An automobile identified as the car used in the escape was located near a Boston hospital, and police officers concealed themselves in the area. Returning to Pennsylvania in February 1954 to stand trial, OKeefe was found guilty of burglary by the state court in McKean County on March 4, 1954. Each robbers face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. Before the robbery was carried out, all of the participants were well acquainted with the Brinks premises. The money inside the cooler which was concealed in the wall of the Tremont Street office was wrapped in plastic and newspaper. 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. OKeefe was wounded in the wrist and chest, but again he managed to escape with his life. Banfield, the driver, was alone in the front. 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. Vincent Costa was the group's lookout, and signalled with a flashlight from a nearby rooftop when he saw the vault being opened. On October 11, 1950, Gusciora was sentenced to serve from five to 20 years in the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. (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.). Jeweler and also a bullion dealer, John Palmer, was arrested. 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. 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. 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. Only $58,000 of the $2.7 million was recovered. For example, from a citizen in California came the suggestion that the loot might be concealed in the Atlantic Ocean near Boston. 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. 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 This is not the first time that Cuomo has commuted a sentence for someone involved in the Brink's robbery. 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. Two hours later he was dead. All denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. Until the FBI and its partners painstakingly solved the case. The eight men were sentenced by Judge Forte on October 9, 1956. 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.. Six members of the gangBaker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pinowere arrested by FBI agents on January 12, 1956. The Gold - Meet the cast of the drama inspired by the true story All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. 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. Less than $60,000 of the more than $2.7 million stolen would ever be recovered. The other gang members would not talk. WebSix armed men broke into the Brinks-Mat security depot near Londons Heathrow airport and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth 26m. [17], Immediately following the robbery, Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan sent a mobilization order for all precinct captains and detectives. WebNahome was a "financer" and associate of the Adams family, who were also suspected of having been involved in the laundering of the Brink's-Mat gold. FBI A Byte Out of History - Brinks 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. Despite the arrests and indictments in January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash, was still missing. This was in their favor. 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. He was not involved in the Brinks robbery. The robbers carefully planned routine inside Brinks was interrupted only when the attendant in the adjoining Brinks garage sounded the buzzer. OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. The FBIs analysis of the alibis offered by the suspects showed that the hour of 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950, was frequently mentioned. It was at the time the largest robbery in the history of the United States, and has been called "the crime of the century". Veteran criminals throughout the United States found their activities during mid-January the subject of official inquiry. The missing racketeers automobile was found near his home; however, his whereabouts remain a mystery. The wall partition described by the Boston criminal was located in Fat Johns office, and when the partition was removed, a picnic-type cooler was found. 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. Many problems and dangers were involved in such a robbery, and the plans never crystallized. On February 5, 1950, however, a police officer in Somerville, Massachusetts, recovered one of the four revolvers that had been taken by the robbers. Prior to this time, McGinnis had been at his liquor store. Investigation revealed that Geagan, a laborer, had not gone to work on January 17 or 18, 1950.). Well-meaning persons throughout the country began sending the FBI tips and theories which they hoped would assist in the investigation. Much of the money taken from the money changer appeared to have been stored a long time. WebA Byte Out of HistoryThe Great Brinks Robbery. Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. Three of the remaining five gang members were previously accounted for, OKeefe and Gusciora being in prison on other charges and Banfield being dead. In December 1954, he indicated to the agents that Pino could look for rough treatment if he (OKeefe) again was released. Apparently suspicious, OKeefe crouched low in the front seat of his car as the would-be assassins fired bullets that pierced the windshield. During 1955, OKeefe carefully pondered his position. On April 11, 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that Pinos conviction in 1948 for larceny (the sentence that was revoked and the case placed on file) had not attained such finality as to support an order of deportation. Thus, Pino could not be deported. McGinnis previously had discussed sending a man to the United States Patent Office in Washington, D.C., to inspect the patents on the protective alarms used in the Brinks building. By Beth Rose. 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. This lead was pursued intensively. He claimed he had been drinking in various taverns from approximately 5:10 p.m. until 7:45 p.m. The truck pieces were concealed in fiber bags when found. Burke traveled to Boston and shot O'Keefe, seriously wounding him but failed to kill him. 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 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. Brink's-Mat robbery - Wikipedia 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. 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. During the trip from Roxbury, Pino distributed Navy-type peacoats and chauffeurs caps to the other seven men in the rear of the truck. They spent about twenty minutes inside the vault, putting money into large canvas bags. Each carried a pair of gloves. He had been convicted of armed robbery in 1940 and served several months in the Massachusetts State Reformatory and the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony. They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. Pino could have been at McGinnis liquor store shortly after 7:30 p.m. on January 17, 1950, and still have participated in the robbery. His explanation: He had been drinking at a bar in Boston. Of the eleven people involved in the robbery, eight would receive life sentences after a trial, with two others dying before they could be convicted. Considerable thought was given to every detail. Local officers searched their homes, but no evidence linking them with the truck or the robbery was found. 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. The detainer involved OKeefes violation of probation in connection with a conviction in 1945 for carrying concealed weapons. This man subsequently identified locks from doors which the Brinks gang had entered as being similar to the locks which Pino had brought him. 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. [3] After five aborted runs, Costa finally gave the go-ahead on the night of January 17, 1950. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. 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. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. OKeefe immediately returned to Boston to await the results of the appeal. Well-known Boston hoodlums were picked up and questioned by police. 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. [14] By 7:37, one of the Brink's employees managed to free themselves and raise the alarm. OKeefes reputation for nerve was legend. The Boston underworld rumbled with reports that an automobile had pulled alongside OKeefes car in Dorchester, Massachusetts, during the early morning hours of June 5. In December 1948, Brinks moved from Federal Street to 165 Prince Street in Boston. 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 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. 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. 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. On August 29, 1954, the officers suspicions were aroused by an automobile that circled the general vicinity of the abandoned car on five occasions. They put the entire $200,000 in the trunk of OKeefes automobile. All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. Like Gusciora, OKeefe was known to have associated with Pino prior to the Brinks robbery. O'Keefe pleaded guilty January 18. 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. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. Several hundred dollars were found hidden in the house but could not be identified as part of the loot. A thorough investigation was made concerning his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950. He was paroled in the fall of 1944 and remained on parole through March 1954 when misfortune befell him. OKeefe and Gusciora had been close friends for many years. This phase of the investigation greatly disturbed many gamblers. 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 Thieves stole more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and. Using the outside door key they had previously obtained, the men quickly entered and donned their masks. 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. More than 100 persons took the stand as witnesses for the prosecution and the defense during September 1956. [18] The total amount stolen was $1,218,211 in cash and $1,557,183 in checks and other securities. (McGinnis trial in March 1955 on the liquor charge resulted in a sentence to 30 days imprisonment and a fine of $1,000. 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. Prior to his murder, Allegedly, he pulled a gun on OKeefe; several shots were exchanged by the two men, but none of the bullets found their mark. Brian The Colonel Robinson, 78, was cheated out of his share of the record haul. The FBI also succeeded in locating the carpenter who had remodeled the offices where the loot was hidden. (Burke was arrested by FBI agents at Folly Beach, South Carolina, on August 27, 1955, and he returned to New York to face murder charges which were outstanding against him there. 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. WebOne of the robbers, Micky McAvoy, entrusted his share to associates Brian Perry and George Francis. He was not with the gang when the robbery took place. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. Subsequently, OKeefe left his carand the $200,000in a garage on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston. 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. Brink Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. The Great Brink's Robbery was an armed robbery of the Brink's building in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1950.
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