he had followed the man who passed this $10.00 bill to a nearby tavern. Following their arrests, a former bondsman in Boston made frequent trips to Towanda in an unsuccessful effort to secure their release on bail. Livvy standing in the middle of two masked people involved in kidnap gangs. Brian The Colonel Robinson, 78, was cheated out of his share of the record haul. Two weeks of comparative quiet in the gang members lives were shattered on June 5, 1954, when an attempt was made on OKeefes life. He needed money for his defense against the charges in McKean County, and it was obvious that he had developed a bitter attitude toward a number of his close underworld associates. O'Keefe pleaded guilty January 18. Born in Italy in 1907, Pino was a young child when he entered the United States, but he never became a naturalized citizen. With the death of Gusciora, only eight members of the Brinks gang remained to be tried. Vincent Costa was the group's lookout, and signalled with a flashlight from a nearby rooftop when he saw the vault being opened. The FBI approached O'Keefe in the hospital and on January 6, 1956, he decided to talk. Many problems and dangers were involved in such a robbery, and the plans never crystallized. 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. During this operation, a pair of glasses belonging to one of the employees was unconsciously scooped up with other items and stuffed into a bag of loot. The defense immediately filed motions which would delay or prevent the trial. All but Pino and Banfield stepped out and proceeded into the playground to await Costas signal. On January 11, 1956, the United States Attorney at Boston authorized special agents of the FBI to file complaints charging the 11 criminals with (1) conspiracy to commit theft of government property, robbery of government property, and bank robbery by force and violence and by intimidation, (2) committing bank robbery on January 17, 1950, and committing an assault on Brinks employees during the taking of the money, and (3) conspiracy to receive and conceal money in violation of the Bank Robbery and Theft of Government Property Statutes. Before they left, however, approximately $380,000 was placed in a coal hamper and removed by Baker for security reasons. The criminal explained that he was in the contracting business in Boston and that in late March or early April 1956, he stumbled upon a plastic bag containing this money while he was working on the foundation of a house. Some of the bills were in pieces. After nearly three years of investigation, the government hoped that witnesses or participants who had remained mute for so long a period of time might find their tongues before the grand jury. John had a smelter in his garden hut near Bath.

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