The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950

History 6 Minutes

From the New England Historical Society:

The Great Brinks Robbery was the biggest armed robbery in U.S. history at the time. Thieves vanished after stealing $2.7 million, leaving few clues. It was almost the perfect crime. Almost.

It happened on Jan. 17, 1950 at the Brinks Armored Car depot in Boston’s North End. The gang of 11 that stole the money after two years of meticulous planning almost got away with it. They failed because they fell out over the division of the spoils. Police arrested all of them five days before the statute of limitations ended.

The Brinks Robbery

The idea for the heist came from Joseph ‘Big Joe’ McGinniss, but career criminal Anthony ‘Fats’ Pino. McGinness masterminded the crime. Pino also recruited a gang to watch the depot for 18 months to figure out when it held the most money.

The gang stole plans for the depot’s alarm system, and then returned them undetected. They also removed the cylinders from locks, one by one, and had a locksmith duplicate the keys. Planning for the Brinks robbery took two years and included six failed attempts.

The gang wore outfits similar to Brinks uniforms – Navy pea coats and chauffeur’s caps – and rubber Halloween masks. At 6:55 p.m. on Jan. 17, 1950, seven of the gang members entered the counting room. They surprised the five employees and bound and gagged them face down on the floor.

The thieves cleaned out everything except the General Electric payroll. It took them only 35 minutes to load 14 canvas bags with a half ton of cash, coins, checks, securities and money orders. Two of the gang members waited outside in the getaway truck.

3 Clues

They left but three clues: a chauffeur’s cap, the adhesive tape used to gag the Brinks employees and the rope used to tie them up. No one was hurt. The thieves divided up some of the loot and promised each other they wouldn’t touch the money for six years so the statute of limitations would run out. Then they split up to establish alibis.

They almost made it. Investigators had few leads and little solid evidence. Law enforcement officers interviewed hundreds of people who lived and worked near the Brinks depot and questioned known criminals. According to the FBI, “in the hours immediately following the robbery, the underworld began to feel the heat of the investigation.”

Police picked up and questioned well-known Boston hoodlums. From Boston, the FBI quickly spread the pressure to other cities.

“Veteran criminals throughout the United States found their activities during mid-January the subject of official inquiry,” the FBI reported.

The robbers’ truck was found cut to pieces in Stoughton, Mass., but it didn’t offer many clues. The FBI was flooded with unhelpful tips.

The Rat

One gang member blew it for all of them. Joseph ‘Specs’ O’Keefe left his loot with another member when he served a prison sentence for a different crime. While behind bars, he wrote angry letters to his cohorts demanding money and suggesting he might talk.

When O’Keefe got out of prison, Fats Pino sent a hit man to kill him. The hit man shot at O’Keefe with a machine gun in the Dorchester section of Boston. O’Keefe escaped with minor wounds and made a deal with the FBI to testify against the gang. All eight were caught and convicted. Two died before they were tried.

Police recovered only $58,000 of the $2.7 million stolen. 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 Great Brinks Robbery of 1950: Not Quite the Perfect Crime

The History.com website had some added details:

Eight of the Brink’s robbers were caught, convicted and given life sentences. Two more died before they could go to trial. Only a small part of the money was ever recovered; the rest is fabled to be hidden in the hills north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. In 1978, the famous robbery was immortalized on film in The Brink’s Job, starring Peter Falk.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/brinks-armored-car-depot-robbery-boston-1950

Lastly, Wikipedia had additional details which may or may not be true at this point.

Planning

The robbery was first conceived in 1947; however, in 1948, after months of planning, the group learned that Brink’s had moved to a new location. While the theft was originally intended to be a burglary, rather than an armed robbery, they could not find a way around the building’s burglar alarm. After observing the movements of the guards, they decided that the robbery should take place just after 7 pm, as the vault would be open and fewer guards would be on duty. Over a period of several months, the robbers removed each lock from the building and had a key made for it, before returning the lock. Two vehicles were stolen: a truck, to carry away the loot from the robbery; and a car, which would be used to block any pursuit. Vincent Costa was the group’s lookout, and signaled with a flashlight from a nearby rooftop when he saw the vault being opened. After five aborted runs, Costa finally gave the go-ahead on the night of January 17, 1950.

Robbery

Seven of the group went into the Brink’s building: O’Keefe, Gusciora, Baker, Maffie, Geagan, Faherty, and Richardson. They each wore a chauffeur cap, pea coat, rubber Halloween mask, and each had a .38 caliber revolver. At 7:10 pm, they entered the building and tied up the five employees working in the vault area. They spent about twenty minutes inside the vault, putting money into large canvas bags. Approximately a million dollars in silver and coins was left behind by the robbers, as they were not prepared to carry it. The total amount stolen was $1,218,211 in cash and $1,557,183 in checks and other securities. By 7:37, one of the Brink’s employees managed to free themselves and raise the alarm.

Investigation and falling out

Immediately following the robbery, Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan sent a mobilization order for all precinct captains and detectives. Thirteen people were detained in the hours following the robbery, including two former employees of Brink’s. Brink’s, Inc. offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the robbery, with an additional 5% of recovered cash offered by the insurance company. Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, took over supervision of the investigation.

The only physical evidence left at the crime scene was a cap and the tape and rope used to bind up the employees. Most of the cash stolen was in denominations of $1 to $20, which made it nearly impossible to trace the bills through serial numbers. Any information police could get from their informers initially proved useless. The truck that the robbers had used was found cut to pieces in Stoughton, Massachusetts, near O’Keefe’s home.

In June 1950, O’Keefe and Gusciora were arrested in Pennsylvania for a burglary. O’Keefe was sentenced to three years in Bradford County Jail and Gusciora to 5-to-20 years in the Western State Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. Police heard through their informers that O’Keefe and Gusciora demanded money from Pino and MacGinnis in Boston to fight their convictions. It was later claimed that most of O’Keefe’s share went to his legal defense.

FBI agents tried to talk to O’Keefe and Gusciora in prison but the two professed ignorance of the Brink’s robbery. Other members of the group came under suspicion but there was not enough evidence for an indictment, so law enforcement kept pressure on the suspects. Adolph Maffie was convicted and sentenced to nine months for income tax evasion.

After O’Keefe was released, he was taken to stand trial for another burglary and parole violations and was released on a bail of $17,000. O’Keefe later claimed that he had never seen his portion of the loot after he had given it to Maffie for safekeeping. Apparently in need of money he kidnapped Vincent Costa and demanded his part of the loot for ransom.

Pino paid a small ransom but then decided to try to kill O’Keefe. After a couple of attempts he hired underworld hitman Elmer “Trigger” Burke to kill O’Keefe. Burke traveled to Boston and shot O’Keefe, seriously wounding him but failed to kill him. The FBI approached O’Keefe in the hospital and on January 6, 1956, he decided to talk.

On January 12, 1956, just five days before the statute of limitations was to run out, the FBI arrested Baker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pino. They apprehended Faherty and Richardson on May 16 in Dorchester. O’Keefe pleaded guilty January 18. Gusciora died on July 9. Banfield was already dead. A trial began on August 6, 1956.

Eight of the gang’s members received maximum sentences of life imprisonment. All were paroled by 1971 except McGinnis, who died in prison. O’Keefe received four years and was released in 1960. Only $58,000 of the $2.7 million was recovered. O’Keefe cooperated with writer Bob Considine on The Men Who Robbed Brink’s, a 1961 “as told to” book about the robbery and its aftermath.

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Published by pat frederick

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141 thoughts on “The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950”

  1. Morning All!
    chilly and cloudy here (I am guessing since it’s too dark, but no visible stars either).
    gangsters love to hide their dough, don’t they? wonder if anyone ever found it?

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          1. Add on that I had just finished an e-mail survey from WM…..blasted them about the horrible condition of the store. They’ve got the aisles so packed full, you can’t hardly move around!

            Liked by 1 person

            1. that’s annoying, but better than empty shelves?

              you know what i find annoying? the big rolling carts they use when they shop for customers. they block the aisles to get the items they need and you have to freaking wait for them to move, and they may be “shopping” for multiple people. that’s annoying. there’s NO cashiers but there’s plenty of people to do other people’s shopping.

              Liked by 2 people

              1. The problem is many of the shelves are still empty! I think they have a problem with hiring. The WM employees rounding up the items for the pick-up customers aren’t as bad. Most are polite at least.

                Liked by 1 person

              2. gosh ours aren’t…
                last time one had her cart parked in front of the milk display and I was polite and waited and waited but she was no where near the cart. so i moved it somewhat to get the milk and go. she came back and glared at me.
                i just smiled and walked away

                Liked by 1 person

  14. Wolf Moon | Threat to Demonocracy
    Wolf Moon | Threat to Demonocracy(@wolfmoon1776)Offline
    Wolf
    January 17, 2023 02:59

    Stew Peters sometimes makes things VERY clear.

    They want to normalize myocarditis, just like they did autism.

    — Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) January 16, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Capt. Christopher Pike
    Capt. Christopher Pike
    January 17, 2023 1:11 am

    Breaking!

    COVER-UP: Biden Tax Returns Disappear From Campaign Website for Years Hunter Claimed He Lived at Joe’s Delaware Home

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/cover-biden-tax-returns-disappear-campaign-website-years-hunter-claimed-paid-50k-per-month-rent-joe/

    Tucker Carlson reported Monday night that tax returns for the years 2016-2018 have disappeared from Joe Biden’s campaign website’s financial disclosure page at Joe Biden.com .

    Those years cover the same timeframe that first son Hunter claimed on a background check report to allegedly have paid nearly $50,000 per month rent to stay at father Joe’s Wilmington, Delaware home where illicit classified documents were found in December 2022 and last week. (Note added at end to reflect headline edit: Rent claim is in question)

    Liked by 1 person

  16. nimrodman
    January 17, 2023 3:02 am

    Toronto School Principal Sends Email to Parents with Islamic State Flag
    Parents in Toronto expressed shock after receiving an email from an elementary school principal that contained the flag of the Islamic State terrorist group.

    … was sent by Principal Darlene Jones … to celebrate the start of Somali Heritage Month and Islamic Heritage Month and contained the black and white Islamic State flag, shocking many of the 700 families of children who received the email.

    Principal Jones later apologised … yada yada … and does not represent Islam … yada yada

    Liked by 1 person

  17. apparently that $50,000 was not rent to his dad, but quarterly rent for an office suite…and hunter messed up the reporting of it…intentional or not we do not know…

    Liked by 1 person

  18. CYA
    NARA issued 3 statements claiming no knowledge of missing documents from obummer’s tenure…did they KNOW then about ultra maggot’s docs????
    entire article
    The September 8 statement specifically denied that any records from the Obama administration were missing. Or, very specifically, NARA “is not aware of any missing boxes of Presidential records from the Obama administration.”

    Not aware is of course ‘lawyerese’ for plausible deniability.

    In November, the first tranche of classified documents was found at Penn Biden.

    NARA’s only statement on Nov 9 involved Trump’s documents. Ditto for another Dec 20 statement.

    Was NARA really unaware of the Biden documents at that point?

    There are still no statements on Biden’s materials. After issuing 10 statements on Trump’s materials and issues involving them, NARA has become really why when it comes to Biden.

    If there were any doubt as to what the NARA leadership is all about, it’s been resolved.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/national-archives-issued-3-statements-claiming-obamas-records-were-fine/

    Liked by 1 person

  20. “Escort Services In High Demand by Perverted Davos Elite at WEF”
    by Adan Salazar
    January 16th 2023, 5:58 pm
    EXCERPT: “Influential attendees of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, are reportedly booking prostitutes like hotcakes, according to Swiss media. The sordid revelations concerning the annual globalist confab attended by hundreds of elite figures in government, entertainment, and industry were exposed in a report by Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes.

    Speaking to 20 Minutes, a managing director at the Villa-Velvet escort service in Oftringen reported numerous reservations have been made for their escorts, with over two dozen additional inquiries.

    From 20min.ch (translated from German to English):

    “So far we have eleven reservations and 25 inquiries for the coming week. But I assume that there will be more, »says the managing director. These are covered by four women. “As soon as a customer books one of our ladies for at least four hours, she drives into the mountains.” Four hours cost the customer just under 1500 francs, one night up to 2550 francs.

    The manager added escorts, who perform an array of sexual services, were also rented during previous WEF conferences.

    “For example, our women have already been brought to Davos by diplomats and company bosses. Some also book escorts for themselves and their employees to party in the hotel suite.” The longest booking in the past was three days.

    The director also noted the high-level clientele at Davos demand dinner and party escorts as well as “subsequent sexual services,” and “are more demanding than our normal clientele. Above all, women with a model figure and top appearance are in demand.”

    Sex work and prostitution are legal in Switzerland, within the confines of lawful activity. Christa Ammann, the head of sex worker rights activist group Xenia, told 20 Minutes elite confabs where powerful individuals meet for days on end always attract business for escorts. “The WEF belongs in the category of such events,” declared Ammann.”

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/escort-services-in-high-demand-by-perverted-davos-elite-at-wef/

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I’m really starting to suspect the theory about obummer setting up ultra maggot could be true. NARA says they weren’t aware of any documents “missing” from obummer’s tenure. he could have sent anyone to see UM and plant documents–NOT absolving UM–he probably took them. but i can see obummer being that much of a bastard.
    and NARA doesn’t HAVE obummer’s documents, they’re still not in their possession…so would they KNOW what was missing?

    Like

  26. Liked by 1 person

    1. hmmmmmm…do you think there’s a connection between gatesofhell get blasted on twitter so much that he disabled comments to the top 3 asswipes not showing up at davos? perhaps someone threatened him? that might explain the pull out…
      after all, those 3 think they deserve to live forever

      Liked by 1 person

        1. OR…how about this? (LOL)
          the top three found out about a plot to destroy davos crowd and they bailed cuz they want it all for themselves!!! the rats will eat their own for ultimate power…LOL

          Liked by 1 person

  30. Nostrings
    January 17, 2023 11:45 am

    Real or kabuki?

    What is going on here?

    Threats incoming today. One of Ronna’s state chair supporters responded to my message about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by threatening me with consequences if I didn’t make the “annoying” text messages from voters stop (no one on my team has asked anyone to text members)/

    — Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) January 17, 2023

    2/ Another person on my team got a threatening call from a $$$ RNC consultant for raising questions about RNC’s highest-paid vendors. Message delivered was that my supporter would never work on a certain presidential campaign or for RNC if they didn’t shut up./

    — Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) January 17, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

  31. they’re here illegally and demanding things and doing FURTHER illegal things…we are voting they say.
    FTA

    This past week, as the House Transportation committee heard HF 4 which would provide driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, this testifier told members:

    “We are voting. Our people are voting. If you don’t pass this bill, people are going to vote you all out.”

    Pretty audacious. pic.twitter.com/3kN68QiTiM

    — Walter Hudson (@WalterHudson) January 14, 2023

    snip
    Illegal immigrants were eligible for driver’s licenses in Minnesota until 2003, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty established a requirement that applicants demonstrate proof of legal residence.

    Democrats are also pushing a bill to bring automatic voter registration to Minnesota, which means those who apply for a driver’s license or other state benefits can be eligible to register to vote at the same time.

    However, the bill clarifies that automatic voter registration is limited to those with “documentation or verification of United States citizenship” or to cases where “records reflect that the applicant provided proof of citizenship during a previous agency transaction.”

    https://alphanews.org/daca-recipient-to-minnesota-lawmakers-we-are-voting/

    Liked by 1 person

  33. the illegals traisping thru and squatting in farmer’s fields are ruining crops and those crops cannot be sold–because of potential contaminants…these people ruin and steal a lot. this is NOT sustainable!
    FTA
    “We’ve gotten a fair amount of traffic through and around our fields and through the whole entire Yuma Valley,” local farmer Hank Auza told Fox News. He told reporters that his properties cover several thousand acres with fields near Morelos Dam, where there are major gaps in the wall.

    “Where the gaps are opens up to more farm ground for them to walk across,” said Auza, “we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just on our farm for food safety.”

    Auza said that a neighboring farmer lost nearly $100,000 in crops after a handful of migrants hid squatted on his land for a week.

    “Now you start failing food safety audits, and there is no insurance in the produce business … so you eat that,” Auza added.

    His neighbor claimed that he could not harvest the affected crops in case they were contaminated with diseases brought by the illegal aliens, which could lead to foodborne illness.

    “This is the largest humanitarian disaster we’ve had in this country,” Auza said, “and part of the country is happy that it’s happening. I don’t get why.”

    Yuma’s agricultural production is vital to this country, Muller told Fox News. “This is produce that we’re growing for the whole country, and it should be protected,” said Muller.

    He made a plea to the Biden administration to close the gaps in the border wall and start enforcing stricter immigration policies to assist the overwhelmed Border Patrol.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/arizona-farmers-say-illegal-alien-traffic-through-fields-contaminates-crops-and-threatens-food-security_4988489.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport

    Like

  34. JAN 17 • 1HR 7M
    “If We Have the Truth on Our Side… Why Aren’t We Winning? Whether it’s election fraud, covid, January 6th or even draining the swamp, we continually expose the truth yet rarely succeed in our mission.”

    EXCERPT: “There’s a pattern weaving through all of these important issues we’ve been fighting to expose… First, we investigate and expose the truth. Then, some leaders rise up to “fight the good fight.” They file lawsuits or lay out the game plan to fix said problem. And finally, everything implodes and we all ask, “What happened?”

    We saw this happened with the fight over Election Fraud. Many of us were doing everything we could to investigate and expose the fraud. Then we had attorneys like Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Lin Wood running all over the country like madmen filing lawsuits and speaking at events, claiming that the Kraken would soon be released. We just had to “trust the plan.”

    How did that work out? The wrong people filed the wrong lawsuits making the wrong arguments in the wrong states. Cases were thrown out on standing, many legitimately. Think about it… why would the Attorney General of Texas have standing to sue about the election process in Pennsylvania? You know who should’ve sued? The Pennsylvania Republican Party, or even the National Republican Party.

    After a while, the madness began to implode. With cases getting thrown out and the Arizona Audit resulting in virtually nothing, the hubbub died down and nothing was fixed. I kept warning that we’d have a repeat of 2020 during the Mid-Terms if we don’t do anything to fix the election system, which turned out to be true. Nothing happened. People trusted that our leaders would save the day, which clearly did not happen.”

    https://jeffdornik.substack.com/p/if-we-have-the-truth-on-our-side

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I can’t understand how ANY voter does NOT have standing to file a lawsuit about election fraud. If your vote gets canceled by a fraudulent vote–you’re affected and have standing!

      Liked by 1 person

  35. “Dr Anthony Fauci remains on government payroll and receives taxpayer-funded security detail, despite ‘retiring’ at end of 2022 — Federal bureaucrat still gets taxpayer-funded salary, benefits, and security.”

    Jordan Schachtel
    19 min ago

    EXCEPT: “We’ve been bamboozled. Despite claiming to have retired at the end of last year, Dr. Anthony Fauci remains on staff in the Government Health bureaucracy at the NIH and maintains his status as the highest paid bureaucrat in the federal government. Additionally, Fauci has secured an indefinite taxpayer-funded security detail, The Dossier has confirmed.

    Fauci remains on staff at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) so that he maintains eligibility for a taxpayer-funded U.S. Marshals detail, which involves more than half a dozen agents on a full time detail.”

    https://dossier.substack.com/p/dr-anthony-fauci-remains-on-government

    Liked by 1 person

  38. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

    j x
    January 17, 2023 12:36 pm

    Why would Biden’s “personal attorney,” Dana Remus, who’d worked with Obama-apptd Archivist David Ferriero to “review” Trump’s records – “discover” Top Secret papers Biden kept at his private DC office … and REPORT the discoveries?

    Remus left WH 1 mo before “discovering” them.

    — Shukri Abdirahman (@ShuForCongress) January 15, 2023

    .

    Why would Biden’s personal attorney Dana Remus “review” Trump’s records?

    Liked by 1 person

  41. “Why Is The FBI Hiding Seth Rich’s Two Laptops? One lawyer thinks the official story about the 2016 DNC email leak is about to explode”

    Emerald Robinson
    11 min ago

    EXCERPT: “Officially, the DNC staffer Seth Rich was murdered in a bungled burglary on July 10th, 2016. The problem with this story is that the FBI has been forced to admit recently that it has not only a copy of Seth Rich’s home laptop, but also his work laptop. Attorney Ty Clevenger has been responsible for discovering these facts — using FOIA requests.

    Why would the FBI have Seth Rich’s two computers — unless Seth Rich was involved in the DNC email leak?

    The latest update on this bombshell story arrived on December 9th, when the FBI provided a new 8-page memo to Ty Clevenger. The FBI admits to having both Seth Rich’s personal laptop and his work laptop. It also claims that the work laptop should not be subject to any FOIA requests because the FBI “collected it from a non-government third party.” The FBI also admits that “an outside entity” made “an image of the work laptop.” The agency does not want to turn over any records regarding the work laptop, of course.

    Here’s the memo.”

    https://emeralddb3.substack.com/p/why-is-the-fbi-hiding-seth-richs

    Liked by 1 person

  42. YUP…we DESERVE PICTURES

    Liked by 1 person

  43. There was another notable Brinks robbery in 1981 – and I have always suspected Ø was involved. His people were involved: “The 1981 Brink’s robbery was an armed robbery and three related murders committed on October 20, 1981, by several Black Liberation Army members and four former members of the Weather Underground, now associated with the May 19th Communist Organization.” …..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Brink%27s_robbery

    Liked by 1 person

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  49. egg on their face…LOL
    FTA

    The National Archives dismissed reports about mishandled documents from the Obama-Biden administration as “false and misleading” just weeks before the first batch of classified documents were uncovered at the Penn Biden Center last fall.

    The National Archives responded to questions about the documents on Oct. 11, less than a month before classified documents would be found at the Biden think tank in Washington. It argued that all documents from Obama administration had been “securely moved” to locations that met “strict archival and security standards.”

    “Reports that indicate or imply that those Presidential records were in the possession of the former Presidents or their representatives, after they left office, or that the records were housed in substandard conditions, are false and misleading,” the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) wrote.

    NARA did not respond to a request for comment on whether President Biden’s garage in Wilmington, Delaware met its “strict archival and security standards.”

    I bet they didn’t respond. They wanted everyone to believe that the Obama administration had done everything correctly with classified documents. Now we find out that’s simply not true.

    https://therightscoop.com/national-archives-caught-with-egg-on-their-face-after-classified-documents-found-at-bidens-think-tank-home/

    Liked by 1 person

  50. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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