The Town (2010) - IMDb I guess the author of the book or the author of the movie might be able to shed more light on that, he adds. There are certain criminals, thankfully few in number, who demonstrate at a fairly young age that they can never be trusted to follow the law or to refrain from hurting people, Vicinanzo said. All five men are serving life sentences. Foxworth and Hickey had shared a cell at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater for several months in 2005 and 2006, and Hickey helped convict Foxworth by testifying Foxworth had spilled his guts to him about the murder. Alexi is from Springfield, Massachusetts and attended college at Hofstra University in New York where she majored in journalism and Spanish. All five men indicted in the robberies are from the Charlestown section of Boston. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. is charlestown boston known for bank robberies I would certainly expect a commissioner of education to do that. List of bank robbers and robberies - Wikipedia He was in for a heroin charge. Five men, all from the Charlestown section of Boston, have been indicted by a Federal grand jury here on charges of engaging in 11 bank and armored-truck robberies across New England, including . Guess who is watching The Town tonight? one person joked, referring to the hit movie starring Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively based on Chuck Hogans 2004 novel Prince of Thieves.. (BPDnews.com photos), BOSTON MA - September 17: Citizens Bank where it and two other banks were robbed this morning on Hanover Street in the North End on September 17, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston police say they can't verify that: They don't track bank robberies nationwide, and they don't break out bank-robbery statistics from all robbery numbers for the city. Like the job UHub is doing? Two armored car guards were shot to death in New Hampshire in 1994 during one of the robberies. the generation, After following School Board politics for a decade, I can't help but keep thinking about the Vietnam War. Then in January 1990, it happened yet again. Charlestown Man Sentenced For Bank Robbery - United States Department subscription yet. No further information was immediately available. Plenty of people rob and steal in other communities, but they dont get the press bashing that Charlestown does, townies complain. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald), BOSTON MA - September 17: A FBI agents car is parked in front of Santander Bank where it and two other banks were robbed this morning on Hanover Street in the North End on September 17, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. It remains unknown what the suspect stole. However, they did forward a press release stating that the show is a one-hour pilot named City on a Hill., Executive producers will be Affleck and Damon, and the story is based on an original script idea by Affleck and Chuck MacLean, who also wrote Boston Strangler., The story is based in the early 1990s when Boston was rife with violent criminals emboldened by local law enforcement agencies where corruption and racism was the norm. Shea presented letters and evidence that hes reformed in his decades in prison, and is deserving of a lesser sentence. The night before the robbery, Yandle and O'Halloran took the car as a favor to its owner, who wanted to report it stolen and stop making payments. 'The Town': Is Charlestown really America's 'bank robbery capital'? Butchie made a reputation on the streets early. Ben Affleck's crime spree: the brutal robberies that inspired The Town None of the defendants was charged directly with murder, but the carjacking and armed robbery convictions stated that those felonies also led to the guards deaths, making the defendants eligible for life sentences. The reality is there were bank robbers in Charlestown, but they wouldnt have hurt anyone. The robbery was called in just before 11:30 a.m. Police have not released the name or location of the bank involved. The hardened thug pleaded guilty and received a 2 year sentence and went back to prison for a while. Rebecca Hall (l.) and Ben Affleck appear in 'The Town. Aframe is dropping that charge, requiring a new sentence. Charlestown, Boston - Wikipedia He decided that he wanted to follow in Doe Sr.s footsteps. Others in the Dunkin Donuts, including William McNelley and his wife, Linda, also defended Charlestowns image. Authorities got another early break hours after the heist when police in Revere, Mass., discovered a burning Mazda behind a supermarket. As the area changed, crime went down and the see nothing, say nothing rules are no longer relevant. In August, Arthur Doe would be seen at Colliers Deli in Charlestown. Not long after he reported to federal prison, Hickey came back to a Massachusetts courtroom to testify against Scott Foxworth, charged with murdering a man in a Newton parking garage in exchange for payment from another man who suspected his wife was sleeping with the victim. Required fields are marked *. Alexi Cohan is a general assignment reporter covering local news and government as well as health and medicine stories. "Did you ever see the white Mazda again?" The story focuses on the dramatic change in that trend, known as the Boston Miracle., However, the story is a fictitious account of that Miracle, and details a black district-attorney from Brooklyn, who teams up with a corrupt FBI veteran agent in Boston, to take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown. This trial was a charade, a farce, a New Hampshire-style lynching, he said. The Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. -- A friend of two accused bank robbers testified yesterday as a prosection witness about a car found burning in Revere, the night of a 1994 robbery. Arrest Made in Charlestown Bank Robbery - NBC Boston Maurine was killed after a bullet pierced her abdomen. Copyright (c) 2022 Manchester Ink Link. We need a public-relations campaign of true stories based on today. For instance, one of its bank robberies refers to a real-life robbery in Hudson, New Hampshire in which two-guards got killed. Police said they are still searching for a suspect in a Friday morning bank robbery in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood. 5 Charged in Series Of Bank Robberies - The New York Times Whitey Bulger and his friendss and some of the Charlestown robbers operated from Marshall Street Garage was actually in Winter Hill, Somerville. Yandle's connection to the Aug. 25, 1994, robbery began when a friend asked for help in disposing of a white Mazda 929. So ultimately, although there seems to be some truth to the film's depiction of Charlestown, its "authenticity" should be taken with a grain of salt. September 17, 2010 Is it even true that this wedge-shaped, one-square-mile neighborhood claims title to the bank robbery capital of America? The 15 Greatest Bank Robbers of All Time | TheRichest I talked to people involved in the movie, people who allowed them to use their homes. Mr. Peletier has a lot of company. Bei der Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps verwenden wir, unsere Websites und Apps fr Sie bereitzustellen, Nutzer zu authentifizieren, Sicherheitsmanahmen anzuwenden und Spam und Missbrauch zu verhindern, und, Ihre Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps zu messen, personalisierte Werbung und Inhalte auf der Grundlage von Interessenprofilen anzuzeigen, die Effektivitt von personalisierten Anzeigen und Inhalten zu messen, sowie, unsere Produkte und Dienstleistungen zu entwickeln und zu verbessern. Showtime Network announced in late July that they plan to feature a new one-hour pilot from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon that would tell the story about the Boston Miracle crime turnaround but a fictitious story that essentially points the finger at a Charlestown bank robbing crime family for the spate of violence that rocked the city in the 1990s. Around the coffee klatches and taverns in the Town, the consensus is that many would hope the two producers could find other, more positive, stories to tell about Charlestown as opposed to the same kind of bank robber story that was detailed in all its glory in the movie The Town also by Affleck and Damon. A fifth man, Matthew McDonald, 36, will be sentenced June 18. Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, Arthur Butchie Doe was regularly on the front pages of the newspapers because of the constant attempts on his life that he always survived. The most notorious took place outside the NFS Savings Bank in Hudson, N.Y., on Aug. 25, 1994, when an armored car pulled up shortly after 9 a.m. charlestown mob wars 1980- 2005 - GangsterBB.NET Charlestown on code of silence: No comment - New Bedford Standard-Times MafiaHitters.com gets compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon. Greg Comcowich, Boston Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman, would not confirm the truth of the movies dramatic claim either. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The car contained stolen money and other evidence that police used to identify the suspects in an armored car heist in Hudson that left two guards dead. This message will appear once per week Hickey was held on . At his sentencing, Stephen Burke accused the FBI and prosecutors of giving money, drugs and other incentives to witnesses. Doe then passed away on June 7, 2018 after unsuccessfully battling cancer. 3 Get Life in Prison for Robberies | AP News Nor, should it paint the entire neighborhood with the same brush. 20 Boston Irish Gangsters | Mafia Hitters He served two seven-year prison stretches for drug. But a woman who saw the truck speed past reported it to police. Maybe it's not "balls"; maybe "cocky" is the right word to describe him. After his release from prison several years later, Butchie continued to get in on the rackets. The age of the Irish and even Italian gangsters in Boston has definitely passed. Im not just considering the Anthony Shea of today, but Im considering the Anthony Shea who was an unrepentant gangster terrorizing people with violent bank robberies, Barbadoro said. Citizens Bank, located at 315 Hanover St., was robbed at 9:10 a.m. and a Santander Bank at 287 Hanover St., was robbed a mere 4 minutes later. He was already on parole for the heroin charge. Consider a contribution. Having dodged both attempts on his life, Butchie was quick becoming one of the most infamous criminals in Boston. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett tribe, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor waterways. Yandle said he left the car and keys with O'Halloran. Federal Savings Bank - Dentro do Terminal Rodovirio de Belm, Praa da Assistant United States Attorney Seth Aframe said the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that one of the original 1990s charges, that Shea is a career criminal, was Constitutionally flawed. CONCORD, N.H. -- A friend of two accused bank robbers testified yesterday as a prosection witness about a car found burning in Revere, the night of a 1994 robbery. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Former Brockton RMV manager, driving school owner charged by U.S. Attorney with giving passing test scores to people who failed, Complete Boston payroll for 2022: Your Tax Dollars at Work, Boston drug trafficker set to do 11 years in prison, give up Louis Vuitton bags, feds say, Union drive: Uber, Lyft drivers rally for right to unionize, Boston sees first open race for Suffolk Superior civil court clerk magistrate in nearly 50 years, High school tournaments: Winchester stuns No. 'The Town': Is Charlestown really America's 'bank robbery capital'? Arthur "Butchie" Doe: Boston's Most Hated Gangster. is charlestown boston known for bank robberies This website uses cookies to improve your experience. After shooting one guard outside the car, the robbers stormed it and shot the other guard inside. A group of young teenage boys witnessed the shooting but knew better than to cooperate with the detectives. We were railroaded. Prosecutors eventually produced a string of witnesses, many of them former associates of the men, including Burkes brother, John Burke. Charlestown does have a gritty story to tell. Within hours authorities had determined that McGonagle had rented a similar truck the day before in Medford, Mass. If you have questions about your account, please Police seek publics help in catching North End, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Police seek publics help in catching North End back-to-back bank heist suspect, Many ambulances roll for excessive drinking at UMass Amhersts Blarney Blowout, Vermont bishop testifies against clergy reporting bill, South Boston leaders call for no hate in Hubs St. Patricks Day parade, Rachael Rollins to co-lead delegation of US attorneys to Selma in recognition of Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Bloody Sunday, 'Significant burst' of heavy snow possible for areas of Massachusetts, up to 12 inches potential in spots, Alex Murdaugh killed wife, son to buy time, prosecutor says, Boston employee payroll data shows more big-money employees than ever. He will return to the stand Monday in the U.S. District Court trial. Burhoe like Butchie was a convicted bank robber and also survived. UPDATE: Ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. No weapons were shown, but the suspect gestured like he had one in his possession, according to Boston Police. He worked with a team of townies and they would rob banks all over Boston. Yandle's testimony broke Charlestown's infamous "code of silence." We lived in Charlestown all our lives, Linda McNelley says. you are agreeing to our, One month free trial to theMonitorDaily. The Town is Ben Affleck's new thriller set in the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown. They found money, bank bags, a bulletproof vest and jumpsuit, all of which authorities believe were used in Hudson. Robert H. Brady, 42, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. It just paints the image of the Town in a way thats not that greatCharlestown has so many better stories that those of crime. Sundays weather: Sunny and breezy, high of 43 plus Saturday snow totals, Snow Emergency for March 4: No overnight parking on city streets, Waiting for the Storm: Local fiction author writes about rail in a utopian NH, Movie Review: Have a ball with Cocaine Bear, Do the train haters live in a hole? Were Charlestown folks able to get the ear of hometown Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, they might suggest the two locals find some new material after hearing of their latest show that will once again feature Charlestowns past as a criminal hotbed. "The bottom line is, the statistics speak for themselves, Mr. Comcowich says. Townies, those born and raised here, dont take kindly to being portrayed in Mr. Afflecks film as a bunch of dumb bums" (to use the words of one resident). Just like Old Sullys, boarded up and gone.. He was far too reckless and unpredictable to climb the local organized crime ranks ranks. Learn how your comment data is processed. Police say they apprehended a suspected bank robber late Friday morning in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood. Ive always thought that because of our small size, isolation and reputation, Charlestown folks have had to work a little harder to compete. In a stroll of Charlestown on a sunny day, its hard to believe this tiny Boston neighborhood could be the bank robbery capital of America the Warner Bros. hype about Ben Afflecks new film The Town, which opens Friday. Europe is all connected by rail., This book should be purchased by a few city planners. Equally tired of the whole Charlestown/Boston Underworld Movie genre - it's played out. I know theres a story there and in the neighborhood some of those things are true, but the way they tell it doesnt make the community look that great, she said. They actually came from good families with parents who worked hard, and they did it more for the thrill. This was a garage that advertised modifying cars for drag racing. In Massachusetts alone, there were 58 bank robberies reported. It wasnt clear how much had been stolen during the crime spree, but the gang got away with more than $450,000 in the Hudson robbery alone. continue to use the site without a ``We never had a chance in this trial. Click here to join the growing list of InkLink Community Ad Partners who, like us, are mission driven and believe in building community. There is something to be said for that sort of resilienceMy hope is that the filmmakers catch this part of the story., Showtime didnt return e-mails requesting comment on why they chose to vilify Charlestown once again in their upcoming series. Yes I do. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. - Anthony Shea, 34, Charlestown, already sentenced in federal courts in Boston and Concord to 31 years in prison for attempted bank robbery in Wakefield, Mass., and 22 years for attempted bank robbery in Londonderry, N.H. Indicted on charges of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, conspiracy to commit . Charlestown bank robbery suspect has long record, was key witness in This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Its gentrified and diverse now. The robberies, which began in 1990, were well-planned, professional jobs, carried out with machine guns, police scanners, two-way radios and stolen cars, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Vicinanzo said. The robbery came less than a year after Hickey got out of federal prison after an 8 1/4-year sentence for being an armed felon in possession of a firearm. Charlestown native Arthur Butchie Doe (1959-2018) lived a life of unspeakable violence. Butchie had another infamous incident in 1997 when he led a crew of four people in breaking out of jail. The crime is sexy, but its gone. In the May 1989 incident, his enemies stormed into the apartment of his girlfriend Maurine Szymielewicz and started shooting everyone there. Saturdays weather: Heavy snow, total accumulation 8-13 inches, high of 33, Shaheen: Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, RFK Jr. shares concerns with packed NHIOP crowd, City man indicted in hacking death of elderly man, School-funding suit plaintiffs again call for statewide property tax to be jettisoned, New Hampshire Group donates $128K through charitable gaming to support homelessness and affordable housing. Check out why Ben Affleck gets it right in Congo. Boston/Charlestown Armored Car Robbery Crews Police report arresting Hickey, who has numerous convictions for armed robbery and armed assault with intent to rob and who has spent most of his adult life in prison, around 12:30 p.m. yesterday after spotting him on Austin Street near the Citizens Bank branch he allegedly held up a week ago - and which he may have also robbed in 2006 during one of his brief interludes outside prison walls. A lot of us turned out pretty good, he says. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. All rights reserved. Our work isn't possible without your support. From 1874 to 1921 it is estimated that Starr robbed over 21 banks, stealing $60,000 in cash. The same one who directed OxyMorons a few years ago? He got involved in a payroll scam with his son. Out of curiosity.. But the Boston FBI does track bank robberies nationwide, and its statistics show that the whole state of Massachusetts has fewer than 3 percent of all bank robberies nationwide. Shea was part of a gang that terrorized New England with more than 100 robberies over the years, including a New Hampshire armored car robbery that left two security guards dead. Howie Carr: What's so urgent in Holbrook, Mr. Speaker? Also, Starr starred in a silent movie based on his criminal activity titled A Debtor to the Law. O'Halloran, Shea and four others are charged with a string of bank robberies throughout New England. documentary Anthony Shea and the No-Name Gang - YouTube Copyright by Adam Gaffin and by content posters.Advertise | About Universal Hub | Contact | Privacy, Summary of federal case against Hickey, includes listing of Massachusetts convictions. ', This website uses cookies to If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution. improve functionality and performance. The robbers were waiting. The Charlestown of today has overcome long odds and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, both as a community and for many individuals. Boston and Charlestown deserve better. Klicken Sie auf Alle ablehnen, wenn Sie nicht mchten, dass wir und unsere Partner Cookies und personenbezogene Daten fr diese zustzlichen Zwecke verwenden. So, the choo choo went, Train service would be a big flop as young people today want to travel in their own cars.