July 18, 2022, 9:32 AM UTC. A gang of 11 men set out on a meticulous 18-month quest to rob the Brinks headquarters in Boston, the home-base of the legendary private security firm. 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. Officials said the incident happened at a Wendy's in a strip mall at 87th and Lafayette, right off the Dan Ryan Expressway. Even if released, he thought, his days were numbered. The heist happened on Prince Street in Boston's North End on Jan. 17, 1950. 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. Within minutes, theyd stolen more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and other securities, making it the largest robbery in the U.S. at the time. Police recovered only $58,000 of the $2.7 million stolen. Jewelers report over $100 million in losses after Brinks armored truck robbed in California. This is good money, he said, but you cant pass it around here in Boston.. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. 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. On January 11, 1956, the United States Attorney at Boston authorized special agents of the FBI to file complaints charging the 11 criminals with (1) conspiracy to commit theft of government property, robbery of government property, and bank robbery by force and violence and by intimidation, (2) committing bank robbery on January 17, 1950, and committing an assault on Brinks employees during the taking of the money, and (3) conspiracy to receive and conceal money in violation of the Bank Robbery and Theft of Government Property Statutes. What Happened To The Brinks Mat Robbery? The robbery saw six armed men break into a security depot near London . 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. Two of the participants in the Brinks robbery lived in the Stoughton area. Some persons claimed to have seen him. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with OKeefe. Due to his criminal record, the Immigration and Naturalization Service instituted proceedings in 1941 to deport him. 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. All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. The other keys in their possession enabled them to proceed to the second floor where they took the five Brinks employees by surprise. The criminal explained that he was in the contracting business in Boston and that in late March or early April 1956, he stumbled upon a plastic bag containing this money while he was working on the foundation of a house. 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. 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. Three and one-half hours later, the verdict had been reached. 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. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. 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. Before fleeing with the bags of loot, the seven armed men attempted to open a metal box containing the payroll of the General Electric Company. 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. 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. On October 11, 1950, Gusciora was sentenced to serve from five to 20 years in the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. "A search warrant was executed in Boston covering the Tremont Street offices occupied by the three men" (FBI). 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. A detective examines the Brinks vault after the theft. 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. Paul Jawarski (sometimes spelled Jaworski) in a yellowed newspaper . 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. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. 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 person ringing the buzzer was a garage attendant. Among the early suspects was Anthony Pino, an alien who had been a principal suspect in numerous major robberies and burglaries in Massachusetts. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) _ A Catholic priest and an ex-guerrilla from Northern Ireland were convicted Monday of charges related to the $7.4 million robbery of a Brink's armored car depot. Many other types of information were received. 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. That prison term, together with Pinos conviction in March 1928 for carnal abuse of a girl, provided the basis for the deportation action. 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. All but Pino and Banfield stepped out and proceeded into the playground to await Costas signal. Despite the lack of evidence and witnesses upon which court proceedings could be based, as the investigation progressed there was little doubt that OKeefe had been one of the central figures in the Brinks robbery. Information received from this individual linked nine well-known hoodlums with the crime. Micky McAvoy, believed by police to be the mastermind behind the robbery, was arrested ten days after the robbery. Three years later, Great Train Robber. 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. Democrat and Chronicle. Within two months of his return, another member of the gang suffered a legal setback. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. On June 17, 1954, the Boston police arrested Elmer Trigger Burke and charged him with possession of a machine gun. Subsequently, OKeefe left his carand the $200,000in a garage on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. Investigation established that this gun, together with another rusty revolver, had been found on February 4, 1950, by a group of boys who were playing on a sand bar at the edge of the Mystic River in Somerville. Gusciora also claimed to have been drinking that evening. Neither had too convincing an alibi. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. The FBI further learned that four revolvers had been taken by the gang. A 32-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Miami, Karls Monzon was . He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. Fat John and the business associate of the man arrested in Baltimore were located and interviewed on the morning of June 4, 1956. A t the time, the Brink's-Mat vault was thought to be one of the most secure facilities in the world. Although the attendant did not suspect that the robbery was taking place, this incident caused the criminals to move more swiftly. It was used by the defense counsel in preparing a 294-page brief that was presented to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. On August 29, 1954, the officers suspicions were aroused by an automobile that circled the general vicinity of the abandoned car on five occasions. Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1984 for involvement in the Brink's Mat job. His case had gone to the highest court in the land. They did not expect to. The Brink's-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain's biggest and most audacious heists. 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. The. The incident happened outside of a Chase Bank in . To muffle their footsteps, one of the gang wore crepe-soled shoes, and the others wore rubbers. They had brought no tools with them, however, and they were unsuccessful. Chicago police said at about 3 p.m., a 38-year-old male armored truck . 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. Early in June 1956, however, an unexpected break developed. One of these officers quickly grabbed the criminals hand, and a large roll of money fell from it. Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. 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. In its determination to overlook no possibility, the FBI contacted various resorts throughout the United States for information concerning persons known to possess unusually large sums of money following the robbery. Inside this container were packages of bills that had been wrapped in plastic and newspapers. The new proceedings were based upon the fact that Pino had been arrested in December 1948 for a larceny involving less than $100. In a film-style series of events, criminals broke into the. Had any particles of evidence been found in the loot which might directly show that they had handled it? Until the FBI and its partners painstakingly solved the case. The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) The full details of this important development were immediately furnished to the FBI Office in Boston. Shortly before 7:30 p.m., they were surprised by five menheavily disguised, quiet as mice, wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and soft shoes to muffle noise. 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. The criminals had been looking to do a. He had been convicted of armed robbery in 1940 and served several months in the Massachusetts State Reformatory and the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony. What happened in the Brink's-Mat robbery? Due to unsatisfactory conduct, drunkenness, refusal to seek employment, and association with known criminals, his parole was revoked, and he was returned to the Massachusetts State Prison. 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. 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. At that time, Pino approached OKeefe and asked if he wanted to be in on the score. His close associate, Stanley Gusciora, had previously been recruited, and OKeefe agreed to take part. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. Unfortunately, this proved to be an idle hope. Tarr was doomed to the role of unlucky Brinks driver. Prior to this time, McGinnis had been at his liquor store. Perkins was handed a 22-year jail sentence for that one, but absconded from open prison in 1995 and managed to . Special agents subsequently interviewed Costa and his wife, Pino and his wife, the racketeer, and OKeefe. (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. The FBI also succeeded in locating the carpenter who had remodeled the offices where the loot was hidden. The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. A few months prior to the robbery, OKeefe and Gusciora surreptitiously entered the premises of a protective alarm company in Boston and obtained a copy of the protective plans for the Brinks building. On the night of January 18, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora received $100,000 each from the robbery loot. The gang members who remained at the house of Maffies parents soon dispersed to establish alibis for themselves. The. The team of burglars bypassed the truck's locking mechanism and used the storage containers to haul away precious gems, gold and other valuables. 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. 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. Pino was known in the underworld as an excellent case man, and it was said that the casing of the Brinks offices bore his trademark.. The group were led by Mickey McAdams and Brian Robinson who planned to find 3 million in cash. This man claimed to have no knowledge of Pinos involvement in the Brinks robbery.). At the time of his arrest, there also was a charge of armed robbery outstanding against him in Massachusetts. Questioned by Boston police on the day following the robbery, Baker claimed that he had eaten dinner with his family on the evening of January 17, 1950, and then left home at about 7:00 p.m. to walk around the neighborhood for about two hours. 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 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. All denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. Again, the FBIs investigation resulted merely in the elimination of more possible suspects. The defense immediately filed motions which would delay or prevent the trial. On January 13, 1956, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the 11 members of the Brinks gang. 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 thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. The group were led . 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. OKeefe was sentenced on August 5, 1954, to serve 27 months in prison. In addition, McGinnis was named in two other complaints involving the receiving and concealing of the loot. If local hoodlums were involved, it was difficult to believe that McGinnis could be as ignorant of the crime as he claimed. Two died before they were tried. As this bag was being emptied later that evening, the glasses were discovered and destroyed by the gang. 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. Pino, Richardson, and Costa each took $20,000, and this was noted on a score sheet. 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. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jewelry, gems, high-end watches and other valuables worth millions of dollars were stolen from a transport vehicle in Southern California. One of the biggest robberies in U.S. history happened here. He was through with Pino, Baker, McGinnis, Maffie, and the other Brinks conspirators who had turned against him. 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. During the period in which Pinos deportation troubles were mounting, OKeefe completed his sentence at Towanda, Pennsylvania. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. He had been short changed $2,000. At the time of their arrest, Faherty and Richardson were rushing for three loaded revolvers that they had left on a chair in the bathroom of the apartment. 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. Before the robbery was carried out, all of the participants were well acquainted with the Brinks premises. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. Faherty had been questioned on the night of the robbery. In the hours immediately following the robbery, the underworld began to feel the heat of the investigation. They put the entire $200,000 in the trunk of OKeefes automobile. From his cell in Springfield, OKeefe wrote bitter letters to members of the Brinks gang and persisted in his demands for money. 00:29. 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 . This was a question which preyed heavily upon their minds. 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. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. The Great Brinks Robbery was the biggest armed robbery in U.S. history at the time. 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 Great Brink's Robbery was an armed robbery of the Brink's building in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1950. During his brief stay in Boston, he was observed to contact other members of the robbery gang. The group had expected to find foreign currency at the security depot but instead happened upon 26 million worth of goods. 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. Seven months later, however, he was again paroled. 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. An attempted armored truck heist in South Africa was caught on camera recently; it illustrates the dangers of the job. Prominent among the other strong suspects was Vincent James Costa, brother-in-law of Pino. Noye is currently being depicted in a new six-part BBC series into the infamous Brinks-Mat robbery, which took place in 1983. A third attempt on OKeefes life was made on June 16, 1954. All identifying marks placed on currency and securities by the customers were noted, and appropriate stops were placed at banking institutions across the nation. This phase of the investigation was pursued exhaustively. As the truck sped away with nine members of the gangand Costa departed in the stolen Ford sedanthe Brinks employees worked themselves free and reported the crime. The Boston hoodlum told FBI agents in Baltimore that he accepted six of the packages of money from Fat John. The following day (June 2, 1956), he left Massachusetts with $4,750 of these bills and began passing them. 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 . Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. A few years before the Brink's-Mat robbery . Following the robbery, authorities attempted unsuccessfully to locate him at the hotel. However, by delving into the criminal world, Edwyn. Like Gusciora, OKeefe was known to have associated with Pino prior to the Brinks robbery. In the deportation fight that lasted more than two years, Pino won the final victory. Costa was associated with Pino in the operation of a motor terminal and a lottery in Boston. This man subsequently identified locks from doors which the Brinks gang had entered as being similar to the locks which Pino had brought him. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. During this visit, Gusciora got up from his bed, and, in full view of the clergyman, slipped to the floor, striking his head. In 1997, Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt robbed the armored car company of $17 million. In the end, the perfect crime had a perfect endingfor everyone but the robbers. One of his former girl friends who recalled having seen him on the night of the robbery stated that he definitely was not drunk. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. The Gold is a 2023 television series created for BBC One and Paramount+. This phase of the investigation greatly disturbed many gamblers. 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. A detailed search for additional weapons was made at the Mystic River. The Bureau was convinced that it had identified the actual robbers, but evidence and witnesses had to be found. The ninth man had long been a principal suspect. Then the lock cylinders were replaced. Later, when he counted the money, he found that the suitcase contained $98,000. 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. Born in Italy in 1907, Pino was a young child when he entered the United States, but he never became a naturalized citizen. As the robbers sped from the scene, a Brinks employee telephoned the Boston Police Department. OKeefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the others wore rubbers. 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. Captain Marvel mask used as a disguise in the robbery. 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. 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. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. While action to appeal the convictions was being taken on their behalf, the eight men were removed to the State prison at Walpole, Massachusetts. 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
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