1950 - Crime

Crime

The Brink's robbery at Boston January 17 breaks all previous records for losses to armed robbers. Seven men wearing Navy pea jackets, chauffeurs' caps, and crepe-soled shoes enter Boston headquarters of the 91-year-old Brink's Express Co. shortly after 7 o'clock in the evening, don Halloween masks, and force five Brink's employees to turn over $1,218,211 in cash plus $1,557,000 in money orders. J. Edgar Hoover calls the job a communist conspiracy, the FBI will spend $129 million trying to apprehend the perpetrators, agents will arrest 10 men only days before the statute of limitations expires, two will die before coming to trial, eight will be sentenced, but only $50,000 of the take will ever be recovered.

Thieves rob a branch of New York's Manufacturers Trust Co. at 47-11 Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside at gunpoint March 9. Many of the bank's employees say that Willie Sutton was among the men who make off with $64,000 (see 1948; 1952).

Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney Miles F. McDonald notes that lower courts rarely impose prison terms in gambling cases and asks in April for a blue-ribbon grand jury to hear testimony regarding police officers found at the scene of a raid on a "policy bank" (gambling den). Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan opens his own grand jury inquiry May 5. Sen. Kefauver begins hearings May 26 at Miami in an investigation of U.S. criminal activities. His committee studies testimony by the late Abe "Kid Twist" Reles (see 1941) and when it moves its hearings to Washington, N.J., it hears gambler-racketeer Willie Moretti testify that he never heard the word Mafia in his life. Senate Crime Committee counsel Rudolph Halley, 36, arrives at New York with Florida data May 29, saying that it will aid the city's investigation. Mayor O'Dwyer calls the probe a "witchhunt," but the White House announces August 16 that O'Dwyer will resign for what he calls reasons of health August 31 following allegations of ties to organized crime. He accepts an appointment from President Truman as ambassador to Mexico at a salary of $25,000 plus $10,000 per year for entertainment and is granted a city pension of $6,000 per year.

The FBI issues its first "Ten Most Wanted Criminals" list in a publicity move. Several criminals are arrested after being identified by citizens who saw their pictures in newspapers, magazines, or post offices, and in the next 24 years some 300 criminals on the "most wanted" list will be located.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation by critic Max Lowenthal condemns FBI activities. The Dies Committee subpoenas Lowenthal and copies of the book are soon hard to find at bookstores.

Theft losses from New York's docks reach an estimated $140 million—three times the amount stolen from all other U.S. ports combined. International Longshoremen's Association boss Joseph Ryan has headed the union since 1927 and continues to organize and enforce the waterfront racketeering—embezzlement, extortion, hijacking, kickbacks, payroll padding, and even murder—but corruption at the port has become a national issue (see 1953).

Criminologist Edwin H. Sutherland dies at Bloomington, Ind., October 11 at age 67 after suffering a stroke and a serious fall.