1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeart Radio. 2 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: show that proves there's more than one way to make history. 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're talking about an almost 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: perfect prime that left investigators baffled for the better part 6 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: of a decade. The day was January sevent nine fifty. 7 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: A group of armed robbers stole more than two million 8 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: dollars from the Brinks Armored car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. 9 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: The FBI referred to the heist as the crime of 10 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: the century, and though it only took the criminals about 11 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: half an hour to pull it off, solving the case 12 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: would take law officials nearly six years. The idea for 13 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: the crime came from Joseph Big Joe McGuinness, but career 14 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: criminal Anthony fats Pino was the mastermind who put the 15 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: idea into action. Pino recruited ten other men and had 16 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,199 Speaker 1: them watched the depot for eighteen months to determine when 17 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: it housed the most cash. Along the way, the gang 18 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: was able to steal the schematics for the depot's alarm 19 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: system and then sneak them back in before anyone had 20 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: noticed the plans were missing. They also removed the cylinders 21 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: from the depot's door locks one by one, and then 22 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: paid a locksmith to make them duplicate keys. The gang 23 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: actually attempted the robbery six times over the course of 24 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: nearly two years of planning, but these half starts were 25 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: always called off for one reason or another. Finally, on 26 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: January seventeenth, Pino and his men were ready for their 27 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: seventh and final attempt. The gang tried to approximate the 28 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: uniforms of Brink's employees by wearing navy blue peacoats and 29 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: chauffeur's caps. They concealed their identities by donning Halloween masks 30 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: and silencing their footsteps with rubber shoe covers. They had 31 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: no trouble entering the depot thanks to those copied keys. 32 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: At six fifty five p m. Seven of the gang 33 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: members headed for the company's counting room while the others 34 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: kept watch. The thieves caught five employees off guard and 35 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: bound and gagged them faced down on the floor. Then 36 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: the men proceeded to fill fourteen canvas bags with half 37 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: a ton of cash, coins, checks, securities, and money orders. 38 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: The loot totalled more than two point seven million dollars, 39 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: the largest theft in US history at that time. It 40 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: took the men just over thirty minutes to get all 41 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: the money loaded onto the getaway truck, and then they 42 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: disappeared into the night. None of the Brinks employees were 43 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 1: harmed in the robbery, but they still weren't much help 44 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: in identifying the culprits. The thieves had left very few 45 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: leads for investigators to follow. There was the rope and 46 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: the tape used to bind the employees, and there was 47 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: one discarded chauffeur cap. Not much to go on. Boston 48 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: police and the FBI interviewed hundreds of people who lived 49 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: and worked in the area. They also questioned known criminals, 50 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: but to no avail. Eventually, the gang's green truck was 51 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: found cut into pieces in the nearby town of Stowton, 52 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: but it proved to be a dead end as well. Meanwhile, 53 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: the crooks did their own part to stall the investigation. 54 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: They made a pact to go their separate ways, keep 55 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: a low profile, and use their money sparingly to avoid 56 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: drawing attention. If they could keep the heat off for 57 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: six full years, then the statute of limitation for the 58 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: theft would expire and the gang would be home free. 59 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: That may sound like a long shot, but they probably 60 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: would have made it if not for one gang member 61 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: who just couldn't keep his mouth shut. Joseph SPEC's O'Keefe 62 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: had been convicted of an unrelated burglary, and he left 63 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: his share of the Brink score with another member of 64 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: the gang while he served his time. O'Keefe didn't take 65 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: well at a life behind bars and began writing angry 66 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: letters to his fellow thieves, demanding that they send him 67 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: money and implying that he might come clean about the 68 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: heist if they didn't. When O'Keefe got out of prison, 69 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,359 Speaker 1: Fats Pino sent a hitman to bump him off. The 70 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: hitman fired at O'Keefe with a machine gun in the 71 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, but he only managed to wound 72 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: his target. With nothing left to lose, O'Keeffe cut a 73 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: deal with the FBI and testified against his former our 74 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: partners in crime. By that time, one of the eleven 75 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: gang members was already dead and two others were already 76 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: incarcerated for different crimes. The remaining eight were captured in 77 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: January of nineteen fifty six, just five days before the 78 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: Statute of Limitations was set to expire. They were later 79 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: convicted and sentenced to life in prison. As for that 80 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: two point seven million dollars, only about fifty eight thousand 81 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: of it was ever recovered. A good deal of the 82 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: rest was likely spent by the thieves over the course 83 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: of their six years on the lamb, but the majority 84 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: is still unaccounted for. It's rumored to be buried somewhere 85 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: in the hills north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, so if 86 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,600 Speaker 1: you ever find yourself in the area, you might want 87 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: to bring a shop. I'm gay Bluesier and hopefully you 88 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 89 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,559 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show, 90 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: you can do that by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 91 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d I HC Show. And if 92 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions for historical events you'd 93 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: like to see covered on the show, you can write 94 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: to us at this day at I heeart media dot com. 95 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: Thanks to channel or Mays for producing the show, and 96 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back here 97 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History Class. For more 98 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 99 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.