1983 Brinks $1bn Gold Heist

House · Dec 14, 2014

This would make an awesome movie...

Fool's Gold: The curse of the Brink's-Mat gold bullion robbery

Just after dawn on November 26, 1983, six armed men burst into the Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow expecting to find 3million in cash.

Instead they stumbled across nearly seven thousand gold ingots, worth nearly 28million (500m today or ~AU$950m)

The heist turned them into some of Britain's richest men and filled the pockets of countless other crooks as the gold was melted down and the money laundered to fund shady activities such as drug smuggling.

Just three out of 15 men involved in planning and executing the robbery were ever convicted robbers "Mad" Mickey McAvoy and Brian "The Colonel" Robinson and security guard insider Tony Black, Robinson's brother in law.

A new book, The Curse of Brink's-Mat by Wensley Clarkson, traces the fate of the men whose lives became entwined with the case.

It tells how the idea of a curse was the last thing on the minds of the six robbers who, after tying up guards at the depot, found riches beyond their wildest dreams.

Robinson, McAvoy, Brian Perry and three other men managed to disable the security alarm and enter the warehouse thanks to "insider" Black, who worked at the depot.

Once inside, they doused the guards with petrol and threatened to set them alight unless they revealed the combinations to the vault, which they knew contained 3million.

But when they got inside, they could hardly believe their eyes. Stacked in front of them were 6,800 gold ingots, hundreds of thousands of pounds, travellers' cheques and two boxes of diamonds.

The men spent the next two hours loading their battered blue Transit van before making their getaway.

The stolen vehicle creaked under the weight. By the time the alarm was raised 15 minutes later, the robbers and the loot had vanished.

...Cops revealed Shirley Bassey's hit Goldfinger had been primed to play on the stereo whenever anyone walked into Noye's lounge.

The curse has hit many in the criminal underworld including Great Train Robber Charlie Wilson, who was gunned down at his Marbella home after 3million of Brink's-Mat money went missing in a drug deal.
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1983 Brinks $1bn Gold Heist

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1983 Brinks $1bn Gold Heist

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