by willychichi » Sun Jul 31, 2016 11:16 am
How 8 bumbling thieves stole $30M from a Mafia bank
Barbara Oliva, an apprentice furrier in Providence, RI, had no idea that her employers ran a secret bank for the Mafia. But there it was, inside Hudson Fur Storage: 150 safe-deposit boxes that held loads of stolen booty. Among local criminals, the vault was no secret. And while Hudson Fur’s alarm system was minimal, it also seemed unnecessary. Who would be crazy enough to steal from the mob?
But in August 1975, eight men walked in and waved guns at Oliva and her bosses, pulling off a robbery that would yield some $30 million in cash, precious metals and jewels. The brazen job — which was echoed by a burglary this past May that had three men dropping into a Queens bank vault through the roof and leaving with $5 million — ranked at the time as the Northeast’s largest haul. It’s chronicled in the book “The Last Good Heist,” by Tim White, Randall Richard and Wayne Worcester (out Monday).
Despite the mob vault’s notoriety, even robbery ringleaders Robert Dussault and Charles Flynn were surprised by the volume of loot. “I heard guys saying, ‘Holy s–t, I can’t believe what’s here,’” Oliva, now 68, tells The Post. “After they left, huffing and puffing to get out with their bags of stolen stuff, we went in. The [vault] room was knee-deep with bars of gold and silver and all kinds of jewels. There were loose coins, a jeweled chalice, cash, guns.”
Those sparkling goods accounted for what the ill-prepared thieves — who failed to bring enough duffel bags and forgot to keep their masks on during the heist — were unable to carry out of Hudson Fur.
As co-author White tells The Post, the robbery was sanctioned by local mob boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca. The participants each walked away with around $70,000. Patriarca is believed to have received the rest.
Read more:
http://nypost.com/2016/07/31/how-8-bumb ... afia-bank/How 8 bumbling thieves stole $30M from a Mafia bank
Barbara Oliva, an apprentice furrier in Providence, RI, had no idea that her employers ran a secret bank for the Mafia. But there it was, inside Hudson Fur Storage: 150 safe-deposit boxes that held loads of stolen booty. Among local criminals, the vault was no secret. And while Hudson Fur’s alarm system was minimal, it also seemed unnecessary. Who would be crazy enough to steal from the mob?
But in August 1975, eight men walked in and waved guns at Oliva and her bosses, pulling off a robbery that would yield some $30 million in cash, precious metals and jewels. The brazen job — which was echoed by a burglary this past May that had three men dropping into a Queens bank vault through the roof and leaving with $5 million — ranked at the time as the Northeast’s largest haul. It’s chronicled in the book “The Last Good Heist,” by Tim White, Randall Richard and Wayne Worcester (out Monday).
Despite the mob vault’s notoriety, even robbery ringleaders Robert Dussault and Charles Flynn were surprised by the volume of loot. “I heard guys saying, ‘Holy s–t, I can’t believe what’s here,’” Oliva, now 68, tells The Post. “After they left, huffing and puffing to get out with their bags of stolen stuff, we went in. The [vault] room was knee-deep with bars of gold and silver and all kinds of jewels. There were loose coins, a jeweled chalice, cash, guns.”
Those sparkling goods accounted for what the ill-prepared thieves — who failed to bring enough duffel bags and forgot to keep their masks on during the heist — were unable to carry out of Hudson Fur.
As co-author White tells The Post, the robbery was sanctioned by local mob boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca. The participants each walked away with around $70,000. Patriarca is believed to have received the rest.
Read more: http://nypost.com/2016/07/31/how-8-bumbling-thieves-stole-30m-from-a-mafia-bank/