115
After the mugging, in order to
prevent similar crimes, the Bank of
England (above) quickly developed a
service to enable the electronic transfer
of sterling securities.See also: The Great Train Robbery 30–35 ■ D.B. Cooper 38–43 ■ The Antwerp Diamond Heist 54–55WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
bonds to a narcotics dealer in
New York. Unfortunately for him,
the potential buyer was undercover
FBI Agent David Maniquis.Following the money
Osborne cooperated with the FBI
and turned on his co-conspirators,
including British con man Keith
Cheeseman, who was cornered
by agents in a sting operation
codenamed “Operation Soft Dollar”.
He pleaded guilty to laundering
some of the bonds and was jailed.
However, when Osborne
became an informant, he also
became a target for organized
crime operatives, who do not take
kindly to snitches. In August 1990,
despite being placed under FBI
protection, Osborne was fatally shot
twice in the head.
The stolen bonds were fenced
worldwide. City of London police
recovered a bag stuffed with
undeclared bonds at Heathrow
airport, and more were seized in
Cyprus. During the summer of
1990, police traced all but two of
the bonds. They made 25 arrests,but Cheeseman was the only
successful prosecution. The
mugger is believed to have been
28-year-old Patrick Thomas, a petty
criminal from London who shot
himself in December that year.
As for the messenger John
Goddard, he only learned of the
true value of his briefcase after
the event. At that time, money-
market securities worth billionswere sent around the City of
London by couriers who were
not told what they were carrying.
This risky delivery method was
later discontinued. ■Undercover police work
In order to gather evidence and
intelligence about the ongoing
and future illegal activities of
groups and individuals, police
forces use specially trained
undercover operatives.
Their assignments include
short-term stings that can last
for just a matter of a few hours,
to deep-cover, long-term
investigations that mean months
or years in the field. The personal
risks can be huge, but the payoff- putting criminals behind bars –
can outweigh them.
One man who understood that
very well was undercover FBI
agent Joe D. Pistone (1939–). In
1976, he infiltrated one of New
York’s five organized crime
syndicates, the Bonanno family,
as jewel thief Donnie Brasco. He
lived and worked with them for
six years, while collecting
evidence that would convict
more than 100 mobsters. The
Mafia later put out a contract on
his life, and he now lives under
a secret identity. He wrote a
book about his undercover work,
which was the basis for the 1997
movie Donnie Brasco.Pistone’s cover was so convincing
that before the operation ended, he
was close to being proposed for
membership of the Bonanno family.114-115_John_Goddard.indd 115 02/12/2016 16:17