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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. 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. This was a question which preyed heavily upon their minds. Early in June 1956, however, an unexpected break developed. The other gang members would not talk. 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 October 20, 1981, members of the Black Liberation Army robbed a Brink's truck at the Nanuet Mall. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) 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. The criminals had been looking to do a. Even fearing the new bills might be linked with the crime, McGinnis suggested a process for aging the new money in a hurry.. 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. 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. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. 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. The officer verified the meeting. Terry Perkins. The alibi was strong, but not conclusive. The Brink's-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain's biggest and most audacious heists. Accordingly, another lock cylinder was installed until the original one was returned. In September 1949, Pinos efforts to evade deportation met with success. 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. Almost. 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. Three and one-half hours later, the verdict had been reached. This lead was pursued intensively. He was not able to provide a specific account, claiming that he became drunk on New Years Eve and remained intoxicated through the entire month of January. A federal search warrant was obtained, and the home was searched by agents on April 27, 1950. 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. Faherty had been questioned on the night of the robbery. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. During the period immediately following the Brinks robbery, the heat was on OKeefe and Gusciora. The crime inspired at least four movies and two books, including The Story of the Great Brink's Robbery, as Told by the FBI. However, by delving into the criminal world, Edwyn. 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. Allegedly, he pulled a gun on OKeefe; several shots were exchanged by the two men, but none of the bullets found their mark. The truck found at the dump had been reported stolen by a Ford dealer near Fenway Park in Boston on November 3, 1949. Extensive efforts were made to detect pencil markings and other notations on the currency that the criminals thought might be traceable to Brinks. Before they left, however, approximately $380,000 was placed in a coal hamper and removed by Baker for security reasons. 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. OKeefe was sentenced on August 5, 1954, to serve 27 months in prison. Even after these convictions, OKeefe and Gusciora continued to seek their release. And the gang felt that the chances of his talking were negligible because he would be implicated in the Brinks robbery along with the others. The mass of information gathered during the early weeks of the investigation was continuously sifted. 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. Democrat and Chronicle. Years earlier, a private investigator, Daniel Morgan, was said to have been looking into the robbery. 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. After the truck parts were found, additional suspicion was attached to these men. A 32-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Miami, Karls Monzon was . 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 13, 1956, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the 11 members of the Brinks gang. 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. Six armed men stole diamonds, cash and three tonnes of gold bullion from a warehouse close to . OKeefe had no place to keep so large a sum of money. As a protective measure, he was incarcerated in the Hampden County jail at Springfield, Massachusetts, rather than the Suffolk County jail in Boston. From his cell in Springfield, OKeefe wrote bitter letters to members of the Brinks gang and persisted in his demands for money. 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. How much money was stolen in the Brinks robbery? (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.). 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. In examining the bill, a Federal Reserve note, the officer observed that it was in musty condition. Paul Jawarski (sometimes spelled Jaworski) in a yellowed newspaper . The loot was quickly unloaded, and Banfield sped away to hide the truck. You get me released, and Ill solve the case in no time, these criminals would claim. While the others stayed at the house to make a quick count of the loot, Pino and Faherty departed. 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. Again, he was determined to fight, using the argument that his conviction for the 1948 larceny offense was not a basis for deportation. 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. After each interview, FBI agents worked feverishly into the night checking all parts of his story which were subject to verification. The police officer said he had been talking to McGinnis first, and Pino arrived later to join them. When the employees were securely bound and gagged, the robbers began looting the premises. In July 1956, another significant turn of events took place. Some of the jewelry might. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. (The arrests of Faherty and Richardson also resulted in the indictment of another Boston hoodlum as an accessory after the fact). 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. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. A third attempt on OKeefes life was made on June 16, 1954. CHICAGO (CBS) - A woman has been charged after more than $100,000 was stolen from Brinks truck outside Edgewater bank on Monday afternoon. 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. 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. He subsequently was convicted and executed.). All identifying marks placed on currency and securities by the customers were noted, and appropriate stops were placed at banking institutions across the nation. While action to appeal the convictions was being taken on their behalf, the eight men were removed to the State prison at Walpole, Massachusetts. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. A few weeks later, OKeefe retrieved his share of the loot. The ninth man had long been a principal suspect. On January 12, 1953, Pino was released on bail pending a deportation hearing. He. In the hope that a wide breach might have developed between the two criminals who were in jail in Pennsylvania and the gang members who were enjoying the luxuries of a free life in Massachusetts, FBI agents again visited Gusciora and OKeefe. 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. The amusement arcade operator told the officer that he had followed the man who passed this $10.00 bill to a nearby tavern. The group were led . Some of the bills were in pieces. 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. The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. Prominent among the other strong suspects was Vincent James Costa, brother-in-law of Pino. OKeefe and Gusciora reportedly had worked together on a number of occasions. You'd be forgiven for mistaking the 2005 Miami Brinks heist for a movie script. Each robbers face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. It was billed as the perfect crime and the the crime of the century.. After careful checking, the FBI eliminated eight of the suspects. When OKeefe admitted his part in the Brinks robbery to FBI agents in January 1956, he told of his high regard for Gusciora. He claimed he had been drinking in various taverns from approximately 5:10 p.m. until 7:45 p.m. 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. Before the robbers could take him prisoner, the garage attendant walked away. "A search warrant was executed in Boston covering the Tremont Street offices occupied by the three men" (FBI). An attempted armored truck heist in South Africa was caught on camera recently; it illustrates the dangers of the job. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1984 for involvement in the Brink's Mat job. The robbery saw six armed men break into a security depot near London . Neither had too convincing an alibi. 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. The robbery. What happened to the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold? One of the biggest robberies in U.S. history happened here. 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. Geagan claimed that he spent the evening at home and did not learn of the Brinks robbery until the following day. This phase of the investigation greatly disturbed many gamblers. Binoculars were used in this phase of the casing operation. BY The Associated Press. Had the ground not been frozen, the person or persons who abandoned the bags probably would have attempted to bury them. Many problems and dangers were involved in such a robbery, and the plans never crystallized. Three of the newspapers used to wrap the bills were identified. The Gold is a 2023 television series created for BBC One and Paramount+. Examination revealed the cause of his death to be a brain tumor and acute cerebral edema. On the night of January 17, 1952exactly two years after the crime occurredthe FBIs Boston Office received an anonymous telephone call from an individual who claimed he was sending a letter identifying the Brinks robbers. 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 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 . 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. Using the outside door key they had previously obtained, the men quickly entered and donned their masks. 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. As a government witness, he reluctantly would have testified against him. Well-known Boston hoodlums were picked up and questioned by police. 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. 00:29. Three of the remaining five gang members were previously accounted for, OKeefe and Gusciora being in prison on other charges and Banfield being dead. Later, when he counted the money, he found that the suitcase contained $98,000. During this operation, one of the employees had lost his glasses; they later could not be found on the Brinks premises. 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. On the afternoon of July 9, he was visited by a clergyman. All efforts to identify the persons responsible for the theft and the persons who had cut up the truck were unsuccessful. Todd Williamson/Getty Images David Ghantt attends the 2016 after party for the Hollywood premiere of Masterminds, based on the Loomis Fargo heist that he helped carry out. His explanation: He had been drinking at a bar in Boston. He had been released on parole from the Norfolk, Massachusetts, Prison Colony on August 22, 1949only five months before the robbery. 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. Pino had been questioned as to his whereabouts on the evening of January 17, 1950, and he provided a good alibi. I think a fellow just passed a counterfeit $10.00 bill on me, he told the officer. In the hours immediately following the robbery, the underworld began to feel the heat of the investigation. On this day, Jawarski made history by pulling off the nation's first armored car robbery. Immediately upon leaving, the gang loaded the loot into the truck that was parked on Prince Street near the door. 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. 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. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that the crime had been carefully planned and rehearsed in the preceding months. Investigation revealed that Geagan, a laborer, had not gone to work on January 17 or 18, 1950.). Unfortunately, this proved to be an idle hope. In December 1954, he indicated to the agents that Pino could look for rough treatment if he (OKeefe) again was released. This vehicle was traced through motor vehicle records to Pino. The group were led . It was used by the defense counsel in preparing a 294-page brief that was presented to the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. On November, 26, 1983, three tonnes of solid gold bullion was taken by six armed robbers from the Brink's-Mat security depot near . 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 . It ultimately proved unproductive. It was almost the perfect crime. On June 2, 1950, OKeefe and Gusciora left Boston by automobile for the alleged purpose of visiting the grave of Guscioras brother in Missouri. 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 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. 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. The. The last false approach took place on January 16, 1950the night before the robbery. 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. In the new series, Tallchief tells the true story of the $3.1 million dollar Vegas heist she committed with her boyfriend Roberto Solis. Seven months later, however, he was again paroled. (Geagan and Richardson, known associates of other members of the gang, were among the early suspects. Baker fled and the brief meeting adjourned. They did not expect to. The Brinks Mat Robbery: The real story that inspired The Gold. 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. Commonly regarded as a dominant figure in the Boston underworld, McGinnis previously had been convicted of robbery and narcotics violations. 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. The stolen 6,800 gold ingots, diamonds and cash would be worth 100million today. This cooler contained more than $57,700, including $51,906 which was identifiable as part of the Brinks loot. 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. Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. As a cooperative measure, the information gathered by the FBI in the Brinks investigation was made available to the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. In 1997, Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt robbed the armored car company of $17 million. Following the federal grand jury hearings, the FBIs intense investigation continued. 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. An official website of the United States government. He was granted a full pardon by the acting governor of Massachusetts. A number of them discontinued their operations; others indicated a strong desire that the robbers be identified and apprehended. LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- The FBI and the Los Angeles County. The trial of these eight men began on the morning of August 6, 1956, before Judge Feliz Forte in the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jewelry, gems, high-end watches and other valuables worth millions of dollars were stolen from a transport vehicle in Southern California. 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. 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. 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. Banfield drove the truck to the house of Maffies parents in Roxbury. Burke, a professional killer, allegedly had been hired by underworld associates of OKeefe to assassinate him. To his neighbors in Jackson Heights in the early 1990s, Sam . Underworld figures in Boston have generally speculated that the racketeer was killed because of his association with 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 Each carried a pair of gloves. During this visit, Gusciora got up from his bed, and, in full view of the clergyman, slipped to the floor, striking his head. Jewelers report over $100 million in losses after Brinks armored truck robbed in California. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. 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. They had brought no tools with them, however, and they were unsuccessful. On November 26 1983, six armed robbers entered the Brink's-Mat security warehouse at the Heathrow International Trading Estate. The defense immediately filed motions which would delay or prevent the trial. For example, from a citizen in California came the suggestion that the loot might be concealed in the Atlantic Ocean near Boston. 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. What happened in the Brink's-Mat robbery? OKeefe immediately returned to Boston to await the results of the appeal. This is good money, he said, but you cant pass it around here in Boston.. On November 16, 1959, the United States Supreme Court denied a request of the defense counsel for a writ of certiorari. None proved fruitful. 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. 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. A new BBC crime drama series follows the gripping twists and turns of what was dubbed the "crime of the century" in the 1980s. This man claimed to have no knowledge of Pinos involvement in the Brinks robbery.). Among the early suspects was Anthony Pino, an alien who had been a principal suspect in numerous major robberies and burglaries in Massachusetts. 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. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. At 6:30am, six armed robbers from a south London gang entered the premises of the Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow. By this time, Baker was suffering from a bad case of nerves. If Baker heard these rumors, he did not wait around very long to see whether they were true. 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 . They stole 26 million in gold bullion - the biggest robbery of . The truck pieces were concealed in fiber bags when found. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. The robbers carefully planned routine inside Brinks was interrupted only when the attendant in the adjoining Brinks garage sounded the buzzer. Both denied knowledge of the loot that had been recovered. In addition to mold, insect remains also were found on the loot. This phase of the investigation was pursued exhaustively. 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. On March 4, 1950, pieces of an identical truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. (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. Shakur, the stepfather of hip-hop star . In the deportation fight that lasted more than two years, Pino won the final victory. Police recovered only $58,000 of the $2.7 million stolen. He was paroled in the fall of 1944 and remained on parole through March 1954 when misfortune befell him. This man, subsequently identified as a small-time Boston underworld figure, was located and questioned. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. At the Prison Colony, Baker was serving two concurrent terms of four to ten years, imposed in 1944 for breaking and entering and larceny and for possession of burglar tools. At the time of Bakers release in 1949, Pino was on hand to drive him back to Boston. Richardson had participated with Faherty in an armed robbery in February 1934. They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some 26m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon. The Bureau was convinced that it had identified the actual robbers, but evidence and witnesses had to be found. 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 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. Pino, Richardson, and Costa each took $20,000, and this was noted on a score sheet. 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.