Anthony Pino

 

On January 17, 1950, the Brinks building in Boston, Massachusetts, was broken into by armed robbers, who stole over $2 million worth in cash and securities. The size of the haul was so big that the Great Brinks Robbery, as it was called, became the largest bank heist ever to take place in the history of the USA up to that time. Billed as ‘the crime of the century’, the robbery was seen as the work of a criminal mastermind since it had been minutely planned down to the last detail and very few clues were left at the crime scene. For years, police came no closer to finding the culprits, who undertook not to spend their ill-gotten wealth, to avoid attracting suspicion. However, eventually all nine members of the gang were tracked down and brought to justice, including the man behind the plan, Anthony ‘Fats’ Pino.

 

Audacious robbery

 

Pino was Italian by origin, and had been born in Italy in 1907. As a child, he had immigrated to the USA with his parents, and the family had settled in Boston. His parents did not register him to become a naturalised American citizen. Exposed to the rougher elements of the city, Pino soon found himself involved in a life of crime, operating as a burglar, among other nefarious activities. In 1928, he was charged with sexual abuse of a minor and convicted of the crime. He was later charged with having burglar equipment in his possession, and with breaking and entering a property with the intent to commit a felony.

Once the Immigration and Naturalisation Service realised that he was not an American citizen, they began proceedings to have him deported back to Italy. On his release from prison in 1944, he was taken into custody by the immigration authorities, but he managed to get the deportation order dropped by appealing for a pardon. Had the Immigration Service known that Pino was, at the same time, in the process of planning the biggest bank robbery in US history, they might have revised their decision.

For over a year, Pino had been staking out the target for his robbery, the new Brinks building in Boston. He assembled a team of criminals drawn from the Boston underworld around him to help him do the job: among them were Joseph O’Keefe (nicknamed ‘Specs’), Joseph ‘Big Joe’ McGinnis, and Stanley Gusciora (nicknamed ‘Gus’). Over a period of months, the gang became as familiar as they could with the layout of the building, and with the comings and goings of the staff who worked there. On one of his visits, Pino discovered that staff on the second floor routinely counted up the takings for the day, much of it in cash. He also found out that the amounts of money they were dealing with were huge and realised that, if he could only access this money, he could get away with $1 million or more.

 

The big day

 

However, there was just one problem: security. To get to the money, the robbers would have to pass through five locked doors, all of which set off alarms when an intruder made the slightest noise. It was here that Pino’s experience as a burglar came in. He devised a plan whereby members of his team would, over a period of months, become familiar with the times the doors were left open and unattended. Then, at a given time, the robber would take the lock out of the door and give it to a locksmith to make extra copies of the key that would open it. Afterwards, the robber would return the lock to the door and screw it back in. As can be imagined, it took a long time for the robbers to find opportunities when no one was looking, unscrew the door lock and take it to a locksmith to copy the key. But eventually, with immense patience, the job of copying keys for all five doors was done – and still no one at the bank had noticed what was going on.

The day came when all the right factors were in place to put the plan into action. The area around the bank was peaceful, so that there would not be too many witnesses; there were only a few employees left in the premises; and, most importantly, the bank’s takings that day were high. This was the moment that Pino and his team had been waiting for. They had called the robbery off six times at the last minute, due to some hitch or other, but now, at last, the moment was right.

 

Hallowe’en masks

 

The robbers were dressed alike, in navy suits and chauffeurs’ caps, an outfit similar to the uniform of the Brinks’ employees. To disguise themselves, they wore Halloween masks; to make sure they left no fingerprints, they donned gloves. At 6.55 p.m. on January 17, 1950, they drove up to the bank.

Pino and the driver stayed in the car while seven of the team entered the building. Using their copied sets of keys, they gained access to the second floor and held up five Brinks employees who were counting the takings. They then bound and gagged the victims, and piled up the money ready to take it away. So far it had all gone to plan, it seemed; but then a Brinks employee buzzed on the door to be let in. The robbers looked at each other in horror, wondering what to do, but before they could act, the Brinks employee walked off, apparently having given up his errand. The robbers redoubled their efforts, loading up the money as fast as they could, and within half an hour, they had left.

 

The usual suspects

 

Naturally enough, as soon as their attackers disappeared, staff called the police. It was only a matter of minutes before the police arrived, along with agents from the FBI. However, they found few clues that would help them find the robbers. None of them could be identified, because of the Halloween masks that they had worn; and there were no fingerprints anywhere, because the attackers had worn gloves. The only evidence that the robbers had left behind was the rope and sticky tape they had used to bind and gag the staff – and a chauffeur’s cap. As well as the money, the robbers had stolen four revolvers, so the serial numbers of these were noted down by the FBI, in case this information might be useful at a later date. Other than the obvious fact that the heist had been carried out by professionals, this was all the police had to go on at this stage.

Initially, the police turned to the usual suspects in the city, career criminals who had long been a thorn in their side. However, there was no evidence to show that any of them were guilty. In desperation, the police began to interview older criminals, such as former members of the ‘Purple Gang’ of the 1930s, who had been bootleggers in the days of Prohibition, but they seemed to know nothing about what was fast becoming known as ‘the crime of the century’.

 

Final arrests

 

When news of the robbery appeared in the press, the public were fascinated. The bank offered a reward of $100,000 for information that would lead to the culprits, and soon the police began to receive hundreds of calls, but none of these yielded any useful information. Of course, the police had their suspicions; but until some evidence was found, nothing could be done.

Then there was a breakthrough, or so it seemed. Children playing on a sandbar in Mystic River, Somerville, found one of the revolvers. In Stoughton, Massachusetts, parts of the truck the gang had used were found, and as a result, police visited Gus Gusciora and ‘Specs’ O’Keefe at their homes in the area, but no evidence to connect them to the robbery could be unearthed.

It was not until O’Keefe was arrested in connection with another burglary that the truth began to come out. While he was in prison, officials became aware that he was involved with a wealthy gang on the outside. In 1955, O’Keefe was released, and a rift between the gang members developed, as O’Keefe accused the others of cheating him over the proceeds of the robbery. In response, Pino hired a hitman to kill O’Keefe, a man named Elmer ‘Trigger’ Burke. Burke shot O’Keefe several times, but did not manage to kill him. While in hospital, and bitter about his treatment at the hands of the gang, O’Keefe agreed to give evidence against them.

As a result, Anthony Pino was arrested on January 12, 1956. All the remaining members of the gang, except Gusciora, who had died, were also arrested. At the trial, which began on August 12, 1956, all the gang members except O’Keefe were convicted and given life sentences. In return for his cooperation, O’Keefe only received a four-year sentence. As to the money, it was never recovered.