Simon Schama TV - America: The Story of the US TV - Days that Shook the World TV - Unsolved History TV - The Hunt for the Boston Bombers TV - Raymond Chandler - Alastair Sooke TV - Mobsters TV - Outlaw Empires TV - Gangland TV - Great Crimes and Trials TV - Art of the Heist TV - Julian Radcliffe - Robberies of the Century TV - Boston Herald - Masterminds TV - The Town 2010 - Drugs Inc TV – Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! 2006 - Whitey: United States of America v James J Bulger 2014 - Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing TV - Breaking History: New Age of Terror TV - Days that Shaped America TV - The Billion Dollar Art Hunt TV - Peaky Blinders TV -
Then in one notorious incident the tormented Redcoats opened fire before the Statehouse; five Bostonians were left dead on the street. Shocked by the killings over the next three years both sides let things calm down. Eventually the British dropped all their taxes except one: that on tea. Simon Schama, A History of Britain: The Wrong Empire, BBC 2000
Many still regard themselves as British subjects but the strains are beginning to show. Nowhere more so than in Boston. May 9th 1768: seven generations after John Rolfe’s first tobacco harvest the British government has put up taxes. America: The Story of the US: Rebels, History 2010
The American colonies are critical to Britain’s economic prosperity. Boston is a gateway to a market that accounts for 40% of British exports. And American taxes are also taken by the British crown. ibid.
Britain has repealed all taxes except one: on tea. In one of the most famous acts of resistance in history, rebels dump over $1,000,000 worth of tea into Boston Harbor. The British respond by closing down Boston Harbor. ibid.
1773: the road to war is paved with tea ... The mood has changed: the people of Boston are ready to act. Days that Shook the World: End of the British Empire
A city famed for being where a revolution was born, with five Americans gunned down in the Boston Massacre. Unsolved History s1e11: Boston Massacre, Discovery 2002
What if the Boston Massacre was no massacre but rather an act of self-defence? ibid.
Based on our acoustic tests it seems almost impossible that the soldiers would have heard an order to fire. ibid.
‘And we will find out who did this ... will feel the full weight of justice.’ The Hunt for the Boston Bombers, Barach Obama, Channel 4 2014
‘The captured suspect had been hit by a car, and shot: he died from his injuries.’ ibid. rozzer
264 people were injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Three were killed. ibid. caption
I guess God made Boston on a wet Sunday. Raymond Chandler
Boston Massachusetts St Patrick’s Day 1990 ... the greatest art theft in history ... 13 works of art, many crudely cut from their frames. Alastair Sooke, The Worlds’ Most Expensive Paintings, BBC 2013
The notorious Irish mobster Jim Whitey Bulger ... within his own criminal circle he preached a code of honour, loyalty and trust. Mobsters: Whitey Bulger, 2008
In the end Bulger himself betrayed his fellow mobsters. ibid.
The drugs were in huge demand. But Whitey never sampled his own product. ibid.
Bulger and Flemmi were linked to twenty-one murders, eleven of them while they were working for the FBI. ibid.
His last confirmed sighting was in Piccadilly Circus. ibid.
In November 2013, James Whitey Bulger was sentenced to prison for two consecutive life terms plus 5 years. ibid. caption
Friends Stand United: The Irish Mob ruled South Boston with menacing violence. But the bonds were deeply personal. Their leader was number two on the FBI’s most wanted list. It was an empire built on loyalty until a betrayal unraveled it all. Outlaw Empires s1e3: South Boston Irish Mob, Discovery 2012
The Irish were tight-knit and handled their own affairs. ibid.
By 1979 Whitey controlled South Boston and all its underworld ... Whitey Bulger was the most ruthless mobster in South Boston ... In the early 1980s Whitey Bulger had killed and buried numerous victims in the basement of a house in South Boston. But now the house was up for sale … Unearthing the bodies was even more gruesome than burying them. ibid.
Kevin Weeks … was the right hand to South Boston’s most powerful Irish mobster ... In 1998 he [Kevin] was arrested on twenty-nine counts of racketeering. ibid.
FSU are as much a part of the hardcore music scene as the raucous music itself. They claim to be protectors of the scene, driving out the drug dealers and skinheads. Friends Stand United ... There are reputedly thousands of members across the states. Most have steady jobs and don’t drink or smoke. Gangland: Rage Against Society, History 2008
Their territory is anywhere there is a hardcore music scene. And their only mission is to rage against infirmity. ibid.
FSU has a twenty-year track record of violence. Much of it directed against skinheads and drug dealers. ibid.
Boston Beat Down [internet video] was a compilation of massive punch-ups and pit beefs. ibid.
Soon the skinheads weren’t their only targets. In the 1990s drug use at Boston clubs was rampant; James and company were straight-edged: drug and alcohol free. ibid.
Right across the country FSU was enforcing its laws. ibid.
The gang has no colors, but FSU letters can be seen everywhere. ibid.
On 16th January 1950 seven men let themselves into Brinks Armoured Car Company at North Terminal Garage, Prince Street, Boston. Once inside they put on grotesque Halloween masks to disguise themselves. They all wore identical navy jackets and chauffeur’s cap, gloves and crepe shoes. Looking like evil older brothers of the seven dwarfs, they made their way through the corridors to the vault where the money was ... Soon they were loading over $2,750,000 in cash and securities into the trucks their confederates had driven into position. Great Crimes and Trials: US Brinks Robbery
It was the biggest art heist in American history. Half a billion dollars’ worth of paintings snatched from the walls of a Boston gallery ... That was sixteen years ago. Since then teams of FBI agents have worked on the case. Art of the Heist: The World’s Biggest Heist
Isabella Stewart became the centre of an elite artistic circle. ibid.
Two thousand five hundred art works in all. ibid.
Among the collection was The Concert by Vermeer. ibid.
None of it was insured. ibid.
The two men appear to be wearing police uniforms. ibid.
The three Rembrandts they took were priceless. One was The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. ibid.
At 2.28 a.m. after nearly an hour of plundering the thieves returned to the security desk on the ground floor with their booty. ibid.
The thieves did not wear masks. ibid.
The thieves never ventured up to the third floor of the gallery when Titian’s Europa, the museum’s most valuable treasure, still hangs untouched. ibid.
The letter writer was never heard from again. ibid.
Two men knocked on the door of the museum and they were dressed as policemen. There were two guards on duty who let them in, and who were then tied up. These are the most valuable pictures which have been stolen in one crime, and they haven’t been recovered. Julian Radcliffe OBE, Art Loss Register
On 18th March 1990 a pair of daring art thieves set their sights on $200 million of art in a poorly protected museum. It was the largest art robbery in American history. And one of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Robberies of the Century, 2001
$200M of art stolen in picture-perfect heist. Boston Herald headline
A crocked cop pulls off a bank job worth over $10 million. He committed the perfect crime and mocked authorities. Masterminds: Memorial Day Heist, truTV 2004
Medford Massachusetts ... The richest bank in Medford was Depositors Trust. Its security system was state of the art. There were massive time-lock steel doors. Inside was a Safe and a thousand double-key deposit boxes. The vault seemed impregnable. But on Memorial weekend 1980 the unthinkable happened ... The largest bank burglary in New England’s history. $10 million in cash and jewels were gone ... The reinforced concrete ceiling had a hole blown in it. ibid.
One blue-collar Boston neighbourhood has produced more bank robbers and armoured car thieves than anywhere in the world: Charlestown. The Town 2010 starring Ben Affleck & Rebecca Hall & Pete Postlethwaite & Jon Hamm & Blake Lively & Jeremy Renner & Chris Cooper & Colm Slaine & Tirus Welliver et al, director Ben Affleck, caption
I’m proud to be from Charlestown. It ruined my life, literally, but I’m proud. ibid. Charlestown Man, Boston Globe