Brink's Robbery Night at the Charlestown Branch Library March 13, 2008

The Friends of the Charlestown Branch presents The Crime of the Century: How the Brink’s Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston. With author Stephanie Schorow, followed by a showing of the film The Brink’s Job. Thursday, March 13, 7:00 pm at the Charlestown Branch Library, 179 Main Street, Charlestown. Free and open to everyone; followed by a reception and a book signing of Schorow’s “The Crime of the Century”. Wheelchair accessible. For more information call 617-242-1248.

It was hailed as "The Crime of the Century." On January 17, 1950, seven robbers in weird masks crept into the vault room of the Brink’s armored car garage on Prince Street in Boston’s North End and walked out with more than $2.5 million in cash, checks, and securities. The daring heist ­— reported as the largest armed robbery in U.S. history to date ­— captured the imagination of Boston and the world. While the FBI and Boston police devoted themselves to cracking the case, many Bostonians were quietly rooting for the robbers. For six years, the culprits eluded prosecution until one of them finally turned states evidence and the Brink's caper was cracked.

The crime has been the subject of two major Hollywood movies and numerous books, but even so, many mysteries linger about the fabulous Brink's job, including what really happened to all that loot?

To this day mystery and intrigue surround the Brink’s robbery even as it continues to grip the imagination of Boston. As part of her research for her The Crime of the Century, author Stephanie Schorow interviewed several Boston-area residents, including residents of Charlestown.

This is the first book on the Brink’s robbery in thirty years and sets straight many inaccuracies found in the 1978 Hollywood film The Brink’s Job. How did a ragtag group of petty criminals — Irish, Italian, and one Jew — somehow pull off a nearly perfect crime? The movie portrayed the robbers as working-class heroes who chased the American dream through thievery. A closer examination reveals a darker side. What first appeared to be a daring, bloodless caper turned deadly when the lure of cash and the fear of imprisonment turned friend against friend.

Stephanie Schorow is a Boston-based freelance writer focusing on topics of regional and national interest. A former reporter for the Boston Herald and the Associated Press, she is the author of Boston on Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston and The Cocoanut Grove Fire. Her articles appear regularly in The Boston Globe and other New England publications. She lives in Medford, Massachusetts.

Official Website: http://www.bpl.org/branches/charlestown.htm