Although he had been known to carry a gun, burglaryrather than armed robberywas his criminal specialty, and his exceptional driving skill was an invaluable asset during criminal getaways. 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. 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. If local hoodlums were involved, it was difficult to believe that McGinnis could be as ignorant of the crime as he claimed. All identifying marks placed on currency and securities by the customers were noted, and appropriate stops were placed at banking institutions across the nation. The other keys in their possession enabled them to proceed to the second floor where they took the five Brinks employees by surprise. 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. He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. Where are gangsters from the Brinks-Mat robbery now? 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 On November 16, 1959, the United States Supreme Court denied a request of the defense counsel for a writ of certiorari. All denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. Two of the prime suspects whose nerve and gun-handling experience suited them for the Brinks robbery were Joseph James OKeefe and Stanley Albert Gusciora. After being wounded on June 16, OKeefe disappeared. (McGinnis trial in March 1955 on the liquor charge resulted in a sentence to 30 days imprisonment and a fine of $1,000. From their prison cells, they carefully followed the legal maneuvers aimed at gaining them freedom. Well-known Boston hoodlums were picked up and questioned by police. WebNext year January 2023 to be precise will mark 30 years since the Brink's depot in Rochester was looted for $7.4 million, then the fifth largest armored car company heist in They were checked against serial numbers of bills known to have been included in the Brinks loot, and it was determined that the Boston criminal possessed part of the money that had been dragged away by the seven masked gunmen on January 17, 1950. Some persons claimed to have seen him. (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. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. 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. OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. WebJudith Clark was paroled in 2019 after then Gov. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. During the trip from Roxbury, Pino distributed Navy-type peacoats and chauffeurs caps to the other seven men in the rear of the truck. [17], Immediately following the robbery, Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan sent a mobilization order for all precinct captains and detectives. During this visit, Gusciora got up from his bed, and, in full view of the clergyman, slipped to the floor, striking his head. The Great Brink's Robbery, and the 70-year-old question: What happened to the money? Shortly after 6.40am, six armed robbers in balaclavas entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport belonging to security company Brinks-Mat. 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. 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. Eight of the gang's members received maximum sentences of life imprisonment. All right, he told two FBI agents, what do you want to know?. The Brink's Mat Bullion Heist The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. 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. Shortly after these two guns were found, one of them was placed in a trash barrel and was taken to the city dump. Through the interviews of persons in the vicinity of the Brinks offices on the evening of January 17, 1950, the FBI learned that a 1949 green Ford stake-body truck with a canvas top had been parked near the Prince Street door of Brinks at approximately the time of the robbery. He had been short changed $2,000. Brink In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. Soon after OKeefes return in March 1954, Baker and his wife left Boston on a vacation.. The removal of the lock cylinder from the outside door involved the greatest risk of detection. As the investigation developed and thousands of leads were followed to dead ends, the broad field of possible suspects gradually began to narrow. 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. 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. Other information provided by OKeefe helped to fill the gaps which still existed. This chauffeurs cap was left at the scene of the crime of the centurythe 1950 robbery of a Brink's bank branch in Massachusetts. 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. FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. 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. McAvoy wanted members of the Arif crime family, specialists in armed robbery, on the job. 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. He was not involved in the Brinks robbery. All but Pino and Banfield stepped out and proceeded into the playground to await Costas signal. 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. He subsequently was convicted and executed.). Others fell apart as they were handled. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) 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. Each man also was given a pistol and a Halloween-type mask. During his brief stay in Boston, he was observed to contact other members of the robbery gang. Some of the bills were in pieces. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. As this bag was being emptied later that evening, the glasses were discovered and destroyed by the gang. He told the interviewing agents that he trusted Maffie so implicitly that he gave the money to him for safe keeping. FBI A Byte Out of History - Brinks Robbery A third attempt on OKeefes life was made on June 16, 1954. O'Keefe received four years and was released in 1960. OKeefe and Gusciora reportedly had worked together on a number of occasions. Released to McKean County, Pennsylvania, authorities early in January 1954 to stand trial for burglary, larceny, and receiving stolen goods, OKeefe also was confronted with a detainer filed by Massachusetts authorities. Brian The Colonel Robinson, 78, was cheated out of his share of the record haul. The Gold true story where are Micky McAvoy and the other The gang members who remained at the house of Maffies parents soon dispersed to establish alibis for themselves. The only physical evidence left at the crime scene was a cap and the tape and rope used to bind up the employees. This underworld character told the officers that he had found this money. It was billed as the perfect crime and the the crime of the century.. The robbers did little talking. Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Brains behind the 26million Brink They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. Police heard through their informers that O'Keefe and Gusciora demanded money from Pino and MacGinnis in Boston to fight their convictions. On August 29, 1954, the officers suspicions were aroused by an automobile that circled the general vicinity of the abandoned car on five occasions. 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. After careful checking, the FBI eliminated eight of the suspects. Gusciora now had passed beyond the reach of all human authority, and OKeefe was all the more determined to see that justice would be done. 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. As a cooperative measure, the information gathered by the FBI in the Brinks investigation was made available to the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. They apprehended Faherty and Richardson on May 16 in Dorchester. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. She also covered the 1950s Brinks robbery and was a medical reporter for the Boston Herald. OKeefes reputation for nerve was legend. On February 5, 1950, however, a police officer in Somerville, Massachusetts, recovered one of the four revolvers that had been taken by the robbers. Calumet City crime: Brinks armored truck robbery suspects The Brinks Mat robbery gang now: What happened to Kenneth 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. 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. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. 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. Brinks customers were contacted for information regarding the packaging and shipping materials they used. Solicitor Michael Relton was jailed in 1987 for his part in the money Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with OKeefe. In December 1948, Brinks moved from Federal Street to 165 Prince Street in Boston. [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. Shortly thereafterduring the first week of Novembera 1949 green Ford stake-body truck was reported missing by a car dealer in Boston. Banfield drove the truck to the house of Maffies parents in Roxbury. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor.
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