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Locksmiths talking about locksmith stuff
Brinks Robbery
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Horror at Prince Street
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Intro
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Tim: [00:00:00] Tuesday, January 17th, 1950, local police officers and agents from the Boston field office of the FBI speed through the city's North End with lights and sirens. When they arrived at 165 Prince Street, they rushed inside but quickly realized they were just minutes too late. The scared employees were relieved to see law enforcement arrive but were so deeply traumatized all the information they could spit out that it happened so quickly and without any warning. No shots or explosions, more like the boogeyman sneaking silently out from the dark when least expected. As officers were making their first check of the scene for evidence, they were shocked by something they found. On the floor was a human face. Its grotesque features, red lips against an otherwise pale [00:01:00] visage, and its unblinking eyes stared at an odd angle, moving their focus from some fixed place that was far away. At that moment, officers had no idea who had left the ghastly scene and stolen the nearly two point eight million dollars. But they did know it took someone with practice, organisation,
Tyler J. Thomas: and
Tim: a knowledge of how to defeat locks without a trace.
Chapter 1
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[00:02:00]
Meet Tony Pino
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Tim: In the late nineteen forties, Boston was like many post-World War Two cities in the Northeast US, with veterans returning to their families, immigrants escaping the destruction of war in their home countries, and everyone just trying to work hard and make a good life for themselves. is everyone except for Tony Pino. A Sicilian national born in May of 1907, his mother brought him to the United States at just a year old. Eight years later, Anthony was arrested for breaking and entering and larceny. The nine-year-old felon quickly became a regular with the Boston Police Department. By 1945, he had racked up at least a dozen arrests and was suspected to have been involved in numerous other crimes. Throughout his life, Anthony had a knack for observation of everyday activities, when people [00:03:00] came and went, what time restaurants and bars were the busiest, and what doors and windows were usually propped open. Pino never drew attention to himself while making these observations either. Walking down the street wearing a simple off the rack suit wasn't out of place at the time. Having a personality that never really stood out in people's minds also helped him stay under the radar. After all, it's hard to remember someone that doesn't look out of place or act abnormally. During his criminal career, Anthony's immigration status was determined to be, quote, undesirable, and his name was put on a list of people to be flown to Italy at the taxpayer's expense. Having come to America thirty-seven years prior, the thirty-eight-year-old understandably did not want to be shipped out. However, he had a strong desire to not go to prison for shooting a person and then robbing them of the small cash they were [00:04:00] carrying. Whether or not his arrival in the US played a factor in his actions is debatable. What isn't debatable is the fact that Anthony Pino looked at every situation as an opportunity to commit a crime. There was no inner voice telling him that his actions were wrong, or that taking another immigrant's money from working hard at their streetside business was hurting someone. When Tony saw a bunch of heavy trucks all leaving and coming back to 80 Federal Street nearly every day, and then finding out what they were carrying, the only thing he could do was start forming a plan. In 1947, Tony Pino noticed the presence of several heavy-looking trucks driving along Federal Street. Near the present-day thirty-seven-story Class A office tower simply known as One Hundred Federal Street, the scene was much different over seventy [00:05:00] years ago. Streets bustling with clerks, delivery men, and other people trying to get to their banks and favorite soda shop or cafe. Being the man that he was, noticed that these heavy trucks left out at a certain time in the morning and came back near a certain time in the afternoons. The logo on the doors of the trucks was unmistakable.
Brinks Trucks Explained
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Tim: Shaped like a shield with the words Brinks Incorporated near the top, only meant one thing: money, and lots of it Perry Brinks Chicago City Express Company was founded in eighteen fifty-nine as a means for businesses to have their cash, checks, and other fungible instruments transported from the stores to their banks. untrained and unarmed employees transporting thousands of dollars down the street in their pockets was just asking for disaster. By the nineteen-forties, Brinks was [00:06:00] commonly used not just for armed guard transport of money, but as a component of cash management. . Providing not only documented and audible pickup of cash, the company gave their customers a sense of security by using armored vehicles and providing well-constructed vaults for overnight storage to accommodate late-day pickups. The trucks were modified versions of makes and models commonly used as inner-city delivery trucks. Only instead of hauling sausage, these trucks were carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and coins. In fact, to hold the sometimes thousands of pounds of coins in one load, the trucks had lower centers of gravity, suspensions, and thick-walled tires. These trucks could haul the largest of loads.
Tyler J. Thomas: Yeah, in addition to the cargo, they also had to account for the, the weight of everything that made the truck armored. In the '20s, Brinks started experimenting with various designs of [00:07:00] armored vehicles to transport cash and other goods, and one of the first armored trucks was basically a modified school bus that had steel plates welded over the lower body panels, and then they put some steel bars over the windows.
And usually these buses were accompanied with an escort of guards on the outside driving alongside with something like a Model T. Uh, funny story though, in, in 1927, the Flathead Gang blew up one of these armored trucks. They buried a bunch of explosives under a road just outside of Pittsburgh. Uh, the first blast flipped the armored truck onto its roof, and then a second blast targeting the escort vehicle sent it into a ditch.
Uh, fortunately, nobody got killed, but the gang was able to quickly subdue the Brinks guards and make off with, uh, about $100,000. So as you can imagine, Brinks started to reevaluate their armored trucks. One of the first immediate changes that they made was to start putting their logo on all the armored vehicles.
They wanted to deter attempts by letting would-be robbers know, "Hey, we're, we're not some fly-by-night [00:08:00] operation. We're Brinks. We have g--s. We know how to use them." And then throughout the 1930s and '40s, they started experimenting with all kinds of designs and materials, uh, including trying to incorporate stuff like aluminum and plastic to help cut down on the weight.
But ultimately, they just went back to using the heavy high-grade steel.
So by the late 1940s, they had pretty much figured out the overall concept of a design that's still largely in use. Take a robust commercial truck platform something like a International Harvester C30 or a D30,
it's a giant steel box with bu---t-resistant glass. And eventually, you know, they got pretty, uh, technologically advanced with it. They would put their own ventilation systems and, and things so on and so forth, 'cause it's not comfortable driving around in a, a steel box with no AC
Tim: With a separate front driver's compartment and a vault with one or two trained guards with g--s in the back, armored siding, time delay locks, and sealed cash bags, [00:09:00] each truck gave a visible deterrent to anyone wanting to steal the cash inside. Everyone except Anthony Pino, that is Pino quickly saw these trucks all leaving in and out of a nondescript building on Federal Street on a regular basis. the well-known logo on the sides of the truck, And the occasional sight of a guard with a shotgun standing in the street, anyone could see these trucks were full of valuable loot. But not many people could develop a plan on how to relieve these trucks of their treasure. However, Anthony Pino could, and that's exactly what he did. Watching and remembering the times and directions of each truck as it came and went from Federal Street gave him a good baseline. Actually following each truck along its route provided a treasure trove of information. Knowing that a particular armored truck picked up the payroll deposit from one of the [00:10:00] city's largest employers, General Electric, on a weekly basis gave Pino a good idea of how much money that particular truck would have on board on a certain day of the week.
Building the Crew
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Tim: Anthony told himself that he could do it with no problem, as long as he had a good enough crew. Enter the boys. Joseph McGinnis, well known in the Boston underworld. he was experienced in drugs and armed robbery. Stanley Gusciora, a dependable strong-armed man friend of Pino's who had worked with him in the past.
Henry
Baker, a behind the bars veteran and career criminal, he knew his way around breaking and entering. Vincent Costa, Pino's brother-in-law and business associate. A convicted robber, Tony knew he would fit in just fine. Adolph Jazz Maffie, Pino's closest associate. He was the perfect low-key [00:11:00] operator for the robbery. Michael Geagan, an armed robber out on parole, he still made a good part of the crew based on experience. James Faherty, a very experienced armed robber with the heists and convictions to prove it. Thomas Sandy Richardson, James' friend. The two were so close that they had committed stickups and done time in the slammer together. And Mr. X, a man who seemed to have a significant role, yet stayed in the shadows.
Casing Brinks HQ
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Tim: It appeared this group were thick as thieves Pino's outfit started casing the Brinks office on Federal Street the same year as the country was caught up in the story about a supposed UFO crashing in New Mexico, nineteen forty-seven. It bGeagan with Tony casually walking into the building's lobby and taking an extra long time to tie his shoe. It's just then that he sees a Brinks guard wheel a cart, [00:12:00] presumably full of money, an elevator. Just as the doors are about to close, a secretary runs over trying to get in. The guard refuses to let her inside and makes her wait for a different lift. As the months pass by, the surveillance efforts become more technical. logging all daily activities around the building from covert positions to having eyes from above from a fifth-floor window, there wasn't a single daily occurrence that didn't escape the group's notice
Jeffmoss26: So I think most people are creatures of habit. You go to work the same way, you drive home the same way. Um, know, the UPS guy shows up on the same route every day, and, um, there are certainly people that take the time to notice that stuff. you know, if somebody wants to follow you, you go the same way every day, that's a-- that could be a security risk.
You know, people walking into [00:13:00] a building acting like they're supposed to be there and observing what's going on. you know, people talk about social engineering and things like that, and if you look like you're supposed to be there, even with all the technology we have today, most people won't say a word. uh, we all need to pay better attention to the people around us it-- 'cause there are people that are trying to do bad things, but they're trying to blend in
Tim: The first serious snag happened when Pino, disguised as a painter sneaking up a stairwell, found that the entrance to the Brink's office several floors up was not only staffed by an armed guard,
It had partitions and windows made of thick glass.
Was no way the crew would be able to make it through by force. When Tony reports back to the crew, he says there's no hope in robbing the actual vault at that location. [00:14:00] But like any good man with a plan, he quickly comes up with an alternative. One of the main reasons that Pino was motivated to pull off the heist in the first place was the General Electric payroll deposit. With over twenty-six thousand employees earning between forty-five and fifty dollars a month, there was an average of over two and a half million dollars in the metal box that Brink's picked up regularly. The choice was obvious. Instead of hitting the headquarters, hit the vehicle that carries the most money
Tyler J. Thomas: Yeah, and history has shown that it, it wouldn't be the first or last time that robbers targeted these vehicles. Uh, the famous 1986 FBI Miami shootout, that, that was a result of FBI agents looking for two guys that were robbing Loomis armored trucks in the Miami area. They finally caught up with them, and that's when that shootout ensued.
And then a few years before that, the Weather Underground, they robbed a Brink's truck and, uh, [00:15:00] stole about 1.6 million. So the vehicles are necessary given the nature of Brink's services, but from a security standpoint, the logistics of it all present serious, serious risk and attention
Tim:
Plan Derails Overnight
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Tim: Two years after the initial planning bGeagan, Pino's ring of robbers were ready to strike. every move up until the night before the robbery, they all knew exactly when and where to be. Disguises, ready.
Weapons, ready. Under a hazy sky on that cold morning, the gang set up to make their move. They waited for their target, and they waited, and waited, and waited. After hours of waiting and watching, the target truck still had not shown up. Pino decided to get out of the vehicle and do a quick recon of the Brinks building. [00:16:00] A short time later, he returned to the vehicle and gave the signal for the entire crew to go back to the safe house. He was mad, and for a very good
reason. The entire office had literally moved overnight, and the best case man in the world had missed it happening right under his nose
at the end of that day in December 1948, Anthony Pino was surprised, confused, and straight up pissed off. The truck with the General Electric payroll never showed up, even though it delivered it on the same day every week. Walking into the building, Tony did what he does best, walked inconspicuously and observing everything. Parking garage, empty. and stairwells, no guards. And when he cracked open the door from the stairs expecting to see a heavily armed guard, he saw an empty [00:17:00] office. He saw a problem, but not for long. After getting the boys back to the safe house, Tony quickly came up with the start of a plan. Common sense them that the Brink's security didn't just vanish overnight. company had been in Boston since the nineteen twenties, they all knew that General Electric still needed to deposit its payroll every week. So why not start there?
New Target Prince Street
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Tim: Pretty soon the gang had their plan together, and instead of casing the Brink's Security office, they started casing General Electric. Staking out the West Lynn Works location of GE, Pino is quick to see the Brink's truck leaving the building. the same day of the week that the payroll always gets picked up, so he puts his car in gear and starts following. Driving down Fairchild Street, they turned south on Western Avenue, then onto the One A corridor or the Linway. He keeps the Brink's [00:18:00] truck in sight, even through Revere and East Boston. The Sumner Tunnel wasn't too much of a challenge either. And finally, after going through the Haymarket, they arrived at their new target Tony put the car in park, got out, and took in the sight of the new target. The multi-story brick building stood at 165 Prince Street in Boston's North End, an industrial area that gives no advertisement to its newest tenant.
Jeffmoss26: think this is a genius idea, and it reminds me of the Stonecutters episode of The Simpsons where they put, uh, where Homer puts a yellow can of paint behind Carl and Lenny's car to follow them to the lodge. Uh, it's an old school, it's a very basic way of finding where somebody's going, but it seemed to have worked out. Might be a little bit more difficult these days for, you know, people with cameras and stuff in their car would probably notice it [00:19:00] more than somebody driving a giant, armored truck, you know, back in the '40s, but seems like a straightforward tactic to me
Tim: After making its signature recon of the new location at one sixty-five Prince Street, Pino heads back to meet up with the rest of the guys, and their planning starts in earnest. The move necessitated a completely new plan for entry, but the drive to pull off the heist was just the same. The gang agrees that continuing surveillance of the building was needed so they could learn truck schedules, how many people worked in the building, and when they came and left. Using a telescope and binoculars from a few different buildings on the same street, Specs O'Keefe and Vinnie Costa and several others kept a close watch on the concrete reinforced building. Jazz Maffie, Michael KeGeagan, and other members of the crew managed to find ways to scope out the inside of [00:20:00] the building. Pino himself even managed to walk right through an open garage door. It was from these trips that they learned the layout and determined the best path from the outside of the building inside to the target o'Keefe and Guscoria even went so far as to break into the Washington, DC headquarters of the American District Telegraph Company, known today as ADT Security, and they stole the plans for the Prince Street location. But this risky move yielded no useful information.
Stealing Keys Quietly
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Tim: Eventually, Pino and McGinnis decided that the best way inside the building after hours would be to simply unlock the doors and walk right on through. O'Keefe and Guscoria both had great experience with burglary, and both knew how locks functioned and how they could be picked [00:21:00] and bypassed. They picked the cylinders on the North Terminal building to determine how difficult it would be to do it when the time came to rob the joint. But as skilled as they were, the time needed to pick each of the five cylinders leading from the street to the counting room was just too much for comfort. that didn't stop Fats Pino. decided to drop in on an old friend for some help
Tyler J. Thomas: Yeah, picking is not as easy as people make it out to be on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube or wherever. In the field, in the real world, you know, you don't have the lock conveniently oriented in your pan of vice. It's not clean and well lubricated. Uh, you have stuff like a door or the frame or the door closer or the HVA system via positive pressure.
You know, they might be binding against a bolt or a latch to make things more difficult. And if you're a locksmith, or I guess in [00:22:00] this case if you're whomever, you've got the added stress of somebody either looking over your shoulder directly or somebody walking by noticing what's going on. In a, in a criminal's, case, you know, they, they wanna try to be innocuous, but, you know, that adds stress to it.
So, you know, it, it's not as easy as it, as it sounds. And, you know, sometimes that's why Tim, Jeff, and I, especially when Tim was out in the field as a locksmith, we'd, we'd kind of brag when we would pick something open because it's, it's not straightforward, and when you get that win, you, you know, you kinda pat yourself on the back.
So it's, it's not easy
Tim: About twenty-five minutes south of Boston in Dorchester at Washington Street, Dano was working in his locksmith shop when another customer walked through the door. He was well established in the area, having operated there for thirty-five years and had many regular customers. But on that afternoon in October of [00:23:00] 1949, was happy to see the smiling face of one of his good customers of over twenty years, other than Anthony "Fats" Pino. After catching up with each other, Tony asked his locksmith friend if he would be able to make a key from just the tumbler or cylinder of a lock. Jacob surely had to have chuckled before telling him he could very easily. Pino said it might be a few weeks or a month, But he would need to have several keys made. As it happened, Jacob received a phone call from Pino the very next day asking if he could keep his shop open until at least six that evening so he could make a key like they had discussed. The locksmith was happy to oblige. This is when the robbery crew jumped into action on Prince Street. Costa moved into his overwatch position from the rooftop of a neighboring building and used the telescope and binoculars to [00:24:00] keep tabs on the staff of the building so he could give the all clear signal. And just a few minutes after five PM, with the building empty of most of the workers, the crew set into action. Following their plan, Fats Pino, Big Joe McGinnis, Specs O'Keefe, and Stanley Gusciora moved up to the exterior door previously determined to be the best access point. Specs and Stanley kept watch while Fats and Big Joe picked the lock, opened the door, and removed the cylinder. Not wanting anything to look out of place, they installed a lock cylinder that was not keyed to the building so that the casual observer walking past wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Without wasting time, Pino and McGinnis got in a car and made the twenty-five minute drive down to Dorchester, where Jacob Dano was waiting for them in his shop. According to later testimony, it only took a few minutes for the [00:25:00] locksmith to make the key. Then Pino and McGinnis were on their way back Prince Street. The gang moved back in and swapped cylinders. In just barely over an hour, the soon-to-be robbers had a working key to the outside door
Tyler J. Thomas: Yeah, first and foremost, whether they knew this or not, by placing a cylinder inside that lock that wasn't keyed to anything in the building, that almost certainly wouldn't have drawn any suspicion, you know, even if a Brinks employee was attempting to use a key. Because what happens when these keys stop working in any business, no matter the level of security, oh, the lock's broken, call the locksmith or call the engineer.
Almost never does anyone assume some nefarious purposes and, you know, unless they've had a history with that sort of stuff or a reason to be on alert. Uh, as far as creating a key to an existing cylinder, yeah, I, I don't doubt it just took a few minutes. That, that's something Jeff and I do almost daily, uh, especially when there are plenty of keys in [00:26:00] existence and the, the owner doesn't want the hassle of redistributing keys and all that entails.
So yeah, it's, it's pretty common. From a technical aspect, there's more than one way to create a key for a lock, but the, the easiest way, and more than likely what he did, is you disassemble the cylinder, you measure the bottom pins, which correspond to a specific cut that has anywhere from like six to 10 possibilities, and then you repeat that process another four to six times, depending on the type of lock.
You know, everything gets put back together as it originally was, and no one would ever know. And I'm not even sure even where we are now with forensics and all that, that someone could even detect that a cylinder was disassembled, decoded, and put back together. But if I was a robber, you know, certainly how I would've done things.
Tim: The gang kept its regular watch on Brinks at the North Terminal building every day. But for the next four weeks, one evening would be spent removing the next cylinder from a door and replacing it with a cylinder just long enough [00:27:00] for the drive to the locksmith shop and back. Five cylinders in total, five keys made at one dollar each. For sixty-nine dollars and thirty-five cents in today's money, it was a small price to pay for the literal keys to the treasure
Jeffmoss26: So this in itself does not raise a ton of suspicions as somebody who works in a shop daily for the last almost nine years. I mean, people bring locks in all the time where they bought a house, they lost a key, but they're pretty sure that they're all the same. Uh, if it's something basic like a Kwikset or a mortise cylinder, I wouldn't think twice about it.
If it was something more restricted or, uh, a Medeco or something like that, I probably would start asking questions. Uh, but, you know, generally speaking, if you're bringing the lock in or a safe or a strong box or something like that, um, we're gonna assume that it's yours, the person brings [00:28:00] it into us, and we make the key for it, and what they do with it after the fact is kinda on them
Tim: Whether Joseph Dana knew or otherwise suspected that his friend was up to something wrong is unclear. But what is clear is that he just gave the ability to hardened criminals to pull off the biggest robbery in US history at that time
Robbery Night Unfolds
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Tim: Tuesday, January 17th, 1950. A green stake body Ford truck pulls up and parks along the sidewalk. The gang had rehearsed this move five other nights in the previous weeks since getting the keys, tonight was the night. As Joseph Banfield drove the truck to the north terminal building, Pino handed out navy colored peacoats and chauffeur caps to O'Keefe, Gusciora, Maffey, Baker, KeGeagan, Faherty, and Richardson. He also handed out [00:29:00] items to each of the men intended for disguise, but were also a powerful psychological weapon. From his perch on the building across the street from Brinks, Costa gave the all clear signal with his flashlight, and the gang were on from there. The truck rolled up to just near the entry point, and seven men jumped out of the back, not walking, but not quite running to the door. The first key was inserted into the lock and turned, and just like had been practiced right under the noses of the Brinks guards multiple times before, everyone moved right in. Not a word was spoken as they moved up to the last door, only seconds to move through each of the four barriers designed to keep people out
Tyler J. Thomas: There exists no scenario where picking in the real world will ever be faster than using a, a working key. On top of [00:30:00] that, think about public perception. A person with a key opening a door, oh, that person must be authorized to do that. Uh, there, there's no red flags with them being there or having a key. It looks business as usual, normal.
Uh, someone with lock picks, complete opposite. I mean, ask any other locksmith. We all know. We get scrutinized even though we've got a marked truck, a uniform on, and all that. But somebody using a key, nope, that seems pretty normal
Tim: At the fifth floor, the crew didn't slow down. They quickly inserted the fifth key, unlocked the door, and moved into the counting room. According to the five men inside, the robbers moved quickly and nearly silently, only speaking short commands. The speed that the gang moved and the Halloween masks that they wore sent the Brink's employees into a state of mental shock and paralysis, making it easy to have their hands tied and their mouths taped shut. O'Keefe, Gusciora, and [00:31:00] the others wasted no time in putting the loot into cloth money sacks. just cash, but checks and other securities as well. All two million seven hundred seventy-five thousand three hundred ninety-five dollars and twelve cents went into fourteen bags. Then it happened. The noise that paralyzed the gang of hardened criminals O'Keefe and the gang had discussed it, readied for it, but that still didn't prepare them for the sound of the door buzzer. One of the robbers knelt on the floor, peeled back the tape covering the mouth of one of the money counters, and some of the only words spoken during the whole encounter, asked who it was. Simultaneously, two others moved towards the door with g--s drawn. The worker insisted that it was only a garage attendant [00:32:00] wanting to come in for some reason, but he couldn't be a threat to them. While the gang readied themselves to make their move, the garage attendant walked away, narrowly avoiding becoming another victim.
Jeffmoss26: Yeah, and whatever that parking lot garage attendant decided at the last minute not to go through that door, you know, wrong place, wrong time sort of situation. You know, probably saved his own life. You know, don't know exactly what he was trying to get in there for or what made him change his mind, but, scary situation and sometimes you just have a premonition
Tim: Turning their attention back to the robbery, the crew saw what Tony Pino had been after all along, the box containing the General Electric payroll deposit. However, after looking it over closely, knew they had neither the tools nor the time to get it open. And with nearly a half ton of cash, checks, and money orders, [00:33:00] they decided to get out while they could with what they had. As Vinny Costa saw the guys emerge from the building, he knew it was time to make his getaway. He quickly went down the stairs, out the door, and got into the Ford sedan that had been stolen from Boston Symphony Hall two days earlier. After sliding in behind the wheel, he made a smooth getaway into the night. O'Keefe, Gusciora, Maffey, and the rest of the gang high-stepped it back to the truck, where they tossed in the fourteen or so bags of money to Pino. But along their escape route, one of them dropped a clue that startled even the most seasoned of investigators on the case
Tyler J. Thomas: Pre-planning is key, pardon the pun, in something like this. Um, even something as nuanced as using waterproof tape to cover somebody's mouth, you know, you can't have that coming off mid-heist and ruining everything. We, uh, you know, this [00:34:00] reminds me that we talked about this a lot in the Baker Street heists, that the better you plan for a robbery, as odd as that sounds, uh, more likelier to pull it off without issue.
And considering every possibility from a quick entrance to a quick getaway and everything that could happen in between, that's a excellent critical thinking exercise, and again, this sounds weird saying, but if you're gonna do a robbery, a burglary right, something you gotta do good.
Escape and Dividing Loot
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Tim: although Pino's main prize of the General Electric payroll box still sat in the counting room with Brinks, he gladly started sorting through the loot that the boys had hauled in. Riding in the back of the Ford truck, the gang made their way back to the safe house in order to count and distribute the cash and securities they had grabbed, and then make their escapes. All told, there was one million five hundred fifty thousand one hundred eighty-three dollars and eighty-three cents in bonds, checks, [00:35:00] and securities, and an additional one million two hundred eighteen thousand two hundred eleven dollars and twenty-nine cents in cold, hard cash. The largest heist in the history of the world to that point in time. And it was being divvied up by a group of thugs from Boston in a house in Roxbury that was owned by Jazz Mathie's parents Big Joe McGinnis knew that getting in and out was only half the problem. In order to truly get away with a heist of this size, you had to not get caught in the days after. He and Pino decided that only some of the loot should be paid out to the guys right away. Getting caught with a large amount of cash immediately after the biggest stickup ever was a sure way to land in a hot seat on thin ice. The gang finished counting out the haul and started making their way to establish alibis for the [00:36:00] evening. Before leaving the Maffie house, Tony "Fats" Pino, Thomas "Sandy" Richardson, one of the armed thugs inside, and Vinny Costa, Pino's brother-in-law and lookout for the operation, all got cash payouts of twenty thousand dollars each. Henry Baker, another armed thug who had helped liberate the take, was trusted to take a coal hamper filled with eighty grand for, quote-unquote, " safekeeping." The FBI never said where the bonds and checks, along with the rest of the cash, went after the night of the seventeenth. But it's safe to say that every guy on the team eventually got a small payout in the days after. With the loot secured, it was time to get out of the area. Every one of Pino's crew were well-known criminals, even as far as the cops knowing them by sight. So it was in everyone's best interest to either get out of town or get low. [00:37:00] Big Joe had set up the best alibi for himself. In addition to being a master criminal, he was also a small business owner and kept a liquor store in Roxbury, which happened to be the same neighborhood that Pino lived in. Less than two hours after the gang had robbed Brinks, Tony "Fats" Pino walked into the liquor store and casually chatted with McGinnis and the only other customer at the time, who happened to be a detective for the Boston Police Department. The other members of the gang had some housekeeping to do as well. One of the crew took the truck to Stoughton and cut it into pieces with a torch. Other members took some of the g--s they had taken from the Brinks guards and dumped them along the edge of the Mystic River in Somerville. Fats Pino and James Ignatius Faherty got into a car and set off on a drive out of state
Jeffmoss26: While a million dollars doesn't sound like as much , back then that was a very significant and that was the largest amount [00:38:00] of money stolen at any point in history, you know, 80-some years ago almost. And, uh, know, that's, that's big. So knowing how to do all that, knowing where to go and where to put everything, you know, they pretty much had the perfect crime, as they say
Tyler J. Thomas: Getaway strategies, uh, just don't involve the time from leaving the scene of the crime and getting back to your, your base or your headquarters. Statute of limitations, for armed robbery in Massachusetts at that time was six years. Currently it's 10.
But in other words, the getaway strategy was gonna be a six-year process, best case. You know, you gotta get rid of evidence. You gotta keep your mouth shut. You can't draw attention with lavish spending like Frankie and Joe did in Goodfellas with the Lufthansa heist. Um, it's a process. Uh, but you know what? You just pretty much got some free money, so you put in a little work. You know, it's to be expected. Not everything's free, even crime
Tim: [00:39:00]
Dragnet and Dead Ends
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Tim: The seven robbers had entered the Brinks office at seven in the evening and left by seven thirty. One of the employees had managed to free himself enough to call for help just a few minutes later. With information from the employee to suggest a highly planned crime had been committed, officers wasted no time in responding. Boston was the first police department in America to use automobiles for patrol. So when the coppers from Station One responded, they knew how to make their Ford Super Deluxe cars move. With the red light shining on the front of their cars and sirens blaring, they drove North Bennett, Endicott, Washington, Hull, Snow Hill, and Prince Streets to get to the Brinks office.
Tyler J. Thomas: Just as a neat aside, during the research of the episode, uh, Tim discovered that the Boston Police Precinct One building is at the corner of North and Richmond Street, and that now houses a part [00:40:00] of the North Bennet Street School, which is a well-known and respected trade school, and one of the programs they have there is locksmithing, ironically enough
Tim: when officers entered the Brink's office building, they found no broken door frames. All panes of glass were intact, and the vault door was pristine In addition to the local fuzz, the local field office of the FBI responded as soon as they learned the Veterans Administration and Federal Reserve used Brinks. let the G-men jump in on the investigation. Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan didn't care what agencies were involved as long as they helped catch the members of the Brinks mob. canceled every day off for every officer, called all of the precinct captains to his office, and made sure that every detective was pounding pavement. Within hours, investigators were out tracking down clues, with people, and finding out [00:41:00] what the word on the street was. A crime this big would be too hard to keep quiet. a hot minute, they considered that the heist was an inside job, but this was quickly dismissed due to the strong indications that it was the work of local miscreants. Detectives and agents immediately started a dragnet across the city and surrounding areas. Within days, the nineteen forty-nine Ford Stateside truck used in the approach and getaway was found cut up in a scrapyard in Stoughton. And just a couple weeks after the robbery, two boys playing by the Mystic River in Somerville found two pistols, one of which was later identified as having been used in the robbery. Police had a pretty good idea who might have been involved and quickly had Pino, McGinnis, Guscoria, and the rest of the gang under their suspicion. But suspicion equal evidence six months [00:42:00] after the robbery, Specs O'Keefe and Stanley Gusciora got arrested in Pennsylvania for another unrelated robbery. Other members of the crew also got arrested for other crimes in the immediate few years after the Brinks job. Adolph Jazz Maffie got jailed for federal income tax evasion. Joe McGinnis was arrested for liquor law and tax violations. And Anthony Fats Pino was arrested for an immigration issue after having appeared before a grand jury investigating the Brinks robbery. Things for Pino's crew had not gone well in the years after pulling off the heist. There were money problems, arguments, and fallings out. It was later reported that Pino had ran out of money on another arrest out of state, and when he called up one of the gang, they couldn't even spare him enough money for bail. Joseph Specs O'Keefe seemed to have the roughest time. got released from [00:43:00] jail after serving time for another small robbery and was promptly shot at in the street near his apartment. Notorious criminal Elmer Trigger Burke tried to rub Specs out with a machine gun. of rounds were fired at Specs, but somehow he managed to squeeze off a few rounds of his own and escape. Trigger was quickly arrested for the crime, and it was soon determined that he was after Specs O'Keefe. The cops bGeagan searching for O'Keefe right away and finally located and arrested him on several warrants, plus a probation violation in August of 1954. Interestingly enough, Elmer Trigger Burke was broken out of the Charles Street jail in a manner that was eerily similar to the Brinks job.
Tyler J. Thomas: Trigger Burke was broken out of the Charles Street Jail by two men that clearly knew what they were doing. They opened a padlock on an outside [00:44:00] gate, they picked a lock, and sawed off three bars to gain entry to a solitary confinement wing of the jail, which was vacant at that time. And once they get in there, they give a signal to Burke to run towards the vacant wing.
And as the guards take notice, the pair helping Burke covered the guards with g--s, and they all escaped to a waiting car. Uh, Trigger was eventually arrested in Charleston, South Carolina, about a year later, and got extradited back to New York, where he was convicted of m-------g his friend. He spent January 9th, 1959, smoking six cigars, reading newspaper clippings about himself, and enjoying a steak dinner before he got electrocuted to d---h
Jeffmoss26: So they made an immediate dragnet, uh, for these guys, basically a manhunt. And I don't know how exactly you would do that, uh, with technology of the day.
They probably had to send teletypes and things like that to get, uh, to alert everybody. [00:45:00] Nowadays with computers and they can send an alert to the cars in the field almost instantaneously. So I'm sure with the radios and all that, you know, they, they were able to know what was going on, but much harder to find guys without the technology that we have today. Although it s- it seems like, uh, they did find them eventually, and some of it was just happenstance. But definitely, uh, a manhunt today doesn't usually take nearly as long as it would have back then
Specs Flips the Crew
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Tim: With years behind bars starting to loom in his future, Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe knew his options were limited when the cops arrested him. From the Springfield House of Correction maximum security facility, he decides to try and cut a deal. Although investigators had strong suspicions all along that the Brinks robbery was pulled off by Joe McGinnis and Tony Pino, they had been sorely lacking in any concrete evidence until their dreams came true and they got to [00:46:00] sit down with Specs and his lawyer to get the skinny on everything that happened. As soon as O'Keefe was satisfied with his immunity deal, he started singing like a bird. The fibbies and the coppers were quickly able to secure warrants for the whole Brinks crew. Stanley Albert Gusciora, Adolf "Jazz" Maffei, Baker, Vincent James Costa, Michael Vincent Geagan, James Ignatius Faherty, Thomas "Sandy" Richardson were all hooked and booked within a few days Tony Fats Pino and Big Joe McGinnis rounded out the crew when they were brought in as well. Just in the nick of time as the statute of limitations was just about to kick in. Joseph Banfield, who was the getaway driver, died the year before in 1955.
Jeffmoss26: As the weakest link and being, uh, criminals is no different. If one person is willing to spill the [00:47:00] beans on everybody, to save their, their own butt. It sounds like that's what this guy did, and he, he narced on everybody. So, um, certainly not gonna get this guy any favors amongst, you know, other thieves and people in the world, and it's kinda dangerous to narc on seven, eight people to save yourself. But that's what he did, and they were able to, pretty much figure everything out. I think they g- in a way, the cops got lucky. They didn't have to do, uh, a lot more digging. They got him to do it for them
Trial and Final Fates
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Tim: The trial for the biggest robbery in history bGeagan in Boston on August 6th, 1956. witness for the prosecution was Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe. He laid out all of the details and named names. He even detailed how the crew spent weeks accessing the building, the locks, removing cylinders, and taking them to have keys made. For a total of nearly two weeks, Specs told every [00:48:00] sordid detail. Other witnesses included guards that were present and terrified on the night of the robbery, alibi witnesses for those charged, financial witnesses from all of the institutions and businesses that Brinks provided service to, lawyers, and the investigators who put the whole case together Also interviewed was Jacob Dana, the older gentleman who was the locksmith in Dorchester, buddy of many years. Dana said that's why he wasn't suspicious of Pino's request to make keys for cylinders that were still in use and why he didn't ask questions when Pino wanted to come after hours but, quote, "Not too late."
Tyler J. Thomas: Like I said earlier, Jacob wasn't faced with an uncommon request. I can't speak for Jeff and his experiences of fulfilling a request like this, but, you know, if a friend comes to [00:49:00] me with a similar request, it's not gonna set off any red flags with me. You know, it's a very common request in our industry, especially for people with brick and mortar storefront locations like Jeff and I operate out of.
Uh, I mean, how often do you look at or do something for anybody in life that's a friend and think, "Oh, this is for something bad," or th- he's up to no good? Never. Never. So I, I don't doubt that, uh, Jacob, Jake was, was telling the truth here. He, he was just trying to help a friend out profitably
Tim: O'Keefe didn't come forward and unravel the case out of the goodness of his heart, however. He had been arrested and pled guilty earlier in January as part of his deal with the prosecution. was his chance at reducing the number of years he spent behind bars. Finally, two months after the trial bGeagan, closing arguments were given, and the jury was sent to deliberate. Late at night on [00:50:00] October fifth, nineteen fifty-six, the jurors returned the verdict. All eight men were found guilty, and seven were sentenced to life in prison Stanley Gusciora was arrested but died of a brain tumor in 1956 before the trial began . Joseph Specs O'Keefe's Deal came through for him, and he received a much lighter sentence than the others and was released in 1960. He died in March of 1976 at age sixty-seven. Henry Baker, the man who held on to the cash for, quote, "safekeeping," died in prison in 1961. Vincent Costa, Michael Geagan, and James Faherty were all paroled in 1969. Thomas Sandy Richardson died at the age of seventy-three in 1980. Adolph Jazz Maffie managed to outlive all members of the [00:51:00] gang and died in 1988 at the age of seventy-seven. Big Joe McGinnis never lived to see parole and died in prison on October 5th, 1966. Anthony "Fats" Pino was sentenced to life in prison but later got paroled. He lived until the age of sixty-seven, dying in October of 1973, but not before giving his one and only interview about the entire Brinks job to author Noel Behn for his book Big Stickup at Brinks
[00:52:00]