'Holy Heist' documentary to bring the Rochester Brink's heist to TV Several hundred dollars were found hidden in the house but could not be identified as part of the loot. He had been released on parole from the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony on August 22, 1949only five months before the robbery. He arrived in Baltimore on the morning of June 3 and was picked up by the Baltimore Police Department that evening. 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. How mastermind behind 26million Brink's-Mat robbery died penniless From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. On February 5, 1950, however, a police officer in Somerville, Massachusetts, recovered one of the four revolvers that had been taken by the robbers. In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. 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. 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 detainer involved OKeefes violation of probation in connection with a conviction in 1945 for carrying concealed weapons. 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. Immediately upon leaving, the gang loaded the loot into the truck that was parked on Prince Street near the door. On April 11, 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that Pinos conviction in 1948 for larceny (the sentence that was revoked and the case placed on file) had not attained such finality as to support an order of deportation.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. Before his trial in McKean County, he was released on $17,000 bond. Evidently resigned to long years in prison or a short life on the outside, OKeefe grew increasingly bitter toward his old associates. All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. Information received from this individual linked nine well-known hoodlums with the crime. A t the time, the Brink's-Mat vault was thought to be one of the most secure facilities in the world. 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.. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. With the death of Gusciora, only eight members of the Brinks gang remained to be tried. By this time, Baker was suffering from a bad case of nerves. He was not with the gang when the robbery took place. 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. Pino would take the locks to the mans shop, and keys would be made for them. In addition to mold, insect remains also were found on the loot. 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. What happened to the Hatton Garden burglars? - Crime (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 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. On January 13, 1956, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the 11 members of the Brinks gang. 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. 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. Other members of the robbery gang also were having their troubles. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Approximately one and one-half hours later, Banfield returned with McGinnis. When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. Faherty had been questioned on the night of the robbery. 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.. (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.). Gusciora now had passed beyond the reach of all human authority, and OKeefe was all the more determined to see that justice would be done. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. The nation's first armored car robbery took place here in 1927 After weighing the arguments presented by the attorneys for the eight convicted criminals, the State Supreme Court turned down the appeals on July 1, 1959, in a 35-page decision written by the Chief Justice. Accordingly, another lock cylinder was installed until the original one was returned. The group had expected to find foreign currency at the security depot but instead happened upon 26 million worth of goods. After careful checking, the FBI eliminated eight of the suspects. For the Rockland County community, the Brink's Robbery rises to that historic standard. The Gold is a 2023 television series created for BBC One and Paramount+. 'The Gold' Has All the Hallmarks of a Crime Classic 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 . Great Brink's Robbery - Wikipedia Any doubts that the Brinks gang had that the FBI was on the right track in its investigation were allayed when the federal grand jury began hearings in Boston on November 25, 1952, concerning this crime. 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. Six members of the gangBaker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pinowere arrested by FBI agents on January 12, 1956. The heist happened on Prince Street in Boston's North End on Jan. 17, 1950. A passerby might notice that it was missing. In pursuing the underworld rumors concerning the principal suspects in the Brinks case, the FBI succeeded in identifying more probable members of the gang. What happened in the Brink's-Mat robbery? Again, he was determined to fight, using the argument that his conviction for the 1948 larceny offense was not a basis for deportation. Considerable thought was given to every detail. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. Due to his criminal record, the Immigration and Naturalization Service instituted proceedings in 1941 to deport him. The other gang members would not talk. Micky McAvoy, believed by police to be the mastermind behind the robbery, was arrested ten days after the robbery. The group were led . Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. It was almost the perfect crime. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. 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. 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. Brinks robbery-murders: Where the are key players now - The Journal News 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. Discover the true story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery that inspired BBC's Of the hundreds of New England hoodlums contacted by FBI agents in the weeks immediately following the robbery, few were willing to be interviewed. 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. He was found brutally murdered in his car in 1987. 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. Where is Nikki Jennings now? The Brink's-Mat police woman explained In a film-style series of events, criminals broke into the. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? The True Story Of The 2005 Miami Brinks Heist And Karls Monzon In addition to the general descriptions received from the Brinks employees, the investigators obtained several pieces of physical evidence. Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. He claimed he had been drinking in various taverns from approximately 5:10 p.m. until 7:45 p.m. More than 100 persons took the stand as witnesses for the prosecution and the defense during September 1956. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 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.". Chicago police said at about 3 p.m., a 38-year-old male armored truck . 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. 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. It was given to him in a suitcase that was transferred to his car from an automobile occupied by McGinnis and Banfield. 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. 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 . This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. Some of the jewelry might. 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. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. 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. He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. When this case was continued until April 1, 1954, OKeefe was released on $1,500 bond. 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. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. Revealed: What happened to the Brink's-Mat gold - Sky News Of the $4,822 found in the small-time criminals possession, FBI agents identified $4,635 as money taken by the Brinks robbers. 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. 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. 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. If Baker heard these rumors, he did not wait around very long to see whether they were true. The amusement arcade operator told the officer that he had followed the man who passed this $10.00 bill to a nearby tavern. 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. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. BBC's Gold: The true story of Brink's-Mat and what happened to the gold The FBI further learned that four revolvers had been taken by the gang. Police who arrived to investigate found a large amount of blood, a mans shattered wrist watch, and a .45 caliber pistol at the scene. As of January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash was still unaccounted for. OKeefe did not know where the gang members had hidden their shares of the lootor where they had disposed of the money if, in fact, they had disposed of their shares. Banfield drove the truck to the house of Maffies parents in Roxbury. 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.