| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 17.01.13 17:07l 51 Lines 2347 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 34573_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 17
Path: IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130117/1451Z 34573@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Jan 17, 1950:
Boston thieves pull off historic robbery
On this day in 1950, 11 men steal more than $2 million from the Brinks
Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the perfect
crime--almost--as the culprits weren't caught until January 1956, just
days before the statute of limitations for the theft expired.
The robbery's mastermind was Anthony "Fats" Pino, a career criminal
who recruited a group of 10 other men to stake out the depot for 18
months to figure out when it held the most money. Pino's men then
managed to steal plans for the depot's alarm system, returning them
before anyone noticed they were gone.
Wearing navy blue coats and chauffeur's caps--similar to the Brinks
employee uniforms--with rubber Halloween masks, the thieves entered
the depot with copied keys, surprising and tying up several employees
inside the company's counting room. Filling 14 canvas bags with cash,
coins, checks and money orders--for a total weight of more than half a
ton--the men were out and in their getaway car in about 30 minutes.
Their haul? More than $2.7 million--the largest robbery in U.S.
history up until that time.
No one was hurt in the robbery, and the thieves left virtually no
clues, aside from the rope used to tie the employees and one of the
chauffeur's caps. The gang promised to stay out of trouble and not
touch the money for six years in order for the statute of limitations
to run out. They might have made it, but for the fact that one man,
Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe, left his share with another member in order to
serve a prison sentence for another burglary. While in jail, O'Keefe
wrote bitterly to his cohorts demanding money and hinting he might
talk. The group sent a hit man to kill O'Keefe, but he was caught
before completing his task. The wounded O'Keefe made a deal with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to testify against his fellow
robbers.
Eight of the Brinks 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 Brinks Job, starring Peter
Falk.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Outpost Version 2.6.0 c29
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
