Ten Most Wanted Fugitive William Francis Sutton was arrested for the final time on February 18, 195266 years ago this month. Ten to fifteen minutes after the robbery, armed with specific descriptions of the suspects, Cassano witnessed a speeding Datsun go by. He was fond of expensive clothes and was often described as being an immaculate dresser. The authorities managed to crack the code of silence with a three-year investigation in which the Government spent more than $1 million to protect witnesses, including a half-dozen residents who asked to be moved out of the neighborhood for fear of retribution. R. Crim. He followed it and later saw one of three men flee into a partially abandoned building. The suspects were nowhere to be found at the time. United States v. Tierney, 760 F.2d 382, 387 (1st Cir. As stated earlier, Cassano stopped Ferreira when he restrained appellant's freedom to walk away, not when he yelled to him. Dennis J. Quirk, 39, was among a gang of robbers who toted loaded firearms, including an AK-47 rifle, and wore bulletproof vests during the 2005 heist attempt outside a Citizens Bank on a crowded Hanover Street, authorities said. Gary S. Katzmann, Asst. The year was 2005 and at only 19 years of age, the "Cell Phone Bandit," Candice Rose Martinez, was famous for her bank robbery execution. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S. Ct. 131, 88 L. Ed. The following is the testimony as to what happened next. Considering Ferreira's admission that he was "nervous" as he was carrying two weapons, and that he later fled as he left the building, his explanation is not convincing. Cassano's yell to Ferreira had the same effect as the "wanted flyer" in Hensley of transmitting reasonable suspicion for making a stop. The Government also introduced the guns in an effort to prove identity. 2d 820 (1981). William Cassano, an F.B.I. We hold that the district court abused its discretion in admitting irrelevant evidence. Based on the true life events of Anthony Shea, Mike O'Halloran, Matt McDonald, Pat McGonagle and Stephen Burke who from Charlestown, MA had over 100 armed robberies in the 90's. Over time, the silence allowed criminals to thrive. He not only took at . U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lovegreen ordered the men held pending further investigation. Sequeira appeared in Boston Municipal Court Thursday and was held on $50,000 bail for bank robbery charges. Accordingly, the stop was illegal. Id. United States v. Jones, 619 F.2d 494, 496, 498 (5th Cir. You already receive all suggested Justia Opinion Summary Newsletters. On the TV show "Caught in Providence", Sequeira bragged that the movie "The Town" starring Ben Affleck is based on his life. ), cert. 20 Boston Irish Gangsters. Atty., were on brief for appellee. Appellant William Ferreira stands convicted of unarmed bank robbery of a federally insured bank, 18 U.S.C. Geronimo bank robbery in Geronimo, Oklahoma, 1984, resulted in the deaths of three bank employees and one customer. Moreover, although the story of the movie is purely a work of fiction, it actually passes references to several real-life crimes. So many broke the code, shattered the code. Agent Sylvester Rutherford testified as to the shoeprint impression left over the counter. We conclude that a reasonable view of the evidence supports the suppression ruling. To pull it off, a 25-member gang set up a fake landscaping business. Phone 603-8321 5502. Fed.R.Evid. The three are to be sentenced on May 18. William Sequeira, 59, was charged in Boston Municipal Court Central with two counts of armed robbery of a bank and one count of attempted armed robbery of a bank. Unlike in Hasting, where the Court found harmless error, the identification evidence in this case was concededly weak. Where there is proof that a weapon has been employed in a bank robbery, a district court may permit the introduction of that weapon or a weapon of a similar kind to show identity, Eatherton, 519 F.2d at 611, or to corroborate testimony linking defendant to the crime charged. While he lacked specific information that the robbers hailed from Charlestown, both Cassano and the officer accompanying him nevertheless decided to investigate. 2d 496 (1978). It's easy to get your financial life in order, today. 1970) (per curiam), the court had a narrower view of relevancy. We hold that Ferreira's fourth amendment rights were not violated. You can consider Mr. Rutherford's testimony that he found this shoeprint on the counter, and you may be able to draw inferences at some point from that, but the testimony of Mr. Bodziak and Exhibits 21-A and 21-B are stricken, and you will disregard that testimony and those exhibits in arriving at your verdict in this case. Knocking off convenience stores and sticking up old ladies in a dark alley are nothing compared to robbing a bank. The government then introduced the testimony of officer James O'Connor. Cortez, 449 U.S. at 418, 101 S. Ct. at 695. But our knowing doesnt mean anything. Whether fear of retaliation by the criminals, anti-police sentiment, or vigilante justice motivated the town's citizens, no one . In this month's LIFE MATTERS newsletter, we provide several interesting articles including this one about the many costs to selling a home and how to plan for those costs. May 11, 1995 Brinks armored car, West Palm Beach, Fla.; $122,000; Shea, Burke. The FBI's January 2020 Artifact of the Month is the chauffeur's cap left at the scene of the crime of the centurythe 1950 robbery of a Brink's bank branch . BOSTON, March 25 For decades in Bostons Charlestown neighborhood, witnesses to crimes never breathed a word, either out of loyalty or out of fear. Dec. 5, 1991 Pioneer Finance Cooperative Bank, Malden, Mass. Official websites use .gov Sequeira was once featured in an episode of the show "Caught in Providence." 1985). 2d 247 (1983); see also Streifel, 781 F.2d at 957 n. 6. Although the government attempted, through the testimony of Mr. Bodziak, to make a connection between this footprint and the Nike sneakers seized from appellant, the court correctly excluded it for lack of relevancy. 1974), defendant, as here, was charged with intimidating a teller with gestures suggesting the availability of a gun. United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 682, 105 S. Ct. 1568, 1573, 84 L. Ed. See United States v. Trullo, 809 F.2d 108, 111 (1st Cir. BCT partners with three local banks to aid start-up and existing minority-owned small businesses. 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. Fed.R.Evid. During the trial, one witness told of driving the getaway car for Mr. Nardone and hearing the squat, bull-necked hit man laugh about killing an informer. The latest charges stem from three new incidents. THE MOVIE THE TOWN WAS Mde after these 4 guys from Charlestown. Nor do we find another permissible purpose on which the district court could have admitted the guns. 3-4. Neither have we encountered any contradiction between Cassano's testimony at the suppression hearing and at trial, On cross-examination, Cassano admitted he was in plain clothing and that he never identified himself as an F.B.I. agent before detaining Ferreira, On appeal appellant emphasizes that, instead of running down the steps, he "walked casually" upon being approached by the plainclothesmen. By bringing federal drug laws to bear, the task force was able to develop solid cases. The indictment also included a 1995 armored car holdup in West Palm Beach, Fla. A sixth defendant, John Burke, pleaded guilty in October, partway through the trial, and testified against the others, including his brother Stephen. Things begin to get complicated when one of the crew members falls in love with Claire. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. We [Cassano and state police officer Frank LaSheen] stopped him. Five years ago, she helped found the Charlestown After Murder Program, an organization of women who meet every Sunday in a Catholic church to talk about unsolved homicides that have affected their lives. It is claimed that one of the Nike sneakers Ferreira was wearing at the time of his arrest had left a shoeprint impression over the teller's counter at the time of the robbery. Read More . United States v. Amuny, 767 F.2d 1113, 1124-25 (5th Cir. An official website of the United States government. Many of them testified that they had grown tired of a life of stealing, of drugs, of broken relationships.. Prosecutors estimated that the gang committed more than 100 armed robberies and made off with millions of dollars during more than 30 years. You talk about things youre not supposed to talk about, you get killed, he said. From there, Cassano noticed that the blue Datsun had disappeared. A U.S. District Court jury delivered guilty verdicts on 54 of 55 counts, including ones charging the five in the Aug. 25, 1994, robbery in Hudson in which two armored car guards were shot to death. HSBC Branch with ATM. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. BOSTON - A Charlestown man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for bank robbery. The seriousness of the federal charges reassured the residents that they no longer had to live in fear. She also said that the robber stole some "coin rolls." The Town: Directed by Ben Affleck. Mere appearance of carrying a gun is not enough for relevancy. However, one must not forget that the movie only draws some inspiration from Charlestowns past and is no way implying that the Boston neighborhood is still replete of crime. May 4, 1993 Manchester Security Services armored car, Seabrook, N.H.; $280,000; Shea, OHalloran, Burke. Dec. 22, 1992 Transit Systems Inc. armored car, Lynn, Mass. To customer retention specialisteverywhere: At the root of every grey hair, there is a dead braincell. On Feb. 7, 2019, Brady pleaded guilty to bank robbery. Such evidence is relevant "to establish opportunity or preparation to commit the offense charged, and thus would have tended to prove the identity of the robbers." Feb. 27, 1992 Bank of Boston, Newton, Mass. 1. CRANSTON, R.I. -- U.S. Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse brought federal charges this week against three Massachusetts men arrested after a Dec. 11 bank robbery and ensuing 35-mile police chase. Philip Lafond was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, the getaway car. Knowing the area's bad reputation, agent Cassano could, at this point, reasonably infer, based on his 13 years of experience, that a bank robbery suspect was hiding somewhere in the building. In United States v. Laker, 427 F.2d 189, 190 (6th Cir. Before COFFIN, BOWNES and TORRUELLA, Circuit Judges. Given the prejudicial impact of weapons, it is entirely possible that counsel would have made the strategic decision not to have used this testimony as an excuse for his flight. Investigators believe Sequeira was also the suspect responsible for the first two robberies. William Sequeira, 59, was charged in Boston Municipal Court Central with two counts of armed robbery of a bank and one count of attempted armed robbery of a bank. ; $95,000; Shea, McDonald. Second, the court gave a strong curative instruction which dispelled any possibility of prejudice from having conditionally admitted the testimony. The owner of the laundry, who refused to give his name, said he doubted that the code of silence had really been broken. 2d 621 (1981); United States v. Manchester, 711 F.2d 458, 461 (1st Cir. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. Vicinanzo described the men as part of a close group of career criminals, many of whom grew up together. The Professor and the Prostitute, the titular murder case in Linda Wolfe . Fed. A hot line set up by DEA yielded hundreds of calls from community residents that developed into valuable leads and significant arrests. See ante at pp. Charlestowns McLaughlin Brothers were involved in a gang war with neighboring Somervilles Winter Hill Gang, during the Irish Mob Wars of the 1960s. The district court conditionally admitted the testimony of William J. Bodziak. On June 28, 2018, a masked individual, later determined to be Brady, entered a branch of the Cambridge Savings Bank in Charlestown and approached two bank tellers demanding the tellers take money from their cash drawers and the banks vault and give it to him. Arrests Related To Armored Car Guard Murders In Hudson, N.H. BOSTON - JUNE 3: Stephen G. Burke of Charlestown, the third of three suspects brought into the Federal Court House this morning by the FBI and State Police. 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