In December 1948, Brinks moved from Federal Street to 165 Prince Street in Boston. During an interview with him in the jail in Springfield, Massachusetts, in October 1954, special agents found that the plight of the missing Boston racketeer was weighing on OKeefes mind. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. A roll of waterproof adhesive tape used to gag and bind bank employees that was left at the scene of the crime. Terry Perkins celebrated his 67th birthday on the weekend of the Hatton Garden job, exactly 32 years after he'd taken part in another gigantic Easter raid: the 6 million armed robbery of a London security depot. 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. Seventy years ago today, a group of men stole $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks. Before the robbery was carried out, all of the participants were well acquainted with the Brinks premises. If Baker heard these rumors, he did not wait around very long to see whether they were true. Two other men, ex-Brink's guard Thomas O'Connor and unemployed teacher Charles McCormick, were acquitted. CHICAGO (CBS) - A woman has been charged after more than $100,000 was stolen from Brinks truck outside Edgewater bank on Monday afternoon. During the trip from Roxbury, Pino distributed Navy-type peacoats and chauffeurs caps to the other seven men in the rear of the truck. After completing its hearings on January 9, 1953, the grand jury retired to weigh the evidence. 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. Immediately upon leaving, the gang loaded the loot into the truck that was parked on Prince Street near the door. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. The alibi, in fact, was almost too good. 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. 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. 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. Pino was determined to fight against deportation. He was found brutally murdered in his car in 1987. 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. Special agents subsequently interviewed Costa and his wife, Pino and his wife, the racketeer, and OKeefe. The crime inspired at least four movies and two books, including The Story of the Great Brink's Robbery, as Told by the FBI. The month preceding January 17, 1950, witnessed approximately a half-dozen approaches to Brinks. 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 . On November 26, 1983, six armed robbers broke into the Brink-Mat security depot near Heathrow Airport in hopes of stealing 3.2 million in cash. 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. During this visit, Gusciora got up from his bed, and, in full view of the clergyman, slipped to the floor, striking his head. It was used by the defense counsel in preparing a 294-page brief that was presented to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. In the late summer of 1944, he was released from the state prison and was taken into custody by Immigration authorities. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. 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. July 18, 2022, 9:32 AM UTC. This man, subsequently identified as a small-time Boston underworld figure, was located and questioned. Shortly after 6.40am, six armed robbers in balaclavas entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport belonging to security company Brink's-Mat. OKeefe was enraged that the pieces of the stolen Ford truck had been placed on the dump near his home, and he generally regretted having become associated at all with several members of the gang. Neither had too convincing an alibi. 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.. The conviction for burglary in McKean County, Pennsylvania, still hung over his head, and legal fees remained to be paid. 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. 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. Another old gang that had specialized in hijacking bootlegged whiskey in the Boston area during Prohibition became the subject of inquiries. 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 Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. He received a one-year sentence for this offense; however, on January 30, 1950, the sentence was revoked and the case was placed on file.. In the end, the perfect crime had a perfect endingfor everyone but the robbers. A thorough investigation was made concerning his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950. The heist happened on Prince Street in Boston's North End on Jan. 17, 1950. From masked gunmen and drugs to kidnappings and bags of cash, the $7.4 million robbery had it all. In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. 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. Prior to this time, McGinnis had been at his liquor store. Each of these leads was checked out. The FBI also succeeded in locating the carpenter who had remodeled the offices where the loot was hidden. He was not involved in the Brinks robbery. Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. Fat John and the business associate of the man arrested in Baltimore were located and interviewed on the morning of June 4, 1956. I think a fellow just passed a counterfeit $10.00 bill on me, he told the officer. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. 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.. A detective examines the Brinks vault after the theft. Accordingly, another lock cylinder was installed until the original one was returned. The removal of the lock cylinder from the outside door involved the greatest risk of detection. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. OKeefe was bitter about a number of matters. Gusciora also claimed to have been drinking that evening. Geagan claimed that he spent the evening at home and did not learn of the Brinks robbery until the following day. He was certain he would be considered a strong suspect and wanted to begin establishing an alibi immediately.) The group were led by Mickey McAdams and Brian Robinson who planned to find 3 million in cash. The truck pieces were concealed in fiber bags when found. The other keys in their possession enabled them to proceed to the second floor where they took the five Brinks employees by surprise. All efforts to identify the gang members through the chauffeurs hat, the rope, and the adhesive tape which had been left in Brinks proved unsuccessful. The Brink's-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain's biggest and most audacious heists. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. None of these materialized because the gang did not consider the conditions to be favorable. Adding to these problems was the constant pressure being exerted upon Pino by OKeefe from the county jail in Towanda, Pennsylvania. A 32-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Miami, Karls Monzon was . 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. 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. Commonly regarded as a dominant figure in the Boston underworld, McGinnis previously had been convicted of robbery and narcotics violations. 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. Brian Robinson was arrested in December 1983 after Stephen Black - the security guard who let the robbers into the Brink's-Mat warehouse, and Robinson's brother-in-law - named him to police. The robbery. On November 26 1983, six armed robbers entered the Brink's-Mat security warehouse at the Heathrow International Trading Estate. 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. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. Banfield, the driver, was alone in the front. The loot was quickly unloaded, and Banfield sped away to hide the truck. 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. Jewelers report over $100 million in losses after Brinks armored truck robbed in California. Three of the newspapers used to wrap the bills were identified. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. As the robbers sped from the scene, a Brinks employee telephoned the Boston Police Department. One of his former girl friends who recalled having seen him on the night of the robbery stated that he definitely was not drunk. 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. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. In a film-style series of events, criminals broke into the. A passerby might notice that it was missing. 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. Reports had been received alleging that he had held up several gamblers in the Boston area and had been involved in shakedowns of bookies. Until now, little has been known about the dogged methods police used to infiltrate the criminal underworld behind the 1983 robbery. The Gold is a 2023 television series created for BBC One and Paramount+. He. OKeefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the others wore rubbers. 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. The robbers did little talking. 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. Within two months of his return, another member of the gang suffered a legal setback. Neither Pino nor McGinnis was known to be the type of hoodlum who would undertake so potentially dangerous a crime without the best strong-arm support available. 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. What happened in the Brink's-Mat robbery? In a series of interviews during the succeeding days, OKeefe related the full story of the Brinks robbery. He was through with Pino, Baker, McGinnis, Maffie, and the other Brinks conspirators who had turned against him. In the succeeding two weeks, nearly 1,200 prospective jurors were eliminated as the defense counsel used their 262 peremptory challenges. 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. Following the federal grand jury hearings, the FBIs intense investigation continued. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. Instead, they found three tonnes of gold bullion. McGinnis had been arrested at the site of a still in New Hampshire in February 1954. Many problems and dangers were involved in such a robbery, and the plans never crystallized. Some of the jewelry might. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. (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.). Due to his criminal record, the Immigration and Naturalization Service instituted proceedings in 1941 to deport him. The person ringing the buzzer was a garage attendant. 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. 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 new proceedings were based upon the fact that Pino had been arrested in December 1948 for a larceny involving less than $100. On June 17, 1954, the Boston police arrested Elmer Trigger Burke and charged him with possession of a machine gun. And it nearly was. 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. Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. 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. Information received from this individual linked nine well-known hoodlums with the crime. The robbery saw six armed men break into a security depot near London . On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. 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. The team of burglars bypassed the truck's locking mechanism and used the storage containers to haul away precious gems, gold and other valuables. The series surrounds the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery in which 26 million (equivalent to 93.3 million in 2021) worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash were stolen from a storehouse near Heathrow Airport. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled. Other information provided by OKeefe helped to fill the gaps which still existed. 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. An immediate effort also was made to obtain descriptive data concerning the missing cash and securities. This lead was pursued intensively. The full details of this important development were immediately furnished to the FBI Office in Boston. 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. (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. 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. None proved fruitful. Henry Baker, another veteran criminal who was rumored to be kicking in to the Pennsylvania defense fund, had spent a number of years of his adult life in prison. FBI investigating $150 million jewelry heist of Brinks truck traveling from San Mateo County to Southern California. OKeefe was sentenced on August 5, 1954, to serve 27 months in prison. What Happened To The Brinks Mat Robbery? Each of them had surreptitiously entered the premises on several occasions after the employees had left for the day. The officer verified the meeting. Two days before Maffies release, another strong suspect died of natural causes. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. The truck found at the dump had been reported stolen by a Ford dealer near Fenway Park in Boston on November 3, 1949. Pino had been at his home in the Roxbury Section of Boston until approximately 7:00 p.m.; then he walked to the nearby liquor store of Joseph McGinnis. 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 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 . He had been convicted of armed robbery in 1940 and served several months in the Massachusetts State Reformatory and the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony. 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. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jewelry, gems, high-end watches and other valuables worth millions of dollars were stolen from a transport vehicle in Southern California. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. And the gang felt that the chances of his talking were negligible because he would be implicated in the Brinks robbery along with the others. An official website of the United States government. 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. All of them wore Navy-type peacoats, gloves, and chauffeurs caps. 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. In addition, McGinnis was named in two other complaints involving the receiving and concealing of the loot. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. Each carried a pair of gloves. 00:29. By this time, Baker was suffering from a bad case of nerves. Chicago police said at about 3 p.m., a 38-year-old male armored truck . This phase of the investigation was pursued exhaustively. Although the attendant did not suspect that the robbery was taking place, this incident caused the criminals to move more swiftly. It appeared to him that he would spend his remaining days in prison while his co-conspirators would have many years to enjoy the luxuries of life. The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. 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. Even Pino, whose deportation troubles then were a heavy burden, was arrested by the Boston police in August 1954. Thus, when he and Gusciora were taken into custody by state authorities during the latter part of January 1950, OKeefe got word to McGinnis to recover his car and the $200,000 that it contained. But according to the ruling filed in B.C., Brinks paid the money back immediately after the victim bank notified the company that a robbery had occurred making use of "keys, access codes and . He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1984 for involvement in the Brink's Mat job. The casing operation was so thorough that the criminals could determine the type of activity taking place in the Brinks offices by observing the lights inside the building, and they knew the number of personnel on duty at various hours of the day. 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. His case had gone to the highest court in the land. (McGinnis trial in March 1955 on the liquor charge resulted in a sentence to 30 days imprisonment and a fine of $1,000.