Big Stick-Up at Brink's!

by Behn, Noel;

  It may have taken two votes; it may have taken three. At the earliest it was over by 12:15 A.M. on Saturday, October 6. At the latest, 12:45 A.M. The jury found the defendants guilty of all the charges of the indictments—every last count of every indictment. Then, according to one juror, feeling it “might not look good” if they returned to the courtroom so soon, they sent out for sandwiches.

  On October 9, 1956, Judge Felix Forte passed the sentences. Pino, Costa, Maffie, Geagan, Faherty, Richardson and Baker received life sentences for robbery, two-year sentences for conspiracy to steal, eight to ten years for breaking and entering at night. McGinnis was charged with being an accessory before the fact, was given eight life sentences, plus sentences of two years, two and one-half to three years and eight to ten years.

  All eight robbers were removed to the state prison at Walpole, Massachusetts. On July 1, 1959, the State Supreme Court turned down appeals by the eight convicted felons. On November 16 the United States Supreme Court refused to review the conviction.

  John J. O’Keefe, according to court records, but commonly known as Joseph James O’Keefe or Specs, received concurrent sentences of three to four years on three counts of armed robbery, three to four years for breaking and entering a building to commit a felony at night, and three to four years on three counts of violation of general laws, Chapter 265. He was sent to the Middlesex County Jail, in Cambridge, Massachusetts—across the river from Boston—where heavy security was afforded him.

  It had taken six years and eleven men to steal a reputed $2,700,000. It had taken another six years and an estimated $29,000,000 to catch them. Now, officially, the incident was over.

  Jury members of the Brink’s trial held an annual reunion for thirteen years—on each January 17.

  The eight convicted robbers became celebrities at Walpole Prison. None of the crew, except Pino, would have much to do with Joe McGinnis. Mike Geagan wouldn’t talk to Tony. Costa discovered an assistant warden having a homosexual encounter with an inmate and used the incident to get cooperation for smuggling washing machines into the institution so that he and Tony could open a private laundry. The prison printing press was used to make up laundry tickets and flyers which announced clothes could be washed at a nominal fee. Inmates who continued using the prison’s free laundry often found the buttons missing from their cleaned uniforms and often had their entire load of wash stolen. Pino also ran a private kitchen.

  Felix Forte received considerable praise and notoriety for being the “Brink’s judge,” gave at least one paid lecture on his experiences at the trial, retired from the bench and taught law in Boston, where he was also active in Italian-American-community affairs. He died in 1975.

  Wimpy Bennett and John Buccelli, along with Jordan Perry, Jr., the man arrested in Baltimore, were convicted of charges involving their possession of $56,521 in stolen Brink’s money. This is the only robbery currency ever recovered. Bennett and Jordan were each sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. Buccelli received a two-year sentence. On June 19, 1958, Buccelli was found shot to death in an automobile which had crashed into a truck along a Boston street. Bennett disappeared years later, is believed to have been the victim of underworld assassination. Neither death is attributed to Brink’s. Pino claimed no direct information on what stolen bills which were supposed to be destroyed were doing sealed in a wall of an office he and McGinnis were known to have visited, “theorized” that Joe McGinnis had sold the entire cache of some $90,000 in “bad money” to Bennett and Bucellli for fifteen cents on the dollar.

  Elmer “Trigger” Burke was arrested by FBI agents at Folly Beach, South Carolina, on August 27, 1955. Burke was returned to New York City, placed on trial, lectured the court on justice, and was found guilty of murdering his pal Poochy Walsh in 1952. On January 9, 1958, Burke died in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison.

  Lieutenant James V. Crowley retired from the Boston Police Department, died in the early 1970s before the author began this story. Pino swore that Crowley’s appearance at Joe McGinnis’ package liquor store the night of January 17, 1950, was strictly luck, that the time was definitely 7:10 P.M. The FBI was fully prepared to attempt to discredit Crowley in the courtroom should he have maintained the time he quoted to the federal grand jury, had alerted a New Hampshire police official who could cite Crowley as being Pino’s alibi in an early 1930 robbery. Crowley was aware of this plan. Called to the witness stand by Paul Smith, Crowley, under oath, stated that he reached the package liquor store at “about 7:30,” that Tony Pino arrived “between five minutes of eight and eight.”

  In 1960 Specs O’Keefe was released from jail. The prison time owed Pennsylvania had been dropped. He was a free man and a marked man. O’Keefe went into hiding, eventually took the assumed name of Paul Williams—Paul coming from the brother-in-law he liked so well, Paul Hooley, and Williams as in Ted Williams, the great Boston Red Sox star. Ed Powers, the FBI agent to whom O’Keefe confessed, arranged for Bob Considine to write a book about O’Keefe and the robbery. The motive was strictly monetary. The FBI had made financial guarantees to O’Keefe. The book was published by Random House in 1960 under the title The Men Who Robbed Brink’s. McGinnis was again portrayed as the boss and mastermind. Specs was elevated to a co-planner.

  In 1960 the FBI published a twenty-six-page information sheet on Brink’s in which the heist was described as the “crime of the century,” the “fabulous robbery,” “the perfect crime.” The bureau still considers its investigation and breaking of the case among its foremost achievements and has on display in the Washington headquarters a Brink’s exhibition, including a model of the Prince Street office, currency found in the wall and part of the cut-up getaway truck. Photographs of all the perpetrators are also shown, with O’Keefe’s picture definitely having been retouched. If pressed, the bureau will say that it believes O’Keefe underwent plastic surgery. He did not. The FBI had held, up O’Keefe as an example to other would-be criminal confessors, had pointed out how well it took care of Specs after he cooperated. The extent of bureau assistance was in finally giving O’Keefe $5,000. The bureau provided no protection after his release, no assistance in obtaining work—nothing. It didn’t even help him to secure false credentials.

  In February, 1961, Henry Baker died in the Norfolk Prison Hospital of natural causes. He was fifty-four years old and the only one of the “regular” crew of robbers to receive a full first share of Brink’s loot—$100,000. None of the surviving gang members know what he did with the money.

  On October 5, 1966, Joe McGinnis died while kneeling at prayer in his Walpole Prison cell. He was sixty-three years old. Joe, during his internment, had become a “religious nut.” He also crafted leather goods, wallets and purses. None of the surviving robbers, with the exception of Pino, have any idea how much Brink’s loot McGinnis had dealt himself. Tony, while saying he had no direct information on the subject, estimated Joe’s take could have been as high as $200,000. Nothing is known about what became of McGinnis’ robbery share or the other “millions” he was supposed to have.

  On January 6, 1971—fifteen years to the day O’Keefe had said to FBI agents, “All right. What do you want to know?”—Jimma Faherty, who was out of prison on parole, died. He was fifty-nine years old. Faherty received the smallest share of robbery loot, approximately $78,000, spent the majority of this buying into bars around Boston, most of which went broke. The balance of money is believed to have been spent on drinking.

  Mike Geagan was released on parole in December, 1967. He was fifty-nine years old and had served ten years and ten months in prison for his part in the robbery. He calculates his share of loot coming to just below $100,000. Of this $60,000 was invested in a suburban Boston dance hall which failed. The balance of stolen money “just petered out.” Geagan returned to his wife and resumed working as a longshoreman. Several years later he and his wife separated.

  Jazz Maffie was released on parole in January, 1969. He had served thirteen years and nine months
for Brink’s and was fifty-seven years old. Maffie returned to Boston and his wife and children somewhat of a local celebrity. He resumed playing golf and visiting his favorite restaurants. He took a job as an automobile salesman, which he still manages to hold. He still manages to sleep late. Maffie received $89,000 in Brink’s loot, blew almost all of it gambling, the major share bet away at the racetrack.

  Jimmy Costa was fifty-three years old when he was paroled in September, 1969. He had served nearly fourteen years in prison for Brink’s. A goodly share of his $89,000 in Brink’s loot had been lost trying to maintain the lottery and other enterprises the FBI managed to force out of business. At least three thousand had been donated to the fund for Specs O’Keefe. The balance had been eaten up by legal expenses. Costa returned to his wife and children, a prison trained watch repairman, found employment with a watchmaker, moonlighted in real estate and various business promotions. In 1975 his parole was revoked by his implication in more than $1,000,000 in counterfeit $20 bills, and he was sent back to Walpole, where he is as of this writing.

  Sandy Richardson left prison on parole in August, 1970, after serving nearly fourteen years and three months of a life sentence. He was sixty-four years old. Richardson’s wife and children were waiting for him. He returned to his old job as a longshoreman, socially spent time with Maffie, occasionally with Geagan and Pino. He wasn’t particularly comfortable with the local fame being a Brink’s robber brought. Sandy received $83,000 in loot, spent a good deal of it on drinking and gambling, paid out a lot of it into the fund raised for O’Keefe, spent the balance on his legal expenses in connection with the Brink’s trial.

  In July, 1971, after serving fourteen years and nine months for the crime he conceived, organized, planned and oversaw, Tony Pino was out on bail. He was sixty-three years old and, just before leaving Walpole, sold the “private laundry business” for $1,000, which he didn’t share with Costa, who, in fact, had founded the laundry. As had happened back in September, 1944, Mary was waiting for him, along with Jimmy Costa. Tony joined Mary in the Mattapan home he purchased while still under FBI surveillance—a house close to the, one his father had built, close to the cemetery. One of his first orders of business was to straighten out the contract he had placed back in Walpole on O’Keefe’s life. A dispute had arisen over price. Pino was interested in a cut-rate rubout, kept changing the money he was willing to pay. Tony swore to having received only $89,000 in Brink’s loot, part of which was lost in businesses he claims the FBI forced to fail and others which failed while he was in prison. None of the other survivors believe that is where his money went or that he only received $89,000. Pino offered no other explanation on his financial position. He met parole requirements by working as a handyman-janitor in a liquor store.

  In October, 1972, Pino, Costa, Maffie and Richardson, all who had publicly denied complicity in the Brink’s robbery, sat down with the author and began “confessing.” One thousand hours of taping resulted.

  Edmund L. McNamara, the FBI agent who played bumper tag with Tony Pino in the early years of the manhunt and who became commissioner of the Boston Police Department, is currently the head of Ogden Security Inc., an organization providing physical security for industrial establishments. Ronald “Buck” Weaffer—the Boston bureau agent who was in charge of the operation which actually broke the case for the FBI informants—is currently assistant court clerk at the Middlesex County Courthouse. Leonard Frisoli, one of the first two agents to arrive at Brink’s the night of January 17 and one of the last four to be assigned to Robrink 91 on a full-time basis, is currently president of Special Agents Consultants, Inc., at Newton, Massachusetts. John F. Kehoe, Jr., the special agent who arrived at Brink’s with Frisoli and was among the last two assigned to the investigation on a full-time basis, is state public safety commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts—which means he heads the state police as well.

  John P. Larkin, the other of the last two special agents assigned to Robrink 91 full time and who was present when Specs O’Keefe said, “All right. What do you want to know?” was assistant attorney general for Massachusetts in charge of the Organized Crime Division. He is now attached to the State Alcoholic Beverages office.

  Edward J. Powers, special agent in charge of the Boston field office and the man whom O’Keefe credited for making him confess, is executive director of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes Commission. Beyond his brother, sister and brother-in-law, O’Keefe’s single ally during and after his prison stint was Powers.

  On release from jail in 1960, Specs O’Keefe drifted to the West Coast, signed on as an able-bodied seaman for a short time, worked in a liquor store, twice was employed to manage apartment buildings, did a stint as a cook and chauffeur to Cary Grant (who had no idea who Paul Williams was), wandered into the Midwest and became the chauffeur and deckhand for a wealthy Chicago attorney, came back to New England, but never to Boston. From August, 1973, to 1975, the period the author was interviewing the other gang members in Boston and working on the book, O’Keefe was in New Hampshire. He stayed with Powers and his wife for a time, then took an apartment in Manchester and worked as a custodian in a local high school. O’Keefe believed that the other gang members would have him killed if they could find him, but he didn’t seem to care or be frightened. He wasn’t particularly resentful that except for $5,000, the FBI had not, in any way, assisted him. He began to think that perhaps “ratting” had not been the wisest course of action. If nothing else, being an informer had deprived him of returning to Boston. And he dearly missed the city and his old friends there.

  O’Keefe went back to California and on March 4, 1976, died of a heart attack under the assumed name of Paul Williams. He was six days short of being sixty-eight years old, had spent the last sixteen years of his life in exile, had spent all but a short period of the decade before that in jail.

  Two years and five months earlier, on Thursday, October 4, 1973, one of the last things Tony Pino revealed to the author was that he intended to kill Specs O’Keefe.

  Ten hours after that, at approximately 2 A.M. October 5—the exact day on which his father had died and the very day on which, eight years earlier, Joe McGinnis had died—Tony Pino went to his kitchen not feeling so good, looked for something to settle his stomach, sat down on a kitchen chair, suffered a heart attack and died.

  *This time is based on the remembrance of three former FBI agents.

  Image Gallery

  Eight members of Brink’s gang at the Suffolk County Courthouse, Boston, in August of 1956. Left to right: Jimma Faherty, Mike Geagen, Sandy Richardson, Joe McGinnis, Tony Pino, Jimmy Costa, Jazz Maffie, Henry Baker.

  1973 portrait. Jimmy Costa, seated. Standing from left to right: Tony Pino, Jazz Maffie, and Sandy Richardson.

  About the Author

  Noel Behn (1928–1998) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and theatrical producer. Born in Chicago and educated in California and Paris, he served in the US Army’s Counterintelligence Corps before settling in New York City. As the producing director of the Cherry Lane Theatre, he played a lead role in the off-Broadway movement of the 1950s and presented the world premiere of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. Behn’s debut novel, The Kremlin Letter (1966), was a New York Times bestseller and the inspiration for a John Huston film starring Orson Welles and Max von Sydow. Big Stick–Up at Brink’s! (1977), the true story of the 1950 Brink’s robbery in Boston, was based on nearly one thousand hours of conversations with the criminals and became an Academy Award–nominated film directed by William Friedkin. Behn also wrote for television and served as a creative consultant on the acclaimed series Homicide: Life on the Street. His other books include the thrillers The Shadowboxer (1969) and Seven Silent Men (1984), and Lindbergh: The Crime (1995), a nonfiction account of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or
mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 1977 by Noel Behn

  Cover design by Jason Gabbert

  ISBN: 978-1-5040-3664-1

  This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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