The Crime of the Century: How the Brink's Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston
by Stephanie Schorow
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephanie SchorowEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-31
ISBN: 1933212543
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Commonwealth Editions
Book Reviews of The Crime of the Century: How the Brink's Robbers Stole Millions and the Hearts of Boston
Book Review: Outstanding prose
Summary: 5 Stars
"This is Brink's. We are cleaned out. We are cleaned out." That's how the world first learned of what was then the largest heist in U.S. history - 350 pounds of money was taken by a gang of masked bandits that managed to pull the job without hurting anyone (not until afterward, anyway, when a series of mysterious deaths in the underworld left some to wonder).
The many students of this immortal crime and spectacular trial are well served by this most recent retelling. Newly opened police archives lend new detail, dozens of photos are included, and the author is a superb storyteller. Her prose is carefully polished, the descriptions are evocative, and her portraits of the inveterate thieves and hustlers who did it is deft and engaging.
The Brink's guards, suspected of involvement, were "grilled to the point of trauma." The author captures the public reaction so well ("What was not to admire? No one was hurt. The guards were shaken up, sure, but not a shot was fired. And Brink's -- what was Brink's but a Chicago-based company that didn't live up to its reputation as a bastion of well-oiled, fortress-tight security? Brink's was the real culprit.") And any author who can manage to make the history of Brink's interesting deserves a medal.
This was a meticulously planned heist with such shocking results. The newspapers pulled out their biggest type. And despite the fact that the subsequent trial was "an all-men show" -- the first great criminal trial without sex or romance, "without even a woman's shadow" (Boston Post), the theft has garnered a fortune for more than the gang who did it. As the author states, "If you lined up all those who profited from the million-dollar Brink's heist, the robbers would probably stand at the end of the line. For decades reporters, writers, and moviemakers have seen green in the dramatization of the robbery." Now Stephanie Schorow can add her own name to that list, but unlike the original band of thugs, she deserves her reward.
To top this book, a future author would have to find the still-missing loot -- and even then would have a more awesome challenge trying to best the storytelling skills on display here.
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