what happened to the money from the brinks robbery
An automobile identified as the car used in the escape was located near a Boston hospital, and police officers concealed themselves in the area. The removal of the lock cylinder from the outside door involved the greatest risk of detection. Adolph Maffie, who had been convicted of income tax violation in June 1954, was released from the Federal Corrections Institution at Danbury, Connecticut, on January 30, 1955. In the late summer of 1944, he was released from the state prison and was taken into custody by Immigration authorities. After a period of hostility, he began to display a friendly attitude. The other gun was picked up by the officer and identified as having been taken during the Brinks robbery. 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. Even Pino, whose deportation troubles then were a heavy burden, was arrested by the Boston police in August 1954. In December 1948, Brinks moved from Federal Street to 165 Prince Street in Boston. Instead, they found three tonnes of gold bullion. In July 1956, another significant turn of events took place. Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. 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. ), (After serving his sentence, Fat John resumed a life of crime. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. Underworld sources described him as fully capable of planning and executing the Brinks robbery. (Investigation to substantiate this information resulted in the location of the proprietor of a key shop who recalled making keys for Pino on at least four or five evenings in the fall of 1949. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. The Great Brinks Robbery was the biggest armed robbery in U.S. history at the time. When this case was continued until April 1, 1954, OKeefe was released on $1,500 bond. 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. 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. Perhaps most remarkable, its mastermind didn't even have a criminal record when he planned it out. 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. Had the ground not been frozen, the person or persons who abandoned the bags probably would have attempted to bury them. Both men remained mute following their arrests. If local hoodlums were involved, it was difficult to believe that McGinnis could be as ignorant of the crime as he claimed. Inside this container were packages of bills that had been wrapped in plastic and newspapers. 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. OKeefe had no place to keep so large a sum of money. All had been published in Boston between December 4, 1955, and February 21, 1956. 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. 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. They stole 26 million in gold bullion - the biggest robbery of . From interviews with the five employees whom the criminals had confronted, it was learned that between five and seven robbers had entered the building. 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. Pino was determined to fight against deportation. 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. On June 19, 1958, while out on appeal in connection with a five-year narcotics sentence, he was found shot to death in an automobile that had crashed into a truck in Boston.). It was given to him in a suitcase that was transferred to his car from an automobile occupied by McGinnis and Banfield. On November 26, 1981, six armed men from South London broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. While action to appeal the convictions was being taken on their behalf, the eight men were removed to the State prison at Walpole, Massachusetts. This chauffeurs cap was left at the scene of the crime of the centurythe 1950 robbery of a Brink's bank branch in Massachusetts. The incident happened outside of a Chase Bank in . During 1955, OKeefe carefully pondered his position. And what of McGinnis himself? Almost. The thieves quickly bound the employees and began hauling away the loot. 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. Seven months later, however, he was again paroled. Commonly regarded as a dominant figure in the Boston underworld, McGinnis previously had been convicted of robbery and narcotics violations. On August 30, he was taken into custody as a suspicious person. 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. Following their arrests, a former bondsman in Boston made frequent trips to Towanda in an unsuccessful effort to secure their release on bail. The month preceding January 17, 1950, witnessed approximately a half-dozen approaches to Brinks. The truck found at the dump had been reported stolen by a Ford dealer near Fenway Park in Boston on November 3, 1949. Fat John and the business associate of the man arrested in Baltimore were located and interviewed on the morning of June 4, 1956. Pino, Richardson, and Costa each took $20,000, and this was noted on a score sheet. There were recurring rumors that this hoodlum, Joseph Sylvester Banfield (pictured), had been right down there on the night of the crime. The Brinks case was front page news. The names of Pino, McGinnis, Adolph Jazz Maffie, and Henry Baker were frequently mentioned in these rumors, and it was said that they had been with OKeefe on the Big Job.. Had any particles of evidence been found in the loot which might directly show that they had handled it? 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. Occasionally, an offender who was facing a prison term would boast that he had hot information. 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. From their prison cells, they carefully followed the legal maneuvers aimed at gaining them freedom. Within two months of his return, another member of the gang suffered a legal setback. 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. 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. In the deportation fight that lasted more than two years, Pino won the final victory. 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. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. An appeal was promptly noted, and he was released on $15,000 bond. Any doubts that the Brinks gang had that the FBI was on the right track in its investigation were allayed when the federal grand jury began hearings in Boston on November 25, 1952, concerning this crime. Through long weeks of empty promises of assistance and deliberate stalling by the gang members, he began to realize that his threats were falling on deaf ears. In the years following the infamous 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, many of the criminals and police alike were killed, leading to speculation there might be . The serial numbers of several of these bills were furnished to the FBI Office in Baltimore. Both of these strong-arm suspects had been questioned by Boston authorities following the robbery. At 10:25 p.m. on October 5, 1956, the jury retired to weigh the evidence. 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. All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. OKeefe was wounded in the wrist and chest, but again he managed to escape with his life. Evidently resigned to long years in prison or a short life on the outside, OKeefe grew increasingly bitter toward his old associates. Apparently suspicious, OKeefe crouched low in the front seat of his car as the would-be assassins fired bullets that pierced the windshield. 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. Of the hundreds of New England hoodlums contacted by FBI agents in the weeks immediately following the robbery, few were willing to be interviewed. 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. For the Rockland County community, the Brink's Robbery rises to that historic standard. All were guilty. Before removing the remainder of the loot from the house on January 18, 1950, the gang members attempted to identify incriminating items. Many of the details had previously been obtained during the intense six-year investigation. The Brink's cargo trailer was. Sentenced to serve from five to seven years for this offense, he was released from prison in September 1941. At 4:20 p.m. on January 6, 1956, OKeefe made the final decision. Each carried a pair of gloves. In 1997, Loomis Fargo employee David Ghantt robbed the armored car company of $17 million.
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