After dousing security guards with petrol and threatening them with a lit match if they didn't open the safes, the six men made an amazing discovery when they stumbled upon 3,000kg worth of gold bars. 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. The names of Pino, McGinnis, Adolph Jazz Maffie, and Henry Baker were frequently mentioned in these rumors, and it was said that they had been with OKeefe on the Big Job.. This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. Even if released, he thought, his days were numbered. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. Pierra Willix Monday 13 Feb 2023 8:00 am. Does your jewellery contain stolen Brink's-Mat gold? All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. After being wounded on June 16, OKeefe disappeared. In the fall of 1955, an upper court overruled the conviction on the grounds that the search and seizure of the still were illegal.). Some of the bills were in pieces. The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950 met all of these requirementsa great pile of cash disappeared with no evidence, leads, or suspects. Inside this container were packages of bills that had been wrapped in plastic and newspapers. All but Pino and Banfield stepped out and proceeded into the playground to await Costas signal. Even fearing the new bills might be linked with the crime, McGinnis suggested a process for aging the new money in a hurry.. What Was the Brink's-Mat Heist and What Happened to All the Gold? 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. Brinks Heist: Mystery of the Missing Millions 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. Baker fled and the brief meeting adjourned. On June 19, 1958, while out on appeal in connection with a five-year narcotics sentence, he was found shot to death in an automobile that had crashed into a truck in Boston.). Of the $4,822 found in the small-time criminals possession, FBI agents identified $4,635 as money taken by the Brinks robbers. Before his trial in McKean County, he was released on $17,000 bond. The Bureau was convinced that it had identified the actual robbers, but evidence and witnesses had to be found. The robbery saw six armed men break into a security depot near London . Others fell apart as they were handled. The police officer said he had been talking to McGinnis first, and Pino arrived later to join them. The heist happened on Prince Street in Boston's North End on Jan. 17, 1950. It unleashed a trail of eight murders and a global hunt for. An automobile identified as the car used in the escape was located near a Boston hospital, and police officers concealed themselves in the area. A roll of waterproof adhesive tape used to gag and bind bank employees that was left at the scene of the crime. Many other types of information were received. A few years before the Brink's-Mat robbery . 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. The record of the state trial covered more than 5,300 pages. Had any particles of evidence been found in the loot which might directly show that they had handled it? The robbers did little talking. 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. BBC Greenlights 'The Gold: The Inside Story' Companion Doc; Dorothy Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. Thieves vanished after stealing $2.7 million, leaving few clues. The Brink's-Mat robbery the name alone is enough to spark excitement in viewers of a certain age, such as your correspondent became one of the most celebrated cases, and convoluted plots . 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. 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. Estimates range from $10 million to $100 million. Accordingly, another lock cylinder was installed until the original one was returned. OKeefe and Gusciora had been close friends for many years. He claimed there was a large roll of bills in his hotel roomand that he had found that money, too. 26 million (equivalent to 93.3 million in 2021 [1]) worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash was stolen from a warehouse operated by Brink's-Mat, a former joint . When this case was continued until April 1, 1954, OKeefe was released on $1,500 bond. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. An official website of the United States government. BOSTON Friday, Jan. 17, 2020 marks 70 years since a group of armed and masked men stole millions of dollars from an armored car depot in the North End in what the FBI still calls "the crime of the century.". Several hundred dollars were found hidden in the house but could not be identified as part of the loot. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. Two days before Maffies release, another strong suspect died of natural causes. During 1955, OKeefe carefully pondered his position. One of his former girl friends who recalled having seen him on the night of the robbery stated that he definitely was not drunk. An inside man by the name of Anthony . Shortly after these two guns were found, one of them was placed in a trash barrel and was taken to the city dump. 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. Captain Marvel mask used as a disguise in the robbery. Even Pino, whose deportation troubles then were a heavy burden, was arrested by the Boston police in August 1954. The truck found at the dump had been reported stolen by a Ford dealer near Fenway Park in Boston on November 3, 1949. 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. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jewelry, gems, high-end watches and other valuables worth millions of dollars were stolen from a transport vehicle in Southern California. The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. 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. 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. Both OKeefe and Gusciora had been interviewed on several occasions concerning the Brinks robbery, but they had claimed complete ignorance. Following the robbery, authorities attempted unsuccessfully to locate him at the hotel. What Happened To The Brinks Mat Robbery? - fresherslive.com Where are Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis Now? - Esquire Nonetheless, the finding of the truck parts at Stoughton, Massachusetts, was to prove a valuable break in the investigation. 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. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Six armed men stole diamonds, cash and three tonnes of gold bullion from a warehouse close to . 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. Both men remained mute following their arrests. 'Crime of the century': 70 years since the Great Brink's Robbery 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 mass of information gathered during the early weeks of the investigation was continuously sifted. On October 20, 1981, members of the Black Liberation Army robbed a Brink's truck at the Nanuet Mall. Veteran criminals throughout the United States found their activities during mid-January the subject of official inquiry. From interviews with the five employees whom the criminals had confronted, it was learned that between five and seven robbers had entered the building. The Brinks Job, 1950 - Crimes of the Century - TIME The Brinks Robbery - 20 Oct 1981 - GlobalSecurity.org Instead, they found three tonnes of gold bullion. 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. 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. Members of the Purple Gang of the 1930s found that there was renewed interest in their activities. Priest, Irishman Convicted in Brink's Robbery; Two Others Acquitted Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with OKeefe. Then, there was the fact that so much dead wood was includedMcGinnis, Banfield, Costa, and Pino were not in the building when the robbery took place. 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. 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. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. 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. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. Officials said the incident happened at a Wendy's in a strip mall at 87th and Lafayette, right off the Dan Ryan Expressway. Three years later, Great Train Robber. OKeefe immediately returned to Boston to await the results of the appeal. The incident happened outside of a Chase Bank in . Defendant in 2020 aggravated robbery found guilty, gets 99-year sentence Mr. Gilbert was 37 on the day of the attack, Oct. 20, 1981, when nearly $1.6 million in cash was stolen from an armored Brink's car outside the Nanuet Mall near Nyack.