Remembering the largest heist in American history

Around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 17, 1950, the Brink's garage at 155 Prince St. was held up and robbed by a gang that got away with $2.78 million in cash, checks and securities.

The mask-clad hoods spent more than a year casing the joint - they even staged several overnight break-ins to steal locks from which to make keys, then returned the locks to their doors - and left behind few clues. But an embittered Specs O'Keefe turned on the other ten gang member after three failed attempts to rub him out and when he realized - while sitting in a jail in Springfield on other charges - that they'd taken all his money.

Most of the money was never recovered; the FBI says a good chunk was spent on legal bills as the feds and the state slowly closed in on the gang.

The Brink's facility still stands, although it's now a common run-of-the-mill parking garage, with an address of 600 Commercial St.

• Short version from Wikipedia.
• Longer version from the FBI, which focuses on the hunt for the robbers.
• Even longer version - Stephanie Schorow's "The Crime of the Century."