All efforts to identify the gang members through the chauffeurs hat, the rope, and the adhesive tape which had been left in Brinks proved unsuccessful. - Assination attempt on Harry S. Truman. The 1950s were a time of stark contradiction, where ideals and morals played against darkness, where families retained their optimism by turning to God and blaming Satan for all the evils in the world. Soon the underworld rang with startling news concerning this pair. Pino could have been at McGinnis liquor store shortly after 7:30 p.m. on January 17, 1950, and still have participated in the robbery. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Neither Pino nor McGinnis was known to be the type of hoodlum who would undertake so potentially dangerous a crime without the best strong-arm support available. Adolph Maffie, who had been convicted of income tax violation in June 1954, was released from the Federal Corrections Institution at Danbury, Connecticut, on January 30, 1955. Then she expanded her territory and became a highway robber dressed in men's clothing. On January 11, 1956, the United States Attorney at Boston authorized special agents of the FBI to file complaints charging the 11 criminals with (1) conspiracy to commit theft of government property, robbery of government property, and bank robbery by force and violence and by intimidation, (2) committing bank robbery on January 17, 1950, and committing an assault on Brinks employees during the taking of the money, and (3) conspiracy to receive and conceal money in violation of the Bank Robbery and Theft of Government Property Statutes. Using the outside door key they had previously obtained, the men quickly entered and donned their masks. Much of the money taken from the money changer appeared to have been stored a long time. Two hours later he was dead. November 16, 2018 12:00 PM EST. In the late summer of 1944, he was released from the state prison and was taken into custody by Immigration authorities. OKeefe and Gusciora had been close friends for many years. The hideout also was found to contain more than $5,000 in coins. 10 The New Orleans Axeman1918-1919. This lead was pursued intensively. Read more: The unsolved murders that shook Wales - 12 heinous crimes that remain a mystery. Despite the lack of evidence and witnesses upon which court proceedings could be based, as the investigation progressed there was little doubt that OKeefe had been one of the central figures in the Brinks robbery. Gusciora also claimed to have been drinking that evening. Their hands were tied behind their backs and adhesive tape was placed over their mouths. When the pieces of the 1949 green Ford stake-body truck were found at the dump in Stoughton on March 4, 1950, additional emphasis was placed on the investigations concerning them. Ted Bundy was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered a number of women and girls during the mid and late 1970s. The eight men were sentenced by Judge Forte on October 9, 1956. Two days after Christmas of 1955, FBI agents paid another visit to OKeefe. In the deportation fight that lasted more than two years, Pino won the final victory. Pino previously had arranged for this man to keep his shop open beyond the normal closing time on nights when Pino requested him to do so. Through the interviews of persons in the vicinity of the Brinks offices on the evening of January 17, 1950, the FBI learned that a 1949 green Ford stake-body truck with a canvas top had been parked near the Prince Street door of Brinks at approximately the time of the robbery. Pino was known in the underworld as an excellent case man, and it was said that the casing of the Brinks offices bore his trademark.. Prior to this time, McGinnis had been at his liquor store. Their success in evading arrest ended abruptly on May 16, 1956, when FBI agents raided the apartment in which they were hiding in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The Boston hoodlum told FBI agents in Baltimore that he accepted six of the packages of money from Fat John. The following day (June 2, 1956), he left Massachusetts with $4,750 of these bills and began passing them. Two days before Maffies release, another strong suspect died of natural causes. He subsequently was convicted and executed.). From the size of the loot and the number of men involved, it was logical that the gang might have used a truck. (Investigation to substantiate this information resulted in the location of the proprietor of a key shop who recalled making keys for Pino on at least four or five evenings in the fall of 1949. (A detailed survey of the Boston waterfront previously had been made by the FBI.) Faherty and Richardson fled to avoid apprehension and subsequently were placed on the list of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. While some gang members remained in the building to ensure that no one detected the operation, other members quickly obtained keys to fit the locks. As the robbers sped from the scene, a Brinks employee telephoned the Boston Police Department. Like the others, Banfield had been questioned concerning his activities on the night of January 17, 1950. The families of OKeefe and Gusciora resided in the vicinity of Stoughton, Massachusetts. At the Prison Colony, Baker was serving two concurrent terms of four to ten years, imposed in 1944 for breaking and entering and larceny and for possession of burglar tools. At the time of Bakers release in 1949, Pino was on hand to drive him back to Boston. He had been short changed $2,000. McGinnis previously had discussed sending a man to the United States Patent Office in Washington, D.C., to inspect the patents on the protective alarms used in the Brinks building. The other gang members would not talk. (The ages listed are based on the Census Day, April 1, 1950.) Probably the best-known gangsters in British history, twins Ronald and Reginald Kray headed an underworld empire that ruled the East End of London by fear in the 1950s and 1960s. From The Godfather to Scarface, famous gangsters are also part of American history. This is good money, he said, but you cant pass it around here in Boston.. Thus, when he and Gusciora were taken into custody by state authorities during the latter part of January 1950, OKeefe got word to McGinnis to recover his car and the $200,000 that it contained. OKeefe did not know where the gang members had hidden their shares of the lootor where they had disposed of the money if, in fact, they had disposed of their shares. Pino would take the locks to the mans shop, and keys would be made for them. The loot was quickly unloaded, and Banfield sped away to hide the truck. On March 4, 1950, pieces of an identical truck were found at a dump in Stoughton, Massachusetts. In the back were Pino, OKeefe, Baker, Faherty, Maffie, Gusciora, Michael Vincent Geagan (pictured), and Thomas Francis Richardson. Since the robbery had taken place between approximately 7:10 and 7:27 p.m., it was quite probable that a gang, as well drilled as the Brinks robbers obviously were, would have arranged to rendezvous at a specific time. As long as he was in prison, he could do no physical harm to his Boston criminal associates. Shortly thereafterduring the first week of Novembera 1949 green Ford stake-body truck was reported missing by a car dealer in Boston. Serious consideration originally had been given to robbing Brinks in 1947, when Brinks was located on Federal Street in Boston. At the time of his arrest, there also was a charge of armed robbery outstanding against him in Massachusetts. Some say that the '80s was the peak for serial killers and the public's fascination with them. During the regular exercise period, Burke separated himself from the other prisoners and moved toward a heavy steel door leading to the solitary confinement section. On September 8, 1950, OKeefe was sentenced to three years in the Bradford County jail at Towanda and fined $3,000 for violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. The door opened, and an armed masked man wearing a prison guard-type uniform commanded the guard, Back up, or Ill blow your brains out. Burke and the armed man disappeared through the door and fled in an automobile parked nearby. On June 5 and June 7, the Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against the three mencharging them with several state offenses involving their possessing money obtained in the Brinks robbery. Ronnie and Reggie Kray, born on October 23 1933, are possibly the most notorious of London's gangster history. It appeared to him that he would spend his remaining days in prison while his co-conspirators would have many years to enjoy the luxuries of life. Their plan was to enter the Brinks building and take a truck containing payrolls. Banfield, the driver, was alone in the front. In December 1954, he indicated to the agents that Pino could look for rough treatment if he (OKeefe) again was released. Returning to Pennsylvania in February 1954 to stand trial, OKeefe was found guilty of burglary by the state court in McKean County on March 4, 1954. During this visit, Gusciora got up from his bed, and, in full view of the clergyman, slipped to the floor, striking his head. There was Adolph Jazz Maffie, one of the hoodlums who allegedly was being pressured to contribute money for the legal battle of OKeefe and Gusciora against Pennsylvania authorities. Two of the prime suspects whose nerve and gun-handling experience suited them for the Brinks robbery were Joseph James OKeefe and Stanley Albert Gusciora. Minutes later, police arrived at the Brinks building, and special agents of the FBI quickly joined in the investigation. Subsequently, this machine gun was identified as having been used in the attempt on OKeefes life. Of the hundreds of New England hoodlums contacted by FBI agents in the weeks immediately following the robbery, few were willing to be interviewed. Unfortunately, this proved to be an idle hope. Here are 9 of Ontario's most notorious criminals ever: 1. During an interview with him in the jail in Springfield, Massachusetts, in October 1954, special agents found that the plight of the missing Boston racketeer was weighing on OKeefes mind. Three and one-half hours later, the verdict had been reached. Along with his twin brother, Reggie, he ran a gang that was notorious for committing murders, armed robberies, and arson among other criminal activities. Oklahoma's outlaw tales will transport you to the dusty days of yesteryear when six-shooter pistols and vigilantes terrorized Indian Territory. All were denied, and the impaneling of the jury was begun on August 7. Shortly after these two guns were found, one of them was placed in a trash barrel and was taken to the city dump. The gang members who remained at the house of Maffies parents soon dispersed to establish alibis for themselves. Allegedly, other members of the Brinks gang arranged for OKeefe to be paid a small part of the ransom he demanded, and Costa was released on May 20, 1954. The roofs of buildings on Prince and Snow Hill Streets soon were alive with inconspicuous activity as the gang looked for the most advantageous sites from which to observe what transpired inside Brinks offices. Between June 1962 and January 1964, the serial killer known as the Boston Strangler killed 13 women in and around Boston, Massachusetts. On February 5, 1950, however, a police officer in Somerville, Massachusetts, recovered one of the four revolvers that had been taken by the robbers. The other gun was picked up by the officer and identified as having been taken during the Brinks robbery. This incident also took place in Dorchester and involved the firing of more than 30 shots. Well-meaning persons throughout the country began sending the FBI tips and theories which they hoped would assist in the investigation. In the 1950s, most police forces were mostly white and almost exclusively male. Scottsboro Boys Trial, Scottsboro, AL (1931-1937)Nine young black men and boys, ages 12 to 19, stand accused of raping two young white women, 21-year-old Victoria Price and 17-year-old Ruby Bates, while traveling on a train through rural Alabama. 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