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Title: The Crime of the Century: How the Brinks Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston
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Manufacturer: Commonwealth Editions
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $16.31
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| Customer Reviews: |
| The Crime of the Century: How the Brinks Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston by Commonwealth Editions Good Overview of the Brinks Job | Stephanie Schorow is quickly becoming one of the best tellers of Boston's history. The torch has been passed to her from some of the legends like Thomas O'Connor and in The Crime of the Century she does not disappoint. She does a wonderful job here of removing the "folk hero" status that the Brinks robbers received after their job, while at the same time not rewriting history and turning them into some type of scoundrels. She does a tremendous job of keeping the reading involved through the long planning process for the job, the even longer investigation and finally the trial and incarceration of the gang. Schorow does a great job of telling the story behind the movie with the hold up of the film crew and the A/C units in every window after word got out of a fee to remove them being very enjoyable. Lastly, breaking down the fact vs. fiction aspect is highly enjoyable.
My only complaint and the reason I don't give this the full five stars is that I don't think Schorow gives the story the detail and passion she gave Boston on Fire her last full time book. I found that had much more detail and showed a development and story line that mirrored how the city had changed. Either way, don't let that stop you from buying an excellent book! | | The Crime of the Century: How the Brinks Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston by Commonwealth Editions How Did the Brinks Robbery Turn the Thieves Into Folk Heroes? | As in her earlier books about Boston's Great Fires, former journalist Stephanie Schorow digs below the surface and comes up with the real story behind Boston's most famous robbery. And it didn't happen like it was portrayed in the star studded 1978 Motion Picture. While she was researching this book subject the author told everyone who knew her what she was working on because she knew from experience that it opens new doors of inquiry. One friend to whom she mentioned her new project said, "Oh isn't that a coincidence, my uncle was foreman of the jury that tried the case." And if that wasn't enough of a tip, her friend also mentioned "that her aunt had kept a scrapbook of the case. And she still had it." Bingo--it was a researchers dream come true.
While visiting with members of the police headquarters for a "Boston Herald" story, one of the members of the department casually mentioned that they had all the old files and transcripts from the case that had never been examined by researchers. It was another investigative reporters dream come true. Helped by additional surprises and windfalls such as these and another one where a friend from the Jamaica Plains section of Boston told her she knew where the missing money from the robbery was buried and would take her to the Mission Hill location, they went looking for it. Alas, you'll have to read the book to see if they found any of the buried treasure. Later based on information in the scrapbook she had been loaned by her friend's aunt, she discovered the house where the money was buried was the place the robbers had gone after the robbery and split the loot.
Once you start this thriller, be prepared to stay up half or most of the night trying to get through the book's 204 pages of main text and additional pages of time lines and notes. It's a real page-turner that won't be easy to put down before finishing. The book is illustrated with dozens of rare photos to help explain the story and show the people involved in it as well as police reenactments of the crime scene with the robbery victims recreating exactly what happened during the robbery by the crooks wearing Halloween Masks.
The part of the book I found the most amusing was the making of the 1978 motion picture about the robbery. The motion picture company kept getting ripped off by everyone in every way. Another robbery occurred on the set of the crime and the edited motion picture film was stolen at gun point and held for ransom. Did the film company have to pay the ransom? You'll have to read the book to find out. Corrupt members of the Teamsters Union were so strong-armed in their no-show hires that Hollywood Motion Picture studios avoided filming in Boston for several years. Eventually three of the corrupt thugs from Teamster's Union went to jail for their ripping off the movie companies. A couple of the original Brink's Robbers were extra's in the movie. Several other characters from the actual robbery and investigation also appeared as extra's in the final movie. It created the same kind of local interest and excitement that "JAWS" later produced with the local population when it was filmed in nearby Martha's Vineyard.
Part of the book deals with the strange satisfaction local everyday Bostonians took with the fact that a gang of locals could pull off and get away with stealing over a million dollars from the most secure armored car business in the world without firing a shot or injuring a single person during the crime. The local population was also pleased that the thieves would have gotten away with the crime had not one of the gang members ratted the other gang members out six years after the caper occurred. The robbers became instant folk heroes. The author does a wonderful job of tying up most of the loose ends about the story of the robbers and what happened to all the missing money. Some times true stories are more fascinating than fiction and this is one of those cases. It proves that some times it's better to be very lucky than really smart. These small-time robbers almost got away with the perfect crime of the century. | | The Crime of the Century: How the Brinks Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston by Commonwealth Editions Book Description | | On January 17, 1950, seven robbers in Halloween masks walked into a counting room of the Brink's armored car garage on Prince Street in Boston and walked out with $2.5 million in cash, checks, and securities. It was the largest robbery in U.S. history to date. Yet not a shot was fired, not a drop of blood was shed. The robbers simply said, "This is a stick-up," before gagging and tying up the guards. Within minutes they escaped into the night with bags stuffed with money, leaving almost no clues behind. For six years, authorities worked to crack the case. Just before the statute of limitations ran out, one of the robbers, who believed he was cheated out of his share, ratted out his comrades. The subsequent trial captivated a city, as details of the caper finally came to light. Yet most of the loot was never found, and over the years Bostonians have speculated on where it went. Even after the case was solved and the culprits were jailed, the Brink's robbery continued to fascinate the public. How did a ragtag group of petty criminals-- Irish, Italian, and one Jew--somehow pull off a nearly perfect crime? Hollywood made two movies that portrayed the robbers as working-class heroes. A closer examination of the robbery, however, reveals a darker side. What first appeared to be a daring, bloodless caper turned deadly when the lure of the cash and the fear of imprisonment turned friend against friend. Soon the criminal code of silence was being enforced with the blast of a machine gun. To this day mystery and intrigue surround the Brink's robbery even as it continues to grip the imagination of Boston. The Crime of the Century is a fascinating caper and a portrait of Boston in the postwar era. |
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