Jack Goes Bad - Part 1 - Revenge by Robbery

Lara:

Hi everyone! In the summer of 1969, the world that I was born into was flipped on its head. Dad’s mentor, boss and constant companion, Jack Kelley, turned State’s witness, but it wasn’t just as simple as Jack taking a pinch and deciding to flip like many of his brethren and cohorts had at that point. 

In this episode, Nina and I are going to go back to July of 1966 and the VA Hospital Robbery which was probably one of the first events that caused Jack to seriously consider early retirement. 

Nina:

We mentioned in Episode 39 that Jack and Richie robbed the reward money for the Plymouth Mail Robbery Heist from the Postal Authorities. Roy Appleton had concocted that scheme which they carried out with the help of Pro Lerner. That stunt, although amazing and successful, brought more heat on Jack than he had ever endured before. 

Lara:

Factor in that two of the men Jack had taken under his wing and molded, inevitably robbed him and their fellow thieves of over $300,00, and you can understand why Jack wanted out. Jack may have wanted to call it quits, but he wasn’t the type to let what he deemed injustices slide. 

Nina:

An elephant never forgets. Mello and Sonny robbing from him and using Bobby Gentile to move the money to Maine. I’m going to be dropping spoilers throughout this episode.

But Jack continued planning heists, the last of which was the Brink’s robbery that took place in December of ‘68. However, Jack did not participate in that robbery. Two of my least favorites, the Cresta brothers, did. 

Lara:

It might be the end of the season, but there are still new characters to introduce. Plus some names from the beginning of the season will be back in our season finale next week, Ben Tilley for one. If you want to listen to more about Tilley’s early days, listen to our first episode about Raymond Patriarca, Disorganized Crime. Ben and Raymond went way back!

Nina:

As did Ben and Jack, and we’ll see that Ben had obviously burnt Jack somewhere along the way. 

With that let’s jump into the much promised VA Robbery. On July 26, 1966 at 12:35 pm, three men robbed the Armored Banking Service of Lynn’s transport truck of $68,000 while it was making a pickup at the Veterans Administration Hospital on South Huntington Ave. in Jamaica Plain. Two of the robbers were dressed in black with ski masks. The third man, the getaway driver, was waiting for them in a stolen blue 1966 Chevy van bearing stolen plates. Unlike all of Jack’s other robberies, this time two people were wounded. Both guards were hit when a blast of machine gun fire was discharged by one of the ski masked thieves. The weapons were foreign made and the ammo was 9mm parabellum. One guard was hit in the lower back and the other in the leg. Their wounds were not life threatening, and the doctors on site were able to treat them immediately. 

Lara:

Like Nina said no one was ever wounded during the commission of a robbery either planned by Jack or pulled off by him before or after the VA. Only one other time was a shot fired during a hold up itself and that was on March 30, 1962 when they hit the Essex Trust bank in West Lynn. Their timing was unusually off that day because of an accident that caused a traffic jam. Jack, dad and Tommy arrived just after a pickup had been made, lessening their haul and landing them in the morning rush at the bank. Tommy fired a warning shot into the ceiling to gain control of the crowd. When they were fleeing with dad at the wheel a cruiser thought they were speeding and gave chase. Eventually some 50 cruisers pursued them through seven towns firing at them, and Jack and Tommy returned fire. 

Nina:

There was also a shootout when they were making their getaway from the Skelly heist in Quincy on April Fool’s Day in 1967, but to the best of my knowledge Jack was adamant that the men in his crew never return fire recklessly. He did not want to see innocent bystanders or law enforcement officers being wounded. 

But the VA robbery did not go according to plan. What the real cause of one of the thieves to fire is unclear. We’ll get into what was claimed shortly. There was also a spent bullet fired from a .38 caliber revolver picked up at the scene. Four latent fingerprints were recovered from the abandoned getaway van. One fingerprint came back as a possible match with that of a known bank robber, but a conclusive match couldn’t be made. Later that year, Four Canadian Nationals were arrested for the August 26th holdup of the Essex County Bank and Trust in Lynn. The authorities tried to connect the two heists, but were unable to match their prints to that of the prints recovered from the VA getaway van the previous month.

Lara:

According to the police, the MO was exactly the same as the nearly $150,000  job that Jack had pulled off in Bedford just four days earlier. The only difference was that no shots were fired in the first job. 

Phil Cresta later claimed that he pulled off the VA job with Charles Domenico and Rocco Novello. His version of events was that he was the one who shot both the guards to protect Domenico because it looked like one of the guards was going to shoot Domenico.

Domenico had a semi-automatic and was the second shooter. 

“Those bullets didn’t have anyone’s name on them. They were just meant to scare people. And it worked, by the look of all the different accounts of what happened in the papers.”

Nina:

But another theory as to who the thieves were was being floated around by both the Boston Police and the Feds. 

Lara:

And I know who started that or was at least responsible for spreading it. Now, I have a question for you.

Nina:

What?

Lara:

Did you know that Steven Busias was an informant for Detective Billy Stuart of the BPD?

Nina:

You mean Billie Aggie’s cousin? Yes!! I remember seeing that in the 302s.

Lara:

Off topic, that puts another wrinkle in the murder conviction of William Kelley for killing Von Maxcy in Florida!

Nina:

Busias’ kid testified at trial and tried to prove that his father, Steve, killed Maxcy. And that Bill Kelley was innocent. But poor Billy Kelley is still sitting in prison all these decades laters. 

Lara:

Too many wrongfully convicted men this season.

Nina:

Now it’s my turn to do a little plugging for next season. Don’t forget that Busias was running around with Jimmy Flemmi after Jimmy got out of prison in 1969. Clearly there’s more to the story than what we’ve been told. 

Back to 1966 and the VA robbery. On August 1st, Billy Stuart told FBI SA H.Paul Rico and SA John Sweeney that a few months earlier a bookie joint on Blue Hill Ave. in Mattapan had been robbed. The joint was under Larry Baione’s protection, so Larry went to Jack since he knew of Jack’s prior partnership with Billie Aggie. And he also knew that Aggie and Busias were cousins. We should also note here that this was just a few months before Billie Aggie’s disappearance. 

Lara: 

According to Billy Stuart, Jack and Pro went to Steve Busias’ apartment in Jamaica Plain and told him to return the loot he stole from Larry Baione. But Busias was pissed off that he’d been found out, so what did Busias do? He went straight to Stuart and told Stuart that Jack Kelley and his crew were responsible for the VA and the Bedford hold up four days prior on July 22nd.

Busias also told Stuart that Billie Aggie told him that Jack was pissed off at Pro for shooting the two guards during the VA heist. Stuart wrapped it up by saying that Jack was broke because of his gambling habit and the money he had given to F. Lee Bailey both as a retainer and to launder.

Nina:

As we mentioned in our first episode, Jack had a strict rule against gambling. In his early days he had indulged in it, but he quickly learned that it was a one way ticket to jail. However, that didn’t stop him from using his reputation for gambling to his advantage. He would borrow money from the shylocks always around the time of a score, so no one would suspect it was him and always used gambling debt as an excuse for his being a cheapskate.

Lara:

Exactly!

Alright, back to the VA hospital. After the robbery the Feds compiled their usual list of suspects. The guards were shown pictures of Jack Kelley, Billy Aggie, Pro Lerner, Billy Breen, Mario Lucchese, Tommy Richards and dad.

And who did the guard recognize? Dad!

Nina:

How could the guard not pick Richie out? The man didn’t exactly blend in, and he was there with Jack almost every day for a month staking the place out. The guard also said that Breen looked familiar to him. But Breen was a local guy and a former cop so who knows where the guard had seen him. 

And wasn’t Richie still living in Jamaica Plain at the time? 

Lara:

Yeah, he was only living a few blocks away on the Jamaica Way.

Nina:

But remember how the Feds covered for Richie and Mello on the earlier robberies? So I assume it was the same situation here. Rico always protected and covered for his guys as long as they were still useful to him. Once they were no longer useful, they were on their own.

Lara:

That was Rico's MO for sure. Dad may have pissed off the Feds with his double agent scheme and lost his “secret identity” so to speak, but he was still feeding the Feds a fountain of misinformation.

Nina:

And he continued to do so for decades!

Lara:

Enough with the season 2 spoilers!

At the time of the VA heist Postal Inspector Jencunas had dad, Jack and Pro under constant surveillance. Billie Aggie was also still being followed by the inspectors..

Jencunas had been providing the Feds with random chunks of the surveillance records. Two weeks prior to the VA robbery, starting on at least July 12th, dad was being followed by Luther Finefrock and Roger Daily. The surveillance was maintained around the clock until August 11th, when they tried to approach dad, and he started screaming in the street at 6 in the morning that they were trying to kill him and our dog, Eric. The BPD showed up and dad had them arrested. For more about that listen to Mutual Harassment. 

Nina:

Hey don’t forget during that time period the postals were clocking Jack at the Bird Lady Millie Spadaro’s apartment.

Lara:

How the hell could I forget that!

Let’s jump forward to the day of the robbery. On the 26th, at 6:15 am Pro’s green T-Bird was parked in front of his Verndale Ave. home in Brookline. At 6:30 am Jack’s gold Caddy was parked in front of his Irving Park home in Watertown. By 8:35 am, Jack was at the Watertown Savings Bank in Coolidge Square. Billie was seen cruising around in his blue four door Chevy near Jack’s favorite pit stop, the Town Diner just after 9 but he didn’t stop. At 9:20, Jack appeared from behind the diner, and headed towards Boston. By 9:40 am Pro and his car were missing and the Postals didn’t see him leave. They didn’t find him again until he reappeared in front of his home in his T-Bird around 2:15 in the afternoon. Dad wasn’t seen all day. 

Nina:

That night just after midnight, Jack and Pro were observed at the Donut Shop at the corner of North Beacon and Market Street in Brighton. Pro was sitting in Jack’s car. After 10 minutes, Pro got out of Jack’s car and Jack drove off. On August 9th when Jencunas provided the Feds with the surveillance report he told FBI SA Dennis Condon that the last time Jack and Pro were seen together was the early morning of July 27th. From that morning through August 9th the agents assigned to surveilling them reported Richie and Jack together in various locations with Richie behind the wheel unless Jack was solo. The fact that Jack and Pro weren’t together added credibility to the Billie Aggie/Steve Busias tale.

Lara:

Here’s the other possibility. Maybe Jack and Pro were meeting up to square up the Willie Marfeo hit. Wille was killed on the 13th of July and the 13th is missing from the 302s that we have about the surveillance of dad, Jack and Pro for the month of July. 

Nina:

Oh and maybe that could be part of our puzzle piece about the later Rudy Marfeo hit!

Lara:

Stop teasing!

Nina:

Calm down!

Lara:

On August 16, the fountain of misinformation, Vinnie Teresa reported to his handler at that time, SA Raymond Ball that Jack had access to military grade equipment including bulletproof vests which he was supplying to the McLeans. Utter bullshit! Yes, Jack had access to all sorts of weapons and equipment, but he certainly wasn’t supplying Buddy McLean with them. Vinnie continued his tale and told the Feds that six men were involved in the VA heist.

Nina:

Shortly after the VA, Richie was brought in for questioning. According to a 302 dated September 15, 1966, he told the Feds that he and Jack had been casing the VA. They would park Jack’s gold caddy which Richie told the FBI that Jack believed had a tracking device in it.

Lara:

Yeah a tracking device Jack was using to follow the Feds.

Nina:

Well, in classic Richie fashion he left that little detail out.

Lara:

I told you there was always a thread of truth to his stories!

Nina:

Richie went on to describe how he and Jack would park the car in a conspicuous spot and not feed the parking meter. The parking tickets they collected could later be used to verify their whereabouts. The duo would walk to a car that Pro parked for them then drive off to Hyde Park where they would pick up a man who Richie described to a T as Phil Cresta, but Richie claimed to not know his name even though he drove The mystery man and Jack to the VA together on the daily.

And with that the investigation, like most of the others, ground to a halt. 

Lara:

You’ll have to wait until the beginning of season 2 to find out what happened with the VA investigation. Yes, you can Google it, but Nina and I will tell you the behind the scenes not available on the internet version.

Moving onto 1967. After the not guilty verdict was returned in the Plymouth Mail Truck Robbery trial and Jack, Sonny and his wife Patty were free to go, Jack continued plotting his revenge against the authorities. 

As Nina mentioned earlier, after the not guilty verdict Jack continued his harassment campaign against the authorities. We won’t rehash that here, but the link is in the show notes. 

Nina:

Now we can finally get to the final heist. Brinks, the Redux. If you’ve been following along all season you might recall that our third episode was about the 1950 Brinks heist. And I still think Jack at least planned that job, and participated in the actual robbery. This Brinks job was a little different, however. 

Lara:

Phil Cresta claimed this job as well. I guess we’ll tell his version of events and we can make our snarky comments as we go. 

Nina:

And Jack was happy to give Phil credit for it! Revenge by robbery, baby!

Lara:

I’ll let you tell us about Phil. The only thing I know or remember was that dad said Phil was a “real foul ball.”

Nina:

Cresta was the third of six children of Rose Spano and Philip Cresta Sr. Cresta Sr. was an alcoholic, abusive and a kleptomaniac. Phil was arrested at sixteen and his dad wouldn’t bail him out. As a result, Phil was in and out of the prison system for the next decade and a half. Rose Spano’s brother was a small-time bookie in South Boston at least into the late 1940s. Phil’s younger brother, Billy, worked for Jerry Angiulo and Peter Limone. There’s this great moment in the FBI 302s where Jerry is picked up on the wiretap gossiping to Billy Cresta. Suddenly he stops and asks Billy if he’s talking too much.

Lara:

I can’t! Jerry couldn’t stop gossiping for five minutes. Worse than one of those “Real Housewife” chicks for cryin’ out loud!

Nina:

Well, somewhere in that same conversation Billy complains to Jerry that someone referred to him as Jerry’s chauffeur. And Jerry replies that Billy should have punched the guy in the mouth for his comment.

Lara:

Drama, just non-stop drama! And Billy’s account of Phil’s story has no shortage of fiction or drama.

Nina:

First of all, Phil claimed that Jack killed way more people than he actually did. We’ve already covered the murders of 1964, 1965, and 1966, so we won’t rehash all of them here. If you missed it, check out our hit parade episodes. But Cresta alleged that not only did Jack kill Rasmussen, but also Frank Benjamin, Iggy Lowery, George Ashe and John Murray. But as we all know, the first three were killed by Jimmy Flemmi and the last one was apparently a Flemmi Barboza special. And the reason none of those murders were ever prosecuted was because Rico was protecting Jimmy his pet Top Echelon informant. I also want to note here that Phil Cresta had also been in at Walpole at the same time as these guys. I know you’re going to say something about the prison system in MA, but “no coincidences, no conspiracies”. We need a tee.

Lara:

First of all, I would say with 100% certainty that Pro and Jack killed Rasmussen in dad’s presence after Rasmussen kidnapped dad. The press never released the detail that there was a broomstick in Rasmussen’s ass propping him up in the snowbank. I can’t get access to the police reports since it’s still an open case, but if that detail is true then the story I overheard is correct.

Second, there’s no way Jack did in Benjamin, Lowery, Ashe and Murray. The FBI knew Jimmy killed them and even reported to Hoover. We have the airtels. Not that these guys weren’t copping to hits and attempted hits and heists that weren’t theirs, don’t worry I won’t go down a Punchy McLaughlin rabbi hitmen rabbit hole. But more than Jimmy’s words point to him as the culprit. Iggy was banging Jimmy’s wife and Jimmy’s wife shot him in the leg for bumping off her beau. Jack had zero to do with that soap opera. And Iggy was turning tricks in the can when he was locked up with Jimmy, so who knows what else was going on there.

And, yes we need a tee shirt with that saying. I promise I’ll work on our merch while we’re on our break.

Nina:

All kinds of things will be happening while we’re on hiatus, but I’ll save those announcements for next week.

Back to Cresta, even though he didn’t trust Red, he supposedly agreed to allow Charles Domenico and Rocco Novello to meet with Red. But claimed he himself was not present at the first meeting in the summer of 1968. Even so, Billy said that Jack was half in the wrapper, and went on and on about the Plymouth job. Domenico and Novello almost backed out but changed their minds at the last minute and asked Jack for help planning the job. 

Lara:

Look, Jack had many faults. But being a lush was not one of them. But he was an amazing performer like dad and I’m sure he played them like a fiddle.

Tell us a little about Domenico and Novello.

Nina:

Domenico didn’t have a record. Novello was picked up in 1957 for attempting to rob a manager of the Boston Edison company of an $1800 payroll. He was sentenced to one year in the House of Correction. Cresta was also arrested in 1957 for an attempted B&E. Supposedly he was working for Jerry Angiulo at the time, so Jerry got the charges reduced and Phil was sentenced to two and a half years in Walpole.

Lara:

Everyone seems to have been in the cooler in 1957. Jack, Billie Aggie, Mello, Sonny, dad, Roy and the list goes on. The can is like a networking opportunity!

Nina:

No question!

Now it’s my turn for a question.

Lara:

Shoot!

Nina:

If Phil was so amazing, according to his and Billy’s own accounts, why did he need Jack to plan this job? Except to try to use him as a scapegoat if things went wrong. 

Lara:

Phil was a legend in his own mind!

Nina:

And a rat most likely considering how events played out.

Domenico allegedly made the entree with the Brinks guard, Andrew deLeary, and Jack, but through an unnamed third party. DeLeary was told to wear a Red Sox hat and a blue jacket since nobody knew what he looked like. 

Domenico sat in the car and waited for Jack to return after the first meeting with DeLeary.

In mid-October Jack called Cresta and told him that he had found the perfect score: a Saturday Brinks truck that hit restaurants, hospitals and finished its route with three big downtown Boston department stores, including Filenes and Jordan Marsh. The last stop of the day was always the same: Downey and Judge’s, a bar on Canal Street, near the Union Oyster House. Two guards would leave the truck to make the pickup, while a third guard stayed behind. 

Lara:

Jack dragged the whole thing out for months, going back and forth with Domenico and the Brinks guard, DeLeary. Phil bought it, but he still didn’t trust Jack. He sent Domenico to sit in on the meetings with DeLeary and Jack. 

Domenico agreed, saying, “I think Kelley trusts me.”

Cresta replied: “No offense, but Red Kelley doesn’t trust his own mother.”

In November, DeLeary got assigned to the route Jack had picked out. The plan was coming together, and now Jack decided to introduce Sonny Diaferio and Mello Merlino, his two protégés that robbed him into the mix, as well as Steve Roukous. 

Nina:

How much of this do you think was Jack playing some kind of cat and mouse game with Cresta?

Lara:

Jack was already laying the groundwork for his escape so to speak. He was lining all of his ducks up in a row. So I don’t know if it was as much a cat and mouse game as it was an all out assault.

Nina:

I agree, but I was referring to episodes like the whole story with the keys. Acting like stealing a set and getting them back is some kind of feat of ingenuity. 

Anyway, Jack got Cresta to get the keys off of DeLeary and make a copy of them and the other guards were none the wiser. 

They set the date for December 14, 1968. But when Phil arrived with Rocco at the designated spot to pick up the stolen car, it was gone!

“Phil, I dropped the car off right here at ten last night.” Rocco said. 

“Well, it’s not here now, is it?” Cresta swore. 

“Someone must have stolen our stolen car,” Rocco told the others when they arrived. 

“Unbelievable!” Phil threw up his hands. 

“Can you believe the nerve of these people, stealing our car like that?” Rocco asked Domenico.

Domenico burst out laughing at the situation and the others joined in. Everyone but Jack. 

Lara:

Jack stole the stolen car! Everyone knew about all of his superstitions, and it was a perfect excuse to go sour on the job. Again setting up the little duckies!

Nina:

It’s all amazing. Jack really was messing with their heads. But I bet it was Richie who Jack sent to steal the stolen car.

Lara:

Oh I bet it was! He was pissed at Mello and Sonny and couldn’t stand Phil and decades later he sought revenge on Rocco!

Nina:

That was the end of the first attempt on the Brinks truck. They agreed to try again the following Saturday, but that too ended badly. This time because two cops spotted Phil and Rocco. But they never noticed Red and the others, and they definitely missed the Brink’s truck as it drove by. 

“This job is jinxed,” Jack told Phil disgustedly when they all met up again later. 

“You want out, Red? Tell us now so we can get someone in quick,” Domenico said.

“I’m not saying I’m out but I think we’d better reevaluate the situation,” Jack stated.

Domenico got angry then and cursed Jack.

“I don’t have to take this,” Jack said, putting on his hat and walking out. 

Lara:

Oh, to be a fly on the wall!

Since the route they’d scouted only ran on Saturdays, the men had to wait another week to try again. Now it was after the holiday rush and the score wouldn’t be as much as it had been the previous week. Phil called Jack at home a few days later. “I’ve got a cold,” he told Phil, excusing himself from meeting them again. 

“He’s got a cold, alright, cold feet,” Domenico griped.

The others agreed to go through with the job the following Saturday, just three days after Christmas, without Jack.

According to dad, Jack did plan the robbery, and at the last minute added Sonny and Mello into the mix.

Nina:

Exacting his revenge for the two of them stealing from him. As cold and cranky as he could be, death wasn’t a fair price to pay for their treachery, Jack had another plan.

And off the lot of them went, sans Jack!

On Saturday, December 28th at 6;30 pm two machine gun wielding, ski mask clad bandits kidnapped a Brinks messenger who was in the passenger seat of the truck, and made off with the truck which was stopped in front of 122 Canal Street in Boston where the guards were making the final pickup of the day from the Union Oyster House. The Union Oyster House is located just four blocks from where the 1950 Brink’s Heist took place.

Lara:

The Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in Boston and it’s still in action.

Nina:

Did you ever eat there?

Lara:

No, I’m from Boston. I think of it more for tourists.

Nina:

No, actually you’re a snob.

Lara:

Well, that too. Save your character assasination for when we aren’t recording.

Nina:

You really hate to see me have any fun.

Lara:

Poor you! 

Back to the robbery.

One bandit jumped in the driver’s seat while the other opened the passenger’s side door and disarmed the messenger pulling the cap over his eyes and threatening him to keep quiet. The thieves drove the truck to the DPW on Nashua Street and emptied the bags into a waiting station wagon.

The two kidnappers were Sonny and Domenico. Sonny drove the truck to the parking lot directly behind the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. According to Phil Cresta’s account, Sonny had been driving the truck while Domenico was busy tying up and blindfolding the messenger.

Mello Merlino backed up the station wagon he’d been driving to the rear of the armored truck. Domenico opened the door and the men transferred the money from the truck to Mello’s station wagon in less than two minutes. They’d left the copy of the key to the truck still in the lock of the driver’s door. 

Nina:

Confirming what the papers reported and what Phil later claimed, the lone guard later told the police that a man wearing a black ski mask opened the driver's door with a key and stuck a machine gun in his face. Then another armed and masked man opened the passenger door and took the guard’s gun. 

In the aftermath of the robbery the authorities of course compared the half a million dollar haul to both the Brinks heist of 1950 and the Plymouth Mail Robbery. Brinks estimated that about $800,000 had been stolen, but admitted that it would have been several million if the men had been successful the previous week. Roughly $300,000 of that was believed to be in checks. In total there were 50 money bags, and red wooden box marked Filene’s.

Lara:

I miss Filene’s! My first job!

Nina:

Enough of your nostalgia!

There was a black steel trunk marked Jordan Marsh and before you interrupt me I know about the blueberry muffins! The only reason I know is because there’s a 302 with Richie meeting a Fed in the train station under Jordan Marsh with his box of blueberry muffins.

Lara:

Make you into a Bostonian if it’s the last thing I do.

Nina:

How thoughtful of you!

Before Domenico,  Sonny and Mello took off in the station wagon they left the messenger, Haine’s handcuffed in the truck. He managed to escape from the truck by using a candy wrapper to unlock the set of handcuffs that had him secured to the truckdoor and made his way down to the Charles River looking for help. It was pouring rain and no one noticed a thing. 

Lara:

It was revealed that the other two guards weren’t doing a collection, but were actually having coffee.

Nina:

They weren’t having coffee! They were having booze! Just like in the Plymouth Heist! It’s no wonder trucks were getting hit left and right in your state! A bunch of alcoholics drinking on the job!

They noticed that the truck was gone, but figured their partner was tired of waiting and returned  to the office by himself. When he didn’t come back to meet them for a drink, they began to panic but still did not call the cops or the office. Eventually they called the Brinks who sent the cops to them. 

Lara:

Classic! 

Former FBI SA turned Boston Police Commissioner, Edmund L. McNamara was apprised of the situation and the investigation began. McNamara told the press that about twenty minutes had passed between the time the armored car was hijacked and the other two guards returned from their coffee break at a cafe on Canal Street.

That same evening the money boxes were found near the Quincy Reservoir. Phil and Novello dumped the canvas money bags, boxes and canceled checks off a 30-foot embankment into the Blue Hills Reservation opposite the Quincy Reservoir. Three repairmen discovered the stash while working a few days later. Meanwhile Commissioner McNamara claimed that partial prints had been discovered on the truck, and that the prints were being sent to DC to be checked against the FBI’s database. The key that was used to open the truck which had been left in the lock was determined to not have been made by the Brink’s company.

Nina:

In January of 1969, the Boston Special Agent in Charge sent an airtel to Hoover listing out the suspects. On that same day SA Welby, Pinky Panarelli’s handler, hand delivered evidence to FBI Headquarters in DC.

It’s the same list you printed out and gave to your dad in the mid ‘90s and the same list the Feds are still using for their Gardner suspect list because he gave them those names. The man was a walking disinformation campaign!

Lara:

That he was! Anyhow the list included, dad of course, Richard Megna, William Cresta, Hobart Willis, Phil Cresta, Rocco Novello, Edward Cataldo, James Marks, Pro Lerner, Jack Kelley and a handful of others. Bobby Donati did not make the list because he was in the can for the fur theft. Mello Merlino, Sonny Diaferio and Charles Domenico were not on the pages that were released.

Nina:

And just like the VA hospital heist the investigation sputtered out until June of 1969.

Lara:

And that’s where we have to leave you hanging!

Listen in next week to find out just exactly how Jack goes bad.

Nina:

All that “goes bad” reminds me of is spoiled milk.

Lara:

You’re telling me! I was so confused about Jack when I was a kid. He was Big Foot or some such thing for me. Hearing all the stories and the legends, but no face to attach them to. And when someone would ask “where’s Jack, what happened to Jack” all I would hear was “Jack went bad”. The same damn phrase when they told me not to drink curdled milk or some such thing!

Nina:

Glad I’m not the only one!

Lara:

As I was saying next week you’ll hear about the plan dad and Jack concocted and H. Paul Rico’s role in it, Jack’s arrest at my family’s grocery store, the events that unfold after to ensure Jack’s cooperation and the story the Feds cook up to sell it to the public.

Nina:

And since it’s our season finale, we have other exciting things such as the infamous meeting at the Rib Room in Braintree before half of the guys take it on the lam, including Louis Manocchio, and the plot to kill Rico, Jack and the US Marshals that were guarding him. And of course Richie was right in the middle of it all.

Lara:

Thank you all! Hope you join us next week!

Nina & Lara:

Bye!!!!