The Brinks Robbery

[Draggingtree]

The Brinks Robbery

 

The Investigation | Hundreds of Dead Ends | Field of Suspects Narrows | Grand Jury Hearings | Pino's Deportation Troubles | Hatred and Dissention Increase | O'Keefe Confesses | Arrests and Indictments | Part of the Loot Recovered | Death of Gusciora | Trial of Remaining Defendants

 

Shortly before 7:30 p.m. on the evening of January 17, 1950, a group of armed, masked men emerged from 165 Prince Street in Boston, Massachusetts, dragging bags containing $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, money orders, and other securities. These men had just committed the "crime of the century," the "perfect crime," the "fabulous Brink's robbery." At 7:27 p.m. as the robbers sped from the scene, a Brink's employee telephoned the Boston Police Department. Minutes later, police arrived at the Brink's building, and special agents of the FBI quickly joined in the investigation.

 

At the outset, very few facts were available to the investigators. From interviews with the five employees whom the criminals had confronted, it was learned that between five and seven robbers had entered the building. All of them wore Navy-type peacoats, gloves, and chauffeur's caps. Each robber's face was completely concealed behind a Halloween-type mask. To muffle their footsteps, one of the gang wore crepe-soled shoes, and the others wore rubbers.

 

The robbers did little talking. They moved with a studied precision which suggested that therehearsed in the preceding months. Somehow the criminals had opened at least three—and possibly four—locked doors to gain entrance to the second floor of Brink's, where the five employees were engaged in their nightly chore of checking and storing the money collected from Brink's customers that day.

 

All five employees had been forced at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. Their hands were tied behind their backs and adhesive tape was placed over their mouths. During this operation, one of the employees had lost his glasses; they later could not be found on the Brink's premises.

 

As the loot was being placed in bags and stacked between the second and third doors leading to the Prince Street entrance, a buzzer sounded. The robbers removed the adhesive tape from the mouth of one employee and learned that the buzzer signified that someone wanted to enter the vault area. The person ringing the buzzer was a garage attendant. Two of the gang members moved toward the door to capture him; but, seeing the garage attendant walk away apparently unaware that the robbery was being committed, they did not pursue him.

 

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/brinks-robbery