A roll of waterproof adhesive tape used to gag and bind bank employees that was left at the scene of the crime. On October 11, 1950, Gusciora was sentenced to serve from five to 20 years in the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. 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. Three of the newspapers used to wrap the bills were identified. 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. 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. Other information provided by OKeefe helped to fill the gaps which still existed. 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. On November, 26, 1983, three tonnes of solid gold bullion was taken by six armed robbers from the Brink's-Mat security depot near . The. The loot was quickly unloaded, and Banfield sped away to hide the truck. Well-known Boston hoodlums were picked up and questioned by police. 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. 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. During an interview with him in the jail in Springfield, Massachusetts, in October 1954, special agents found that the plight of the missing Boston racketeer was weighing on OKeefes mind. The group were led . Perkins was handed a 22-year jail sentence for that one, but absconded from open prison in 1995 and managed to . A 32-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Miami, Karls Monzon was . FBI investigating $150 million jewelry heist of Brinks truck traveling from San Mateo County to Southern California. OKeefe was wounded in the wrist and chest, but again he managed to escape with his life. Binoculars were used in this phase of the casing operation. On this day, Jawarski made history by pulling off the nation's first armored car robbery. Noye is currently being depicted in a new six-part BBC series into the infamous Brinks-Mat robbery, which took place in 1983. 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. Geagan claimed that he spent the evening at home and did not learn of the Brinks robbery until the following day. One of these officers quickly grabbed the criminals hand, and a large roll of money fell from it. 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 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. Those killed in the. 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 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. The missing racketeers automobile was found near his home; however, his whereabouts remain a mystery. The Boston underworld rumbled with reports that an automobile had pulled alongside OKeefes car in Dorchester, Massachusetts, during the early morning hours of June 5. 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. Rumors from the underworld pointed suspicion at several criminal gangs. Like Gusciora, OKeefe was known to have associated with Pino prior to the Brinks robbery. On the afternoon of July 9, he was visited by a clergyman. They stole 26 million in gold bullion - the biggest robbery of . 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. Minutes later, police arrived at the Brinks building, and special agents of the FBI quickly joined in the investigation. During his brief stay in Boston, he was observed to contact other members of the robbery gang. Until the FBI and its partners painstakingly solved the case. They were held in lieu of bail which, for each man, amounted to more then $100,000. At the outset, very few facts were available to the investigators. LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- The FBI and the Los Angeles County. The Brink's-Mat robbery the name alone is enough to spark excitement in viewers of a certain age, such as your correspondent became one of the most celebrated cases, and convoluted plots . However, by delving into the criminal world, Edwyn. A detective examines the Brinks vault after the theft. His records showed that he had worked on the offices early in April 1956 under instructions of Fat John. The loot could not have been hidden behind the wall panel prior to that time. 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. FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. 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. Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. 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. Like the others, Banfield had been questioned concerning his activities on the night of January 17, 1950. They did not expect to. This man claimed to have no knowledge of Pinos involvement in the Brinks robbery.). The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. 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. 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. In 1997, Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt robbed the armored car company of $17 million. On March 4, 1950, pieces of an identical truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Using the outside door key they had previously obtained, the men quickly entered and donned their masks. Pino would take the locks to the mans shop, and keys would be made for them. You get me released, and Ill solve the case in no time, these criminals would claim. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? It was almost the perfect crime. 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. 00:29. Following the federal grand jury hearings, the FBIs intense investigation continued. OKeefe was sentenced on August 5, 1954, to serve 27 months in prison. The. The criminals had been looking to do a. Inside this container were packages of bills that had been wrapped in plastic and newspapers. Both men remained mute following their arrests. On January 13, 1956, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the 11 members of the Brinks gang. A thorough investigation was made concerning his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950. Extensive efforts were made to detect pencil markings and other notations on the currency that the criminals thought might be traceable to Brinks. Two weeks of comparative quiet in the gang members lives were shattered on June 5, 1954, when an attempt was made on OKeefes life. On June 17, 1954, the Boston police arrested Elmer Trigger Burke and charged him with possession of a machine gun. The crime inspired at least four movies and two books, including The Story of the Great Brink's Robbery, as Told by the FBI. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. The heist happened on Prince Street in Boston's North End on Jan. 17, 1950. T he robbers were there because they knew there was 3 million in cash locked in the . OKeefe was the principal witness to appear before the state grand jurors. 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.. 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. Adding to these problems was the constant pressure being exerted upon Pino by OKeefe from the county jail in Towanda, Pennsylvania. CHICAGO (CBS) - A woman has been charged after more than $100,000 was stolen from Brinks truck outside Edgewater bank on Monday afternoon. They were checked against serial numbers of bills known to have been included in the Brinks loot, and it was determined that the Boston criminal possessed part of the money that had been dragged away by the seven masked gunmen on January 17, 1950. The police officer said he had been talking to McGinnis first, and Pino arrived later to join them. A few years before the Brink's-Mat robbery . Fat John announced that each of the packages contained $5,000. Shakur, the stepfather of hip-hop star . Seven months later, however, he was again paroled. During November and December 1949, the approach to the Brinks building and the flight over the getaway route were practiced to perfection. 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. It appeared to him that he would spend his remaining days in prison while his co-conspirators would have many years to enjoy the luxuries of life. The truck pieces were concealed in fiber bags when found. Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. 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. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. Both had served prison sentences, and both were well known to underworld figures on the East Coast. Next year January 2023 to be precise will mark 30 years since the Brink's depot in Rochester was looted for $7.4 million, then the fifth largest armored car company heist in the country. 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. Before removing the remainder of the loot from the house on January 18, 1950, the gang members attempted to identify incriminating items. From masked gunmen and drugs to kidnappings and bags of cash, the $7.4 million robbery had it all. 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. A t the time, the Brink's-Mat vault was thought to be one of the most secure facilities in the world. The Brinks Job, 1950. Considerable thought was given to every detail. 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. The team of burglars bypassed the truck's locking mechanism and used the storage containers to haul away precious gems, gold and other valuables. Before they left, however, approximately $380,000 was placed in a coal hamper and removed by Baker for security reasons. 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. In the succeeding two weeks, nearly 1,200 prospective jurors were eliminated as the defense counsel used their 262 peremptory challenges. Later, when he counted the money, he found that the suitcase contained $98,000. Interviewed again on December 28, 1955, he talked somewhat more freely, and it was obvious that the agents were gradually winning his respect and confidence. 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. The gang at that time included all of the participants in the January 17, 1950, robbery except Henry Baker. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. Another old gang that had specialized in hijacking bootlegged whiskey in the Boston area during Prohibition became the subject of inquiries. He told the interviewing agents that he trusted Maffie so implicitly that he gave the money to him for safe keeping. As the truck drove past the Brinks offices, the robbers noted that the lights were out on the Prince Street side of the building. He had been convicted of armed robbery in 1940 and served several months in the Massachusetts State Reformatory and the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony. 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 removal of the lock cylinder from the outside door involved the greatest risk of detection. The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. 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. Subsequently, he engaged in a conversation with McGinnis and a Boston police officer. This lead was pursued intensively. On June 4, 1956 a man named "Fat John" admitted he had money that was linked to the Brink's robbery in his possession. 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 . (Following pleas of guilty in November 1956, Fat John received a two-year sentence, and the other two men were sentenced to serve one years imprisonment. 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. Each robbers face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. While on bond he returned to Boston; on January 23, 1954, he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on the probation violation charge. 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. The defense immediately filed motions which would delay or prevent the trial. Had the ground not been frozen, the person or persons who abandoned the bags probably would have attempted to bury them. 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. Even if released, he thought, his days were numbered. It ultimately proved unproductive. OKeefe and Gusciora had been close friends for many years. 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. On September 8, 1950, OKeefe was sentenced to three years in the Bradford County jail at Towanda and fined $3,000 for violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. 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. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Years earlier, a private investigator, Daniel Morgan, was said to have been looking into the robbery. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. 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. This phase of the investigation was pursued exhaustively. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. 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. Henry Baker, another veteran criminal who was rumored to be kicking in to the Pennsylvania defense fund, had spent a number of years of his adult life in prison. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. All efforts to identify the gang members through the chauffeurs hat, the rope, and the adhesive tape which had been left in Brinks proved unsuccessful. The Brink's-Mat robbery occurred at the Heathrow International Trading Estate, London, United Kingdom, on 26 November 1983 and was one of the largest robberies in British history. From interviews with the five employees whom the criminals had confronted, it was learned that between five and seven robbers had entered the building. 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. The Brink Mat robbery was a heist that occurred at Heathrow International Trading Estate on November 26, 1983, when six armed robbers broke into a warehouse run by a US and British joint venture, Brink's Mat. 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. Until now, little has been known about the dogged methods police used to infiltrate the criminal underworld behind the 1983 robbery. As a protective measure, he was incarcerated in the Hampden County jail at Springfield, Massachusetts, rather than the Suffolk County jail in Boston. OKeefe claimed that he left his hotel room in Boston at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 17, 1950. 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. 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.". The amusement arcade operator told the officer that he had followed the man who passed this $10.00 bill to a nearby tavern. 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. 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. However, the group were shocked to find a massive 26 million in gold . Banfield had been a close associate of McGinnis for many years. As the robbers sped from the scene, a Brinks employee telephoned the Boston Police Department. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. None of these materialized because the gang did not consider the conditions to be favorable. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. Burke, a professional killer, allegedly had been hired by underworld associates of OKeefe to assassinate him. Before the robbery was carried out, all of the participants were well acquainted with the Brinks premises. 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. At the time of his arrest, there also was a charge of armed robbery outstanding against him in Massachusetts. The ninth man had long been a principal suspect. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. There was James Ignatius Faherty, an armed robbery specialist whose name had been mentioned in underworld conversations in January 1950, concerning a score on which the gang members used binoculars to watch their intended victims count large sums of money. 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. 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. 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. As a government witness, he reluctantly would have testified against him. If local hoodlums were involved, it was difficult to believe that McGinnis could be as ignorant of the crime as he claimed. 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. In examining the bill, a Federal Reserve note, the officer observed that it was in musty condition. But according to the ruling filed in B.C., Brinks paid the money back immediately after the victim bank notified the company that a robbery had occurred making use of "keys, access codes and . 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. 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. He was found brutally murdered in his car in 1987. The FBI further learned that four revolvers had been taken by the gang. The Brink's-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain's biggest and most audacious heists. Early in June 1956, however, an unexpected break developed. 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.