George Bosque Steals $1.8 Million in Brink's Security Heist (August 16, 1980)

Описание: Report on a robbery committed by a Brink’s security worker moving large amounts of cash. Footage of a Brink’s security truck; still black-and-white photo of guard George Bosk; shot of the airport Hilton parking lot. Interview with Brink’s executive Joel Curnutt. Natural sound and VoiceOver.
Newstape: KRON-TV (San Francisco, CA)
Reporter: Lee, Vic (KRON-TV)

UPI ARCHIVES NOV. 24, 1981
Brinks robbery suspect apparently lived high on $1.8 million heist
By SPENCER SHERMAN

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Brinks guard suspected of taking $1.85 million from an armored truck apparently squandered most of the loot on high living before being captured -- possibly turned in by 'friends' eyeing the $50,000 reward.

The FBI said Tuesday that 'friends and acquaintances' may have proven the downfall of George Bosque, 26, the lone robber suspect who was arrested Sunday in a supermarket parking lot after a 15-month search.

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After the 1980 robbery, Bosque is believed to have lived the fantasy world of a millionaire fugitive with fancy clothes, posh apartments, expensive cars with chauffeurs, parties and drugs, authorities said.

He apparently returned to the bay area nearly broke, in poor health and lonely just prior to his capture.

Bosque is suspected of pulling off the robbery by tricking four fellow Brink's guards into leaving him alone with an armored car following a cash pickup from Hawaii at San Francisco International Airport. The robber fled in the vehicle, later changed to a car he commandeered and vanished.

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Asked if the reward money helped lead agents to Bosque, FBI spokesman Tom Anderson said:

'Several of Bosque's friends and acquaintances were interviewed in the course of the investigation, but we're not going to be any more specific as to who gave us what information.'

Bosque's attorney, Ray Archuleta, confirmed the reward might have played a part in cooperation received by the FBI.

But he said lonliness may also have drawn Bosque back to the San Francisco Bay area after traveling much of the nation as a fugitive. Bosque missed the company of an unidentified 'particular person,' Archuleta said.

He said Bosque returned to the city sick, 'tired of running' and nearly broke. Agents had staked out a phone booth in a Safeway parking lot near a U.S. Mint building where, according to city police, he made calls to friends.

The suspect had only $100 on him when he surrendered without a struggle to arresting agents. The FBI has not disclosed if the loot was recoverable but one agent said Bosque was 'living high, on a scale equivalent to what he took.'

Agents said he had been in hiding in New York City, Dallas, Chicago, his home state of Florida and possibly the Bahamas since his August 1980 disappearance.

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The robbery was one of the largest in Brink's history. Reports it was the second largest cash take were apparently not true. Records show the San Francisco take was exceeded by a $2.47 million cash theft in the New York borough of Staten Island in 1978 and a $2 million robbery at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York in 1979.

Bosque had been a full-time San Francisco special police officer whose salary was paid by businesses and home owners for protection. He was working part-time for Brink's at the time of the heist.

A native of Miami, Bosque is the son of a Cuban immigrant who came to this country in the 1950s. He attended Miami Military Academy, where he was a member of the debating club and a track star and had participated in Junior ROTC and the Miami police department's Explorer Scout post