Infamous America - BOSTON HEISTS Ep. 2 | Great Brinks Robbery: “Where is the money?”

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Anthony Pino and his crew commit one of the fastest and smoothest robberies in history, and they escape with a record-breaking haul. The FBI launches its investigation and hits a series of dead ends until, one by one, the robbers run into trouble and begin to turn on each other. The historic heist unravels, but it retains one enduring mystery: where is the stolen money? Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.   On YouTube, subscribe to INFAMOUS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.   For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just before 7.30 p.m. on January 17, 1950, a green Ford truck raced through the streets of Boston toward the neighborhood of Roxbury. Sitting in the bed of the truck were five robbers, and they were part of the crew who had just pulled off one of the cleanest, quickest, and most successful heists in American history. At the feet of the robbers sat a collection of canvas bags. In the bags was roughly $1.3 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and other valuables. The cash alone would be the equivalent of $17 million today. It had been stolen from the vault at the Boston headquarters of Brink's Security Company, and the job had been years in the making. Anthony Pino, one of Boston's best casemen and thieves, had been working toward the job since 1944. He built a crew of trusted

men, and for several years, they had robbed Brinks armored trucks and Brinks customers for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But by 1948, the crew had become wary of the heat they were generating. Pino pitched them one last major score, the vault at the Brinks headquarters building on Prince Street in Boston's North End. For over a year, Pino and his crew planned the heist down to the smallest detail. On January 17th, they committed the largest robbery in American history up to that time. When the Ford pickup truck arrived at the safe house in Roxbury, Pino and his crew initiated the next phase of the operation. After unloading the canvas bags full of loot, Joe Banfield, the getaway driver, drove away to get rid of the pickup truck and the guns that were

used during the robbery. Anthony Pino and another thief quickly left the safe house in order to began establishing alibis. Meanwhile, several of the men stayed behind and began counting the spoils of the heist. They separated the cash into two piles. One pile was for used bills that had already been in circulation. The other pile was for fresh money, money that had been recently printed by the government and wrapped in federal reserve bands. The thieves knew that they'd have to wait until the heat died down before they could spend the federal reserve money. Once the cash, was separated into two piles, some of the used money was stashed in a hamper for safekeeping, while the rest was divided into shares. Some men received $20,000 right away, while others received

as much as $100,000. Less than two hours after the heist, the money had been counted, and the crew spread out across Boston to begin establishing alibis. Some went to dinner with their wives, Others went to local bars and threw bagged drinks. But the requirement was the same. Lay low and avoid law enforcement. By the time the robbers blended in with other Bostonians, investigators had descended on the Brinks office. The five Brinks employees who had been tied up during the robbery

managed to break free and sound the alarm. Boston police and the FBI rushed to the scene and were amazed at how much had been stolen. By the end of the night, police and FBI offices across the eastern seaboard had received a bulletin about the robbery. A nationwide manhunt was underway. FBI agents were confident they would be able to crack the case in no time. But it took just a bit longer than that. Six years to be exact. And part of it remains a mystery to this day. From Black Barrow Media, this is infamous America. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're

telling the stories of two of the most infamous heists in American history, both of which happened in Boston, the Great Brinks Robbery of 1950, and the historic art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. This is episode two, The Great Brinks Robbery Part 2. Where's the Money? From the beginning, local law enforcement rounded up the usual suspects and brought them in for questioning. Some of the thieves who participated in the heist were among those hauled in, but investigators had no evidence that could link the men to the crime, and they all seemed to have airtight

alibis. Within hours of being brought in, the men were released. Meanwhile, the FBI agents started interviewing Brinks employees who had been tied up, but the agents quickly discovered a problem. The witnesses disagreed on many of the details, including the number of robbers. Some said there were five, others said seven. But there were a few facts on which they did agree. They all said the robbers wore matching disguises, navy peacoats, chauffeurs, huts, huffers, hats, and gloves, and and rubber Halloween masks. The witnesses also agreed that the crew were professionals. The robbers barely spoke.

They knew exactly when the vault door would be opened, and they were in and out in about 20 minutes. Because the thieves wore gloves, there were no fingerprints at the scene. In fact, the only evidence was the tape and rope used on the five employees. Within a few days, it became clear to law enforcement that this case was not going to be easy. About a month and a half into the investigation, the FBI caught its first break.

Agents questioned residents who lived near Prince Street and learned that a 1949 green Ford truck was parked nearby at the time of the robbery. Considering the size of the crew and the loot, the FBI surmised that the truck was the getaway vehicle. Agents began searching for it, and on March 4, 1950, parts of a green Ford truck were found at a dump in store. Stoughton, Massachusetts, about 20 miles south of Boston. The parts themselves didn't provide any clues, but the location did. It just so happened that Stoughton was where two well-known criminals lived, Joseph O'Keefe and Stanley Guskiora. O'Keefe and Guskiora were friends and felons who had worked together on previous robberies.

Both were known gunmen with nerves of steel. After the possible connection to the getaway vehicle, agents found similarities in the testimonies of the two criminals. O'Keefe and Gus Kiora had been questioned during the round-up of the usual suspects back in January, and both men said their alibis started at 7 p.m. on the night of the heist. O'Keefe and Gus Kiora said they were drinking at a bar during the robbery, but that specific time of 7 p.m. stuck out to the agents. Agents went back through their notes and discovered that 7 p.m. had been mentioned a few times

during the roundup. Known criminals Henry Baker and Vincent Costa had also given times of alibis around 7 p.m. Agents who were paid to be suspicious wondered if the timings were too coincidental. When the agents looked deeper, they discovered all four men were friends and associates of criminal mastermind Anthony Pino. Like the others, Pino had already been questioned, and his alibi was the strongest of all of them. He claimed that during the heist, he'd been at a nearby liquor store picking up whiskey. His story was corroborated by two men. One was Joe McGinnis, the owner of the liquor store.

The other was James Crowley, one of Boston's top robbery detectives. Detective Crowley kept tabs on known criminals, and he often stopped by McGinnis's store because McGinnis was connected to the Boston underworld. When the FBI approached Detective Crowley, Crowley confirmed that he had seen both Pino and McGinnis, just after 7 p.m. on the night of the robbery. Pino felt good about his alibi, and the first couple steps of the plan to survive the investigation seemed to be working. Evidence had been destroyed, and alibis had been secured. But the biggest step,

the step where they were supposed to lay low for a long time, unraveled on a lonely road in Pennsylvania. On June 2nd, 1950, Joseph O'Keefe and Stanley Gus Giora left Boston and drove west. They told friends they were going to visit the grave of Gus Giora's brother in Missouri. But they intended to take their time for what they called extracurricular activities. Those activities turned out to be a string of burglaries throughout western Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Ten days after leaving Boston, the two men were pulled over in Tawanda, Pennsylvania. Police searched their car and discovered several guns and stolen items in the back seat. Both men were arrested and thrown in the local jail.

O'Keefe and Gus Kiora tried to call in favors with their Boston Criminal Network, but no one agreed to help. Three months later, on September 8, 1950, O'Keefe was sentenced to three years in the Bradford County Jail in Pennsylvania. Guskiora was acquitted for the burglaries, but he wasn't released. Instead, he was extradited to McKean County, Pennsylvania to face different robbery charges. In October, Gus Kiora received a sentence of five to 20 years in the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary in Pittsburgh.

The FBI was convinced that O'Keefe and Gus Kiora were involved in the Brinks' heist, and now the agency had leverage. Agents visited both men in prison multiple times and questioned them for hours, but neither man said a word about Brinks. and eventually they refused to talk at all. So the FBI was forced to sit back and wait and play the long game. Agents monitored the Boston Criminal Network for the next couple years and learned that there was growing tension amongst the men

who were the likely suspects in the Brinks' heist. From informants, the FBI heard that O'Keefe and Gus Kiora were demanding money from Anthony Pino, Joe McGuinness, and Henry Baker. The two men in jail needed to pay for the appeals process. supposedly Pino wasn't giving them any cash, and O'Keefe threatened to talk about their so-called big job. The rumors led the FBI to another Brink's suspect, a thief named Adolf Maffy. Apparently Maffy was also in on the big job. More than a year after the Brinks heist, law enforcement questioned Maffy about a different robbery.

The interrogation eventually shifted to the Brinks case, and Maffy couldn't provide a solid alibi for the night the big robbery. By the end of 1952, the FBI believed it had a nearly complete list of suspects, which included O'Keefe, Gusciora, Maffy, McGinnis, Sandy Richardson, Vincent Costa, and at the very top, Anthony Pino. The feds believed Pino was the mastermind, even though he had an alibi which was supported by a cop. They knew it was certainly possible that Pino planned the job, and then his close friend, Sandy Richardson, led the officer. operation on the night of the heist. It made perfect sense. The problem was that after two years, the FBI didn't have any concrete evidence. Still, agents felt they had enough to build a grand jury

case. The government hoped that any suspects who had remained silent might crack under pressure when called before the grand jury. Unfortunately for the FBI, the hope was wrong. On November 25th, 1952, a federal grand jury began hearings in Boston. The FBI presented circumstantial evidence and the testimony of the Brinks employees. None of the suspects who were called before the grand jury agreed to speak, and the government couldn't compel them. Anthony Pino and his crew simply sat quietly and said nothing. The hearings ended six weeks later in January 1953. The grand jury deliberated for a week and ultimately ruled that, you know, no charges should be filed against the suspects. In the eyes of the grand jury, the FBI's evidence

was too thin. The FBI would have to keep working. 1953 did not start the way the FBI had helped. After the grand jury defeat, the feds were forced to start over to try and connect their leading suspects to the Brinks robbery. Ironically, throughout 1953 and early 1954, nearly all of those suspects had brushes with the law for other crimes, including robbery, tax evasion, and running an illegal distillery. But as it turned out, the men in Pino's crew spent most of their time fighting each other rather than the government. The issue that seemed to drive a wedge between everyone was the money. Right after the heist, each man was responsible for hiding his share of the stolen money. However, as the heat came down in the months following the heist, some gang members were forced

to entrust their shares to other gang members. Now, four years later, several men claimed that their shares had come up short. Joseph O'Keefe was the most irate. In March 1954, O'Keefe completed his jail sentence for the Pennsylvania robberies, and he returned to Boston. When he got home, he wanted his money. While he was locked up, O'Keefe entrusted his share of the cash to Adolf Maffey and Henry Baker. When O'Keefe asked the two men for his money, Maffee and Baker claimed it had been stolen.

When O'Keefe complained to Anthony Pino, Pino told him to handle his own problems. So he did. On May 18, 1954, O'Keefe and another gunman kidnapped Pino's brother-in-law, Vincent Costa, the man who had been the rooftop lookout during the heist. O'Keefe called Pino and demanded his money. If Pino didn't pay up, something bad was going to happen. to Costa. Pino was furious, but he couldn't act rash. So he made a few calls and got several thousand dollars in cash. Two days later, O'Keefe released Costa. Pino in O'Keefe never spoke of

the kidnapping again, but the word was out. O'Keefe was a loose cannon, and something needed to be done about him. Two weeks after the kidnapping, O'Keefe was driving through Dorchester when a car pulled up alongside him. O'Keefe was immediately suspicious. especially since it was early morning with no traffic. O'Keefe ducked in his seat and his timing was perfect. A moment later, a gun poked out of the other vehicle and fired at O'Keefe's car. O'Keev's survived the hit, but he wanted revenge. He knew Adolf Maffy was currently in jail for tax evasion,

so he suspected Henry Baker had tried to kill him to keep his share of the loot forever. So, a few weeks after the botched hit, O'Keefe showed up at Baker's doorstep. doorstep. Baker knew O'Keefe was in a rage and opened the door with a pistol in his hand. In a matter of seconds, a gunfight erupted. Neither man was injured and O'Keefe fled the scene. But the violence didn't stop. On June 16th, O'Keefe was walking down the street in Dorchester when a man opened fire with a submachine gun. O'Keefe saw the gunman and ran off. The gunman followed and fired over 30 rounds as he chased O'Keefe. O'Keefe was seen a man. hit in the wrist and the chest, but he survived and escaped. After that second attempt on his life,

O'Keefe wisely left Boston. Law enforcement followed the feud closely and didn't want it to continue. Through a network of informants, police heard a rumor that a hitman named Elmer Burke was the gunman who tried to kill O'Keefe on June 16th. Boston police thought they found a connection between Elmer Burke and Anthony Pino, which meant that Pino might have hired Burke to kill O'Keefe. But when the police questioned Pino, the robber revealed nothing, as always. For the next year, investigators listened to the rumors in the Boston underworld. The talk was consistent. O'Keefe felt betrayed by his old gang and was holding a grudge.

Making matters worse for O'Keefe, he was back in jail for possession of an illegal firearm. Once again, law enforcement officials. Officials knew they could apply pressure to O'Keefe. If he wanted to get out of jail, he would have to talk. So, starting at Christmas, 1955, agents visited O'Keefe and questioned him relentlessly about the Brinks' heist. For nearly two weeks, O'Keefe kept his mouth shut. Then on January 6, 1956, O'Keefe looked up at the two agents

sitting across from him in the visitor's hall and said, All right, what do you want to know? O'Keefe cut a deal with the FBI, and for three days in January 1956, he laid out every detail he knew about the Brinks' heist. The FBI already suspected most of O'Keefe's information, but now the agents had testimony from an insider. O'Keefe confirmed that Anthony Pino had first organized the crew back in 1947. There was a core team of 11 men. Pino had approached O'Keefe and said he needed a couple of heavies. The heavies turned out to be O'Keefe and his close friend, Stanley Guskiora.

When Pino discovered that Brinks moved to its new location on Prince Street, the full crew was involved in casing and preparation. According to O'Keefe, Pino and Sandy Richardson studied the building for months. Eventually, they had detailed notes on the number of employees and guards on site. After months of watching, Pino and Sandy decided to take their preparation even further. According to O'Keefe, Pino and Sandy started sneaking into the Brinks offices. They discovered that the new Brinks location was incredibly unsecure. There were very few alarms or locked doors.

On several occasions, they could just pick a lock and get right in. They quickly identified the most direct route from the street to the vault. There were five doors from the exterior door to the vault cage. Over multiple nighttime visits, Pino popped the lock. tumblers out of the five doors and paid a local locksmith to make keys for the locks. When the locksmith was done, Pino put the locks back. Within a few weeks, Pino had full access to every part of the Brinks office except the vault. For that, they realized they would need to strike when the cashiers were loading the vault.

By the autumn of 1949, Pino's crew knew the layout of the Brinks offices as if they worked there. They had been through the offices more than 75 times. For two months, they practiced entering and exiting the building and driving the getaway route until they could do the job almost without speaking. In the first week of November, 1949, the getaway driver Joe Banfield broke into a car dealership and stole a brand new green Ford truck, the same truck that was eventually cut up and dumped in Stoughton. Two months later, on January 17, 1950, the crew committed the historic robbery.

That night, Vincent Costa, the lookout, took his position on the roof of a building across from the Brinks office. A few minutes past 7 p.m., the stolen green truck drove into the area and parked near a playground. Costa signaled the crew with a flashlight, and seven men hopped down from the back of the truck and walked to the Brinks building. Each man wore a navy p-coat, a Halloween mask, and chauffeur's hat and gloves. O'Keefe was at the front of the line. Behind him were Sandy Richardson, Mike Geegan, Henry Baker, Adolf Maffee, Stanley Gus

Giora, and a wiry lock picker named James Faradie. The seven-man crew reached the front door and disappeared inside. About 90 seconds later, Joe Banfield drove the green Ford truck onto Prince Street and parked to wait for the crew. Anthony Pino sat in the truck bed, ready to collect the cash. Meanwhile, on the second floor of the building, Mike Geegan pushed into the Brinks offices. He flashed a revolver at the five unsuspecting employees.

His timing was perfect. At that moment, the vault door stood wide open. The Brinks employees threw up their hands while the rest of the crew filed into the room. The thieves tied and gagged the employees and then rushed into the vault. Each robber grabbed as many of the Brinks money pouches as he could jam into canvas sacks. When the sacks were full, the thieves dragged them downstairs to a door that led to Prince Street.

When the first man emerged, Joe Banfield moved the truck into position. The seven robbers, plus Anthony Pino in the back of the truck, loaded the bags into the vehicle. Then four men jumped into the truck bed with Pino and drove off. The other three hurried to the car of Vincent Costa, the lookout. and hopped in with him and sped away. A few minutes later, the green Ford truck pulled up to a nondescript warehouse in the Savon Hill neighborhood. The warehouse was managed by Joe McGinnis, the liquor store owner who helped provide

an alibi for Anthony Pino. McGinnis had taken a prominent role in planning the heist and securing the disguises. When the truck was unloaded, the crew split up and raced to their locations to set up their alibis. Some went home, others went to bars. Pino went to McGinnis's liquor store, just in time to see McGinnis and Detective Crowley. It was 727 p.m. In less than 30 minutes, Anthony Pino's years of planning and preparation had paid off with the perfect heist. The robbery was perfect anyway. But the chance to get away free and clear and spend all the money had just ended. The FBI was now ready to arrest the man who pulled off the largest score to date. Joseph O'Keefe's confession

allowed authorities to obtain search warrants. On January 11, 1956, Boston's U.S. attorney authorized the FBI to file charges against all 11 men for armed robbery, assault, and theft of government property. Joe McGinnis, the man who owned the liquor store and managed the warehouse that was used after the robbery, was also charged with receiving and concealing stolen goods. O'Keefe and Stanley Gus Kiora were already locked up for other crimes, and Joe Banfield, the getaway driver, had died a year earlier of natural causes. For the eight other robbers, the FBI had the element of surprise.

No one from the crew knew that O'Keefe had flipped. So on January 12th, the FBI easily arrested six members of the crew, the mastermind Anthony Pino, plus Joe McGuinness, Vincent Costa, Mike Geegan, Adolf Maffey, and Henry Baker. Word spread around town about the arrests, and the last two members of the crew, Sandy Richardson and Jimmy Farity, went into hiding. They were added to the relatively new FBI's most wanted list, and they stayed free for five months. Agents caught them in May, in Dorchester, right outside Boston. The six men arrested on January 12th were held on bail of the first. more than $100,000 each, today worth over a million dollars. Thanks to O'Keefe's confession,

a grand jury returned indictments against all of Pino's crew in short order. And given O'Keefe's anger toward Pino and the others, he was more than ready to testify against most of the other robbers when the trial came. But he did have some hesitation when it came to ratting on one of his former compatriots. O'Keefe still considered Stanley Gus Kiora a close friend. And he knew that Gus Kiora wasn't involved in any attempts to kill him or steal his money. But O'Keefe did make a plea deal with the authorities, so whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to turn on his friend. In a twist of fate, Stanley Gus Kiora never faced a trial.

On January 9, 1956, Gus Kiora passed out in his prison cell, hit his head, and died a few hours later. An autopsy showed he had a brain tumor. Now, at the very least, O'Keefe wasn't going to have to take. testify against his good friend. O'Keefe took the stand in September, 1956. He was one of more than 100 people who testified. On October 5, 1956, both sides arrested their cases, and the jury retired to deliberate.

It took the jury three and a half hours to come to a unanimous decision, guilty. A few days later, Pino and his crew were sentenced to life in prison. They were all sent to state prison in Walpole, Massachusetts. Though they had been given life sentences, nearly all of them were released on parole in 1970, 14 years after their trials. By that time, two of the men, Joe McGinnis and Henry Baker, had died in prison. Anthony Pino, the man who had conceived and planned the heist, died in October 1973. After decades of denying his role in the crime, he finally admitted it. The only lingering issue for law enforcement was the money.

The heist totaled $2.8 million worth of valuables, which were a combination of cash, checks, and securities. Of the total, about $1.3 million was cash. To date, only about $51,000 has been recovered. Some of the $1.3 million was certainly spent, but most was believed to have been hidden by the various robbers. Who knows if there are bags of cash buried in backyards or vacant lots, or stuffed into the walls of houses or apartments, all over Boston?

Next time on Infamous America, it's the beginning of the story of the art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Forty years after Boston was home to an historic cash heist, it was home to an historic art heist. And today, 35 years after the heist, it remains one of the most fascinating mysteries in American history. That's next week on Infamous America. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week for new episodes.

They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials. And they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships are just $5 per month. This episode was researched and written by Andrew Messer. It was produced by Joe Garrett. Original music by Rob Valier. I'm Chris Wimmer.

Thanks for listening.