What do you think?
Rate this book
Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink's Heist
On a freezing night in January 1993, masked gunmen walked through the laughably lax security at the Rochester Brink's depot, tied up the guards, and unhurriedly made off with $7.4 million in one of the FBI's top-five armored car heists in history.
Suspicion quickly fell on a retired Rochester cop working security for Brinks at the time--as well it might. Officer Tom O'Connor had been previously suspected of everything from robbery to murder to complicity with the IRA. One ex-IRA soldier in particular was indebted to O'Connor for smuggling him and his girlfriend into the United States, and when he was caught in New York City with $2 million in cash from the Brink's heist, prosecutors were certain they finally had enough to nail O'Connor. But they were wrong.
In Seven Million, the reporter Gary Craig meticulously unwinds the long skein of leads, half-truths, false starts, and dead ends, taking us from the grim solitary pens of Northern Ireland's Long Kesh prison to the illegal poker rooms of Manhattan to the cold lakeshore on the Canadian border where the body parts began washing up.
The story is populated by a colorful cast of characters, including cops and FBI agents, prison snitches, a radical priest of the Melkite order who ran a home for troubled teenagers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and the IRA rebel who'd spent long years jailed in one of Northern Ireland's most brutal prisons and who was living underground in New York posing as a comics dealer.
Finally, Craig investigates the strange, sad fate of Ronnie Gibbons, a down-and-out boxer and muscle-for-hire in illegal New York City card rooms, who was in on the early planning of the heist, and who disappeared one day in 1995 after an ill-advised trip to Rochester to see some men about getting what he felt he was owed. Instead, he got was what was coming to him.
Seven Million is a meticulous re-creation of a complicated heist executed by a variegated and unsavory crew, and of its many repercussions. Some of the suspects are now dead, some went to jail; none of them are talking about the robbery or what really happened to Ronnie Gibbons. And the money? Only a fraction was recovered, meaning that most of the $7 million is still out there somewhere.
Suspicion quickly fell on a retired Rochester cop working security for Brinks at the time--as well it might. Officer Tom O'Connor had been previously suspected of everything from robbery to murder to complicity with the IRA. One ex-IRA soldier in particular was indebted to O'Connor for smuggling him and his girlfriend into the United States, and when he was caught in New York City with $2 million in cash from the Brink's heist, prosecutors were certain they finally had enough to nail O'Connor. But they were wrong.
In Seven Million, the reporter Gary Craig meticulously unwinds the long skein of leads, half-truths, false starts, and dead ends, taking us from the grim solitary pens of Northern Ireland's Long Kesh prison to the illegal poker rooms of Manhattan to the cold lakeshore on the Canadian border where the body parts began washing up.
The story is populated by a colorful cast of characters, including cops and FBI agents, prison snitches, a radical priest of the Melkite order who ran a home for troubled teenagers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and the IRA rebel who'd spent long years jailed in one of Northern Ireland's most brutal prisons and who was living underground in New York posing as a comics dealer.
Finally, Craig investigates the strange, sad fate of Ronnie Gibbons, a down-and-out boxer and muscle-for-hire in illegal New York City card rooms, who was in on the early planning of the heist, and who disappeared one day in 1995 after an ill-advised trip to Rochester to see some men about getting what he felt he was owed. Instead, he got was what was coming to him.
Seven Million is a meticulous re-creation of a complicated heist executed by a variegated and unsavory crew, and of its many repercussions. Some of the suspects are now dead, some went to jail; none of them are talking about the robbery or what really happened to Ronnie Gibbons. And the money? Only a fraction was recovered, meaning that most of the $7 million is still out there somewhere.
296 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2017
27 people are currently reading
514 people want to read
About the author
Gary Craig
2 books5 followersGary Craig has been a reporter for Rochester, NY newspapers since 1990, covering City Hall, politics, and federal courts. He is currently a member of the Democrat and Chronicle Watchdog Team and has won state and national awards for investigative journalism.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Gary^^Craig
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Gary^^Craig
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
June 27, 2017
Couldn't put it down! Fascinating story about the Brink's robbery. Just when you think it couldn't get odder, it does. I may be semi-biased as a former Rochesterian, but this is a great read if you like true life crime novels or a good mystery.
April 2, 2020
Thrilling tale about a major moment in Rochester crime history. This story features a cast of characters right out of the best sort of Elmore Leonard story, yet impossibly, these people are all real! A winding story touching on so much of Rochester - and Northern Ireland - history; in the hands of a lesser writer, this would be too much to keep track of. Gary handles it deftly, though, bringing his readers through the twisting ins and outs of this case and it's aftermath. A must read for any Rochestarian and any True Crime fan in general!
September 1, 2025
Really poorly organized making the book difficult to read and enjoy. It does not move chronologically. The author is caught on one storyline that he presents separately and with too much subjectivity and emotion to be considered investigative and impartial journalism. Items that could have been explored further were not. No new information or deductions presented here. Disappointing and a waste of time.
July 10, 2021
I really enjoyed Gary Craig’s telling of the Brinks heist in Rochester,NY. I actually live in the same neighborhood as Tom O’Connor and remember the FBI and police surrounding his home! This is a riveting story detailing all the different players and locations involved in this crime.
July 2, 2020
It has all the makings of a Hollywood script but unlike fantasy this true crime story has no conclusive ending. Craig writes well and has insights available only to someone who has worked extensively on the case. Alas, the book leaves more questions than answers — who was involved in the heist, where is the still unaccounted for $5 million, was the ex-cop a killer?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2022
An excellent True Crime book! With the genre being so popular among masses now, listen to this, you have some carpetbaggers coming in copy-pasting Wikipedia articles about notable cannibals for example. A disgrace to the tastebuds. I assure you this is not the case with Seven Million. The *flow* is meticulous, the author casually conveying how many floors a building has - even when the building in question is of highly doubtful importance to the main narrative. He's done his research to a T, and can therefore talk with *supreme assurance*. At times the more discerning reader such as yours truly gets a Tarantino or Elmore Leonard vibe. Et cetera.
I was initially drawn to the book due to my academic interest in armored car robberies. Yet as always, I'm mainly reading true crime books as an excuse to glimpse into the lurid aspects of the much-vaunted American Dream. You forget the violent act(s) soon and start to observe how the participants act. This book, the author goes a tad more rhizomatic as it were than most other books. In this case it does not annoy, for the author, he writes so *smoothly* I'd've been content if he described in detail what the protagonists bought in supermarkets. And it's exactly *here* that the dog is buried! Just *one* off-kilter aspect and we would've been in High Brow territory. I.e the *base* is so good for the writer to transcend the squarejohn vibe. One glitch in the matrix would of opened the floodgates! The first DJ who used scratching in turntablism, I'm sure they had their doubts, yet they turned out to be pioneers. On that day they became legendary. I fully understand the author though for wanting to tell an ace story. To me personally, it spurs me on in my own artistic racket. (Gordon Burn for example went a tad artistic in his book about Fred and Rose West. Which I highly recommend as a discerning description of UK society, with the couple's dastardly deeds being but a sour huckleberry on top of a hellish cake). To paraphrase KRS-One, I'm looking for where True Crime's next planet's at. A ten-part Netflix documentary about any *one* of the 100,000 yearly US murders, shot by Tarantino? That type of drift. We pick a murder or robbery in a lottery. The winner gets the true crime treatment. Great book.
I was initially drawn to the book due to my academic interest in armored car robberies. Yet as always, I'm mainly reading true crime books as an excuse to glimpse into the lurid aspects of the much-vaunted American Dream. You forget the violent act(s) soon and start to observe how the participants act. This book, the author goes a tad more rhizomatic as it were than most other books. In this case it does not annoy, for the author, he writes so *smoothly* I'd've been content if he described in detail what the protagonists bought in supermarkets. And it's exactly *here* that the dog is buried! Just *one* off-kilter aspect and we would've been in High Brow territory. I.e the *base* is so good for the writer to transcend the squarejohn vibe. One glitch in the matrix would of opened the floodgates! The first DJ who used scratching in turntablism, I'm sure they had their doubts, yet they turned out to be pioneers. On that day they became legendary. I fully understand the author though for wanting to tell an ace story. To me personally, it spurs me on in my own artistic racket. (Gordon Burn for example went a tad artistic in his book about Fred and Rose West. Which I highly recommend as a discerning description of UK society, with the couple's dastardly deeds being but a sour huckleberry on top of a hellish cake). To paraphrase KRS-One, I'm looking for where True Crime's next planet's at. A ten-part Netflix documentary about any *one* of the 100,000 yearly US murders, shot by Tarantino? That type of drift. We pick a murder or robbery in a lottery. The winner gets the true crime treatment. Great book.
February 8, 2018
This is the story of the 1993 Brinks robbery that occurred right here in Rochester. 7.4 million dollars was stolen from the Brinks depot on South Avenue. Security was very lax but it was clear that it was an inside job. Author Gary Craig does a great job in laying out the robbery and the following investigation into the connections between the robbery and members and sympathizers of the IRA in Ireland.
The book goes beyond the robbery itself and follows a connection that made little news. I had never heard the story of boxer Ronnie Gibbons, who came to Rochester from New York City to try to get his share of the money. He disappeared from a parking lot very near my home and his remains were found on the far eastern shore of Lake Ontario.
As in all crimes, there is a sad aspect to this. Desperate people taking desperate steps than only make life worse for them. Still, the story keeps your interest. Well researched and well written.
The book goes beyond the robbery itself and follows a connection that made little news. I had never heard the story of boxer Ronnie Gibbons, who came to Rochester from New York City to try to get his share of the money. He disappeared from a parking lot very near my home and his remains were found on the far eastern shore of Lake Ontario.
As in all crimes, there is a sad aspect to this. Desperate people taking desperate steps than only make life worse for them. Still, the story keeps your interest. Well researched and well written.
September 11, 2018
Generally am not much of a true-crime reader. This, however, could make one a convert. A really interesting telling of a really interesting crime. Disclaimer: worked for years alongside the author and am friendly with him. But even divorcing myself of that, it's a fascinating read and a bizarre cast of characters. It's so frustrating that certain voices, like Tom O'Connor, the former cop who was a Brinks security person the night of the heist and may or may not have been as dirty as they come, won't ever get a chance to tell their side of the story (spoiler: he's since died). You feel like the ultimate truth is so tantalizingly close. But reading this, you also come to understand that even if someone finally coughed up the beans, there's a good chance you'd never believe it given what a motley crew of folks show up in this story of an armed robbery and -- perhaps -- an associated murder. Well worth reading.
February 25, 2022
Let's say 4.5
I may be a bit biased since I'm from Rochester, Irish American, and have an affinity for all things local color, but I enjoyed this read. The patience and tenacity of the author to stick with this story over decades is impressive to me. Dedication to research and process alone gets high marks in my mind.
I may be a bit biased since I'm from Rochester, Irish American, and have an affinity for all things local color, but I enjoyed this read. The patience and tenacity of the author to stick with this story over decades is impressive to me. Dedication to research and process alone gets high marks in my mind.
February 26, 2019
It was interesting. It read like a newspaper article: a very long article. The additional story that was related at the end was oddly added. It was not a page turner.
July 29, 2017
“Seven Million” by Gary Craig was a neat true crime novel about the >$7 million heist of a Brinks facility in Rochester, New York in 1993. Craig was a reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and as such he was plugged in to the mania surrounding the heist, and the long follow up to find the guilty. Pretty neat story, and I very much liked Craig’s way of writing and reporting. He covered the heist in the newspapers and now, over twenty years later, has turned his research into an entertaining book.
Structure wise the book is split into two main parts…Part I dealing with the heist, the planning, the actual events leading up to that day, and the cast of characters involved…such as a priest, an IRA member, and an ex-cop, etc.; he weaves an interesting tale in this part, and we are left with some closure at the end…we find out what happened to the characters. Part II was more problematic for me; in it the author dragged in another character and tries to perform the same magic as he did in Part I, but it just doesn’t come off. Part II seemed like another 77 pages thrown in just to make the narrative book length. Part I is roughly 176 pages long, Part II adds 77 more. I was happy with the first 176 and could have stopped there.
But with all that said, I did enjoy this book. It was sent to me as a Goodreads Giveaway, and I appreciate the research and writing that went into it.
Structure wise the book is split into two main parts…Part I dealing with the heist, the planning, the actual events leading up to that day, and the cast of characters involved…such as a priest, an IRA member, and an ex-cop, etc.; he weaves an interesting tale in this part, and we are left with some closure at the end…we find out what happened to the characters. Part II was more problematic for me; in it the author dragged in another character and tries to perform the same magic as he did in Part I, but it just doesn’t come off. Part II seemed like another 77 pages thrown in just to make the narrative book length. Part I is roughly 176 pages long, Part II adds 77 more. I was happy with the first 176 and could have stopped there.
But with all that said, I did enjoy this book. It was sent to me as a Goodreads Giveaway, and I appreciate the research and writing that went into it.
May 23, 2017
Gary Craig, a colleague of mine, tells a good story. After decades of reporting about crime, he has a lot of them. He recounts them with great enthusiasm and adds lots of asides that add his own unique flavor to his tales.
He's put that skill to good use in Seven Million, a page turner about a heist of $7 million from the Brink's depot in Rochester, NY, where Gary is a reporter. The main characters are colorful - a priest, a retired cop, an IRA member and a boxer - but then there are passing connections to people like David Bowie, Hilary Swank and Colin Quinn. Those are the kinds of asides and details that are pure Gary Craig.
Crime nonfiction is not my usual genre, but I found myself utterly engrossed in this book and all its twists and turns. I recommend this book, and would do so even if I didn't know the author.
He's put that skill to good use in Seven Million, a page turner about a heist of $7 million from the Brink's depot in Rochester, NY, where Gary is a reporter. The main characters are colorful - a priest, a retired cop, an IRA member and a boxer - but then there are passing connections to people like David Bowie, Hilary Swank and Colin Quinn. Those are the kinds of asides and details that are pure Gary Craig.
Crime nonfiction is not my usual genre, but I found myself utterly engrossed in this book and all its twists and turns. I recommend this book, and would do so even if I didn't know the author.
August 3, 2017
I live in Rochester and am old enough to remember the 1993 Brinks Depot robbery and aftermath. Maybe that is why I enjoyed this book so much. Because it is a subject and area I am experienced in, it does make reviewing the book difficult, but hopefully I am not being biased. Gary Craig wove a very compelling narrative, and the book moved quickly and I was continuously interested. The nature of the actual events does leave one feeling slightly unhappy at the end, but his epilogue I feel was well reasoned and he spelled out very clearly why he came to the conclusions he did. Because of my proximity to the scene I did find myself driving past locations, which is a good example of how compelling the story was. I highly recommend this true crime book.
April 8, 2022
I read this book as a follow up to Sam Millar's riveting memoir, On the Brinks. It is one of the sources used here. The cast of characters is unreal, the most colorful being a Melkite Catholic priest who runs a homeless shelter in NYC. A retired cop, an IRA man and former political prisoner, the aforementioned Sam Millar and an unfortunate soul named Ronnie Gibbons head up this motley crew. Although I found it slow to start, the second half picks up steam as the search for $5 million has continued. My only wish is that Millar would disclose more of what only he knows. Read his awesome book first and Seven Million as a perfect companion piece.
August 18, 2022
Extremely entertaining story on multiple intertwined crimes that seem only partially solved. It's also filled with characters one is used to seeing in movies but these people are real and they are expertly drawn by the author. It was hard to put down though I have two minor quibbles - it seems the book was created by various articles created over time and some editing should have removed some of the repeated backstory. It also came to a sudden halt and while that isn't exactly the authors fault since people had died leaving many questions unanswered, it still felt overly abrupt. Nonetheless, a thoroughly enjoyable read and highly recommended for true crime buffs.
February 7, 2024
The hard part about writing about unsolved is there's no ending. Who really robbed the brinks depot? Where did the money go? Who killed Ronnie Gibbons? Was the IRA involved? And where is the money? Spoiler alert - don't read this book of you want any of those questions answered, because no one, including author Gary Craig, knows. Somewhat interesting story, but not enough detail to make it consistently captivating. In the end, whoever has the rest of the loot, I hope you enjoyed it, and one thing for sure, their story would be a lot better than this one.
September 17, 2024
I’m a little upset at myself that I waited so long to read this book. It was very well written and the research that went into the book had to have been an intense and long process. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know much about what happened in 1993 in Rochester but now I do. I feel like I was in a crime novel at some points and others just trying to understand the history that I didn’t even know about. I wish we had the answers to these crimes committed but as the author said, this is not a Hollywood production
October 17, 2025
Seven Million is a fascinating, well-written, meticulously researched story about the Brinks Heist in Rochester, NY. I knew one of the characters--Cahal Magee--and I knew there was controversy surrounding his involvement with NORAID and the IRA, but I had no idea he had been investigated (along with his brother) for this crime. The author takes us step-by-step from the crime and investigation to the arrests to the sentencing, and beyond--and then covers an unexpected murder connected with the story. I highly recommend this book. You won't want to put it down.
January 24, 2021
What a page turner! I began this book on a Friday night after work and could not put it down. Gary Craig writes like the lifelong journalist he is - with the right amount of detail coupled with the perfect touch of artistry. After having read this book I now understand the political foundations of the terrorism in Northern Ireland and was astonished to learn how that played a major role in the Rochester, New York heist. This is a writer to watch.
July 9, 2017
This was a very interesting book and I enjoyed reading about all the details of what was known about the robbery and the theories regarding those responsible. Still a lot of money missing! I have my ideas on where it went but you have to draw your own conclusions after reading the info that is known
December 6, 2017
Score it a high 4. The cast of characters and their links to the IRA is well developed, good narrative style, and the section dealing with boxer Robbie Gibbons who was only tangential to the actual Brink's robbery is a nice finishing touch. Nice mix of robbery details (inside job?), investigative work, and forensic follow up. Enjoyable read with good pace.
August 21, 2020
Gary Craig does an excellent job describing one of Rochester’s most notorious crimes. His research is outstanding and it results in a great story and an intriguing mystery that will probably never be solved. In the process of telling this story Craig also touches on many of Rochester’s other notorious crimes.
September 14, 2021
I guess knowing the case was unsolved should have made the ending a little less disappointing / feeling let down? Seemed like stories about a bunch of guys that were related to the crime, but everyone, not even the author quite knew how. The police detective and forensic work was somewhat interesting.
July 4, 2022
Expertly told, this true story pulled me right in. I am not normally one for true crime but cannot recommend this enough. Gary Craig, who spent nearly 30 years writing this book, does a remarkable job pulling the stranger-than-fiction story together in a thoughtful, heartfelt way that makes you feel like you know the characters and their struggles. Read this!
June 16, 2017
Excellent read
Gary Craig has written a very concise account of the Brinks depot robbery. He has introduced us to the characters through history and ancestry that as a reader you feel connected to them all. I highly recommend this book it is a gripping story.
Gary Craig has written a very concise account of the Brinks depot robbery. He has introduced us to the characters through history and ancestry that as a reader you feel connected to them all. I highly recommend this book it is a gripping story.
June 27, 2017
Loved this nonfiction account of the Brink's heist which I remember from when my children were young. I enjoyed the detail about the robbery and the story of how the police and FBI tracked down where and who the culprits were.
July 4, 2017
Interesting reading a book and knowing the names of so many people in it. I remember the robbery.
July 31, 2017
Crazy stuff!
November 21, 2017
Great read. I knew nothing about this case before I picked up the book. This was a riveting story.
September 22, 2018
great read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews