The Historic Great Brink's Robbery of 1950 in Boston

BOSTON, MA — On the evening of January 17, 1950, a gang of eleven highly organized criminals pulled off what would become known as the "Crime of the Century"—the Great Brink's Robbery. Targetting the Brink's Armored Car armored depository building on Prince Street in Boston's North End, the thieves walked away with over $2.7 million in cash, checks, and securities.

The heist was the culmination of nearly two years of meticulous planning, which included studying the building's layout, tracking employee schedules, and even obtaining copies of the building's keys. Dressed in matching navy pea coats, chauffeur caps, and rubber Halloween masks, the gang entered the building with relative ease. They quickly bound and gagged five employees before packing the massive haul into canvas bags.

For years, the heist baffled the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local police, who chased hundreds of dead-end leads. The criminal gang had agreed to keep a low profile and not touch the stolen money for several years to avoid detection. However, internal friction arose over the distribution of the loot, leading to a falling out. Just days before the statute of limitations was set to expire in 1956, one of the co-conspirators, Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe, confessed to the authorities after surviving an assassination attempt ordered by his partners.

O'Keefe's cooperation led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of the surviving gang members. While much of the cash was never fully recovered, the Great Brink's Robbery cemented its place in American pop culture as a masterpiece of criminal planning and execution, inspiring numerous books, documentaries, and Hollywood feature films.