WEBVTT - Practice Should Have Made Perfect: The Great Brink's Robbery 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:07.960 Zaren Ay, Elizabeth, how are you doing pretty well? You're 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:09.480 going forward to seeing you this week? 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:10.760 Yeah, it's good to see you. 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.000 That didn't seem very emphatic. It seemed like a kind 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.759 of like a checklist. I said it, how are you? 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.400 How are you feeling? Listen? You know it's ridiculous. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.640 I do tell me. I'm gonna put you on the 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.239 spot here. Okay, Okay, I saw something. I thought this 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.160 will be a fun thing to ask, Elizabeth, because it's ridiculous. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:33.920 There are six US state capitals west of Los Angeles, 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:35.840 and that wild you just told me. I didn't picture. 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.320 I didn't think about that. Can you name all six? 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.400 Juno correct? Honolulu? 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.400 Correct? 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:46.760 What's the Oregon one? 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:47.440 Salem? 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.519 Salem correct? What's Washington? 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.400 Olympia correct? 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.600 Okay, what's that for? 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:57.040 Two? 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.680 Two more that are west of Los Ane Jelous, Sacramento. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:03.760 Yes, look at you. That's the trick one. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:14.440 That's the trick one. West of La? What's Idaho? 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.160 But I think it's is it? No? 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:23.319 I don't know west of La. I don't know what's 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:24.360 which one? Am I missing? 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:29.119 Carson City, Nevada? Carson City's west of LA barely. So 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.000 if you go is that you go down by degrees 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.320 west of Greenwich, England. Right, so you go with the latitude. Uh, 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.640 the it is actually the longitude rather, it is a 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.039 Carson City is at one hundred and eighteen point two 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.880 eight one seven and La is at one eighteen point 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:50.560 two four three seven barely. Like we're talking like it's 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:55.080 thirty miles at most. Yeah, wow, maybe like more like 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:55.640 ten miles. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.120 I wouldn't have even thought that they were like on 0:01:58.640 --> 0:01:59.040 the same. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.640 Oh. No, I know this because of when I was young, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:03.840 I bought up you know, I often mentioned how I 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.840 wanted to be a con man. So the magician and 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.880 actor Harry Anderson from Night Court, he had a book, right, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.040 and in his book he tells the story about conning 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.200 people in a bar by saying which was further west Reno, Nevada, 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.840 or Los Angeles. And so that's how I remembered that 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.120 Carson City, because I know where Carson City is located. 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:25.240 Clinos west of Carson City, No slightly, no cards the way, 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.800 Carson City is like a little bit of further west 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:28.359 than Reno. 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:29.919 Because Reno you have to come down out of the 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:31.680 mountains where Carson City is kind of butted right up 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:32.400 against the mountains. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.359 Okay, I'm looking at I'm like imagining the map, and. 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.519 So it was a difference. And then so what ended 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:38.919 up happening is the guy who was like one of 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:40.480 the bar bets before there was Google and you could 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:41.960 look it up. So they had like one of those 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.720 encyclopedias in the bar to settle bar bets, and so 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.480 he pushed it around to the bartender to announce who 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.800 had won, and then he said that Reno was further 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.160 westn Los Angeles, and the guy had to pay off, 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.200 and then inside the encyclopedia was the money he had slipped. 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.840 The bartender to would say it was reversed. And so 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:02.480 I always remembered that that's how I remember Carson City, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:03.720 because I know it's just a little bit west, and 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:05.840 I was like, okay, boom, So there you go, there's 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.359 all six ridiculous. Huh, that is ridiculous. I thought it 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.640 kind of fun, man, maps, fun with maps. 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.079 Fun with maps. Do you want to know what else 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:14.720 is ridiculous? 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:15.520 I love it. 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:21.280 Planning and planning and planning and practicing and practicing and practicing, 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:45.640 and then having it fall apart. This is Ridiculous Crime, 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:50.080 a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.680 It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:54.960 percent ridiculous. 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:56.040 Oh you damn right. 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:00.920 I am so right. Because we never talk about really 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.560 or especially heinous crimes, patterns emerge, so I mentioned this 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.240 with Randy Lanier. I think some of the details repeat 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.680 themselves across crimes. So they are the drug smugglers, like Randy, 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:19.560 fast cars, fast boats, outrageous behaviors, the art forgers right, 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:24.480 audacious fakes, gullible buyers, shady dealers. Then there are the 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:29.000 car talent yes. Then there are the con artists of 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.839 old and they say that they're about to come into 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.240 money and they've or that they've invented something amazing that 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.400 will basically print money, sometimes literally. We have the Ponzi schemers, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.800 Oh yeah, investments that are too good to be true, 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.440 because they aren't. They tell wild lies to hide their 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.120 monetary shell game. And then we have the heist crews. 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.560 They plan, they scheme, they dig, they wear wigs. 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.280 They have to trust each other, they split the money. 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.640 They don't trust each other. So what separates each from 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.160 the other are the characters, So the people are what 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.840 make the crimes ridiculous. Sometimes we don't tell stories about 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:06.800 these types of crimes because the purp is really like 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:11.279 mentally ill or severe drug addict that's punching down to 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.720 laugh at their ridiculous do that no, And like sometimes 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.760 we get charmed by a ridiculous purp pulling like a 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:21.400 basic crime. So like remember Pretty Pants banned it. The 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.400 name is what sold me. So today I have a 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.800 heist for you. And I was actually positive we'd done 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.800 this one before. Well, it was called at one point 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.960 the Heist of the Century, like so many that we discuss, 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.719 and the venue seemed familiar, like the target. But I searched, 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.919 and I searched through our case file, archive of episodes, 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.360 through my own notes. Nothing but it just hits many 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.600 of the notes that we've talked about before. But this 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:54.479 one has characters, and like many heists, it's super cinematic. 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.279 And one of the things that I loved about remember 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.960 Hatton Gardens, the British heist that I covered long ago, 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:04.320 was that guy Richie like cast of characters. Yeah, I 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.600 have such a cast of characters today. It's like the 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.599 mid Century Boston equivalent. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.039 Oh my god, I hope they have nicknames. 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:12.760 Oh yeah, so who is this gang? 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:14.200 Right? Who is this gang? Elizabeth. 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:18.200 We're gonna start with Joseph Big Joe McGinnis. Yes, so, 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.080 Joseph McGinnis. He ran a liquor store in the Roxbury 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.520 section of Boston and was widely regarded in law enforcement 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.719 circles as like one of the dominant figures in the 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:30.640 Boston Underworld. 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.240 And from what I understand from watching my recent Vietnam movies, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:36.080 that used to be a black part of town. So 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.560 he was really he was selling. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:43.039 Yeah, yeah, Well, he had previous convictions for robbery, narcotics violations, 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.640 all these other like Underworld sources said that he was 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.520 totally capable of planning and executing a complex and ambitious heist. 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.600 Then we have Joseph James Specs O'Keefe. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:57.480 Yes, I assume he wears glasses. 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.880 Yeah, Specs, as you can guess, wore glasses. Still, he 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.440 was one of the gang's primary strong arm men. 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.120 Oh so, he was strong valued. 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.640 For his nerves, experience with weapons. He had a track 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.200 record of like pulling off these really dangerous criminal operations. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:14.640 Do the like a Korea war Vet. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.800 Spex O'Keefe, No, because we're not there yet. Spec o'keeff 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.240 had a reputation for courage under pressure, I'm like bad guys, 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.560 and he had a long criminal record. He had convictions 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.600 for illegal gambling other offenses. 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:28.840 By the way, what era are we in. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.880 We're at late forties, early fifties, Okay, okay, I was 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:37.760 going to get to that. So Stanley Gus Gussiora. Gus 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:41.800 was fearless. He was known as the enforcer. So like 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.880 Specs O'Keefe, he had this really crazy criminal record. He 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:50.560 was known for his experience with violence with weapons. Those two, 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.000 Gus and Spex had worked together on a bunch of 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.560 like criminal enterprises, and they were seen as this natural team. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.120 They're both like cool headed experience. They were reliable when 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:01.840 things went wrong. 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:03.720 Good to have two cool headed enforcers. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.280 Yeah, then we have Henry Baker. Henry Baker doesn't have 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:07.960 a cool nickname. 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:09.760 We call him Henry the Baker, Henry the Baker. 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.960 He was a career criminal. His adult life was just 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:18.440 like punctuated by you know, spells in jail at the 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.160 time of the heightst that I'm going to tell you about. 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:25.760 He had only recently been released from a prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts, 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.120 where he'd been serving two concurrent four to ten year 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:33.640 terms for breaking and entering, larceny and possession of burglary tools. 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.240 So he got out on parole. True, yeah, oh yeah, 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.440 he got paroled five months before the robbery I'm going 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.359 to talk about. So his parole status made his participation 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.760 in this heights really reckless. 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:47.840 He must. 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.880 Yeah, well see that's the thing we're going to get into. 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:53.400 That maybe emotionally emotional. 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.520 Yeah. So then we have Vincent James Costa. He was 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.920 the lookout. He got plugged in because he was the 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:07.160 main guy's brother in law, Adolph Jazz Maffy Jazz Jazz maffew. 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.600 I couldn't find out how he got his nickname, but 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.440 it made me think about how when I want to 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.640 get my dog Montielle riled up, I call him jazz catspond. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.200 Oh yeah, he goes nuts jazz cat and he like 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:20.680 starts running around and. 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.280 Yeah it was like rough housing, not like doing jazz hands. 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:26.040 No no, no, yeah, he like skidaddles and he runs and 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.319 he jumps on things and he chases Rosie. But jazz 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.760 Cat so maybe that's what happened to this guy when 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:39.480 you said Jazz would he was your basic solid Boston 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:44.040 hard man. And then we have Michael Vincent Vinnie Gigan. 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:52.280 So Vinnie he's our next team. It's not an original nickname, Vinnie. 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.000 He pealed along with some of the other guys. Like 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:59.440 that's how he got pulled into it. This name James 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:04.600 Ignation Charity, he's also part of the team. No known nickname, 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.280 but his government name makes me think that he looked, 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.160 as my grandmother used to say, like he had a 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:14.480 Mappa Ireland on his face. James Ignatius, So he'd done 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.360 time for armed robbery before, not a criminal greenhorn. Then 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:23.040 we have Thomas Francis, Sandy Richardson's Sandy richards as our 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:23.439 next guest. 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.200 That sounds like a fifty sitcom star like female, like 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:27.640 the wife Sandy Richardson. 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:32.400 Sandy was basically James Fardy two point zero. Like they 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:37.000 they pulled robberies together, they had done time together, they 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:37.720 were best buds. 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.600 So a lot of these guys brought somebody with them. 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.880 Yeah, and that takes us to the driver Joseph Sylvester 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:49.000 Barney Banfield barn He was called Barney because he was 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:53.480 a large purple dinosaur. I have no idea why was 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:55.960 it a reference to racing legend Barney Oldfield. 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:56.880 That's what I was wondering. 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:58.760 Banfield Oldfield total. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.640 Seems like it's right there. Yeah, and to be and 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:02.520 he's a driver. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.280 Who knows, but to be completely transparent, who cares, you know? 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:07.280 Put it there? 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.720 So Banfield, he was known as an exceptionally skilled driver, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.200 and that made him invaluable during getaways. Obviously, so his 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.240 specialty had been burglary rather than armed robbery, but he 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.520 was known to carry a gun, and that brings us 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:31.880 to the star of the show, Anthony Fats. Pino Fats, 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:36.960 a large Man, was a seasoned Boston hoodlum with this 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.320 long reputation as an expert quote case man, so someone 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.840 who meticulously studied targets before striking. He was born in Italy, 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.600 naturalized US citizen, had this long criminal record, deep roots 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.920 in the Boston underworld, and he had a rare talent 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:58.800 for studying a target, identifying the vulnerabilities, and then coming 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.200 up with a very precise plan of attack. According to 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.440 one gang member who spoke with The Boston Globe later on, 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.240 Pino quote had no equal and was very energetic when 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.240 it comes to stealing. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.040 Huh, I might have called him dude. 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.440 He really he the guy really liked and respected his energy. 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:18.000 Yeah, don't why not? 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.760 It sounds like, yeah, the hoodloman in me recognizes the hoodloman. 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:21.920 You. 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:29.320 So, Fat's Pino had been a principal suspect in a 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:33.199 bunch of major robberies and burglaries in Massachusetts. He had 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.400 been surveilling profitable Boston locations for years, and he had 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.839 fixed his ambitions on the Brinks. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.640 Building, So he was just always window shopping targets essentially. 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.440 Yeah, he was casing the joint perpetually. So he saw 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:50.680 the Brinks building and he recognized that it regularly held 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.560 enormous amounts of cash and that the security was like 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:59.559 formidable on paper, but he it had really observable routines 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.360 and vulnerabilities. So you were asking where in time are 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.240 we The initial planning for all this took place in 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:10.400 nineteen forty seven, forty seven, forty seven, Like, hey, Wikipedia, 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.840 what was going on in Boston in nineteen forty seven? 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.280 Elizabeth? What was now? 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:15.839 Ask Wikipedia? 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.400 Well, Elizabeth, and Wikipedia informed me. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.680 So the Boston Trailer Park was established. I don't know 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:23.200 what that is, but I didn't feel like looking at 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.160 it that. Okay, old John Hancock Building was built. 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:27.920 Yeah, I do know that. John F. 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:32.440 Kennedy became US Representative for the eleventh Congressional District his 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:32.960 first election. 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:34.960 Right, that's when he gets elected, he joins Congress. 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.079 Wally's Nightclub went into business. 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:38.160 Well, hooray. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:43.280 Mayor James Michael Curley was imprisoned and John Hines became 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.800 the acting mayor, And so I scanned some stuff about 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.280 Mayor Curley. I think he may deserve an episode. 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:49.800 Really. 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.559 He served four terms as mayor of Boston between nineteen 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.679 fourteen and nineteen fifty. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.840 Four, different terms obviously not concurrent. I mean they were 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:00.800 just like sporadic. 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.800 Yeah, he ran for mayor in every election for which 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:05.400 he was legally qualified. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.040 Oh like that. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:12.000 He was busted twice for bribery during his He did 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.760 time during his last term as mayor. During its term, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:19.000 he also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts. 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:20.040 Like the guy's a legend. 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.760 Anyway, there's no law in the book says mayor can't. 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.880 Be in prison, right, So anyway, that was Boston when 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.800 Fats was scoping the scene for a heist target like it. 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.480 So he settled on Brinks and he got to work. 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.600 But in nineteen forty eight, after months of early planning, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:39.000 Fats discovered that Brinks had relocated to a new building 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.400 at one sixty five Print Street. So they didn't abandon 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:47.080 the scheme, okay, Fats and his associates pivoted and they 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.680 started a fresh, very painstaking surveillance of the new location. 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:52.720 A lot of more sandwiches and cars and. 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.600 Oh yeah, oh, a lot of like scribbled notes in pencil. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.840 So Fat studied the building's window lighting patterns to figure 0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:03.080 out when staff were in there, when the vault was open, 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.760 when the fewest guards were on duty, And so he 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.520 figured out that the optimal window for the robbery was 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.040 just after seven PM, when the vault would still be 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.400 unlocked for the evening count, but staff members would be reduced. 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:21.120 So the gang's prep was like extraordinary in its detail. 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:23.720 Over a period of a bunch of months, members of 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:28.040 the crew physically broke into the building on multiple occasions 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.200 after business hours, not to steal, but to study. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.600 Just to see, like is this window rigged or something? 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.480 They just got in there. They mapped the interior, they 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.840 learned the layout of the counting room and the vault. 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.680 Then they pulled one of the most audacious elements I've 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.160 ever seen in one of these operations. They removed each 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.560 lock from the building's doors one by one, and then 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:53.080 they had duplicate keys made for each They swapped the locks. Huh, 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:58.360 and then they replaced the locks before anyone noticed. So 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:00.920 they sneak in, take the lock out, get a key made, 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:02.680 bring the lock back. Now they have a key to 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:03.160 that door. 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.040 So that's crazy. 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.720 This is on the level of those like who built 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.320 scale models and the insides of the vaults inside totally. 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.760 But this was like you're putting back the original lots 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.520 to their key still just for the time while the 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.240 lock is being replaced or you're being key they're carrying in. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.120 There, they're in there when they're keying it. They're doing 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:21.720 it that night. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:26.520 Oh they're they're keying the lock and yes, wow. 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.640 So they could just walk through like they own the place. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.360 When the time came, got a janity. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:34.840 Specs and gusts, they got their myths on the plans 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.560 for the building's alarm system, and they put them back 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.000 before the absence was even detected. This was the major 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.600 thing there gave them intimate knowledge of how to avoid 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:50.280 triggering any alerts. They conducted multiple full practice runs in 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.600 the building in the months leading up to the robbery, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:57.680 coming in after hours to walk the route, practice their timing, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.720 identify any remaining obstacles, so they didn't use a scale model. 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.000 They practiced in the real thing completely. 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:04.840 This is amazing. 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.040 By the time they acted, they'd planned and rehearsed for 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.399 roughly two years. Two years they did. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.000 Somebody who walked through and I wonder why they're on 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:14.640 this show. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.280 Right, Well, okay, so they stole two cars in prep 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.399 for this. One was a green nineteen forty nine Ford 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.800 Steak body truck with a canvas top. That's what they're 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.920 going to use to carry the loot. The other one 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:28.840 was a Sedan that they were going to use to 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:30.639 block any cops who gave chase. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:31.320 So smart. 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:35.080 Both were stolen from locations in like the Greater Boston area. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:39.159 Let's take a break there. They're prepped, they're ready, and 0:17:39.200 --> 0:18:03.520 when we return, they strike. All right, Zarin, So we've 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.880 got this rogues gallery setting up to burgle the Brinks 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:08.400 building in Boston. 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.760 And one of the most meticulous and just downright like 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:13.680 professional crews we've come across. 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.399 Yes, they have gone above and beyond in their prep. 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.200 They didn't just plan any abstract They ran scrimmages. It 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:22.760 would beta test it totally. 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.880 It feels like something if you were to go criminal, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.480 this is how you would do it. You know, you 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.200 want to get everything absolutely right, totally, totally. 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.200 So by early January nineteen fifty the gang was ready okay, 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.760 but even then they didn't pull it off on the 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.159 first attempt. According to later accounts, the crew made at 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.359 least five aborted runs to the building on the days 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.960 leading up to January seventeenth, nineteen fifty. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:48.920 Five times they thought they were going to pull the job, 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:50.240 and then they aborted. 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.520 And each time they stopped because conditions weren't exactly right. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:54.640 They didn't want to take a chance. 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.600 The ViBe's not right, Yeah, the vibes was off. 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.920 So their lookout. Vincent Costa, that's Fats, his brother in law. 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.159 He was going to position himself in a room in 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.960 a tenant building across Prince Street with a flashlight. He 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.119 would watch through a window for the vault to be open, 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.320 and when he signaled all clear of the crew would 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.960 proceed smart. So on the evening of January seventeenth, nineteen fifty, 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.080 members of the gang assembled in the Roxbury section of Boston. 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.680 Joseph Banfield, the driver, took the wheel of the stolen 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.480 Ford truck. In the rear of the truck, we had 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:33.760 Fats Pino, Spex, O'Keeffe, Baker, Faride, Jazz Mafi, Gusciura, Gigan, 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:35.200 and Richardson. 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:36.399 Quite the crew. 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.240 Yeah, Joseph McGinnis, the financial and logistics guy. He was 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:44.399 present in the getaway vehicle, and Costa was already in 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.520 his post across the street. So at about six fifty 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.600 five pm, Costa saw the vault being opened and gave 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:54.040 the flashlight signal. So the truck moves into position near 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:59.960 the Prince Street entrance. Seven members of the gang Specs, O'Keeffe, Gusciura, Baker, Jazz, Matfi, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.920 f Gigan, Ferridy and Richardson. They got out and approached 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.800 the building. Each of them had on a navy pea 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.679 coat and a chauffeur's cap that looked just like the 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:15.200 uniforms worn by Brinks employees. Oh, it's a classic look. 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.120 That's really timeless. Cool. 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.080 I've been looking for one recently. A pea coat. 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:20.960 Pea coat. I love a pea coat. It's very like 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:26.360 Beatnick proto hipster Lower East Side artist moment and ps. 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.280 Describing a fashion look as a moment is like nails 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:31.159 on a chalkboard for me, which is why I just 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.120 did that. I like to hurt myself that. So they 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.399 had these rat outfits on, but they were also wearing 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:43.359 gloves and rubber sold shoes. Theaters sparkly gloves, they elbow gloves, 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:48.480 the gloves rubber sold shoes to muffle their footsteps, and 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.359 they were wearing rubber Halloween masks. To be more specific, 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.480 they wore Captain Marvel masks, which basically I saw a 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:00.040 picture and it looked like Tony Curtis wearing makeups. So 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:03.400 they were in like some like it hot cosplay. It's 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.639 exactly what I was like. So each man was carrying 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.240 a thirty eight caliber revolver. 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.119 Okay, this is very much giving like Kubricks the killing. 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.280 I'm liking this. Yeah, where they robbed with the clown 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.520 mass they robbed the racetrack. 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:18.840 Or point break or point break you know when point 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:22.600 Break came out nineteen ninety one, correct, Yeah, you are, 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:24.600 they answered in a form of a question. 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:26.440 What is nineteen ninety FFI. 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:31.159 Thank you so. Using their copied keys, they passed silently 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.840 through the buildings locked doors, made their way to the 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:38.080 counting room, where five Brinks employees were at work. The 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:42.600 employees were caught totally off guard. The mask men herded 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.040 them together, bound their hands behind their backs with ropes, 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.600 sealed their mouths with adhesive tape, and then they forced 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:53.440 them to lie face down on the floor. No one 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.760 was struck or physically harmed beyond the restraint, so the 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:01.280 robbers then worked quickly in a fish they stuffed cash 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:05.840 coin's check securities money orders into these fourteen large canvas 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:11.000 bags that they had. Yeah, things were going smoothly, or 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:16.000 were they? Yeah? So Zarin, close your eyes, yes, I 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:31.119 want you to picture it. You are Sherman Smith, a 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:34.480 cashier at the BRINKX vault. You and two other cashiers, 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.000 as well as two messengers, are currently bound and gagged 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:40.240 on the floor of the vault while a crew guys 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:43.720 in very strange looking masks raided the room around you. 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:46.680 They made their way into the vault in silence, taking 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.520 you all off guard as they directed you all to 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:52.240 the floor. They took your side arms. There's a rack 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.040 of shotguns along the wall, but you all realized it 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:57.239 would be a death wish to make for them when 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.439 the robbers entered the room with their thirty eighths. So 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:03.320 here you are on the floor now as they scoop 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:07.000 up their loot, shoving money into bags, whispering to each other, 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.320 knocking over strong boxes. While you do your best to 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:14.080 memorize an accurate description of the criminals, you note that 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:16.960 they are all about the same height. You're trying desperately 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.359 to hear them say one of their names, but all 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:21.879 you can make out are short, muttered, brief directions to 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.240 each other. The crew in the process of trying to 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:28.760 open a very large strong box. You know since you 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.480 just counted it that it contains one million dollars. That's 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:36.240 a whole lot of smackeroos. They're having trouble with this one, though. 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:38.919 It's a toughy one of the best you have. Just 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.199 then a buzzer sounds. The man you suspect is the 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:44.720 gang leader stomps over to you and rips the adhesive 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.080 tape from your mouth. He rolls you over on the 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:51.120 floor and asks what does that buzzer mean you stay calm. 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:54.320 The buzzer sounds again. You tell them it means someone 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.200 wants to get in here. The buzzer sounds, and it's 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.000 the only sound in the room. All work has stopped. 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.280 The robber asks you what happens if no one answers. 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:06.560 You tell him the person may get suspicious and notify 0:24:06.600 --> 0:24:10.280 the cops. Now you know this probably isn't true. Your 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:13.040 guess is that it's Bill Manter, the garage man from 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:15.520 the second floor where the trucks are kept. He has 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:19.040 to come talk to the messengers sometimes about transportation, and 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:21.919 you know he probably won't get suspicious, since he tends 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:23.840 to do this when you are at your busiest up 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:26.399 here at night, and you all generally ignore him for 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:26.800 a while. 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:27.600 He's used to it. 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:31.560 The gang leader asks where the inside buzzer is located. 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:34.280 Sounds like he wants to buzz Bill in and tie 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.679 him up too. Oh, brother, you tell him it's just 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:41.240 outside the doorway before the big door. He steps outside 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.879 to look for it. You hear him walking back and forth, 0:24:44.000 --> 0:24:47.000 his rubber soled shoes squeaking ever so slightly on the 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:51.280 industrial linoleum floors. You don't hear the indoor buzzer sound, 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.680 but the one outside the vault, the one bill is pushing, 0:24:55.040 --> 0:24:58.960 sounds once more. The robber comes storming back in. There's 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:02.679 frantic whispering among the men. Your heart is slamming inside 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:05.920 your chest, but you close your eyes and breathe. One 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.359 of the robbers keeps working on the strong box, pulling 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:11.240 out a small saw and going at the padlock. The 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:14.320 leader tells the gang to wait. They'll count to sixty 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:17.200 and if the buzzer doesn't sound again, they'll make a 0:25:17.280 --> 0:25:20.840 run for it. Everyone is silent the time ticks by. 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.480 Then the leader speaks. He tells his boys to wrap 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:27.240 it up. Leave the box. They can't open, it's too big. 0:25:27.920 --> 0:25:30.520 They grab their bags gingerly open the vault door and 0:25:30.520 --> 0:25:34.600 look both ways, and then scurry away. You let out 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:38.840 a long ex Another cashier asks if everyone is okay. 0:25:39.320 --> 0:25:42.880 You all murmur affirmative replies. One of the messengers rolls 0:25:42.920 --> 0:25:45.640 over to you, and you're now back to back wordlessly, 0:25:45.720 --> 0:25:48.720 with just runs to communicate, you untie each other. You 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:51.320 both quickly rip the tape from your mouths and make 0:25:51.400 --> 0:25:54.800 quick work of freeing your coworkers. Then one of the messengers, 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:57.280 runs over to the phone and calls the cops. It's 0:25:57.320 --> 0:26:01.160 going to be a long night, damn right. In the 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:04.520 span of about a half an hour, the gang loaded 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:08.400 more than half a ton of currency and financial instruments 0:26:08.440 --> 0:26:11.520 into the bags, carried them out to the waiting truck, 0:26:11.600 --> 0:26:13.639 and then drove away into the Boston. 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:15.520 Night thousand pounds of cash on thousand. 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:17.760 Pounds of cash. So they drove to a pre arranged 0:26:17.840 --> 0:26:21.119 safe house where they unloaded the bags and divided a 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:24.480 portion of the loot, and according to later testimony, each 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:28.240 member received about one hundred thousand dollars as an initial share, 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:31.920 initial share, and that's like one point four million today 0:26:33.040 --> 0:26:35.840 a whole hall. So yeah, nineteen fifty one hundred thousand, 0:26:35.880 --> 0:26:38.480 you're like, okay, yeah, the whole haul of two point 0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:42.120 seven to seventy five million then is like thirty eight 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:46.639 million today. Yeah, serious money. So they had already agreed 0:26:46.640 --> 0:26:47.760 that any crazy. 0:26:47.520 --> 0:26:50.160 Missing out on that one million was a big time miss. 0:26:50.160 --> 0:26:52.119 Oh yeah, we're talking, yes, seriously. 0:26:52.480 --> 0:26:55.680 Oh yeah, that's so like whatever half thirty eight is, ohkait. 0:26:55.800 --> 0:26:59.919 So they'd already agreed that any traceable checks and secure 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:04.200 would be held or destroyed and then they made another 0:27:04.240 --> 0:27:07.280 agreement they weren't going to touch the money for six years. 0:27:08.160 --> 0:27:09.679 That's super smart, it was. 0:27:09.760 --> 0:27:13.360 That's the statute of limitations in Massachusetts for armed robbery 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:16.520 very so if they make through the six years, then 0:27:16.520 --> 0:27:18.359 they can't be prosecuted for the crime. 0:27:19.160 --> 0:27:19.600 Wow. 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:19.960 Yeah. 0:27:20.600 --> 0:27:23.280 Also, I mean the problem often with the crew that 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:25.840 big is that one of them goes out and spends 0:27:25.840 --> 0:27:28.320 something and then they all get caught. So one person's 0:27:28.359 --> 0:27:30.080 Cadillac purchase ruins everybody. 0:27:30.080 --> 0:27:30.800 They've seen it. 0:27:30.840 --> 0:27:33.520 So come up with that six year windows from all 0:27:33.560 --> 0:27:33.880 of them. 0:27:33.960 --> 0:27:36.679 Yeah. Yeah, it was a clean run except for the 0:27:36.720 --> 0:27:39.240 buzzer thing with the garage man. And then there was 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:41.359 some other stuff. They left some things behind. One of 0:27:41.359 --> 0:27:45.439 them dropped their chauffeur's cap. There was the rope that 0:27:45.480 --> 0:27:48.200 they used to buying the employees, and then the adhesive 0:27:48.240 --> 0:27:49.480 tape that they put in their mouths. 0:27:49.480 --> 0:27:51.440 But they don't have like DNA evidence that that's the. 0:27:51.359 --> 0:27:53.560 Thing is Like today that would be curtains for them 0:27:53.640 --> 0:27:57.600 because of touch DNA DNA and databases of like rope 0:27:57.640 --> 0:28:00.320 and tape and all that stuff. But back in nineteen fifty, 0:28:00.359 --> 0:28:02.800 these are just like meager traces for the authorities to 0:28:02.840 --> 0:28:07.080 hold onto. So the response by law enforcement was immediate 0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:11.680 and massive, like the front page coverage in the papers 0:28:11.760 --> 0:28:15.800 was crazy. But the police, like the police Commissioner in Boston, 0:28:15.880 --> 0:28:19.720 issued a mobilization order to all precinct captains and detectives, 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:22.879 like within the minutes of getting the call, because they knew, 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:26.000 like the Brinx cashiers could tell how much was taken, 0:28:26.480 --> 0:28:29.120 and so they knew the magnitude of this. The Boston 0:28:29.119 --> 0:28:32.919 Police superintendent looked through the emptied vault and was like, 0:28:33.119 --> 0:28:36.400 saw all the methodical nature everything, and he told reporters 0:28:36.400 --> 0:28:39.200 he had no doubt it was an inside job. Really, 0:28:39.280 --> 0:28:43.120 oh yeah, And he figured that like they had the blueprints, 0:28:43.200 --> 0:28:45.680 they must have had rehearsals. Had to be an inside job. 0:28:46.200 --> 0:28:51.760 So within hours, thirteen people were detained for questioning well 0:28:51.800 --> 0:28:57.120 two including two former Brinks employees, both were quickly exonerated. 0:28:56.480 --> 0:28:59.320 And a couple of people. 0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:03.560 Exactly the more they looked into it, they realized the 0:29:03.600 --> 0:29:07.400 inside job theory was wrong. As we know, j Edgar Hoover, 0:29:07.760 --> 0:29:11.680 director of the FBI, personally took over supervision of the case. 0:29:11.880 --> 0:29:15.760 It was so huge. A lot of media, Yeah, there was. 0:29:16.000 --> 0:29:20.120 The FBI, Massachusetts State Police, Boston Police Department. They all 0:29:20.200 --> 0:29:23.920 launched what would become one of the most intensive investigations 0:29:23.960 --> 0:29:27.600 in American law enforcement history. Over the course of the 0:29:27.600 --> 0:29:32.280 following months and years, years, investigators would interview more than 0:29:32.320 --> 0:29:37.880 one thousand suspects, interrogate virtually every known criminal in Boston, 0:29:38.520 --> 0:29:41.280 and then follow leeds in cities like across the United 0:29:41.280 --> 0:29:42.080 States and beyond. 0:29:42.120 --> 0:29:43.720 So they're going out to Detroit and talking abou the 0:29:43.720 --> 0:29:45.480 Purple Gang, whatever left them. 0:29:45.280 --> 0:29:48.080 And exactly the Purple Gang they go after. So the 0:29:48.200 --> 0:29:52.520 physical evidence discovered outside the vault was like frustratingly thin. 0:29:53.600 --> 0:29:57.720 February fifth, nineteen fifty, a Somerville police officer discovered two 0:29:57.800 --> 0:30:01.000 of the four revolvers that the had taken from the 0:30:01.000 --> 0:30:04.960 Brinks employees in the vault, discarded near the Mystic River. 0:30:05.280 --> 0:30:07.200 Oh right, and he didn't realize that. He just found 0:30:07.200 --> 0:30:10.400 these guns and entered in the serial numbers in the database, 0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:12.200 and then when it went on to the wire, then 0:30:12.240 --> 0:30:14.320 someone in Boston was like, oh, hold on. 0:30:14.400 --> 0:30:17.120 That's those numbers again. Exactly. 0:30:17.640 --> 0:30:21.200 March fourth, nineteen fifty, pieces of the stolen nineteen forty 0:30:21.320 --> 0:30:25.280 nine Ford truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. 0:30:25.320 --> 0:30:26.400 Pieces of the truck. 0:30:26.200 --> 0:30:30.280 Pieces, a subtlene torch and a sledgehammer had been used 0:30:30.280 --> 0:30:33.719 to dismantle it, so the engine block was smashed, the 0:30:33.760 --> 0:30:39.480 body panels cut apart so that they finding the remains. Though, 0:30:39.560 --> 0:30:42.120 because they had like witnesses who saw truck speeding away, 0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:44.920 they figured, okay, so now we know it's like in 0:30:44.960 --> 0:30:48.160 this area, right. But see they kind of threw them 0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:50.360 off by putting it in Stoughton and then not where 0:30:50.360 --> 0:30:54.120 they really were. Some canvas money bags were found discarded 0:30:54.120 --> 0:30:57.000 in a Boston junk yard, but none of these like 0:30:57.200 --> 0:31:02.360 pointed to an individual. So the initial suspect list compiled 0:31:02.360 --> 0:31:04.600 by investigators numbered ninety. 0:31:04.280 --> 0:31:07.160 Three people three the initial list. 0:31:07.400 --> 0:31:10.080 By spring of nineteen fifty, they narrowed it to eighty eight. 0:31:11.040 --> 0:31:15.880 By nineteen fifty three, it stood at forty four. Three 0:31:15.960 --> 0:31:19.160 years down the line, tips came in from the public 0:31:19.160 --> 0:31:21.240 from the underworld. Most of them are totally useless. 0:31:21.240 --> 0:31:22.760 The young Malcolm X was on the list. 0:31:22.920 --> 0:31:27.520 Yes. An anonymous caller on the second anniversary of the 0:31:27.600 --> 0:31:30.720 robbery claimed to know the truth. Seems a man in 0:31:30.760 --> 0:31:34.840 New Jersey was reported to be spending lavishly. They investigated 0:31:34.960 --> 0:31:39.320 eliminated the Purple Gang. As you said, they were under scrutiny, 0:31:39.360 --> 0:31:42.360 but then they got ruled out. Other Prohibition era bootlegging 0:31:42.400 --> 0:31:48.080 gangs were looked into similarly cleared. Meanwhile, the FBI encountered 0:31:48.160 --> 0:31:51.760 a wall of silence from the Boston underworld, which isn't 0:31:51.840 --> 0:31:55.360 much of a surprise. But see, there always rats. 0:31:54.880 --> 0:31:57.320 Exactly, or somebody who needs to, like, you know, get 0:31:57.360 --> 0:31:59.880 out of something or maybe do a favor, because. 0:31:59.680 --> 0:32:04.000 There to sts are saying yeah, no. So the criminal 0:32:04.120 --> 0:32:07.560 sources were like uniformly unhelpful, even the ones who had 0:32:07.600 --> 0:32:12.240 always been helpful before. One suspect told agents quote, if 0:32:12.280 --> 0:32:14.720 I knew who pulled the job, I wouldn't be talking 0:32:14.720 --> 0:32:16.680 to you now because I'd be too busy trying to 0:32:16.680 --> 0:32:18.360 figure out a way to lay my hands on some 0:32:18.440 --> 0:32:24.400 of the loot. He's honest. So the investigation continued with 0:32:24.520 --> 0:32:26.400 like little to no momentum. 0:32:26.600 --> 0:32:29.840 The criminal of that statement is so amazing. I'm trying 0:32:29.840 --> 0:32:32.240 to get my fingers on it. I already got agendas. 0:32:33.240 --> 0:32:35.680 Let's take a break, and when we return, we're going 0:32:35.760 --> 0:32:58.400 to join them and see how they're coming along, all right, 0:32:58.520 --> 0:33:01.479 zaren yes, all right, So here we are Brinks, the 0:33:01.520 --> 0:33:02.680 Great Brinks robberies. 0:33:02.800 --> 0:33:05.440 I'm waiting for a young Ted Kennedy to get called 0:33:05.440 --> 0:33:10.320 into this number twelve. Yeah, so no, November of. 0:33:10.320 --> 0:33:15.560 Nineteen fifty two. Actually, I didn't hear that a federal 0:33:15.600 --> 0:33:20.120 grand jury convened her evidence in the case. Jurors didn't 0:33:20.160 --> 0:33:24.000 think there was sufficient evidence to identify the robbers definitively, 0:33:24.560 --> 0:33:26.760 so no indictments were returned. I mean, they were just 0:33:26.760 --> 0:33:30.600 throwing whatever stuck. The FBI is like, we're not giving up. 0:33:31.520 --> 0:33:34.520 They put pressure on the suspects through surveillance. Remember there's 0:33:34.520 --> 0:33:37.760 like forty four suspects at this point. Question a lot 0:33:37.800 --> 0:33:43.280 of right tax investigations they had, like some peripheral results. 0:33:44.200 --> 0:33:47.880 Jazz Maffy ate off. Jazz Maffy. He got convicted of 0:33:47.960 --> 0:33:51.440 income tax evasion in June of nineteen fifty four and 0:33:51.520 --> 0:33:55.400 did nine months at the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, 0:33:55.400 --> 0:34:00.560 Connecticut because he couldn't explain his income. Okay, there was, 0:34:00.680 --> 0:34:03.280 but it wasn't enough to like legally tie him to 0:34:03.360 --> 0:34:08.040 the robbery. In the spring of nineteen fifty six, you know, 0:34:08.600 --> 0:34:13.400 the Massachusetts legislature, spurred in part by the still unresolved case, 0:34:14.120 --> 0:34:17.240 they raised the state Statute of Limitations for armed robbery 0:34:17.239 --> 0:34:18.480 from six to ten years. 0:34:18.560 --> 0:34:21.080 They bought themselves a double mom did out. Yeah, okre 0:34:21.080 --> 0:34:21.319 we go. 0:34:21.719 --> 0:34:23.840 Congress did the same with a federal statute. 0:34:24.320 --> 0:34:27.799 These guys basically changed laws. They did esscially this crew. Yes, 0:34:28.239 --> 0:34:29.920 you know, they motivated lodging, and. 0:34:29.960 --> 0:34:33.360 Their deadline is like getting further and further away. So 0:34:33.520 --> 0:34:36.960 while investigators worked from the outside, the seeds of the 0:34:37.000 --> 0:34:41.200 gang's destruction were germinating from within. Let's say, oh yeah, 0:34:41.840 --> 0:34:45.320 So the agreement to sit on the money lasted only 0:34:45.360 --> 0:34:47.759 as long as the trust and the money held out, 0:34:48.160 --> 0:34:51.960 which is to say, not long. In June of nineteen fifty, 0:34:52.000 --> 0:34:56.120 just five months after the robbery, SPEC's O'Keeffe and Stanley 0:34:56.239 --> 0:35:00.719 Gusciora they got arrested in Pennsylvania for an unrelated burglary. 0:35:01.400 --> 0:35:02.319 But it's still got to work. 0:35:02.440 --> 0:35:04.680 Well, apparently the one hundred thousand wasn't enough. But again, 0:35:04.719 --> 0:35:08.000 they can't touch it for six years. So Specs O'Keefe 0:35:08.000 --> 0:35:12.560 gets sentenced to three years in Bradford County jail. Gusciura 0:35:12.800 --> 0:35:16.319 received a much harsher five to twenty years in the 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:21.640 Western State Penitentiary in Pittsburgh. So both pleaded total ignorance 0:35:21.840 --> 0:35:24.319 of the Brinks case when FBI agents came to see 0:35:24.400 --> 0:35:27.480 him in prison, but from behind bars, both of them 0:35:27.480 --> 0:35:30.400 were demanding money from the rest of the gang to 0:35:30.560 --> 0:35:34.080 fund their legal defenses. Oh right, yeah, So, according to 0:35:34.239 --> 0:35:40.640 Underworld informants, O'Keefe and Guscura pressed Pino McGinnis, Maffie, Jazz 0:35:40.719 --> 0:35:45.520 Maffe and Baker to kick in money. Most of SPEC's 0:35:45.520 --> 0:35:49.400 O'Keeffe's share of the Brinx loot was already exhausted on 0:35:49.480 --> 0:35:50.160 legal fees. 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:53.600 Are you that much on legal fees? Back then? 0:35:53.760 --> 0:35:56.440 Good portion of it got some real good lawyers, I guess, 0:35:56.520 --> 0:35:58.400 but not good enough to get him. 0:35:58.239 --> 0:35:58.520 Out of it. 0:35:58.960 --> 0:36:02.640 So after O'Keefe was released from his Pennsylvania sentence, he 0:36:02.800 --> 0:36:05.879 was immediately entangled in further legal troubles because he had 0:36:05.920 --> 0:36:09.719 a separate burg recharge and he had parole violations. So 0:36:09.760 --> 0:36:12.080 he finds himself back in custody they put it. They 0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:15.120 release him on seventeen thousand dollars bail, and that ate 0:36:15.200 --> 0:36:19.399 more into his resources, and he's just bitter at this point, 0:36:19.880 --> 0:36:22.480 he's so mad at everyone else is just sitting pretty 0:36:22.880 --> 0:36:25.560 So he thought, with like, you know, some justification that 0:36:25.680 --> 0:36:29.640 everybody else. They were spending their money while stonewalling his 0:36:29.800 --> 0:36:34.840 requests for financial assistance. So he starts writing these threatening 0:36:34.960 --> 0:36:37.920 letters to the rest of the gang from prison, and 0:36:37.960 --> 0:36:40.799 he makes veiled and like not so veiled hints that 0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:44.319 he might talk to authorities, and the gang they took 0:36:44.400 --> 0:36:49.520 the the these threats seriously. Fats Pino is reported to 0:36:49.520 --> 0:36:53.280 have arranged for a contract killer named Elmer Trigger Burke 0:36:54.040 --> 0:36:59.120 a Trigger Burke, a New York professional hit man, to 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:01.920 be brought to Bobus to get rid of O'Keefe. 0:37:02.440 --> 0:37:04.080 When you say broad, does he mean like go out 0:37:04.120 --> 0:37:06.440 there and get arrested and get put inside or just 0:37:06.480 --> 0:37:08.760 like we'll we'll figure out. 0:37:08.800 --> 0:37:11.760 This is when O'Keefe was out on bail. Oh okay, 0:37:11.840 --> 0:37:15.239 So Burke goes from New York to Boston, shoots O'Keefe 0:37:15.239 --> 0:37:19.080 in an ambush. O'Keefe was seriously wounded but survived. 0:37:19.200 --> 0:37:21.440 Oh, trigger, you're not going to use and then. 0:37:21.400 --> 0:37:26.000 Burke he Trigger Burke gets subsequently arrested for an unrelated murder, 0:37:26.000 --> 0:37:31.399 so he's out of the picture. So the FBI approached O'Keefe. 0:37:31.560 --> 0:37:35.719 Specs o'keef when he's in the hospital after years of resentment, 0:37:35.840 --> 0:37:41.960 this financial desperation, this near death experience of an assassination attempt, 0:37:42.560 --> 0:37:47.080 O'Keefe made a decision. On January sixth, nineteen fifty six. Now, 0:37:47.080 --> 0:37:49.239 hold on, let's look at this date. So they robbed 0:37:49.280 --> 0:37:53.760 the place January seventeenth, nineteen fifty This is January sixth, 0:37:53.840 --> 0:37:54.959 nineteen fifty six. 0:37:55.040 --> 0:37:57.080 Yeah, their initial six year promise. 0:37:58.239 --> 0:38:01.880 Yes, he told the FBI agents who visited him, quote, 0:38:02.160 --> 0:38:03.640 all right, what do you want to know? 0:38:05.520 --> 0:38:07.799 I mean, obviously you can't blame him. He just got 0:38:07.840 --> 0:38:11.000 a shot contract killer, and he has to know that 0:38:11.120 --> 0:38:12.640 these are the guys trying to rub me. Yeah. 0:38:13.080 --> 0:38:15.359 I did not get away with it, like they'll they'll 0:38:15.400 --> 0:38:16.040 follow through. 0:38:16.200 --> 0:38:18.040 This wasn't like I want your gold watch. Right. 0:38:18.880 --> 0:38:23.000 So over the following days, O'Keefe just sang. He gave 0:38:23.080 --> 0:38:27.440 investigators an absolutely comprehensive account of the robbery. He spilled 0:38:27.560 --> 0:38:31.359 all of it, about the planning, the participants, the execution, 0:38:31.600 --> 0:38:34.919 the aftermath. He named every member of the crew and 0:38:35.280 --> 0:38:39.239 like described in detail their role in what happened. He 0:38:39.320 --> 0:38:42.520 made it clear that while fats Pino conceived of the 0:38:42.600 --> 0:38:46.359 robbery and or you know, organized the surveillance, it was McGinnis. 0:38:46.400 --> 0:38:50.759 Who was the true operational mastermind. He was the man 0:38:50.960 --> 0:38:53.920 who directed the crew. He did the logistics. He took 0:38:54.000 --> 0:38:58.839 responsibility for eliminating incriminating evidence after the fact. He's the 0:38:58.840 --> 0:39:01.360 one who destroyed the gun, the getaway truck, the clothing. 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:02.560 Yeah, the true mastermind. 0:39:02.640 --> 0:39:06.200 Yeah. The case that had defied law enforcement for nearly 0:39:06.239 --> 0:39:08.920 six years was like suddenly cracked open. 0:39:09.440 --> 0:39:11.279 There was more than the Rosetta stone. He gave them 0:39:11.280 --> 0:39:14.160 the map, phone, a magnifying glass exacly. 0:39:15.080 --> 0:39:19.319 On January eleventh, nineteen fifty six, a Massachusetts state grand 0:39:19.360 --> 0:39:22.640 jury issued indictments for eleven men connected to the robbery. 0:39:23.239 --> 0:39:26.480 Next day, on January twelfth, just five days before that 0:39:26.560 --> 0:39:30.960 statute of limitations would have expired, FBI agents arrested six 0:39:31.120 --> 0:39:37.120 of the suspects simultaneously. Oh Nice Baker, Costa Gigan, Maffie McGuinness, 0:39:37.200 --> 0:39:39.920 and Pinos. It was like four am raised yet totally 0:39:40.120 --> 0:39:42.720 first thing in the morning. Two members of the gang, 0:39:42.880 --> 0:39:47.760 James Ferriday, James Ignatius and Sandy Richardson, they had seen 0:39:47.760 --> 0:39:50.200 the arrest coming and so they went into hiding. 0:39:50.280 --> 0:39:50.680 Smart. 0:39:50.960 --> 0:39:54.239 They were put on the FBI's ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. 0:39:55.040 --> 0:39:59.680 The FBI eventually tracked them to this apartment in Dorchester, Massachusetts. 0:40:00.160 --> 0:40:02.200 Is not far enough, No, where they had been hiding 0:40:02.239 --> 0:40:02.960 for eight weeks? 0:40:03.239 --> 0:40:04.840 Yeah? Wow whatever, Well. 0:40:05.040 --> 0:40:08.040 May sixteenth, this is when they get busted. Plain clothes 0:40:08.080 --> 0:40:10.840 agents like burst through the front door, taken by surprise. 0:40:11.320 --> 0:40:15.360 The Boston Globe reported that behind these like heavily curtained windows, 0:40:15.719 --> 0:40:19.080 the two men had quote lived eight weeks of tedium, 0:40:19.200 --> 0:40:23.120 boredom and frustration, broken only when their confederate sneaked in 0:40:23.160 --> 0:40:24.480 with groceries and liquor. 0:40:25.200 --> 0:40:27.279 Wow. So they're just in there like getting liquored up, 0:40:27.280 --> 0:40:28.239 playing chess and listen to. 0:40:28.200 --> 0:40:30.600 The radio, the radio for eight weeks exactly. 0:40:30.719 --> 0:40:32.400 They must have hated each other's company. 0:40:32.800 --> 0:40:37.400 Man totally so o'keef. He pleaded guilty January eighteenth, nineteen 0:40:37.440 --> 0:40:42.320 fifty six, almost six one year, six years in a day. 0:40:43.000 --> 0:40:46.920 Stanley Guskiura, he was already in custody in Pennsylvania. 0:40:47.560 --> 0:40:49.680 Times he get busted, he got. 0:40:50.120 --> 0:40:53.440 Extradited in Massachusetts, but he died on July ninth, nineteen 0:40:53.480 --> 0:40:56.320 fifty six from a brain tumor before he could stand trial. 0:40:56.440 --> 0:41:00.880 WHOA he was young Joseph Banfield had already died of 0:41:00.960 --> 0:41:04.560 natural causes in January of nineteen fifty five, natural cause, 0:41:04.600 --> 0:41:06.200 at the age of forty five. He probably had a 0:41:06.200 --> 0:41:11.200 heart attack. The trial of the remaining eight defendants began 0:41:11.360 --> 0:41:14.840 on August sixth, nineteen fifty six, before Judge Felix Forte. 0:41:15.600 --> 0:41:18.799 It went until October fifth, nineteen fifty six, so from 0:41:18.800 --> 0:41:22.360 August October, when a jury deliberated for just three and 0:41:22.360 --> 0:41:25.640 a half hours before returning a verdict of guilty against 0:41:25.719 --> 0:41:30.200 all eight. October ninth, nineteen fifty six, Judge Fourte sentenced 0:41:30.239 --> 0:41:33.560 all eight of them to the maximum life imprisonment for robbery, 0:41:34.200 --> 0:41:37.359 two years for conspiracy to steal, and eight to ten 0:41:37.440 --> 0:41:42.040 years for breaking and entering at night. Damn McGinnis, who 0:41:42.120 --> 0:41:45.600 had not been physically present in the building during the robbery, 0:41:46.280 --> 0:41:49.799 he's the masters. He received a life sentence as an 0:41:49.840 --> 0:41:52.960 accessory before the fact, and then he also got three 0:41:53.640 --> 0:41:58.799 the other three concurrent sentences. O'Keefe specs in recognition for 0:41:58.840 --> 0:42:02.239 his cooperation. He got a sentence of four years and 0:42:02.280 --> 0:42:06.160 got out in nineteen sixty. He later collaborated with this 0:42:06.239 --> 0:42:09.520 writer Bob Constantine on a nineteen sixty one book, The 0:42:09.560 --> 0:42:13.600 Men Who Robbed Brinks. All future appeals by all of 0:42:13.640 --> 0:42:14.520 them were rejected. 0:42:15.040 --> 0:42:15.440 Really. 0:42:15.640 --> 0:42:19.799 Yeah, Of the two million, seven hundred seventy five, three 0:42:19.880 --> 0:42:23.840 hundred ninety five dollars and twelve cents stolen on the 0:42:23.920 --> 0:42:28.239 night of January seventeen, nineteen fifty only about fifty eight 0:42:28.280 --> 0:42:29.480 thousand was ever recovered. 0:42:29.600 --> 0:42:32.360 WHOA do you think that they sprinkled it amongst their 0:42:32.400 --> 0:42:33.480 family or they spent it? 0:42:34.160 --> 0:42:36.200 Yeah, it's a little bit of both, you'll see. So 0:42:36.640 --> 0:42:39.840 a bulk of the recovery came from this crazy break 0:42:39.920 --> 0:42:43.320 in the In June of nineteen fifty six, this Boston 0:42:43.360 --> 0:42:46.600 guy named Jordan Perry got caught trying to pass old 0:42:46.719 --> 0:42:51.560 musty bills in Baltimore, and FBI agents traced the currency 0:42:51.600 --> 0:42:54.839 to the Brinx robbery. They found that Perry had been 0:42:54.840 --> 0:42:57.920 given the bills by this Boston man named John Fatz 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:02.920 Bacelli another that's two point zero So second, Fats had 0:43:02.960 --> 0:43:06.480 offered to pay Perry five thousand dollars to pass thirty 0:43:06.520 --> 0:43:10.120 grand of the stolen cash. Agents traced the trail to 0:43:10.480 --> 0:43:14.279 Fatspacelli's office in Boston's South End. 0:43:14.320 --> 0:43:16.360 So this is all based on the fact their money 0:43:16.400 --> 0:43:18.560 smelled sus Yeah, I don't know about that. 0:43:18.680 --> 0:43:22.399 Well, they say, go to fat second Fats office. They 0:43:22.480 --> 0:43:25.640 tear the place apart. Behind a false wall was a 0:43:25.680 --> 0:43:29.279 cooler that had more than fifty seven thousand dollars in 0:43:29.440 --> 0:43:33.839 cash and fifty one almost fifty two thousand of it 0:43:33.920 --> 0:43:36.600 was confirmed to be Brink's loot. But it was just 0:43:36.640 --> 0:43:39.600 all musty in there, and that's why. So the fate 0:43:39.680 --> 0:43:44.160 of the remaining two point seven million was never definitively established. 0:43:44.160 --> 0:43:47.360 There's this author, Stephanie Chorro who wrote The Crime of 0:43:47.400 --> 0:43:49.920 the Century, How the Brinx Robbers stole millions and the 0:43:49.920 --> 0:43:53.040 hearts of Boston, And she figures that the most likely 0:43:53.120 --> 0:43:54.880 explanation is that they spent it. 0:43:55.239 --> 0:43:56.160 That's what it seems like. 0:43:56.280 --> 0:43:59.960 Yeah, and they used it quietly, slowly and on things 0:44:00.080 --> 0:44:06.719 it left no traceable records, So like gambling, drinking, legal fees, investments. 0:44:06.960 --> 0:44:07.200 Yeah. 0:44:07.840 --> 0:44:11.799 So Anthony Fatz Pino, the Originator. He was released on 0:44:11.880 --> 0:44:15.200 parole in nineteen seventy. He died in October of nineteen 0:44:15.239 --> 0:44:19.239 seventy three at the age of sixty seven. Joseph Big 0:44:19.320 --> 0:44:22.400 Joe McGinnis, the Mastermind. He died in prison at Walpole 0:44:22.520 --> 0:44:24.680 State Prison October fifth, nineteen. 0:44:24.440 --> 0:44:25.800 Sixty six, did in prison. 0:44:25.960 --> 0:44:29.759 Yeah, SPEC's o'keef the informant got released, as I said 0:44:29.760 --> 0:44:32.320 in nineteen sixty He died in March of nineteen seventy 0:44:32.320 --> 0:44:34.240 six at the age of sixty seven. 0:44:34.480 --> 0:44:36.880 Now, when Spex got released, do you know anything about 0:44:36.960 --> 0:44:39.640 like if he got back into his community or did 0:44:39.640 --> 0:44:42.719 he have to leave Boston? I mean, like he uh, 0:44:42.760 --> 0:44:43.840 did he die in the area. 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:46.160 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where he went. 0:44:46.280 --> 0:44:47.080 I don't know what he did. 0:44:47.239 --> 0:44:48.279 I was won because he's I. 0:44:48.239 --> 0:44:51.000 Would imagine he got out. I'd imagine he moved far 0:44:51.080 --> 0:44:54.000 far away. What's interesting is a lot of the cashiers 0:44:54.000 --> 0:44:55.719 from their Brinks vault, they moved. 0:44:55.480 --> 0:44:57.800 Far away because it's because they were suspected. 0:44:57.920 --> 0:45:00.319 Well, no, they just it was just too upsett and 0:45:00.400 --> 0:45:03.640 so like when they had to testify. One came from California, 0:45:03.680 --> 0:45:04.640 one came from Florida. 0:45:04.719 --> 0:45:07.839 Oh yeah, they really really moved just go to like, oh, 0:45:07.960 --> 0:45:09.680 I'm out here in whatever town, right. Yeah. 0:45:09.680 --> 0:45:13.080 I think they were like I'm out Stanley gus Guskiura, 0:45:13.280 --> 0:45:17.120 the enforcer, He was the one who was extradited to Massachusetts. 0:45:17.600 --> 0:45:19.960 He never stood trial because of that brain tumor. He 0:45:20.120 --> 0:45:24.000 was thirty seven when he died. He maintained his innocence 0:45:24.040 --> 0:45:28.040 to the end. And he was like mad about O'Keefe 0:45:28.120 --> 0:45:32.000 and the confessions, and he was he was just maybe 0:45:32.000 --> 0:45:36.560 that's what took. Henry Baker, the veteran criminal, died at 0:45:36.600 --> 0:45:39.399 Walpole in sixty one at the age of fifty four. 0:45:39.880 --> 0:45:46.359 A couple during the trial, Baker challenged SPEC's O'Keeffe's credibility 0:45:46.480 --> 0:45:49.320 in a petition to the court. He said O'Keefe was 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:52.879 quote a drug addict, a chronic liar, and one who 0:45:53.000 --> 0:45:56.440 liked to exhibit himself in the nude through that one 0:45:56.800 --> 0:45:58.280 that one in there, plus he's a nudist. 0:45:58.440 --> 0:46:01.239 He air bathed, you know, like and Franklin. 0:46:01.040 --> 0:46:05.960 So Vincent James cost of the Lookout. He got released 0:46:06.000 --> 0:46:09.640 on parole in nineteen sixty nine. In nineteen eighty five, 0:46:09.680 --> 0:46:13.600 he got arrested again on charges of cocaine trafficking huh. 0:46:13.800 --> 0:46:17.319 In nineteen eighty eight he got divorced, and he testified 0:46:17.800 --> 0:46:20.640 in the divorce proceedings that his share of the Brinx 0:46:20.719 --> 0:46:24.160 money had amounted to about one hundred thousand dollars, but 0:46:24.200 --> 0:46:26.400 that his son had cheated him out of most of it. 0:46:29.200 --> 0:46:32.400 He copped to the fact that he used some of 0:46:32.400 --> 0:46:34.680 the money to purchase a piece of land in November 0:46:34.680 --> 0:46:36.839 of nineteen fifty on which he built a house. 0:46:36.920 --> 0:46:38.719 I was curious about that in land speculation. 0:46:38.760 --> 0:46:41.280 All right, Yeah, so he bought some land built a house. 0:46:41.800 --> 0:46:43.680 But you know he didn't have to worry about admitting it. 0:46:43.719 --> 0:46:45.440 Now statute limitations is up. 0:46:45.520 --> 0:46:47.600 And he said, nineteen eighty eight, I mean that's wow. 0:46:47.840 --> 0:46:52.920 Yeah. Michael Vincent Vinnie Gegan the parole He was convicted 0:46:52.960 --> 0:46:55.160 and sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled in 0:46:55.239 --> 0:47:00.360 December nineteen sixty nine. After the trial, he disputed Keif's 0:47:00.400 --> 0:47:04.000 characterization of mcguinnis as the mastermind. Oh, and he was like, no, 0:47:04.080 --> 0:47:06.279 you know what, Fat's Pino was the true leader of 0:47:06.320 --> 0:47:09.840 the gang. And I'll go down saying that. And Pino's like, nazy, no. 0:47:09.880 --> 0:47:10.480 You're not helping me. 0:47:11.640 --> 0:47:15.920 James Ignacious Faridy the Fugitive. He was released on parole 0:47:15.960 --> 0:47:20.239 in December of nineteen sixty nine. Thomas Francis Sandy Richardson, 0:47:20.239 --> 0:47:24.319 the co fugitive. He was paroled in December nineteen sixty nine, 0:47:24.360 --> 0:47:26.160 and he died in nineteen eighty at the age of 0:47:26.200 --> 0:47:26.759 seventy three. 0:47:26.880 --> 0:47:28.480 So they all got out just in time to get 0:47:28.520 --> 0:47:29.240 mad at the hippies. 0:47:29.440 --> 0:47:35.359 Yes, exactly. Then there's Joseph Sylvester Barney Banfield, the Driver. 0:47:35.480 --> 0:47:36.000 Oh yeah. 0:47:36.040 --> 0:47:39.399 He died of natural causes in January nineteen fifty five 0:47:39.480 --> 0:47:43.600 and was only old. He was one of only two 0:47:43.680 --> 0:47:45.440 gang members never formally charged. 0:47:45.680 --> 0:47:46.200 Oh wow. 0:47:46.360 --> 0:47:49.800 Yeah. And then there's Adolph Jazz Mafi, the last survivor. 0:47:50.239 --> 0:47:51.120 What happened to Jazz? 0:47:51.200 --> 0:47:54.120 He was released on parole December nineteen sixty nine, like 0:47:54.160 --> 0:47:56.840 the rest of them, He was the last surviving member 0:47:56.880 --> 0:47:59.560 of the gang. He died in September of nineteen eighty 0:47:59.560 --> 0:48:03.600 eight at the age of seventy seven. Wow, outliving all 0:48:03.680 --> 0:48:04.520 of his co. 0:48:04.320 --> 0:48:08.239 Conspirators, So Jazz was the longest living. Interesting. 0:48:08.440 --> 0:48:12.320 So the robbery inspired four films, Six Bridges to Cross 0:48:12.320 --> 0:48:16.160 in nineteen fifty five, Blueprint for Robbery in nineteen sixty one, 0:48:16.640 --> 0:48:19.120 Brinks The Great Robbery in nineteen seventy six. 0:48:19.200 --> 0:48:20.719 Do we know if any of these were like hits 0:48:20.760 --> 0:48:21.880 or had stars or anything. 0:48:22.040 --> 0:48:26.400 No, and William Friedkins acclaimed the Brinks job in nineteen seventy. 0:48:26.080 --> 0:48:27.880 Eight, So it really wasn't at all connected to the 0:48:27.960 --> 0:48:30.480 killing which came out I think like fifty six or 0:48:30.480 --> 0:48:30.880 fifty eight. 0:48:31.239 --> 0:48:34.400 There's a bunch of books, Joseph Denin's Anatomy of a Crime, 0:48:34.440 --> 0:48:37.399 which is the basis of Six Bridges to Cross, and 0:48:37.400 --> 0:48:41.320 O'Keefe's own account with Bob Constantine The Men who robbed Brinks. 0:48:41.880 --> 0:48:45.680 The robbery remains, like in the Annals of American crime, 0:48:45.880 --> 0:48:52.279 an almost unparalleled example of meticulous, long term planning. And 0:48:52.360 --> 0:48:55.560 it was brought down not by detective work or forensic 0:48:55.640 --> 0:49:00.800 science or informants developed through investigation, but by the oldest 0:49:00.840 --> 0:49:04.680 weakness in the criminal enterprise, the inability of greedy men 0:49:04.719 --> 0:49:06.240 to trust one another totally. 0:49:06.360 --> 0:49:08.560 And uh, I mean, I don't know if he was 0:49:08.560 --> 0:49:11.719 like a junkie or whatever, but like basically apparently a 0:49:11.800 --> 0:49:14.000 drug addict who the FBI leaned on when he was 0:49:14.040 --> 0:49:17.800 in his hospital. And then like, this worked on Billie Holiday, 0:49:17.840 --> 0:49:21.160 this might work on you probably, so, Saron, what's your 0:49:21.239 --> 0:49:25.360 ridiculous takeaway? I kept listening to hear how these guys 0:49:25.360 --> 0:49:27.640 would end up on this show because they did not 0:49:27.880 --> 0:49:30.440 fit the mold. I was like, this, this is really incredible. 0:49:31.000 --> 0:49:32.719 It must have been just like a stroke of luck, 0:49:32.760 --> 0:49:35.239 like a child walked into a room and happened to 0:49:35.239 --> 0:49:38.080 just find something. But it turns out Keith Specs was 0:49:38.120 --> 0:49:39.560 just like, you know what, I'm kind of a punk. 0:49:39.600 --> 0:49:40.439 I don't to tell y'all. 0:49:41.520 --> 0:49:43.680 Basically, that's wild, isn't that nuts? 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:45.520 Well, Elizabeth, what is your ridiculous takeaway? 0:49:46.160 --> 0:49:49.520 Again? I was so shocked at the level of planning 0:49:49.800 --> 0:49:52.520 unraveling because of human foibles. 0:49:52.480 --> 0:49:55.560 The years of doings. Let's run it again, guys, Let's 0:49:55.640 --> 0:49:58.319 run one more time, first positions. Let's take it from 0:49:58.360 --> 0:49:58.600 the top. 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:01.479 It's like they couldn't they couldn't just sit and wait 0:50:01.520 --> 0:50:03.880 the six years for the money, So they're doing crimes 0:50:03.960 --> 0:50:05.799 leading up to that. I mean, that's if they had 0:50:05.920 --> 0:50:07.720 just just sat still. 0:50:07.920 --> 0:50:10.840 Also, I mean, not to have an extra ridiculous takeaway, 0:50:10.840 --> 0:50:13.120 but they got to the point where they were gonna, 0:50:13.200 --> 0:50:16.920 you know, bring in the gunman. The trigger man. What 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:20.400 is trigger from New York to like rub out Specs. 0:50:20.640 --> 0:50:23.040 But I think they should have had that up top, 0:50:23.080 --> 0:50:25.719 which is, if anybody talks, we're gonna take it out 0:50:25.719 --> 0:50:27.920 on you and your family. So that way that that 0:50:28.080 --> 0:50:30.520 fear of God and fear of violence might have kept 0:50:30.560 --> 0:50:31.840 him in line a little bit longer. 0:50:32.040 --> 0:50:34.520 Yeah, but you'll note not a single one of them 0:50:34.520 --> 0:50:36.279 waited the six years to touch the money. 0:50:36.360 --> 0:50:38.160 That's what I'm saying that I didn't think it even would, 0:50:38.560 --> 0:50:39.920 so they couldn't. 0:50:39.960 --> 0:50:41.839 It was I mean, imagine if someone is like, here's 0:50:41.880 --> 0:50:43.839 one point three million or whatever. 0:50:43.800 --> 0:50:46.040 You know, I can make that six years go oh yeah, 0:50:46.120 --> 0:50:46.759 singing past. 0:50:46.840 --> 0:50:49.400 Oh yeah, Well you have you have, like, you know, 0:50:49.640 --> 0:50:51.960 determination and discipline, a level of. 0:50:51.960 --> 0:50:54.360 Self control because I'm thinking I'm gonna get a big payday. 0:50:54.360 --> 0:50:56.239 So this is not just a job. Your job is 0:50:56.360 --> 0:50:56.600 do not. 0:50:56.880 --> 0:50:58.920 But again, think about what the like. One of the 0:50:58.920 --> 0:51:04.839 common denominators criminal activity is no impulse. I'm like all 0:51:04.880 --> 0:51:06.320 this money and you're like, don't touch it. 0:51:06.360 --> 0:51:07.759 It's why do you make a good criminal? I had, 0:51:09.080 --> 0:51:12.960 I would confederates. I wanted to work alone, and I 0:51:12.960 --> 0:51:15.120 couldn't become like a hit man. There's not a lot 0:51:15.160 --> 0:51:16.560 of jobs you can do alone. 0:51:17.840 --> 0:51:20.120 Oh I need to talk back. Hold on a cycle. 0:51:20.239 --> 0:51:21.960 Let's Dave. How about a talkback? 0:51:31.400 --> 0:51:31.840 I love. 0:51:35.040 --> 0:51:40.200 Hi, Zaron Elizabeth, producer d and all the interns. This 0:51:40.320 --> 0:51:43.120 is Tiffany from Waterloo, Iowa. And I want you to 0:51:43.120 --> 0:51:48.600 close your eyes and picture it. 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