Even in their jail cells, however, they showed no respect for law enforcement. The thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. Estimates range from $10 million to $100 million. 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. On April 11, 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that Pinos conviction in 1948 for larceny (the sentence that was revoked and the case placed on file) had not attained such finality as to support an order of deportation.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. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. A detective examines the Brinks vault after the theft. The $2.775 million ($31.3 million today) theft consisted of $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, money orders, and other securities. The group were led by Mickey McAdams and Brian Robinson who planned to find 3 million in cash. A new BBC crime drama series follows the gripping twists and turns of what was dubbed the "crime of the century" in the 1980s. In examining the bill, a Federal Reserve note, the officer observed that it was in musty condition. The discovery of this money in the Tremont Street offices resulted in the arrests of both Fat John and the business associate of the criminal who had been arrested in Baltimore. This man claimed to have no knowledge of Pinos involvement in the Brinks robbery.). Masterminded by Brian 'The Colonel' Robinson and Mickey McAvoy, the gang hoped to make off with 3 million in cash, a sum that's now equivalent to just over 9 million. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. Pino was determined to fight against deportation. An inside man by the name of Anthony . If local hoodlums were involved, it was difficult to believe that McGinnis could be as ignorant of the crime as he claimed. Mutulu Shakur, born Jeral Wayne Williams, is serving a 60-year sentence for organizing multiple bank and armored car robberies in New York and Connecticut. On June 5 and June 7, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the three mencharging them with several state offenses involving their possessing money obtained in the Brinks robbery. At the outset, very few facts were available to the investigators. 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. The Brink's truck was robbed in the early morning . He subsequently was convicted and executed.). Thieves vanished after stealing $2.7 million, leaving few clues. An attempted armored truck heist in South Africa was caught on camera recently; it illustrates the dangers of the job. (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. 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. (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. He was found brutally murdered in his car in 1987. Pierra Willix Monday 13 Feb 2023 8:00 am. OKeefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the others wore rubbers. A systematic check of current and past Brinks employees was undertaken; personnel of the three-story building housing the Brinks offices were questioned; inquiries were made concerning salesmen, messengers, and others who had called at Brinks and might know its physical layout as well as its operational procedures. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. The other keys in their possession enabled them to proceed to the second floor where they took the five Brinks employees by surprise. 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. Unfortunately, this proved to be an idle hope. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) A passerby might notice that it was missing. An official website of the United States government. David Ghantt was the vault supervisor for Loomis, Fargo & Co. armored cars, which managed the transportation of large sums of cash between banks in North Carolina. At 10:25 p.m. on October 5, 1956, the jury retired to weigh the evidence. None proved fruitful. They put the entire $200,000 in the trunk of OKeefes automobile. In December 1954, he indicated to the agents that Pino could look for rough treatment if he (OKeefe) again was released. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. This man, subsequently identified as a small-time Boston underworld figure, was located and questioned. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. Their hands were tied behind their backs and adhesive tape was placed over their mouths. After the heist was completed, one of the warehouse workers managed to free themselves from their restraints and notify the authorities, but the robbers were already long gone. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. 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. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. It was almost the perfect crime. After receiving the go ahead signal from Costa, the seven armed men walked to the Prince Street entrance of Brinks. Those killed in the. 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. 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. Two of the participants in the Brinks robbery lived in the Stoughton area. 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. Todd Williamson/Getty Images David Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo heist that he helped carry out. During his brief stay in Boston, he was observed to contact other members of the robbery gang. The removal of the lock cylinder from the outside door involved the greatest risk of detection. Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with OKeefe. Information received from this individual linked nine well-known hoodlums with the crime. 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 October 20, 1981, a Brinks Company armored car was robbed of $1,589,000 in cash that it was preparing to transfer from the Nanuet National Bank in Clarkstown, N.Y. One of the guards of the. 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. On August 30, he was taken into custody as a suspicious person. (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.). Prior to this time, McGinnis had been at his liquor store. In addition to mold, insect remains also were found on the loot. He later was to be arrested as a member of the robbery gang. More than $7 million was stolen in a brazen holdup at a Brink's armored car service in Rochester in 1993. 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. Captain Marvel mask used as a disguise in the robbery. On the night of January 17, 1952exactly two years after the crime occurredthe FBIs Boston Office received an anonymous telephone call from an individual who claimed he was sending a letter identifying the Brinks robbers. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. Even Pino, whose deportation troubles then were a heavy burden, was arrested by the Boston police in August 1954. After the truck parts were found, additional suspicion was attached to these men. They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. While OKeefe and Gusciora lingered in jail in Pennsylvania, Pino encountered difficulties of his own. Despite the arrests and indictments in January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash, was still missing. On this day, Jawarski made history by pulling off the nation's first armored car robbery. 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. 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. Immediately upon leaving, the gang loaded the loot into the truck that was parked on Prince Street near the door. Minutes later, police arrived at the Brinks building, and special agents of the FBI quickly joined in the investigation. Police who arrived to investigate found a large amount of blood, a mans shattered wrist watch, and a .45 caliber pistol at the scene. Many other types of information were received. Police recovered only $58,000 of the $2.7 million stolen. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The robbery. The Brinks case was front page news. Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. Much of the money taken from the money changer appeared to have been stored a long time. The FBI further learned that four revolvers had been taken by the gang. CHICAGO (CBS) - A woman has been charged after more than $100,000 was stolen from Brinks truck outside Edgewater bank on Monday afternoon. In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. 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. 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. Then the lock cylinders were replaced. This is good money, he said, but you cant pass it around here in Boston.. Instead, they found three tonnes of gold bullion. The descriptions and serial numbers of these weapons were carefully noted since they might prove a valuable link to the men responsible for the crime. On November 26, 1982, six armed robbers forced their way into the Brink's-Mat warehouse, the plan was to steal the 3.2m in cash they were expecting to find stored there. 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. Nonetheless, several members of the Brinks gang were visibly shaken and appeared to be abnormally worried during the latter part of May and early in June 1954. 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. 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. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. He had been short changed $2,000. The public called the robbery the crime of the century: On January 17, 1950, armed men stole more than $2.7 million in cash, checks, money orders, and other securities from a Brink's in. Richardson had participated with Faherty in an armed robbery in February 1934. OKeefe and Gusciora reportedly had worked together on a number of occasions. The men had thought they were robbing a sum of foreign money, but instead found three tonnes of gold bullion (6,800 ingots), with a value of 26 million back then, around 100 million today. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. On August 29, 1954, the officers suspicions were aroused by an automobile that circled the general vicinity of the abandoned car on five occasions. Through long weeks of empty promises of assistance and deliberate stalling by the gang members, he began to realize that his threats were falling on deaf ears. Six armed men stole diamonds, cash and three tonnes of gold bullion from a warehouse close to . Of the $4,822 found in the small-time criminals possession, FBI agents identified $4,635 as money taken by the Brinks robbers. And what of McGinnis himself? He. The roofs of buildings on Prince and Snow Hill Streets soon were alive with inconspicuous activity as the gang looked for the most advantageous sites from which to observe what transpired inside Brinks offices. Apparently suspicious, OKeefe crouched low in the front seat of his car as the would-be assassins fired bullets that pierced the windshield. 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. A thorough investigation was made concerning his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. Considerable thought was given to every detail. Continuous investigation, however, had linked him with the gang. He ran a gold and jewellery dealing company, Scadlynn Ltd, in Bristol with business partners Garth Victor Chappell and Terence Edward James Patch. 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. Each of the five lock cylinders was taken on a separate occasion. Armed crooks wearing Halloween masks and chauffeur . On June 2, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora left Boston by automobile for the alleged purpose of visiting the grave of Guscioras brother in Missouri. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. 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. He was through with Pino, Baker, McGinnis, Maffie, and the other Brinks conspirators who had turned against him. The incident happened outside of a Chase Bank in . After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. The Gold is a 2023 television series created for BBC One and Paramount+. To his neighbors in Jackson Heights in the early 1990s, Sam . He claimed there was a large roll of bills in his hotel roomand that he had found that money, too. Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. In September 1949, Pinos efforts to evade deportation met with success. Subsequently, this machine gun was identified as having been used in the attempt on OKeefes life. Perkins was handed a 22-year jail sentence for that one, but absconded from open prison in 1995 and managed to . This chauffeurs cap was left at the scene of the crime of the centurythe 1950 robbery of a Brink's bank branch in Massachusetts. Some of the jewelry might. The most important of these, Specs OKeefe, carefully recited the details of the crime, clearly spelling out the role played by each of the eight defendants. 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. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. 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. BY The Associated Press. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Banfield, the driver, was alone in the front. The group were led . In addition to the general descriptions received from the Brinks employees, the investigators obtained several pieces of physical evidence. The Gold: The Inside Story will hear from the . None of these materialized because the gang did not consider the conditions to be favorable. Micky McAvoy, who masterminded the 1983 robbery of 26million from Brinks-Mat's Heathrow depot, has died aged 70 and never got his hands on the money stolen in the mega-heist On November, 26, 1983, three tonnes of solid gold bullion was taken by six armed robbers from the Brink's-Mat security depot near . He was not involved in the Brinks robbery. On November 26, 1982, six armed robbers forced their way into the Brink's-Mat warehouse, the plan was to steal the 3.2m in cash they were expecting to find stored there. 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 crime inspired at least four movies and two books, including The Story of the Great Brink's Robbery, as Told by the FBI. After careful checking, the FBI eliminated eight of the suspects. Due to his criminal record, the Immigration and Naturalization Service instituted proceedings in 1941 to deport him. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. The results were negative. On the night of January 18, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora received $100,000 each from the robbery loot.