Read Online Last Rites by William J. Craig - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: William J. Craig
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of the top suspects, Specs OâKeefe, was driving in Dorchester, Massachusetts, when a car pulled alongside his and sprayed his car with bullets. He was able to escape unscathed. Nine days later, there was another incident when OâKeefe got into a shootout with Henry Baker, another suspect in the robbery. Then, Elmer âTriggerâ Burke, a professional hit man, was given the assignment to get rid of OâKeefe. The fact that Burke was hired implies a possible mob connection. His attempt went a little better: he hit OâKeefe in the wrist and chest. Burke was arrested later that day with a machine gun that ballistics was able to match to the attempted assassination of OâKeefe.
By 1956, OâKeefe cracked and told the FBI everything. Another unexpected break in the case came in June 1956. The Baltimore Police Department came across a Boston man whom they originally suspected of passing counterfeit bills. The man was registered under a fake name at a hotel. A search of his room revealed $3,780 of the Brinks money. Further conversations with the man revealed that he had a lengthy rap sheet and had recently been released from a federal prison camp. The FBI also discovered that the man was a mob associate. The man then explained that the money had been given to him by an acquaintance with whom he shared office space in Boston, a man he knew only by the name Fat John. Secret Service and the Boston Police helped to find this man. A search warrant was obtained and executed on the office, located on Tremont Street in Boston. The FBI found a partial wall, and once the partition was removed, they discovered a picnic cooler within the wall. Once they opened it, they discovered more than $57,700 in Brinks money wrapped in plastic wrap and newspaper. Further investigation revealed that the carpenter who installed the partial wall had done the work only a few weeks earlier and the cooler wasnât there at the time. The money was found to be in various stages of decomposition, which made counting the money difficult. Fat John took a plea agreement for the Brinks money that was found in his office. He served two years under the agreement.
In 1958, while out on an appeal in a narcotics case, he was found shot to death in his car, which had crashed into a truck in Boston. Police believed that Fat John was a mob associate and that his death was related to the Brinks money, although they could never prove this theory. It is highly unlikely that the heist was committed without the knowledge of the Italian mob or that they did not receive a piece of it, especially since Angiulo fenced the money years later from the Plymouth Train Robbery. Nothing went on in the North End that the mob didnât know about or allow to take place.
In the wake of the Apalachin summit, the FBI began its pursuit of organized crime. Apalachin was a meeting of all the top mobsters in the country in 1957. These men were meeting to discuss how they were going to carve up the United States among the crime families, and they anointed Vito Genovese as the boss of bosses. Unfortunately, two New York State troopers crashed the party and consequently brought the mafia into the public forefront. The FBI began bugging mob hangouts in order to obtain as much information on their illegal activities as possible. They also began working on developing informants out of current mobsters.
Originally, Patriarca stayed out of the Irish gang war. But eventually, he had no choice but to interfere because it was starting to cut into his business. His first thought was to let them kill one another, thereby allowing him to pick up a bigger piece of the pie. For the first few years, this plan worked out to his liking. As the war increased, people became increasingly outraged by the killings that were being exclaimed on the front page of the newspapers. Patriarca decided that he would use the gang war to settle some personal scores. The first score he was to settle
By 1956, OâKeefe cracked and told the FBI everything. Another unexpected break in the case came in June 1956. The Baltimore Police Department came across a Boston man whom they originally suspected of passing counterfeit bills. The man was registered under a fake name at a hotel. A search of his room revealed $3,780 of the Brinks money. Further conversations with the man revealed that he had a lengthy rap sheet and had recently been released from a federal prison camp. The FBI also discovered that the man was a mob associate. The man then explained that the money had been given to him by an acquaintance with whom he shared office space in Boston, a man he knew only by the name Fat John. Secret Service and the Boston Police helped to find this man. A search warrant was obtained and executed on the office, located on Tremont Street in Boston. The FBI found a partial wall, and once the partition was removed, they discovered a picnic cooler within the wall. Once they opened it, they discovered more than $57,700 in Brinks money wrapped in plastic wrap and newspaper. Further investigation revealed that the carpenter who installed the partial wall had done the work only a few weeks earlier and the cooler wasnât there at the time. The money was found to be in various stages of decomposition, which made counting the money difficult. Fat John took a plea agreement for the Brinks money that was found in his office. He served two years under the agreement.
In 1958, while out on an appeal in a narcotics case, he was found shot to death in his car, which had crashed into a truck in Boston. Police believed that Fat John was a mob associate and that his death was related to the Brinks money, although they could never prove this theory. It is highly unlikely that the heist was committed without the knowledge of the Italian mob or that they did not receive a piece of it, especially since Angiulo fenced the money years later from the Plymouth Train Robbery. Nothing went on in the North End that the mob didnât know about or allow to take place.
In the wake of the Apalachin summit, the FBI began its pursuit of organized crime. Apalachin was a meeting of all the top mobsters in the country in 1957. These men were meeting to discuss how they were going to carve up the United States among the crime families, and they anointed Vito Genovese as the boss of bosses. Unfortunately, two New York State troopers crashed the party and consequently brought the mafia into the public forefront. The FBI began bugging mob hangouts in order to obtain as much information on their illegal activities as possible. They also began working on developing informants out of current mobsters.
Originally, Patriarca stayed out of the Irish gang war. But eventually, he had no choice but to interfere because it was starting to cut into his business. His first thought was to let them kill one another, thereby allowing him to pick up a bigger piece of the pie. For the first few years, this plan worked out to his liking. As the war increased, people became increasingly outraged by the killings that were being exclaimed on the front page of the newspapers. Patriarca decided that he would use the gang war to settle some personal scores. The first score he was to settle
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