Both denied knowledge of the loot that had been recovered. (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. From his cell in Springfield, OKeefe wrote bitter letters to members of the Brinks gang and persisted in his demands for money. 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. The thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. It was used by the defense counsel in preparing a 294-page brief that was presented to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. The Great Brinks Robbery was the biggest armed robbery in U.S. history at the time. Allegedly, he pulled a gun on OKeefe; several shots were exchanged by the two men, but none of the bullets found their mark. 00:29. OKeefe had no place to keep so large a sum of money. During the period in which Pinos deportation troubles were mounting, OKeefe completed his sentence at Towanda, Pennsylvania. Later, when he counted the money, he found that the suitcase contained $98,000. Others fell apart as they were handled. Pino admitted having been in the area, claiming that he was looking for a parking place so that he could visit a relative in the hospital. In the end, the perfect crime had a perfect endingfor everyone but the robbers. Considerable thought was given to every detail. 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. 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. It was reported that on May 18, 1954, OKeefe and his racketeer associate took Vincent Costa to a hotel room and held him for several thousand dollars ransom. The removal of the lock cylinder from the outside door involved the greatest risk of detection. The hideout also was found to contain more than $5,000 in coins. The amusement arcade operator told the officer that he had followed the man who passed this $10.00 bill to a nearby tavern. Five bullets which had missed their mark were found in a building nearby. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. Both men remained mute following their arrests. After being wounded on June 16, OKeefe disappeared. In addition, McGinnis received other sentences of two years, two and one-half to three years, and eight to ten years. 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. While action to appeal the convictions was being taken on their behalf, the eight men were removed to the State prison at Walpole, Massachusetts. 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. Early in June 1956, however, an unexpected break developed. 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. 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. Ten of the persons who appeared before this grand jury breathed much more easily when they learned that no indictments had been returned. He later was to be arrested as a member of the robbery gang. 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. 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. During the regular exercise period, Burke separated himself from the other prisoners and moved toward a heavy steel door leading to the solitary confinement section. In September 1949, Pinos efforts to evade deportation met with success. The incident happened outside of a Chase Bank in . 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. The defense immediately filed motions which would delay or prevent the trial. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? If passing police had looked closer early that Saturday morning on November 26, 1983, they would have noticed the van was weighted down below its wheel arches with three tons of gold. A federal search warrant was obtained, and the home was searched by agents on April 27, 1950. There had been three attempts on his life in June 1954, and his frustrated assassins undoubtedly were waiting for him to return to Boston. In pursuing the underworld rumors concerning the principal suspects in the Brinks case, the FBI succeeded in identifying more probable members of the gang. 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. The series surrounds the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery in which 26 million (equivalent to 93.3 million in 2021) worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash were stolen from a storehouse near Heathrow Airport. 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. An official website of the United States government. Even Pino, whose deportation troubles then were a heavy burden, was arrested by the Boston police in August 1954. Seventy years ago today, a group of men stole $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks. Two hours later he was dead. It was almost the perfect crime. After these plans were reviewed and found to be unhelpful, OKeefe and Gusciora returned them in the same manner. Those killed in the. 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. Even fearing the new bills might be linked with the crime, McGinnis suggested a process for aging the new money in a hurry.. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. The results were negative. Unfortunately, this proved to be an idle hope. The $2.775 million ($31.3 million today) theft consisted of $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, money orders, and other securities. Extensive efforts were made to detect pencil markings and other notations on the currency that the criminals thought might be traceable to Brinks. And what of McGinnis himself? Following their arrests, a former bondsman in Boston made frequent trips to Towanda in an unsuccessful effort to secure their release on bail. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. After completing its hearings on January 9, 1953, the grand jury retired to weigh the evidence. All denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 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. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1984 for involvement in the Brink's Mat job. I think a fellow just passed a counterfeit $10.00 bill on me, he told the officer. Examination revealed the cause of his death to be a brain tumor and acute cerebral edema. 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. OKeefe was wounded in the wrist and chest, but again he managed to escape with his life. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. The Brink's cargo trailer was. OKeefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the others wore rubbers. Richardson had participated with Faherty in an armed robbery in February 1934. This was in their favor. 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. 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. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. Thorough inquiries were made concerning the disposition of the bags after their receipt by the Massachusetts firm. While OKeefe and Gusciora lingered in jail in Pennsylvania, Pino encountered difficulties of his own. 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. On August 29, 1954, the officers suspicions were aroused by an automobile that circled the general vicinity of the abandoned car on five occasions. In the years following a shared event, like an assassination, everyone remembers where they were when it happened. The new proceedings were based upon the fact that Pino had been arrested in December 1948 for a larceny involving less than $100. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. After denying any knowledge of the escape of Trigger Burke, Pino was released. Almost. The robbers carefully planned routine inside Brinks was interrupted only when the attendant in the adjoining Brinks garage sounded the buzzer. 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. He subsequently was convicted and executed.). All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. It was called the crime of the century, the largest heist in US history, an almost perfect robbery. Burlap money bags recovered in a Boston junk yard from the robbery, Some of the recovered money from the robbery. The following is a brief account of the data which OKeefe provided the special agents in January 1956: Although basically the brain child of Pino, the Brinks robbery was the product of the combined thought and criminal experience of men who had known each other for many years. Evidently resigned to long years in prison or a short life on the outside, OKeefe grew increasingly bitter toward his old associates. 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. 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. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. 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. In the hours immediately following the robbery, the underworld began to feel the heat of the investigation. A Secret Service agent, who had been summoned by the Baltimore officers, arrived while the criminal was being questioned at the police headquarters, and after examining the money found in the bill changers possession, he certified that it was not counterfeit. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. Within two months of his return, another member of the gang suffered a legal setback.
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