Fat John announced that each of the packages contained $5,000. Subsequently, he engaged in a conversation with McGinnis and a Boston police officer. The Brinks Job, 1950. When this case was continued until April 1, 1954, OKeefe was released on $1,500 bond. After continuing up the street to the end of the playground which adjoined the Brinks building, the truck stopped. OKeefe was the principal witness to appear before the state grand jurors. Shortly thereafterduring the first week of Novembera 1949 green Ford stake-body truck was reported missing by a car dealer in Boston. On November, 26, 1983, three tonnes of solid gold bullion was taken by six armed robbers from the Brink's-Mat security depot near Heathrow Airport. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) While OKeefe and Gusciora lingered in jail in Pennsylvania, Pino encountered difficulties of his own. FBI investigating $150 million jewelry heist of Brinks truck traveling from San Mateo County to Southern California. 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. He had been short changed $2,000. 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. And what of McGinnis himself? They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. The results were negative. 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. The trip from the liquor store in Roxbury to the Brinks offices could be made in about 15 minutes. Many other types of information were received. 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. 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. Even in their jail cells, however, they showed no respect for law enforcement. Faherty had been questioned on the night of the robbery. I think a fellow just passed a counterfeit $10.00 bill on me, he told the officer. As the investigation developed and thousands of leads were followed to dead ends, the broad field of possible suspects gradually began to narrow. Adding to these problems was the constant pressure being exerted upon Pino by OKeefe from the county jail in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Gusciora also claimed to have been drinking that evening. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- The FBI and the Los Angeles County. As this bag was being emptied later that evening, the glasses were discovered and destroyed by the gang. Of the hundreds of New England hoodlums contacted by FBI agents in the weeks immediately following the robbery, few were willing to be interviewed. The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950 met all of these requirementsa great pile of cash disappeared with no evidence, leads, or suspects. The mass of information gathered during the early weeks of the investigation was continuously sifted. McGinnis previously had discussed sending a man to the United States Patent Office in Washington, D.C., to inspect the patents on the protective alarms used in the Brinks building. On June 5 and June 7, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the three mencharging them with several state offenses involving their possessing money obtained in the Brinks robbery. 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. Geagan claimed that he spent the evening at home and did not learn of the Brinks robbery until the following day. 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. As of January 1956, more than $2,775,000, including $1,218,211.29 in cash was still unaccounted for. 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. More than 100 persons took the stand as witnesses for the prosecution and the defense during September 1956. 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. 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. The Bureau was convinced that it had identified the actual robbers, but evidence and witnesses had to be found. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. The hideout also was found to contain more than $5,000 in coins. All identifying marks placed on currency and securities by the customers were noted, and appropriate stops were placed at banking institutions across the nation. 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. The full details of this important development were immediately furnished to the FBI Office in Boston. 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. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. Yet, it only amounted to a near perfect crime. 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.. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. After each interview, FBI agents worked feverishly into the night checking all parts of his story which were subject to verification. In the deportation fight that lasted more than two years, Pino won the final victory. Considerable thought was given to every detail. Six members of the gangBaker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pinowere arrested by FBI agents on January 12, 1956. 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. Interviews with him on June 3 and 4, 1956, disclosed that this 31-year-old hoodlum had a record of arrests and convictions dating back to his teens and that he had been conditionally released from a federal prison camp less than a year beforehaving served slightly more than two years of a three-year sentence for transporting a falsely made security interstate. Pino was determined to fight against deportation. Reports had been received alleging that he had held up several gamblers in the Boston area and had been involved in shakedowns of bookies. A detective examines the Brinks vault after the theft. What happened in the Brink's-Mat robbery? Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool/USA Today Network via REUTERSStanding in shackles and a beige prison jumpsuit, the once prominent South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh continued to swear he was innocent Friday as a judge slammed him as a "monster" whose conduct was worse than many offenders who got the death penalty.Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh to life in prison for the June 7, 2021 . Brinks customers were contacted for information regarding the packaging and shipping materials they used. In a film-style series of events, criminals broke into the. Two of the participants in the Brinks robbery lived in the Stoughton area. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. On this day, Jawarski made history by pulling off the nation's first armored car robbery. BY The Associated Press. Jazz Maffie was convicted of federal income tax evasion and began serving a nine-month sentence in the Federal Penitentiary at Danbury, Connecticut, in June 1954. A t the time, the Brink's-Mat vault was thought to be one of the most secure facilities in the world. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. 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 They did not expect to. 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. On June 2, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora left Boston by automobile for the alleged purpose of visiting the grave of Guscioras brother in Missouri. This phase of the investigation greatly disturbed many gamblers. The group were led . 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. Each man also was given a pistol and a Halloween-type mask. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. In the series Edwyn Cooper (played by Dominic Cooper) is a lawyer who gets involved in the robbery, deciding he wants to earn some big bucks. Due to his criminal record, the Immigration and Naturalization Service instituted proceedings in 1941 to deport him. He ran a gold and jewellery dealing company, Scadlynn Ltd, in Bristol with business partners Garth Victor Chappell and Terence Edward James Patch. As a guard moved to intercept him, Burke started to run. 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 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. CHICAGO (CBS) - A woman has been charged after more than $100,000 was stolen from Brinks truck outside Edgewater bank on Monday afternoon. The. 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. 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. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? Subsequently, OKeefe left his carand the $200,000in a garage on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston. 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. 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.. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. A few years before the Brink's-Mat robbery . 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. The criminals had been looking to do a. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. You get me released, and Ill solve the case in no time, these criminals would claim. Many tips were received from anonymous persons. (On January 18, 1956, OKeefe had pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of Brinks.) 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 The eight men were sentenced by Judge Forte on October 9, 1956. 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. A roll of waterproof adhesive tape used to gag and bind bank employees that was left at the scene of the crime. The Brinks vehicle, followed closely by guards traveling in an automobile, turned onto a stone-paved lane called Old Bethel Road. He was found brutally murdered in his car in 1987. Several hundred dollars were found hidden in the house but could not be identified as part of the loot. OKeefe had left his hotel at approximately 7:00 p.m. Pino and Baker separately decided to go out at 7:00 p.m. Costa started back to the motor terminal at about 7:00 p.m. Other principal suspects were not able to provide very convincing accounts of their activities that evening. Police recovered only $58,000 of the $2.7 million stolen. 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. As a protective measure, he was incarcerated in the Hampden County jail at Springfield, Massachusetts, rather than the Suffolk County jail in Boston. A federal search warrant was obtained, and the home was searched by agents on April 27, 1950. 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. Apparently suspicious, OKeefe crouched low in the front seat of his car as the would-be assassins fired bullets that pierced the windshield. The record of the state trial covered more than 5,300 pages. During November and December 1949, the approach to the Brinks building and the flight over the getaway route were practiced to perfection. 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. With the death of Gusciora, only eight members of the Brinks gang remained to be tried. Pino, Richardson, and Costa each took $20,000, and this was noted on a score sheet. After nearly three years of investigation, the government hoped that witnesses or participants who had remained mute for so long a period of time might find their tongues before the grand jury. 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. Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. Micky McAvoy, believed by police to be the mastermind behind the robbery, was arrested ten days after the robbery. As long as he was in prison, he could do no physical harm to his Boston criminal associates. Three of the newspapers used to wrap the bills were identified. In a report which was released on January 16, 1953, the grand jury disclosed that its members did not feel they possessed complete, positive information as to the identify of the participants in the Brinks robbery because (1) the participants were effectively disguised; (2) there was a lack of eyewitnesses to the crime itself; and (3) certain witnesses refused to give testimony, and the grand jury was unable to compel them to do so. During questioning by the FBI, the money changer stated that he was in business as a mason contractor with another man on Tremont Street in Boston. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. 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 defense immediately filed motions which would delay or prevent the trial. OKeefe paid his respects to other members of the Brinks gang in Boston on several occasions in the spring of 1954, and it was obvious to the agents handling the investigation that he was trying to solicit money. An attempted armored truck heist in South Africa was caught on camera recently; it illustrates the dangers of the job. California thieves pulled off a heist straight out of "Ocean's 11'' swiping up to $150 million in jewels from a Brink's armored truck as it drove from one convention show to . On March 4, 1950, pieces of an identical truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Examination revealed the cause of his death to be a brain tumor and acute cerebral edema. 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. The thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. On November, 26, 1983, three tonnes of solid gold bullion was taken by six armed robbers from the Brink's-Mat security depot near . Armed crooks wearing Halloween masks and chauffeur . McAvoy had attempted to reach a settlement with prosecutors in the case when he offered to repay his share, but by that time the money was gone. A passerby might notice that it was missing. 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. Apparently, they had planned a leisurely trip with an abundance of extracurricular activities.. 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. There are still suspicions among some readers that the late Tom O'Connor, a retired cop who worked Brinks security during the robbery, was a key player, despite his acquittal on robbery charges at . On the night of January 18, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora received $100,000 each from the robbery loot. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. 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. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jewelry, gems, high-end watches and other valuables worth millions of dollars were stolen from a transport vehicle in Southern California. 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. In December 1948, Brinks moved from Federal Street to 165 Prince Street in Boston. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. 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. OKeefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the others wore rubbers. All right, he told two FBI agents, what do you want to know?. Inside this container were packages of bills that had been wrapped in plastic and newspapers. 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. In September 1949, Pinos efforts to evade deportation met with success. The ninth man had long been a principal suspect. While Maffie claimed that part of the money had been stolen from its hiding place and that the remainder had been spent in financing OKeefes legal defense in Pennsylvania, other gang members accused Maffie of blowing the money OKeefe had entrusted to his care. After these plans were reviewed and found to be unhelpful, OKeefe and Gusciora returned them in the same manner. OKeefe immediately returned to Boston to await the results of the appeal. 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. Commonly regarded as a dominant figure in the Boston underworld, McGinnis previously had been convicted of robbery and narcotics violations. 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. And it nearly was. Estimates range from $10 million to $100 million. The Brink's-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain's biggest and most audacious heists. "A search warrant was executed in Boston covering the Tremont Street offices occupied by the three men" (FBI). Between 1950 and 1954, the underworld occasionally rumbled with rumors that pressure was being exerted upon Boston hoodlums to contribute money for these criminals legal fight against the charges in Pennsylvania. 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. McGinnis, who had not been at the scene on the night of the robbery, received a life sentence on each of eight indictments that charged him with being an accessory before the fact in connection with the Brinks robbery. Almost immediately, the gang began laying new plans. A new BBC crime drama series follows the gripping twists and turns of what was dubbed the "crime of the century" in the 1980s. The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. The group were led . 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. 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. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. 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. Before the robbers could take him prisoner, the garage attendant walked away. On June 12, 1950, they were arrested at Towanda, Pennsylvania, and guns and clothing that were the loot from burglaries at Kane and Coudersport, Pennsylvania, were found in their possession. From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. The pardon meant that his record no longer contained the second conviction; thus, the Immigration and Naturalization Service no longer had grounds to deport him. This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. Former inmates of penal institutions reported conversations they had overheard while incarcerated which concerned the robbing of Brinks. The police officer said he had been talking to McGinnis first, and Pino arrived later to join them. The families of OKeefe and Gusciora resided in the vicinity of Stoughton, Massachusetts. 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. Other information provided by OKeefe helped to fill the gaps which still existed. The Great Brinks Robbery was the biggest armed robbery in U.S. history at the time. It was almost the perfect crime. 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.. Well-meaning persons throughout the country began sending the FBI tips and theories which they hoped would assist in the investigation. The recovery of part of the loot was a severe blow to the gang members who still awaited trial 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. Special agents subsequently interviewed Costa and his wife, Pino and his wife, the racketeer, and OKeefe. The conviction for burglary in McKean County, Pennsylvania, still hung over his head, and legal fees remained to be paid. The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. Many problems and dangers were involved in such a robbery, and the plans never crystallized. On October 20, 1981, members of the Black Liberation Army robbed a Brink's truck at the Nanuet Mall. 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. In 1997, Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt robbed the armored car company of $17 million. 00:29. . Again, he was determined to fight, using the argument that his conviction for the 1948 larceny offense was not a basis for deportation. The officer verified the meeting. 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. Of the $4,822 found in the small-time criminals possession, FBI agents identified $4,635 as money taken by the Brinks robbers. 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. An immediate effort also was made to obtain descriptive data concerning the missing cash and securities. This underworld character told the officers that he had found this money. From their prison cells, they carefully followed the legal maneuvers aimed at gaining them freedom. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. Some persons claimed to have seen him. Each of these leads was checked out. However, the group were shocked to find a massive 26 million in gold . 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. The theft occurred in July when a Brink's big rig paused at a Grapevine truck stop while transporting jewelry from a Northern California trade show to the Southland. Prior to this time, McGinnis had been at his liquor store. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. Before the robbery was carried out, all of the participants were well acquainted with the Brinks premises. 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. David Ghantt was the vault supervisor for Loomis, Fargo & Co. armored cars, which managed the transportation of large sums of cash between banks in North Carolina. 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. Like the others, Banfield had been questioned concerning his activities on the night of January 17, 1950. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 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. 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. 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. 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. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. 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 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. 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. 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.