The Last Good Heist

The Last Good Heist opens with the reporters covering the August 14, 1975, robbery of the Bonded Vault which is housed within the Hudson Fur Storage business in Providence, RI. Eight or nine men had robbed the place early in the morning. The Bonded Vault is a safety-deposit box business and 146 out of 148 boxes had been opened. An unknown amount of loot - cash, coins, and jewelry - had been carried off. Early figures given are around a million dollars. Later federal law officials figure that about 32 million (in 1975 dollars) was taken. And none was ever recovered!

But really The Last Good Heist is the tale of the lead robber - Robert J. Dussault, a career criminal from Lowell (MA) who had quite a record before he escaped prison and teamed up with his friend Charles "Chucky" Flynn, another Lowell boy. Flynn had been granted the Bonded Vault job with the blessing of Raymond L. S. Patriarca, the head Mafia boss in Providence, RI. But before the gang gets to the big job, there are smaller jobs to be done (and often goofed-up). Then August 14, 1975, dawns and the big robbery happens. The gang each receive their agreed initial share from the cash on hand with more to come from the fencing of silver ingots, jewelry, coins, and bonds. The gang then splits up. Much of the rest of the book deals with Dussault's life on the run as he travels around the United States, spending his loot, and doing more robberies. After being caught in Las Vegas (NV), Dussault spills his guts regarding the Bonded Vault robbery. There is a very long trial followed by an even longer legal wrangling. Dussault supposedly died in 1992, but family members state that he was at his mother's funeral in 1994.

If you have watched The Thomas Crown Affair (the 1968 version), you know how it is the little things that unravel the perfectly planned crime. The same goes for the criminals in The Last Good Heist, stupidity lead to Dussault being caught, a lie lead to him testifying, and the conviction of half the crew. Now the reader gets to sit back and follow the true crime tale in The Last Good Heist!