Brinks robbery (1981)
Encyclopedia
The Brink's robbery of 1981 was an armed robbery committed on October 20, 1981, which was carried out by Black Liberation Army
members; including Jeral Wayne Williams (aka Mutulu Shakur
), Donald Weems (aka Kuwasi Balagoon
), Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Burns (aka Sekou Odinga), Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson, Samuel Brown (aka Solomon Bouines); several former members of the Weather Underground
, now belonging to the May 19th Communist Organization, including David Gilbert, Samuel Brown, Judith Alice Clark
, Kathy Boudin
, and Marilyn Buck
; and an unknown number of accomplices. They stole $1.6 million from a Brink's armored car
at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York
, killing two police officers, Edward O'Grady
and Waverly Brown
, and a Brink's guard, Peter Paige.
) and Weems (Balagoon
), along with May 19 Communists David Gilbert, Samuel Brown, Judith Alice Clark
, and Kathy Boudin
.
The robbery began with Boudin dropping off her infant son, Chesa Boudin
, at a babysitter's before picking up the getaway vehicle, a U-Haul
truck. She waited in a nearby parking lot as her heavily armed accomplices took another vehicle to the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, New York where a Brink's truck was making a delivery.
At 3:55 pm, Brink's guards Peter Paige and Joe Trombino emerged from the mall carrying bags of money. As they loaded the money into the truck, the robbers stormed out of their van and attacked. One fired two shotgun blasts into the van's bulletproof windshield, while another opened fire with an M16 rifle
. Paige was hit multiple times and killed instantly. Trombino was able to fire a single shot from his handgun, but was soon struck in the shoulder and arm by several rounds, nearly severing his arm from his body. The criminals then took $1.6 million in cash, got back in their van, and fled the scene.
Trombino survived his injuries and continued to work for the Brink's company for the next 20 years; he was killed at age 68, while making a Brinks delivery in the September 11 Attacks .
Meanwhile, police units from all over the county were converging on the mall where the shootout occurred and attempting to cut off all possible escape routes. Soon police officers Edward O'Grady
, Waverly Brown
, Brian Lennon, and Artie Keenan spotted and pulled over the U-Haul truck, with David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin in the front seats, along with the yellow Honda at an entrance ramp to the New York State Thruway
off of New York State Route 59
. The police were not sure if they had the right truck, since it had been reported that the robbers were all black-skinned, while the occupants of this vehicle were white-skinned (a deliberate part of the original plan by the robbers, hoping to fool the police). But since the truck matched the description of the getaway vehicle they were looking for, the officers pulled it over and approached with guns drawn.
Officer O'Grady lived long enough to empty his revolver
, but as he reloaded, he was shot several times with an M16. Ninety minutes later, he died on a hospital operating table. Meanwhile Lennon, who was in his cruiser when the shootout began, tried to exit out the front passenger door, but O'Grady's body was wedged up against the door. He watched as the suspects jumped back into the U-Haul and sped directly towards him. Lennon fired his shotgun several times at the speeding truck as it collided with his police car.
The occupants of the U-Haul scattered, some climbing into the yellow Honda, others carjacking
a nearby motorist while Boudin attempted to flee on foot. An off-duty corrections officer apprehended her shortly after the shoot out. When she was arrested, Boudin gave her name as Barbara Edson.
Police traced the license plate on one of the getaway vehicles to an apartment in New Jersey. Inside, the police found weapons, bomb making materials, and detailed blueprints of six Manhattan police precincts. Investigations later revealed the apartment was rented by Marilyn Buck
, another former Weatherman turned May 19 Communist who had been previously arrested for providing weapons to the BLA. She had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but in 1977 she was granted furlough
and never returned. While at the apartment, police also found papers that listed an address in Mt. Vernon, New York, a small city in Westchester County about 20 miles from the mall where the robbery occurred. When police raided that apartment, they found bloody clothing, ammunition, more guns and ski masks. Investigation later revealed that the bloody clothing belonged to Buck, who had accidentally shot herself in the leg when she tried to draw her weapon during the shootout with the police.
All the plates on the vehicles seen near the Mt. Vernon address were entered into the NCIC system. Two days later, NYPD detectives spotted a 1978 Chrysler with a license plate that had been seen at the Mt. Vernon Apartment. The vehicle, driven by Samuel Smith and Sekou Odinga, fled from the police when they tried to pull it over. After the vehicle crashed, the two occupants engaged the police in a gunfight that left Smith dead and Odinga captured. Inside Smith's shirt pocket, police found a crushed .38 caliber slug they believe was fired from officer O'Grady's service weapon. Three more participants were arrested several months later, including Weems (Balagoon).
The investigation for the participants in the robbery would continue for years. Buck was arrested in 1985. The last person to be arrested in connection with it was Willams (Shakur), the ringleader of the robbery, in 1986.
), massive security precautions were undertaken, turning the courthouse in Goshen, New York
into a heavily armed compound. All three defendants declined assistance from defense lawyers and chose to represent themselves. Their contention was that since they did not recognize the authority of the United States, the government had no right to put them on trial. Throughout the trial, they repeatedly disrupted the proceedings by shouting anti-US slogans, proclaiming to be "at war" with the government and refusing to respect any aspect of the US legal system. They called the robbery an "expropriation" of funds that were needed to form a new country in a few select southern states that ideally would be populated only by African Americans.
When it came time for the defendants to present their case, they called only one witness, Nathaniel Burns (Sekou Odinga), who had already been convicted of multiple bank robberies. He said that his organization was "fighting for the liberation and self-determination of black people in this country." Burns testified that the killings were suitable because the three victims had interfered with the "expropriation". In his view, the theft of money was morally justified because those funds "were robbed through the slave labor that was forced on them and their ancestors." After his testimony, he was praised by the defendants and led out of the courtroom to serve his 40-year federal prison sentence. The jury was not convinced by Burns' reasoning and at the end of the trial, all three defendants were convicted of armed robbery and three counts of murder.
The three defendants received three consecutive twenty-five year-to-life sentences, making them eligible for parole
in the year 2058. After the trial, Weems claimed, "As to the seventy five years in prison, I am not really worried, not only because I am in the habit of not completing sentences or waiting on parole or any of that nonsense but also because the State simply isn't going to last seventy five or even fifty years." He died in prison from AIDS
in 1986. Gilbert and Clark remain in prison. In September 2006, Clark was granted a new trial by a judge in a district court on grounds that she had no representation at trial. on January 3, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a unanimous decision, reversed the district court's judgment granting a new trial. The Second Circuit panel noted that she chose to represent herself and defaulted any claim by failing to appeal until after the time for appeals had expired.
Unlike their fellow robbers, Boudin and Brown attempted to mount a legal defense. Boudin hired Leonard Weinglass
to defend her. Weinglass, a law partner of Boudin's father, arranged for a plea bargain
and Boudin pled guilty to one count of felony murder and robbery, in exchange for a single twenty year-to-life sentence. She was paroled in 2003. However, Brown was unable to reach any deal that would spare him a life sentence. Since he had nothing to lose by going to trial, he decided to have one. At his trial, he claimed to have only had a minor participation in the robbery and had not fired a weapon at anyone. The jury was not convinced. In addition to being caught in the escape attempt with the other robbers, witnesses identified him as a participant in both shootouts. He was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
Buck was later convicted of multiple charges related to the Brink's robbery and other crimes and sentenced to 50 years in a federal prison. She was released from prison in July, 2010, and died of cancer in August, 2010. Williams (Shakur), the alleged ringleader of the group, was the last one to go on trial on charges related to the robbery. In 1988, he received a 60-year prison sentence. He has a parole release date of 2016.
Black Liberation Army
The Black Liberation Army was an underground, black nationalist-Marxist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981...
members; including Jeral Wayne Williams (aka Mutulu Shakur
Mutulu Shakur
Mutulu Shakur , is a former proponent of the Republic of New Afrika and a close friend of Geronimo Pratt....
), Donald Weems (aka Kuwasi Balagoon
Kuwasi Balagoon
Kuwasi Balagoon , born Donald Weems, was a Black Panther, a member of the Black Liberation Army, a New Afrikan anarchist, and a defendant in the Panther 21 case in the late sixties. Captured and convicted of various crimes, he spent most of the 1970s in prison...
), Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Burns (aka Sekou Odinga), Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson, Samuel Brown (aka Solomon Bouines); several former members of the Weather Underground
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
, now belonging to the May 19th Communist Organization, including David Gilbert, Samuel Brown, Judith Alice Clark
Judith Alice Clark
Judy Clark, an activist with a long-standing history in the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, is currently in prison for her participation in the attempted robbery of a Brinks truck in 1981 that left a guard and two police officers dead. Clark was convicted for a secondary role in the...
, Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin is a former American radical who was convicted in 1984 of felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery that resulted in the killing of three people. She later became a public health expert while in prison...
, and Marilyn Buck
Marilyn Buck
Marilyn Jean Buck was an American Marxist revolutionary, convict, and feminist poet, who was imprisoned for her participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, the 1981 Brinks robbery and the 1983 U.S. Senate bombing...
; and an unknown number of accomplices. They stole $1.6 million from a Brink's armored car
Armored car (valuables)
A common meaning of armored car is as an armored van or truck, used in transporting valuables, such as large quantities of money . The armored car is a multifunctional vehicle designed to protect and ensure the well being of the transported individuals and/or contents...
at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York
Nanuet, New York
Nanuet is a hamlet , in the Town of Clarkstown Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Pearl River; south of New City; east of Spring Valley and west of West Nyack. It is 19 miles north of Manhattan, and 2 miles north of the New Jersey border...
, killing two police officers, Edward O'Grady
Edward O'Grady II
Edward O'Grady II was born in Nyack, New York. After graduating high school, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served two tours of service in the Vietnam War. O'Grady joined the Nyack Police department after his discharge and also worked as a volunteer fire fighter with the Nyack fire...
and Waverly Brown
Waverly Brown
Waverly L. Brown was a Nyack, New York police officer who was killed in the line of duty during an infamous 1981 armed robbery of a Brinks Armored Car, along with fellow Nyack officer Edward O'Grady II and Brinks security guard Peter Paige...
, and a Brink's guard, Peter Paige.
Robbery
The robbers included senior BLA members Willams (ShakurMutulu Shakur
Mutulu Shakur , is a former proponent of the Republic of New Afrika and a close friend of Geronimo Pratt....
) and Weems (Balagoon
Kuwasi Balagoon
Kuwasi Balagoon , born Donald Weems, was a Black Panther, a member of the Black Liberation Army, a New Afrikan anarchist, and a defendant in the Panther 21 case in the late sixties. Captured and convicted of various crimes, he spent most of the 1970s in prison...
), along with May 19 Communists David Gilbert, Samuel Brown, Judith Alice Clark
Judith Alice Clark
Judy Clark, an activist with a long-standing history in the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, is currently in prison for her participation in the attempted robbery of a Brinks truck in 1981 that left a guard and two police officers dead. Clark was convicted for a secondary role in the...
, and Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin is a former American radical who was convicted in 1984 of felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery that resulted in the killing of three people. She later became a public health expert while in prison...
.
The robbery began with Boudin dropping off her infant son, Chesa Boudin
Chesa Boudin
Chesa Boudin is an American progressive writer and lecturer, focused on Latin American issues. A Rhodes Scholar, he graduated from Yale Law School in 2011.-Early Life and Family:...
, at a babysitter's before picking up the getaway vehicle, a U-Haul
U-Haul
U-Haul International, Inc. is an American equipment rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen U-Haul International, Inc. is an American equipment rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation...
truck. She waited in a nearby parking lot as her heavily armed accomplices took another vehicle to the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, New York where a Brink's truck was making a delivery.
At 3:55 pm, Brink's guards Peter Paige and Joe Trombino emerged from the mall carrying bags of money. As they loaded the money into the truck, the robbers stormed out of their van and attacked. One fired two shotgun blasts into the van's bulletproof windshield, while another opened fire with an M16 rifle
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
. Paige was hit multiple times and killed instantly. Trombino was able to fire a single shot from his handgun, but was soon struck in the shoulder and arm by several rounds, nearly severing his arm from his body. The criminals then took $1.6 million in cash, got back in their van, and fled the scene.
Trombino survived his injuries and continued to work for the Brink's company for the next 20 years; he was killed at age 68, while making a Brinks delivery in the September 11 Attacks .
Car swap
After fleeing the scene, the robbers drove to a parking lot where a yellow Honda and the U-Haul truck, manned by members of the May 19 Communist Organization, were waiting. The robbers quickly threw the bags of money into the car and truck and sped away. In a house across the street, an alert college student spotted the robbers as they switched vehicles and called the police.Meanwhile, police units from all over the county were converging on the mall where the shootout occurred and attempting to cut off all possible escape routes. Soon police officers Edward O'Grady
Edward O'Grady II
Edward O'Grady II was born in Nyack, New York. After graduating high school, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served two tours of service in the Vietnam War. O'Grady joined the Nyack Police department after his discharge and also worked as a volunteer fire fighter with the Nyack fire...
, Waverly Brown
Waverly Brown
Waverly L. Brown was a Nyack, New York police officer who was killed in the line of duty during an infamous 1981 armed robbery of a Brinks Armored Car, along with fellow Nyack officer Edward O'Grady II and Brinks security guard Peter Paige...
, Brian Lennon, and Artie Keenan spotted and pulled over the U-Haul truck, with David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin in the front seats, along with the yellow Honda at an entrance ramp to the New York State Thruway
New York State Thruway
The New York State Thruway is a system of limited-access highways located within the state of New York in the United States. The system, known officially as the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway for former New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, is operated by the New York State Thruway Authority and...
off of New York State Route 59
New York State Route 59
New York State Route 59 is an east–west state highway in southern Rockland County, New York, in the United States. The route extends for from NY 17 in Hillburn to U.S. Route 9W in Nyack. In Suffern, it has a concurrency with US 202 for . NY 59 runs parallel to the New...
. The police were not sure if they had the right truck, since it had been reported that the robbers were all black-skinned, while the occupants of this vehicle were white-skinned (a deliberate part of the original plan by the robbers, hoping to fool the police). But since the truck matched the description of the getaway vehicle they were looking for, the officers pulled it over and approached with guns drawn.
Second gunfight
The police officers who caught them testified that Boudin, feigning innocence, pleaded with them to put down their guns and convinced them to drop their guard; Boudin said she remained silent, that the officers relaxed spontaneously. After the police did lower their weapons, six of the men in the back of the truck who were armed with automatic weapons and wore body armor surprised the four police officers by emerging and opening fire. Officer Brown was hit repeatedly by rifle rounds and collapsed on the ground. One robber then walked up to his prone body and fired several more shots into him with a 9mm handgun, ensuring his death. Keenan was shot in the leg, but managed to duck behind a tree and return fire.Officer O'Grady lived long enough to empty his revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
, but as he reloaded, he was shot several times with an M16. Ninety minutes later, he died on a hospital operating table. Meanwhile Lennon, who was in his cruiser when the shootout began, tried to exit out the front passenger door, but O'Grady's body was wedged up against the door. He watched as the suspects jumped back into the U-Haul and sped directly towards him. Lennon fired his shotgun several times at the speeding truck as it collided with his police car.
The occupants of the U-Haul scattered, some climbing into the yellow Honda, others carjacking
Carjacking
Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction,...
a nearby motorist while Boudin attempted to flee on foot. An off-duty corrections officer apprehended her shortly after the shoot out. When she was arrested, Boudin gave her name as Barbara Edson.
Arrests
Three other suspects failed to escape. May 19 Communists Chris Dobbs, Samuel Brown, and Judith Alice Clark crashed the Honda while making a sharp turn. South Nyack police chief Alan Colsey was the only officer initially at the scene of the crash, but he managed to keep them held up at gun point until backup arrived. After that, all three were arrested. Inside the car, police found $800,000 from the robbery and a 9mm handgun on the floor of the back seat.Police traced the license plate on one of the getaway vehicles to an apartment in New Jersey. Inside, the police found weapons, bomb making materials, and detailed blueprints of six Manhattan police precincts. Investigations later revealed the apartment was rented by Marilyn Buck
Marilyn Buck
Marilyn Jean Buck was an American Marxist revolutionary, convict, and feminist poet, who was imprisoned for her participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, the 1981 Brinks robbery and the 1983 U.S. Senate bombing...
, another former Weatherman turned May 19 Communist who had been previously arrested for providing weapons to the BLA. She had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but in 1977 she was granted furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
and never returned. While at the apartment, police also found papers that listed an address in Mt. Vernon, New York, a small city in Westchester County about 20 miles from the mall where the robbery occurred. When police raided that apartment, they found bloody clothing, ammunition, more guns and ski masks. Investigation later revealed that the bloody clothing belonged to Buck, who had accidentally shot herself in the leg when she tried to draw her weapon during the shootout with the police.
All the plates on the vehicles seen near the Mt. Vernon address were entered into the NCIC system. Two days later, NYPD detectives spotted a 1978 Chrysler with a license plate that had been seen at the Mt. Vernon Apartment. The vehicle, driven by Samuel Smith and Sekou Odinga, fled from the police when they tried to pull it over. After the vehicle crashed, the two occupants engaged the police in a gunfight that left Smith dead and Odinga captured. Inside Smith's shirt pocket, police found a crushed .38 caliber slug they believe was fired from officer O'Grady's service weapon. Three more participants were arrested several months later, including Weems (Balagoon).
The investigation for the participants in the robbery would continue for years. Buck was arrested in 1985. The last person to be arrested in connection with it was Willams (Shakur), the ringleader of the robbery, in 1986.
Trials and sentencing
Gilbert, Weems, and Clark were the first of the Brink's robbers to go to trial. Because the BLA was known for attempting to break their members out of prison (as in the case of Assata ShakurAssata Shakur
Assata Olugbala Shakur is an African-American activist and escaped convict who was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army...
), massive security precautions were undertaken, turning the courthouse in Goshen, New York
Goshen (village), New York
Goshen is a village in and the county seat of Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 5,676 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport,...
into a heavily armed compound. All three defendants declined assistance from defense lawyers and chose to represent themselves. Their contention was that since they did not recognize the authority of the United States, the government had no right to put them on trial. Throughout the trial, they repeatedly disrupted the proceedings by shouting anti-US slogans, proclaiming to be "at war" with the government and refusing to respect any aspect of the US legal system. They called the robbery an "expropriation" of funds that were needed to form a new country in a few select southern states that ideally would be populated only by African Americans.
When it came time for the defendants to present their case, they called only one witness, Nathaniel Burns (Sekou Odinga), who had already been convicted of multiple bank robberies. He said that his organization was "fighting for the liberation and self-determination of black people in this country." Burns testified that the killings were suitable because the three victims had interfered with the "expropriation". In his view, the theft of money was morally justified because those funds "were robbed through the slave labor that was forced on them and their ancestors." After his testimony, he was praised by the defendants and led out of the courtroom to serve his 40-year federal prison sentence. The jury was not convinced by Burns' reasoning and at the end of the trial, all three defendants were convicted of armed robbery and three counts of murder.
The three defendants received three consecutive twenty-five year-to-life sentences, making them eligible for parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
in the year 2058. After the trial, Weems claimed, "As to the seventy five years in prison, I am not really worried, not only because I am in the habit of not completing sentences or waiting on parole or any of that nonsense but also because the State simply isn't going to last seventy five or even fifty years." He died in prison from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in 1986. Gilbert and Clark remain in prison. In September 2006, Clark was granted a new trial by a judge in a district court on grounds that she had no representation at trial. on January 3, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a unanimous decision, reversed the district court's judgment granting a new trial. The Second Circuit panel noted that she chose to represent herself and defaulted any claim by failing to appeal until after the time for appeals had expired.
Unlike their fellow robbers, Boudin and Brown attempted to mount a legal defense. Boudin hired Leonard Weinglass
Leonard Weinglass
Leonard Irving Weinglass was a U.S. criminal defense lawyer and constitutional law advocate. Weinglass graduated from Yale Law School in 1958, then served as a Captain, Judge Advocate, United States Air Force from 1959 to 1961. He was admitted to the bar in the states of New Jersey, New York,...
to defend her. Weinglass, a law partner of Boudin's father, arranged for a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
and Boudin pled guilty to one count of felony murder and robbery, in exchange for a single twenty year-to-life sentence. She was paroled in 2003. However, Brown was unable to reach any deal that would spare him a life sentence. Since he had nothing to lose by going to trial, he decided to have one. At his trial, he claimed to have only had a minor participation in the robbery and had not fired a weapon at anyone. The jury was not convinced. In addition to being caught in the escape attempt with the other robbers, witnesses identified him as a participant in both shootouts. He was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
Buck was later convicted of multiple charges related to the Brink's robbery and other crimes and sentenced to 50 years in a federal prison. She was released from prison in July, 2010, and died of cancer in August, 2010. Williams (Shakur), the alleged ringleader of the group, was the last one to go on trial on charges related to the robbery. In 1988, he received a 60-year prison sentence. He has a parole release date of 2016.