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The Last Good Heist: The Inside Story of The Biggest Single Payday in the Criminal History of the Northeast
On Aug. 14, 1975, eight daring thieves ransacked 148 massive safe-deposit boxes at a secret bank used by organized crime, La Cosa Nostra, and its associates in Providence, R.I. The crooks fled with duffle bags crammed full of cash, gold, silver, stamps, coins, jewels and high-end jewelry. The true value of the loot has always been kept secret, partly because it was ill-gotten to begin with, and partly because there was plenty of incentive to keep its true worth out of the limelight. It's one thing for authorities to admit they didn't find a trace of goods worth from $3 million to $4 million, and entirely another when what was at stake was more accurately valued at about $30 million, the equivalent of $120 million today. It was the biggest single payday in the criminal history of the Northeast. Nobody came close, not the infamous James "Whitey" Bulger, not John "The Dapper Don" Gotti, not even the Brinks or Wells Fargo robbers. The heist was bold enough and big enough to rock the underworld to its core, and it left La Cosa Nostra in the region awash in turmoil that still reverberates more than forty years later. Last Good Heist is the inside story of the robbery and its aftermath.
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2016
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February 19, 2018
Having recently broken my knee cap after tripping and falling on a broken sidewalk in a city known for mafia-induced kneecap injuries, this true crime story was the perfect second act. As I read it, I was reminded why, as we were growing up, we never went to Providence. In those days, long before Waterfire or the Providence Place Mall, the Dunkin Donuts Center was called the Providence Civic Center where we did go to concerts, but not until my high school years and I still can't believe my parents let me go to those, either. My impression of our state capitol was that it was a dangerous place, which is confirmed by this book. "Rhode Island is a nightmare and Providence the dead center of it . . . Prosperity came. Prosperity left. When Prosperity got to Rhode Island, it just wandered around, settled in for a time, got mugged, and never got over it. The city is known for drug traffic and its seedy population of prostitutes and transvestites, as well as for its history of nepotism, patronage, political corruption, and ethnic divisions."
And while we lived a rather idyllic life on our island only 30 miles away, it was common knowledge that, just like the tide would rise and fall each day, the highs and lows of our state were under the lunar influence of La Casa Nostra, better known in English as the Mafia. Whenever we drove by a strip mall so reminiscent of the 70's, my grandmother would say, "that's owned by the mafia," as if they, alone, held the distasteful patent for the plethora of ugly, flat-roofed blemishes which ruined our architectural landscape.
I'd never heard of this August 14, 1975 robbery before reading this book. I was 13 years old then and most likely spending our customary month in Maine, trying not to think about the upcoming 9th grade school year and certainly not tuned in to the news as we didn't even have a tv in our lakeside cottage. While I was fishing or swimming, this heist was happening which "should go into the history books as faster, bigger, bolder, glitzier, and—with the probable exception of the art thefts from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990—among the most notorious of the century. But it has not because even today—more than 40 years on—mention of the robbery in the wrong places can stop conversation." As the book confirms, "the figure is stunning. Not more than one million, or even four million as earlier thought, but upwards, they say, of thirty-two million, and that’s in 1975—at least one hundred forty million dollars today. The Bonded Vault robbery takes less than ninety minutes, and none of the plunder is ever recovered. None. Not a diamond or a pearl. Nothing."
One of the ideologies this book quickly squashes is that prison is a place where bad guys go to be reformed. On the contrary, prison was where many of the thugs in this book, and beyond, simply relocated their headquarters to now and again, running their businesses as usual from behind bars while other petty criminals apprenticed at their feet, honing new skills for the day they get released. We meet the Providence version of the Godfather, Raymond Patriarca, a name every Rhode Islander knows like we know the name of our governor. Indeed, as the story unfolds, we encounter many iterations of familiar names, wondering how they're related, such as this, "Patriarca’s cellmate for much of his stay in Atlanta is William P. Grasso, a brutal thug from New Haven, Connecticut, nicknamed “The Wild Guy” for his unprovoked and unpredictable rages." Many of you know that one former governor of CT is Ella Grasso, perhaps because there's a rest stop named for her, and upon reading this book will, like me, become interested in reviewing her family tree with renewed interest.
The heist takes place at, "the big redbrick building at 101 Cranston Street . . .The building looks a bit out of place, like a fortress, and in a sense it is. The sign out front reads “Hudson Fur Storage.” A small neon sign in the front window says “Bonded Vault,” but it appears to be a reference to the fur company, not a marker for a separate business operation." The building, as it turns out, was once a church that lost its steeple in the Hurricane of '38. And it's the "Bonded Vault" part, not the stored fur collection, that is the subject of interest to the eleven crooks who are "after the contents of about 150 big safe deposit boxes lining the walls of a room deep inside the vault where the furs are stored."
If, like me, your frame of reference for mafia-related gangstas is any one of the Godfather films, meaning slick, handsome Italian men with a full head of black hair they never lose and a penchant for mama's meatballs and machine guns, this book will quickly dispel that whole red-checkered-tablecloth ideology. As the gang of thieves bungles their way through this heist on a wing and a prayer in a manner more reminiscent of the Little Rascals, the reader is left feeling doubtful they could even work together to make a decent gravy. "The heist takes from seventy-five to ninety minutes. The men empty 146 safe deposit boxes." It doesn't go smoothly. They argue, they bungle each step, they leave behind an ankle-deep lake of gems and coins simply because they don't bring enough bags to put them in, and the get-away is close to a disaster. Which is perhaps the most interesting unsolved plot point and I SO wish I'd happened to wander on by as they drove off so I could have stuffed a handful of their leftovers in my own pocket, which is surely what happened to much of it.
As the story goes, "God knows what happened after that. But it was some time before anybody even claimed any losses. I couldn’t put it before the grand jury because nobody stepped up to say what had been stolen. Technically, we didn’t even really have a robbery.” You see? Nobody wanted to lay claim to having their stolen goods well, um, stolen, so anyone who managed to grab a handful that day simply whistled all the way home. "The day after the robbery, Sam Levine petitions the superior court to put Bonded Vault in receivership, thereby relinquishing responsibility for any of the valuables the robbers left behind. The fate of what remains is put in the hands of Thomas R. DiLuglio of Johnston, a tough lawyer who two years hence will become the lieutenant governor of Rhode Island."
As for the heisters, "After five thousand dollars is set aside for [the guy who stole the getaway van], the tally of cash is $704,000. That means each of eleven men—Deuce, Chucky, Danese, Byrnes, Tillinghast, Lanoue, Tarzian, Macaskill, John Ouimette, his managing brother Gerard, and their silent patron, Raymond L. S. Patriarca Jr.—should collect sixty-four thousand dollars, not bad for less than ninety minutes of work, at least $873 a minute. . . If the same cash robbery were possible today, each of the eleven men would take home nearly $288,000."
And speaking of politicians, we hear this from one of our most infamous, the pasta sauce maker himself: "Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. downplays it, as any chief executive would. He points out that despite all the talk of goods worth millions being stolen, no one actually has claimed extraordinary losses. He’s right of course, but his nay-saying is just damage control. The truth is, he is angry. Cianci is a proud man and proudly Italian. He sees La Cosa Nostra as a blight, and he campaigned on an anticrime pledge. Worst of all, a caper of Bonded Vault’s magnitude is not soon forgotten, and that tarnishes the city he loves."
The list of who's who in this book, names both remembered and forgotten, read like a Prince spaghetti day dinner guest list. Federal Hill is the home of Patriarca while the North End of Boston is controlled by the Gambinos with cameo appearances by Whitey Bulger. John Cicilline Esq, father of our current State Rep, David Cicilline, has his day in court defending one of the heisters, as do the likes of Salvatore Romano, Jr, and Paul “The Bull” DiMaio. Testimony ends on the seventy-ninth day of the trial, making it the longest in the state’s 336-year history, notable also for one of the more poetic sentences of the book, "February is winter’s hard white master and a good month for punishment." Today is February 19th, in fact, but it's actually a gorgeous day and, with that, I'm heading out for a beach walk. Maybe one of those missing gems will wash up with the tide . . .
And while we lived a rather idyllic life on our island only 30 miles away, it was common knowledge that, just like the tide would rise and fall each day, the highs and lows of our state were under the lunar influence of La Casa Nostra, better known in English as the Mafia. Whenever we drove by a strip mall so reminiscent of the 70's, my grandmother would say, "that's owned by the mafia," as if they, alone, held the distasteful patent for the plethora of ugly, flat-roofed blemishes which ruined our architectural landscape.
I'd never heard of this August 14, 1975 robbery before reading this book. I was 13 years old then and most likely spending our customary month in Maine, trying not to think about the upcoming 9th grade school year and certainly not tuned in to the news as we didn't even have a tv in our lakeside cottage. While I was fishing or swimming, this heist was happening which "should go into the history books as faster, bigger, bolder, glitzier, and—with the probable exception of the art thefts from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990—among the most notorious of the century. But it has not because even today—more than 40 years on—mention of the robbery in the wrong places can stop conversation." As the book confirms, "the figure is stunning. Not more than one million, or even four million as earlier thought, but upwards, they say, of thirty-two million, and that’s in 1975—at least one hundred forty million dollars today. The Bonded Vault robbery takes less than ninety minutes, and none of the plunder is ever recovered. None. Not a diamond or a pearl. Nothing."
One of the ideologies this book quickly squashes is that prison is a place where bad guys go to be reformed. On the contrary, prison was where many of the thugs in this book, and beyond, simply relocated their headquarters to now and again, running their businesses as usual from behind bars while other petty criminals apprenticed at their feet, honing new skills for the day they get released. We meet the Providence version of the Godfather, Raymond Patriarca, a name every Rhode Islander knows like we know the name of our governor. Indeed, as the story unfolds, we encounter many iterations of familiar names, wondering how they're related, such as this, "Patriarca’s cellmate for much of his stay in Atlanta is William P. Grasso, a brutal thug from New Haven, Connecticut, nicknamed “The Wild Guy” for his unprovoked and unpredictable rages." Many of you know that one former governor of CT is Ella Grasso, perhaps because there's a rest stop named for her, and upon reading this book will, like me, become interested in reviewing her family tree with renewed interest.
The heist takes place at, "the big redbrick building at 101 Cranston Street . . .The building looks a bit out of place, like a fortress, and in a sense it is. The sign out front reads “Hudson Fur Storage.” A small neon sign in the front window says “Bonded Vault,” but it appears to be a reference to the fur company, not a marker for a separate business operation." The building, as it turns out, was once a church that lost its steeple in the Hurricane of '38. And it's the "Bonded Vault" part, not the stored fur collection, that is the subject of interest to the eleven crooks who are "after the contents of about 150 big safe deposit boxes lining the walls of a room deep inside the vault where the furs are stored."
If, like me, your frame of reference for mafia-related gangstas is any one of the Godfather films, meaning slick, handsome Italian men with a full head of black hair they never lose and a penchant for mama's meatballs and machine guns, this book will quickly dispel that whole red-checkered-tablecloth ideology. As the gang of thieves bungles their way through this heist on a wing and a prayer in a manner more reminiscent of the Little Rascals, the reader is left feeling doubtful they could even work together to make a decent gravy. "The heist takes from seventy-five to ninety minutes. The men empty 146 safe deposit boxes." It doesn't go smoothly. They argue, they bungle each step, they leave behind an ankle-deep lake of gems and coins simply because they don't bring enough bags to put them in, and the get-away is close to a disaster. Which is perhaps the most interesting unsolved plot point and I SO wish I'd happened to wander on by as they drove off so I could have stuffed a handful of their leftovers in my own pocket, which is surely what happened to much of it.
As the story goes, "God knows what happened after that. But it was some time before anybody even claimed any losses. I couldn’t put it before the grand jury because nobody stepped up to say what had been stolen. Technically, we didn’t even really have a robbery.” You see? Nobody wanted to lay claim to having their stolen goods well, um, stolen, so anyone who managed to grab a handful that day simply whistled all the way home. "The day after the robbery, Sam Levine petitions the superior court to put Bonded Vault in receivership, thereby relinquishing responsibility for any of the valuables the robbers left behind. The fate of what remains is put in the hands of Thomas R. DiLuglio of Johnston, a tough lawyer who two years hence will become the lieutenant governor of Rhode Island."
As for the heisters, "After five thousand dollars is set aside for [the guy who stole the getaway van], the tally of cash is $704,000. That means each of eleven men—Deuce, Chucky, Danese, Byrnes, Tillinghast, Lanoue, Tarzian, Macaskill, John Ouimette, his managing brother Gerard, and their silent patron, Raymond L. S. Patriarca Jr.—should collect sixty-four thousand dollars, not bad for less than ninety minutes of work, at least $873 a minute. . . If the same cash robbery were possible today, each of the eleven men would take home nearly $288,000."
And speaking of politicians, we hear this from one of our most infamous, the pasta sauce maker himself: "Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. downplays it, as any chief executive would. He points out that despite all the talk of goods worth millions being stolen, no one actually has claimed extraordinary losses. He’s right of course, but his nay-saying is just damage control. The truth is, he is angry. Cianci is a proud man and proudly Italian. He sees La Cosa Nostra as a blight, and he campaigned on an anticrime pledge. Worst of all, a caper of Bonded Vault’s magnitude is not soon forgotten, and that tarnishes the city he loves."
The list of who's who in this book, names both remembered and forgotten, read like a Prince spaghetti day dinner guest list. Federal Hill is the home of Patriarca while the North End of Boston is controlled by the Gambinos with cameo appearances by Whitey Bulger. John Cicilline Esq, father of our current State Rep, David Cicilline, has his day in court defending one of the heisters, as do the likes of Salvatore Romano, Jr, and Paul “The Bull” DiMaio. Testimony ends on the seventy-ninth day of the trial, making it the longest in the state’s 336-year history, notable also for one of the more poetic sentences of the book, "February is winter’s hard white master and a good month for punishment." Today is February 19th, in fact, but it's actually a gorgeous day and, with that, I'm heading out for a beach walk. Maybe one of those missing gems will wash up with the tide . . .
February 5, 2017
Really enjoyed this book. I can't even begin to fathom the research that was necessary to make this book possible, but great story and super informative. There were a few parts that I struggled to get through, though. I think that if the beginning (maybe the first 50 or so pages) were re-worked, I would be giving this 4 stars. Either way, if you're feeling the need for a true story (that's local and takes place right here in Rhode Island) then you'll probably enjoy this.
February 3, 2023
Any Rhode Islander alive during the seventies remembers the Bonded Vault heist, the greatest theft (How does $30 million 1974 dollars sound?) in U.S. history. A fast read of a true crime carried out by a bunch of bungling idiots overshadowed by the scariness of the Rhode Island mob headed by the infamous Raymond L.S. Patriarca. Getting a way with tons of cash, coin, silver and gold ingots, jewelry, the gangsters left behind loot that was knee deep. [M]ounds and mounds of gold and silver coins; loose, brilliantly colored gems; handguns, gold chalices, some inset with jewels; elegant high-end jewelry, much of it still in presentation cases; stock books, and albums of collectors' postage stamps.
The thieves hadn't brought enough bags to carry it all away.
Bonded Vault was a room in a fur storage business, 150 huge safe deposit boxes, many of then owned by underworld figures who never claimed losses.
As the saying goes, You can't make this stuff up. But it happened.
And none of the loot was ever recovered.
The thieves hadn't brought enough bags to carry it all away.
Bonded Vault was a room in a fur storage business, 150 huge safe deposit boxes, many of then owned by underworld figures who never claimed losses.
As the saying goes, You can't make this stuff up. But it happened.
And none of the loot was ever recovered.
July 11, 2025
Super informative and super well researched book. Such a captivating story, and Tim White is the best of the best when it comes to investigators in the Ocean State.
Only knock on this book is that the language in the first part of the book was overly complicated. There are a few authors that wrote this, and it flows like it at times.
Only knock on this book is that the language in the first part of the book was overly complicated. There are a few authors that wrote this, and it flows like it at times.
September 6, 2017
Mobsters in the 70s! It read like a tv series. These characters were true bad guys. I enjoyed reading the book, but had a little trouble keeping all the players' names straight. There were so many, and they all spent their lives committing armed robbery to survive. Scary. Modern-day surveillance would make this a different story, but the criminals know about surveillance too. I live in Connecticut. It's a very small state which means Rhode Island is close by. Makes me wonder how much of this is still going on a few miles away.
February 19, 2025
An Interesting look at the crime world.
February 19, 2017
A great tale of Rhode Island history. A little overwritten in the beginning, but the author quickly found his stride. It almost read like a James Patterson story, just better.
January 28, 2018
Enjoyed the build-up of the central characters and their local connections. The heist itself- planning through execution, very well described. But it seems to me that the book fell apart as it progressed past that because it started out really focusing on one particular player’s perspective (Deuce), and transitioned very poorly to a broader perspective. Totally lost me at the end when so many new names/players were added with minimal explanation. It was so rapid-fire, more like a bunch of lists. If the writers had continued the same flow for the transition/s (even if that made the book a bit longer), I think this would have been much better.
That said, would really make a good Netflix series! I’d def watch!
All in all- a good read. Recommend - with prejudice ;)
That said, would really make a good Netflix series! I’d def watch!
All in all- a good read. Recommend - with prejudice ;)
July 19, 2017
This is a fast-paced true crime story told in brief chapters, with panache. The heist that is the subject of this book inspired one of the best chapters of the Crimetown podcast. The friendship between Flynn and Deuce is beautifully delineated, and the arc of that story is more compelling than the robbery itself and cries out for cinematic treatment.
September 16, 2016
Maybe it is that I live in New England or that I like reading books with familiar names and places, I was fascinated with this book. One of the authors is on local television and his father was an investigator in this story. The heist of the Bonded Vault and Hudson Furs Storage building was the biggest heist to date in the United States. The thieves were members of one of the mob families in New York and New England. Whether you know any of the names or places, this read is a much needed look into how the Mafia really operates.
June 9, 2022
Lots of characters, lots of information. Tons of research much have gone into this one and I enjoyed reading about the great heist!
September 29, 2020
A book with the publication date of 2016, I just recently got around to reading. I have known about this heist for some time though even though I live on the West Coast. The book goes into the background of some of the people who the author has named as the people behind the heist. how they met, and then the plan. This was not something that they just thought of and pulled off, no they planed and planed then executed the heist with the plan they had, and to get away with all that they did that day was something not only for them but also a real hurt to the mob as well.
The Mafia who was using a front as their bank and vault for jewels and other goods were rocked that day. When the police arrived did, they file a report no, could they even tell people what was taken, yes but who are you going tell the police or the FBI what was there and how you came into the passion of said items? How can it be that still today not a single piece has been recovered, amazing? Today's value of the items would be upwards of 140 million dollars maybe more. What you think would be bubbling crucks actually got away with more than they even knew I believe. One thing people should know very few mobsters look like the ones you see on T.V. or the movies or even like Gotti. The older ones never wanted to be in the press, spotlight, a lot was short in stature but carried themselves differently.
This is an interesting book with interesting characters, with a lot of research by the author I found myself gripped to the story once I got started. A good story. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
The Mafia who was using a front as their bank and vault for jewels and other goods were rocked that day. When the police arrived did, they file a report no, could they even tell people what was taken, yes but who are you going tell the police or the FBI what was there and how you came into the passion of said items? How can it be that still today not a single piece has been recovered, amazing? Today's value of the items would be upwards of 140 million dollars maybe more. What you think would be bubbling crucks actually got away with more than they even knew I believe. One thing people should know very few mobsters look like the ones you see on T.V. or the movies or even like Gotti. The older ones never wanted to be in the press, spotlight, a lot was short in stature but carried themselves differently.
This is an interesting book with interesting characters, with a lot of research by the author I found myself gripped to the story once I got started. A good story. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
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December 11, 2022A taut, highly entertaining tale of the 1975 Bonded Vault robbery, in which a gang of barely competent thieves robbed a treasure trove of safe deposit boxes used to stash Mafia loot, right here in Providence, RI.
I’m not sure I would have found it as intriguing if I didn’t live in Rhode Island. (Even though I didn’t get here until 1988, I recognized many of the names, places and attitudes described in the book. Plus two of the three authors worked at my old paper, The Providence Journal.)
The book centers on two of the thieves, Robert “Deuce” Dussault and Charles “Chucky” Flynn, close friends — until they weren’t. Looming over everyone is the long shadow of New England crime boss Raymond Patriarca, who ruled from his Federal Hill office in Providence.
If you count thieves, accomplices, girlfriends, victims, cops, lawyers, and judges, there’s a lot to keep track of here, although the short punchy chapters help. Things bog down near the end when everyone is entangled in a long, very complicated trial.
This probably wouldn’t be relevant to most, but the first chapter describes the statewide scope and influence of the Journal, when it had six regional editions in the morning, five in the afternoon. Everyone read it. That’s a long way from the withered Journal of today. Made me sad.
I’m not sure I would have found it as intriguing if I didn’t live in Rhode Island. (Even though I didn’t get here until 1988, I recognized many of the names, places and attitudes described in the book. Plus two of the three authors worked at my old paper, The Providence Journal.)
The book centers on two of the thieves, Robert “Deuce” Dussault and Charles “Chucky” Flynn, close friends — until they weren’t. Looming over everyone is the long shadow of New England crime boss Raymond Patriarca, who ruled from his Federal Hill office in Providence.
If you count thieves, accomplices, girlfriends, victims, cops, lawyers, and judges, there’s a lot to keep track of here, although the short punchy chapters help. Things bog down near the end when everyone is entangled in a long, very complicated trial.
This probably wouldn’t be relevant to most, but the first chapter describes the statewide scope and influence of the Journal, when it had six regional editions in the morning, five in the afternoon. Everyone read it. That’s a long way from the withered Journal of today. Made me sad.
September 21, 2017
On Aug. 14, 1975, eight daring thieves ransacked 148 massive safe-deposit boxes at a secret bank used by organized crime, La Cosa Nostra, and its associates in Providence, R.I. The crooks fled with duffle bags crammed full of cash, gold, silver, stamps, coins, jewels and high-end jewelry. The true value of the loot has always been kept secret, partly because it was ill-gotten to begin with, and partly because there was plenty of incentive to keep its true worth out of the limelight. It's one thing for authorities to admit they didn't find a trace of goods worth from $3 million to $4 million, and entirely another when what was at stake was more accurately valued at about $30 million, the equivalent of $120 million today. It was the biggest single payday in the criminal history of the Northeast. Nobody came close, not the infamous James "Whitey" Bulger, not John "The Dapper Don" Gotti, not even the Brinks or Wells Fargo robbers. The heist was bold enough and big enough to rock the underworld to its core, and it left La Cosa Nostra in the region awash in turmoil that still reverberates more than forty years later. Last Good Heist is the inside story of the robbery and its aftermath.
April 25, 2018
Born and raised in RI, nothing remotely interesting ever really happens here, so I usually have to get my history/information from books written by people who lived it. Old newspapers on microfiche don't always provide the excitement or complete details. When the Bonded Vault heist happened, I was not even a glimmer in my parents' eyes. When this book came out, the Bonded Vault heist was news to me.
When you think Mafia/Mob, most people are going to rattle off names of the New York crime families and occasionally Whitey Bulger. I knew RI had mafia presence, but until I read this book, I did not really grasp the extent of the presence it had (still has?) here. Hudson Furs, still exists for those who are interested.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast read. I actually had to force myself to put it down each night so I could get enough sleep to function at work the next day.
I read this book as part of the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2018 - A book involving a heist.
When you think Mafia/Mob, most people are going to rattle off names of the New York crime families and occasionally Whitey Bulger. I knew RI had mafia presence, but until I read this book, I did not really grasp the extent of the presence it had (still has?) here. Hudson Furs, still exists for those who are interested.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast read. I actually had to force myself to put it down each night so I could get enough sleep to function at work the next day.
I read this book as part of the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2018 - A book involving a heist.
December 4, 2025
I read The Last Good Heist several years ago, not long after listening to the first season of Crimetown, which explored organised crime in Providence, Rhode Island. I don’t remember every detail now but I do remember finding the book worthwhile. It gave me a fuller picture of the Bonded Vault robbery and the people involved, especially figures like Gerry Tillinghast and Chucky Flynn, who I’d first heard about through the podcast.
Where Crimetown was more atmospheric and dramatic, the book felt more restrained and investigative. It gave me a sense of the relationships, the betrayals, and consequences surrounding the heist. I appreciated how it expanded on the podcast’s story without trying to compete with its style. It wasn’t flashy, but it was thorough, and it left an impression.
If you’re interested in the history of organised crime in New England, or if Crimetown piqued your curiosity, this is a good next step.
Where Crimetown was more atmospheric and dramatic, the book felt more restrained and investigative. It gave me a sense of the relationships, the betrayals, and consequences surrounding the heist. I appreciated how it expanded on the podcast’s story without trying to compete with its style. It wasn’t flashy, but it was thorough, and it left an impression.
If you’re interested in the history of organised crime in New England, or if Crimetown piqued your curiosity, this is a good next step.
August 1, 2017
Fascinating book about one of the biggest heists that happened in my neck of the woods and I never even knew about it.
Crime books can be difficult to write, particularly if the people who pull the heist are successful and people aren't largely talking for a multitude of reasons. However, the authors are able to pull it off and provide an entertaining afternoon read.
My only issues with the book is the prose (particularly in the beginning) and the chapter lengths. The latter would often take me out of the story.
Overall though, anyone looking for a different kind of crime story have come to the right place.
Crime books can be difficult to write, particularly if the people who pull the heist are successful and people aren't largely talking for a multitude of reasons. However, the authors are able to pull it off and provide an entertaining afternoon read.
My only issues with the book is the prose (particularly in the beginning) and the chapter lengths. The latter would often take me out of the story.
Overall though, anyone looking for a different kind of crime story have come to the right place.
September 13, 2017
This was crisply written, deeply detailed and a ton of fun. One of those 'too improbable to be true' stories, tracking the build up, score and collapse among thieves narrative that is so common in real life. Our central character would make a wonderfully admirable crook if he didn't have all those traits - the violence and misogyny - that keep real world thieves from being half as entertaining as fictional ones. Still, this has HBO limited series written all over it with the period piece nature, larger than life characters and fantastic sequence of events. Highly recommended.
October 4, 2017
Anyone interested in the Parker crime novels should be all over this. Good characters and stories. Gets a little lost in the details and it can't fully explain much of what happened since all involved were they were tight lipped, went to great lengths to obfuscate the truth or died. What it does offer gives you glimpse of the criminal life and it is not so great. The actual heist is not so amazing as it was weirdly offered up on a silver platter. I still do not really get the whole idea behind it but the mob/underworld loyalties always baffle me the more it's explained.
January 26, 2018
Not as good as it could have been. Written with an unusual conversational/film noir prose (if ghosts existed, one could imagine Humphrey Bogart’s narrating the audiobook), it’s the story of the group of bumbling, bickering bozos who improbably pulled off the biggest heist the US has ever seen. The first 50 pages are choppy and disorganized, and although the narrative picks up and smooths out thereafter, very few pages are devoted to the actual heist and preparations therefor. Rather, most of the book is spent on the characters’ backgrounds and post-heist denouement. Overall, not the best treatment of what should have been a riveting account.
February 16, 2018
A novel that Reads Like the narration of Goodfellas
I hear the Don Winslow , one of my favorite crime writers,is making a movie out of this book. That’s perfect. This book is,like A cross between goodfellas and the gang that couldn’t shoot straight with a cast of character, crooks , murderers, mobster, and molls that we generally found in fiction. You can’t make this stuff up and it’s a great book and will make a,great movie. Just read it if you have any interest in crime in New England, the mob, the justice system and what the hard life is,really like. .
I hear the Don Winslow , one of my favorite crime writers,is making a movie out of this book. That’s perfect. This book is,like A cross between goodfellas and the gang that couldn’t shoot straight with a cast of character, crooks , murderers, mobster, and molls that we generally found in fiction. You can’t make this stuff up and it’s a great book and will make a,great movie. Just read it if you have any interest in crime in New England, the mob, the justice system and what the hard life is,really like. .
August 14, 2018
Brings back memories of thugs in Mafiatown...
Full disclosure: I was with Providence Journal in the 1960s. My interest here is best expressed in a recalled anecdote. A copy editor once wrote a NOTE DESK notation at the end of an obit: “This guy was a crook, but we were never able to get the goods on him.” The note was set in type and made it into the first edition. That was Providence in those days. One of the characters here, a mafia defense lawyer, is the father of a current congressman and former mayor of Providence. That’s RI politics for you!
Full disclosure: I was with Providence Journal in the 1960s. My interest here is best expressed in a recalled anecdote. A copy editor once wrote a NOTE DESK notation at the end of an obit: “This guy was a crook, but we were never able to get the goods on him.” The note was set in type and made it into the first edition. That was Providence in those days. One of the characters here, a mafia defense lawyer, is the father of a current congressman and former mayor of Providence. That’s RI politics for you!
September 4, 2023
3.5/5 stars.
The history and details of the crime itself were interesting, but the writing was just off for me. Sentences were oddly worded, and the chapters were almost too short - and I never complain about short chapters! In fiction, I find that short chapters help move the action along, and I love action-packed stories. But in a nonfiction book, it just didn't hit the same. Clearly a lot of research went into this topic, and I applaud the writers for that, but I think it just needed something extra to pull it all together.
The history and details of the crime itself were interesting, but the writing was just off for me. Sentences were oddly worded, and the chapters were almost too short - and I never complain about short chapters! In fiction, I find that short chapters help move the action along, and I love action-packed stories. But in a nonfiction book, it just didn't hit the same. Clearly a lot of research went into this topic, and I applaud the writers for that, but I think it just needed something extra to pull it all together.
April 17, 2018
I was brought here by the Crimetown podcast and because I grew up in the Lowell area and had never heard this story before hearing about it on the podcast. New England mafia stuff tends to gravitate toward the Whitey Bulger story and how many rehashings can you have of that story? I found this book to be a good retelling of the facts and had some humorous moments. Anyone who is looking for a light on a lesser known tale of New England crime history should ready this book.
April 3, 2022
Am I missing something?
I didn't really enjoy this book. The format is very odd with chapters being 2-3 pages although the next chapter clearly is just a continuation of the last.
The main part of the story, the heist is only a few pages.
2/3s of the book is just a story about the main character running and hiding. Really not much of a story. I actually didn't finish the book because it got so boring.
I didn't really enjoy this book. The format is very odd with chapters being 2-3 pages although the next chapter clearly is just a continuation of the last.
The main part of the story, the heist is only a few pages.
2/3s of the book is just a story about the main character running and hiding. Really not much of a story. I actually didn't finish the book because it got so boring.
November 12, 2024
Two weeks ago some friends and I went on a “crime & cuisine” tour of Providence’s Federal Hill. The heist that is the focus of this book was discussed and this book was mentioned. I downloaded it on the spot and it was a quick, interesting, read. I purchased a copy to give as a gift to a family member this holiday.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading about the recent history of New England, stories about the mob, or is just looking for a quick crime read.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading about the recent history of New England, stories about the mob, or is just looking for a quick crime read.
February 25, 2020
Told in a more casual style than some other true crime books I still really enjoyed this! I am fascinated by the Rhode Island organized crime history, a place I hadn't realized was crawling with Mafioso until I listened to CRIMETOWN. The figures that were rolling around Providence in the 50s, 60s, and 70s are such wild characters it would almost be impossible to write a boring book about them.
June 30, 2020
After viewing the movie adaptation I wanted to read Tim White’s book. The truism that the book is always better than the movie was confirmed. Having lived in RI and knowing one of the RI State Police Court guards during the trial I enjoyed the back story of these “wise guys” thoroughly. You came away with a total sense of the term: career criminal.
November 4, 2020
The Last Good Heist by Tim White is a fast and entertaining read about the robbery of the Bonded Vault Company in the Hudson Fur Storage building in Providence Rhode Island. Safety deposit boxes of the most notorious crime bosses in New England were cleaned out by eight professional thieves. This book tells the story of how it happened, how the thieves were caught and what happened to them afterwards. Fans of the Crimetown podcast will recognize all of the characters and enjoy this tale.
November 4, 2022
This book read like a true pulp fiction classic. Personally, having grown up on the Mass Rhode Island border, I knew ever place mentioned in the book. God only knows how many times I’ve walked by these places without knowing the backstory. Must read for anyone who loves a true organized crime story.
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