I didn't really mean to read this. I planned to buy it as a gift for a friend, but then I noticed that the author was appearing at Porter Square Books. My plan was to go to the reading and then have Stephanie Schorow sign the book to my friend. I cared enough about the Brinks job to spend an hour hearing about it, but I wasn't so sure that I wanted to read a whole book about it.
By the end of the event -- not really a reading, more of an informal lecture on the robbery -- I had decided that I did indeed want to read it. Here was one of those compelling moments of Boston history that I didn't really know anything about. I had heard my parents refer to it, I had heard people wonder where all the Brinks money went, but I knew little about the crime itself.
It wasn't just the money that helped capture the public's attention, although a One Million Dollar bounty in 1950 certainly helped. It was more the style of the heist that excited everyone. "And nobody got hurt" was a common refrain about the robbery, though Schorow does point out that this wasn't entirely true. In later years, there may have been some murders linked to it, and a hit was even put out on the life of Specs O'Keefe, the man who eventually testified against his partners. You get the feeling that their lack of violence was really more because of luck than anything else.
In some ways, the book is a bit depressing. Here is a book about the "fantastic" Brinks robbery, and all the thieves seem anything but fantastic. They all seem like bumbling criminals, who couldn't keep themselves out of jail. As for the money, Schorow believes that it was spent in small amounts by the criminals. No exciting purchases here. Each got about $100,000, and most squandered the winnings. Not content to squander his own money, Jazz Maffie even squandered O'Keefe's loot too. Note to self: When stealing large sums of money, never have one of your partners look after your share.
This is not to say that the mastermind, Tony Pino, wasn't a smart man. The robbery itself was skilled, and Pino is at times a sympathetic character. I found that I'm especially excited to see the movie too. "The Brinks Job" came out in 1978 and starred Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, and Paul Sorvino.
By the way, I'm still giving it as a gift, even though I read the whole thing. Luckily, the recipient doesn't know about this blog. I don't feel all that guilty either. It seems to me that books are one of the few gifts that the giver is allowed to use beforehand. As long as you treat the book well, I see no harm in this. Whenever people give me a book, I almost expect them to have read the thing first, if only to see if it's right for me.
Weirdest nugget from the book: Specs O'Keefe went into the witness protection program after testifying against his partners and for a short time actually worked for Cary Grant.
