All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. A search of the hoodlums room in a Baltimore hotel (registered to him under an assumed name) resulted in the location of $3,780 that the officers took to police headquarters. 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. From his cell in Springfield, OKeefe wrote bitter letters to members of the Brinks gang and persisted in his demands for money. Before they left, however, approximately $380,000 was placed in a coal hamper and removed by Baker for security reasons. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with OKeefe. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. Two other men, ex-Brink's guard Thomas O'Connor and unemployed teacher Charles McCormick, were acquitted. Although the attendant did not suspect that the robbery was taking place, this incident caused the criminals to move more swiftly. 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. One Massachusetts racketeer, a man whose moral code mirrored his long years in the underworld, confided to the agents who were interviewing him, If I knew who pulled the job, I wouldnt be talking to you now because Id be too busy trying to figure a way to lay my hands on some of the loot.. McGinnis had been arrested at the site of a still in New Hampshire in February 1954. Shakur, the stepfather of hip-hop star . Extensive efforts were made to detect pencil markings and other notations on the currency that the criminals thought might be traceable to Brinks. On the evening of January 17, 1950, employees of the security firm Brinks, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, were closing for the day, returning sacks of undelivered cash, checks, and other material to the company safe on the second floor. 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. (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. 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. 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. Perkins was handed a 22-year jail sentence for that one, but absconded from open prison in 1995 and managed to . From Boston, the pressure quickly spread to other cities. An immediate effort also was made to obtain descriptive data concerning the missing cash and securities. Two weeks of comparative quiet in the gang members lives were shattered on June 5, 1954, when an attempt was made on OKeefes life. When the robbers decided that they needed a truck, it was resolved that a new one must be stolen because a used truck might have distinguishing marks and possibly would not be in perfect running condition. OKeefes reputation for nerve was legend. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. 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. From masked gunmen and drugs to kidnappings and bags of cash, the $7.4 million robbery had it all. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. Tarr was doomed to the role of unlucky Brinks driver. T he robbers were there because they knew there was 3 million in cash locked in the . All identifying marks placed on currency and securities by the customers were noted, and appropriate stops were placed at banking institutions across the nation. Kenneth Noye now: What happened to the criminal depicted in The Gold after the Brink's-Mat robbery,The Gold tells the remarkable true story of a heist that went almost too well, with success bringing a host of problems OKeefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the others wore rubbers. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. A detailed search for additional weapons was made at the Mystic River. After surrendering himself in December 1953 in compliance with an Immigration and Naturalization Service order, he began an additional battle to win release from custody while his case was being argued. 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. Nonetheless, the finding of the truck parts at Stoughton, Massachusetts, was to prove a valuable break in the investigation. (The arrests of Faherty and Richardson also resulted in the indictment of another Boston hoodlum as an accessory after the fact). On 26 November, 1983, six armed men did break into the Brink's-Mat security depot near Heathrow Airport expecting to find around 1m in pesetas. 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 Brink's-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain's biggest and most audacious heists. 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. While some gang members remained in the building to ensure that no one detected the operation, other members quickly obtained keys to fit the locks. Since the robbery had taken place between approximately 7:10 and 7:27 p.m., it was quite probable that a gang, as well drilled as the Brinks robbers obviously were, would have arranged to rendezvous at a specific time. 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. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. However, the group were shocked to find a massive 26 million in gold . Prominent among the other strong suspects was Vincent James Costa, brother-in-law of Pino. Almost. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. Well-meaning persons throughout the country began sending the FBI tips and theories which they hoped would assist in the investigation. 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. 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 Brinks vehicle, followed closely by guards traveling in an automobile, turned onto a stone-paved lane called Old Bethel Road. 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. 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. 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. The hideout also was found to contain more than $5,000 in coins. The Brink's-Mat robbery occurred at the Heathrow International Trading Estate, London, United Kingdom, on 26 November 1983 and was one of the largest robberies in British history. This vehicle was traced through motor vehicle records to Pino. This man subsequently identified locks from doors which the Brinks gang had entered as being similar to the locks which Pino had brought him. The Brink Mat robbery was a heist that occurred at Heathrow International Trading Estate on November 26, 1983, when six armed robbers broke into a warehouse run by a US and British joint venture, Brink's Mat. Many other types of information were received. You get me released, and Ill solve the case in no time, these criminals would claim. 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. Local officers searched their homes, but no evidence linking them with the truck or the robbery was found. On the 26 November 1983, half a dozen armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat depot near London's Heathrow Airport, where they were expecting to find a million pounds worth of foreign currency.. Following their arrests, a former bondsman in Boston made frequent trips to Towanda in an unsuccessful effort to secure their release on bail. A second shooting incident occurred on the morning of June 14, 1954, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, when OKeefe and his racketeer friend paid a visit to Baker. The Brink's truck was robbed in the early morning . Early in June 1956, however, an unexpected break developed. It ultimately proved unproductive. It was used by the defense counsel in preparing a 294-page brief that was presented to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. Apparently, they had planned a leisurely trip with an abundance of extracurricular activities.. On the night of January 18, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora received $100,000 each from the robbery loot. On October 11, 1950, Gusciora was sentenced to serve from five to 20 years in the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. Costa was associated with Pino in the operation of a motor terminal and a lottery in Boston. The Brinks Job, 1950. Officials said the incident happened at a Wendy's in a strip mall at 87th and Lafayette, right off the Dan Ryan Expressway. After careful checking, the FBI eliminated eight of the suspects. As a guard moved to intercept him, Burke started to run. In a series of interviews during the succeeding days, OKeefe related the full story of the Brinks robbery. 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. He ran a gold and jewellery dealing company, Scadlynn Ltd, in Bristol with business partners Garth Victor Chappell and Terence Edward James Patch. One of the biggest robberies in U.S. history happened here. With the death of Gusciora, only eight members of the Brinks gang remained to be tried. 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. 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. If passing police had looked closer early that Saturday morning on November 26, 1983, they would have noticed the van was weighted down below its wheel arches with three tons of gold. From interviews with the five employees whom the criminals had confronted, it was learned that between five and seven robbers had entered the building. 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. The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. Thieves vanished after stealing $2.7 million, leaving few clues. On June 12, 1950, they were arrested at Towanda, Pennsylvania, and guns and clothing that were the loot from burglaries at Kane and Coudersport, Pennsylvania, were found in their possession. The planning and practice had a military intensity to them; the attention to detail including the close approximation of the uniform of the Brinks guards was near . As of January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash was still unaccounted for. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. The missing racketeers automobile was found near his home; however, his whereabouts remain a mystery. The group were led . Members of the Purple Gang of the 1930s found that there was renewed interest in their activities. Examination by the FBI Laboratory subsequently disclosed that the decomposition, discoloration, and matting together of the bills were due, at least in part, to the fact that all of the bills had been wet. He told the interviewing agents that he trusted Maffie so implicitly that he gave the money to him for safe keeping. The officer verified the meeting. 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. 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. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jewelry, gems, high-end watches and other valuables worth millions of dollars were stolen from a transport vehicle in Southern California. There are still suspicions among some readers that the late Tom O'Connor, a retired cop who worked Brinks security during the robbery, was a key player, despite his acquittal on robbery charges at . When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. Many tips were received from anonymous persons. The conviction for burglary in McKean County, Pennsylvania, still hung over his head, and legal fees remained to be paid. Democrat and Chronicle. Terry Perkins. The heist. A third attempt on OKeefes life was made on June 16, 1954. After continuing up the street to the end of the playground which adjoined the Brinks building, the truck stopped. July 18, 2022, 9:32 AM UTC. On February 5, 1950, however, a police officer in Somerville, Massachusetts, recovered one of the four revolvers that had been taken by the robbers. They had brought no tools with them, however, and they were unsuccessful. During 1955, OKeefe carefully pondered his position. Next 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 the country. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. 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. In the years following the infamous 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, many of the criminals and police alike were killed, leading to speculation there might be . OKeefe and Gusciora reportedly had worked together on a number of occasions. In a report which was released on January 16, 1953, the grand jury disclosed that its members did not feel they possessed complete, positive information as to the identify of the participants in the Brinks robbery because (1) the participants were effectively disguised; (2) there was a lack of eyewitnesses to the crime itself; and (3) certain witnesses refused to give testimony, and the grand jury was unable to compel them to do so. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. Two of the participants in the Brinks robbery lived in the Stoughton area. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. The other gang members would not talk. To muffle their footsteps, one of the gang wore crepe-soled shoes, and the others wore rubbers. 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. Both OKeefe and Gusciora had been interviewed on several occasions concerning the Brinks robbery, but they had claimed complete ignorance. The heist happened on Prince Street in Boston's North End on Jan. 17, 1950. The hoodlum was taken to police headquarters where a search of his person disclosed he was carrying more than $1,000, including $860 in musty, worn bills. The robbery saw six armed men break into a security depot near London . If Baker heard these rumors, he did not wait around very long to see whether they were true. During the preceding year, however, he had filed a petition for pardon in the hope of removing one of the criminal convictions from his record. His case had gone to the highest court in the land. Pierra Willix Monday 13 Feb 2023 8:00 am. Binoculars were used in this phase of the casing operation. This chauffeurs cap was left at the scene of the crime of the centurythe 1950 robbery of a Brink's bank branch in Massachusetts. This phase of the investigation greatly disturbed many gamblers. A few weeks later, OKeefe retrieved his share of the loot. Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. Their hands were tied behind their backs and adhesive tape was placed over their mouths. This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. 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 BBC has greenlit a documentary telling the real story of the 26M ($31.2M) Brink's-Mat robbery spotlighted in Neil Forsyth drama The Gold. The eight men were sentenced by Judge Forte on October 9, 1956. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. Unfortunately, this proved to be an idle hope. Banfield, the driver, was alone in the front. The Brink's cargo trailer was. Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. The theft occurred in July when a Brink's big rig paused at a Grapevine truck stop while transporting jewelry from a Northern California trade show to the Southland. At the time of his arrest, there also was a charge of armed robbery outstanding against him in Massachusetts. While OKeefe and Gusciora lingered in jail in Pennsylvania, Pino encountered difficulties of his own. 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. Micky McAvoy, believed by police to be the mastermind behind the robbery, was arrested ten days after the robbery. Each robbers face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. 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. 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. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. During the period in which Pinos deportation troubles were mounting, OKeefe completed his sentence at Towanda, Pennsylvania. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled. 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. Pino, Costa, Maffie, Geagan, Faherty, Richardson, and Baker received life sentences for robbery, two-year sentences for conspiracy to steal, and sentences of eight years to ten years for breaking and entering at night. After being wounded on June 16, OKeefe disappeared. Even after these convictions, OKeefe and Gusciora continued to seek their release. 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. A number of them discontinued their operations; others indicated a strong desire that the robbers be identified and apprehended. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Of the $4,822 found in the small-time criminals possession, FBI agents identified $4,635 as money taken by the Brinks robbers. There had been three attempts on his life in June 1954, and his frustrated assassins undoubtedly were waiting for him to return to Boston. Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. 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. Three of the newspapers used to wrap the bills were identified. In the late summer of 1944, he was released from the state prison and was taken into custody by Immigration authorities. 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. He, too, had left his home shortly before 7:00 p.m. on the night of the robbery and met the Boston police officer soon thereafter. They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. On the evening of January 17, 1950, employees of the security firm Brinks, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, were closing for the day, returning sacks of undelivered cash, checks, and other. And it nearly was. If local hoodlums were involved, it was difficult to believe that McGinnis could be as ignorant of the crime as he claimed. Geagan claimed that he spent the evening at home and did not learn of the Brinks robbery until the following day. Born in Italy in 1907, Pino was a young child when he entered the United States, but he never became a naturalized citizen. At the outset, very few facts were available to the investigators. 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. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. 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. Paul Jawarski (sometimes spelled Jaworski) in a yellowed newspaper . What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? He was not with the gang when the robbery took place. The incident happened outside of a Chase Bank in . The robbery of 26m of gold bars from a warehouse near Heathrow airport is one of Britain's most notorious - and biggest - heists. The FBI further learned that four revolvers had been taken by the gang. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. 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. The thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. 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. 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. Reports had been received alleging that he had held up several gamblers in the Boston area and had been involved in shakedowns of bookies. The Transit's heavily armed occupants had stolen the bullion less than an hour earlier from the Brink's-Mat security warehouse 12 miles away at Heathrow. OKeefe immediately returned to Boston to await the results of the appeal. Six armed men stole diamonds, cash and three tonnes of gold bullion from a warehouse close to . Then the lock cylinders were replaced. Even fearing the new bills might be linked with the crime, McGinnis suggested a process for aging the new money in a hurry.. Before removing the remainder of the loot from the house on January 18, 1950, the gang members attempted to identify incriminating items. 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. Shortly thereafterduring the first week of Novembera 1949 green Ford stake-body truck was reported missing by a car dealer in Boston. None of these materialized because the gang did not consider the conditions to be favorable. Armed crooks wearing Halloween masks and chauffeur . 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. 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. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. 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. 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. Their plan was to enter the Brinks building and take a truck containing payrolls. Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. This underworld character told the officers that he had found this money. Chicago police said at about 3 p.m., a 38-year-old male armored truck .