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. At 4:20 p.m. on January 6, 1956, OKeefe made the final decision. The theft changed the face of the British underworld. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. 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.. In the late summer of 1944, he was released from the state prison and was taken into custody by Immigration authorities. Another week passedand approximately 500 more citizens were consideredbefore the 14-member jury was assembled. Following their arrests, a former bondsman in Boston made frequent trips to Towanda in an unsuccessful effort to secure their release on bail. 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. An inside man by the name of Anthony . On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. The stolen 6,800 gold ingots, diamonds and cash would be worth 100million today. 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. Again, he was determined to fight, using the argument that his conviction for the 1948 larceny offense was not a basis for deportation. 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 . By this time, Baker was suffering from a bad case of nerves. According to the criminal who was arrested in Baltimore, Fat John subsequently told him that the money was part of the Brinks loot and offered him $5,000 if he would pass $30,000 of the bills. Other information provided by OKeefe helped to fill the gaps which still existed. Many other types of information were received. From masked gunmen and drugs to kidnappings and bags of cash, the $7.4 million robbery had it all. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. A passerby might notice that it was missing. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. Local officers searched their homes, but no evidence linking them with the truck or the robbery was found. 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. BY The Associated Press. After being wounded on June 16, OKeefe disappeared. The robbers carefully planned routine inside Brinks was interrupted only when the attendant in the adjoining Brinks garage sounded the buzzer. The loot was quickly unloaded, and Banfield sped away to hide the truck. At approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950, members of the gang met in the Roxbury section of Boston and entered the rear of the Ford stake-body truck. 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. Former inmates of penal institutions reported conversations they had overheard while incarcerated which concerned the robbing of Brinks. The FBI also succeeded in locating the carpenter who had remodeled the offices where the loot was hidden. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. In addition to mold, insect remains also were found on the loot. Shortly after these two guns were found, one of them was placed in a trash barrel and was taken to the city dump. By fixing this time as close as possible to the minute at which the robbery was to begin, the robbers would have alibis to cover their activities up to the final moment. Almost immediately, the gang began laying new plans. 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. 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. There had been three attempts on his life in June 1954, and his frustrated assassins undoubtedly were waiting for him to return to Boston. 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. Veteran criminals throughout the United States found their activities during mid-January the subject of official inquiry. Nonetheless, the finding of the truck parts at Stoughton, Massachusetts, was to prove a valuable break in the investigation. From his cell in Springfield, OKeefe wrote bitter letters to members of the Brinks gang and persisted in his demands for money. Accordingly, another lock cylinder was installed until the original one was returned. 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. Years earlier, a private investigator, Daniel Morgan, was said to have been looking into the robbery. . Terry Perkins. He told the interviewing agents that he trusted Maffie so implicitly that he gave the money to him for safe keeping. Investigation revealed that Geagan, a laborer, had not gone to work on January 17 or 18, 1950.). The group were led . When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. Reports had been received alleging that he had held up several gamblers in the Boston area and had been involved in shakedowns of bookies. Thieves vanished after stealing $2.7 million, leaving few clues. However, by delving into the criminal world, Edwyn. Yet, it only amounted to a near perfect crime. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. Prominent among the other strong suspects was Vincent James Costa, brother-in-law of Pino. OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. Even in their jail cells, however, they showed no respect for law enforcement. Officials said the incident happened at a Wendy's in a strip mall at 87th and Lafayette, right off the Dan Ryan Expressway. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. 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 crime inspired at least four movies and two books, including The Story of the Great Brink's Robbery, as Told by the FBI. Two died before they were tried. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. The group had expected to find foreign currency at the security depot but instead happened upon 26 million worth of goods. 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. 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.. 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 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. 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. The Bureau was convinced that it had identified the actual robbers, but evidence and witnesses had to be found. As the loot was being placed in bags and stacked between the second and third doors leading to the Prince Street entrance, a buzzer sounded. 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. That same afternoon (following the admission that Fat John had produced the money and had described it as proceeds from the Brinks robbery), a search warrant was executed in Boston covering the Tremont Street offices occupied by the three men. Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. Banfield drove the truck to the house of Maffies parents in Roxbury. 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. In the fall of 1955, an upper court overruled the conviction on the grounds that the search and seizure of the still were illegal.). The full details of this important development were immediately furnished to the FBI Office in Boston. Their hands were tied behind their backs and adhesive tape was placed over their mouths. During the period in which Pinos deportation troubles were mounting, OKeefe completed his sentence at Towanda, Pennsylvania. 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. FBI investigating $150 million jewelry heist of Brinks truck traveling from San Mateo County to Southern California. OKeefes reputation for nerve was legend. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. Two days before Maffies release, another strong suspect died of natural causes. 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. Pino had been questioned as to his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950, and he provided a good alibi. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. 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. None of these materialized because the gang did not consider the conditions to be favorable. Continuous investigation, however, had linked him with the gang. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? The gang members who remained at the house of Maffies parents soon dispersed to establish alibis for themselves. They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. 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.. Instead, they found three tonnes of gold bullion. Faherty had been questioned on the night of the robbery. Apparently suspicious, OKeefe crouched low in the front seat of his car as the would-be assassins fired bullets that pierced the windshield. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950 met all of these requirementsa great pile of cash disappeared with no evidence, leads, or suspects. Almost. Three years later, Great Train Robber. As this bag was being emptied later that evening, the glasses were discovered and destroyed by the gang. 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. 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. On October 20, 1981, members of the Black Liberation Army robbed a Brink's truck at the Nanuet Mall. And what of McGinnis himself? 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. As the investigation developed and thousands of leads were followed to dead ends, the broad field of possible suspects gradually began to narrow. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. Pino, Richardson, and Costa each took $20,000, and this was noted on a score sheet. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. On January 10, 1953, following his appearance before the federal grand jury in connection with the Brinks case, Pino was taken into custody again as a deportable alien. Each of them had surreptitiously entered the premises on several occasions after the employees had left for the day. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1984 for involvement in the Brink's Mat job. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. Both OKeefe and Gusciora had been interviewed on several occasions concerning the Brinks robbery, but they had claimed complete ignorance. (McGinnis trial in March 1955 on the liquor charge resulted in a sentence to 30 days imprisonment and a fine of $1,000. 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. 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. It was called the crime of the century, the largest heist in US history, an almost perfect robbery. 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. 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. At 6:30am, six armed robbers from a south London gang entered the premises of the Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow. The mass of information gathered during the early weeks of the investigation was continuously sifted. (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. He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. Immediately upon leaving, the gang loaded the loot into the truck that was parked on Prince Street near the door. Adolph Maffie, who had been convicted of income tax violation in June 1954, was released from the Federal Corrections Institution at Danbury, Connecticut, on January 30, 1955. Because the money in the cooler was in various stages of decomposition, an accurate count proved most difficult to make. At the time of his arrest, there also was a charge of armed robbery outstanding against him in Massachusetts. This occurred while he was in the state prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts, serving sentences for breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and for having burglar tools in his possession. 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. This lead was pursued intensively. The. 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 July 18, 2022, 9:32 AM UTC. All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. Special agents subsequently interviewed Costa and his wife, Pino and his wife, the racketeer, and OKeefe. 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 At approximately 9:50 p.m., the details of this incident were furnished to the Baltimore Field Office of the FBI. Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with OKeefe. 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. 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. It was given to him in a suitcase that was transferred to his car from an automobile occupied by McGinnis and Banfield. He claimed there was a large roll of bills in his hotel roomand that he had found that money, too. 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. 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. 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. Other members of the robbery gang also were having their troubles. Their plan was to enter the Brinks building and take a truck containing payrolls. 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. 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.. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. Before the robbery was committed, the participants had agreed that if anyone muffed, he would be taken care of. OKeefe felt that most of the gang members had muffed. Talking to the FBI was his way of taking care of them all. During their forays inside the building, members of the gang took the lock cylinders from five doors, including the one opening onto Prince Street. The Brinks vehicle, followed closely by guards traveling in an automobile, turned onto a stone-paved lane called Old Bethel Road. Even fearing the new bills might be linked with the crime, McGinnis suggested a process for aging the new money in a hurry.. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. (Geagan, who was on parole at the time, left the truck before it arrived at the home in Roxbury where the loot was unloaded. Two of the participants in the Brinks robbery lived in the Stoughton area. 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. 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. How much money was stolen in the Brinks robbery? 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. 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. (On January 18, 1956, OKeefe had pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of Brinks.) 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. 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 . Perkins was handed a 22-year jail sentence for that one, but absconded from open prison in 1995 and managed to . The missing racketeers automobile was found near his home; however, his whereabouts remain a mystery. 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 was in their favor. A federal search warrant was obtained, and the home was searched by agents on April 27, 1950. Two other men, ex-Brink's guard Thomas O'Connor and unemployed teacher Charles McCormick, were acquitted. Even after these convictions, OKeefe and Gusciora continued to seek their release. The Brink's cargo trailer was. 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. 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. The robbers removed the adhesive tape from the mouth of one employee and learned that the buzzer signified that someone wanted to enter the vault area. 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.