Robbery
The robbers included senior BLA members Willams (Shakur) and Weems (Balagoon), along with May 19 Communists David Gilbert, Samuel Brown, Judith Alice Clark, and Kathy Boudin.
The robbery began with Boudin dropping off her infant son, Chesa Boudin, at a babysitter's before picking up the getaway vehicle, a U-Haul truck. She waited in a nearby parking lot as her heavily armed accomplices took another vehicle to the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, New York where a Brink's truck was making a delivery.
At 3:55 pm, Brink's guards Peter Paige and Joe Trombino emerged from the mall carrying bags of money. As they loaded the money into the truck, the robbers stormed out of their van and attacked. One fired two shotgun blasts into the van's bulletproof windshield, while another opened fire with an M16 rifle. Paige was hit multiple times and killed instantly. Trombino was able to fire a single shot from his handgun, but was soon struck in the shoulder and arm by several rounds, nearly severing his arm from his body. The criminals then took $1.6 million in cash, got back in their van, and fled the scene.
Trombino survived his injuries and continued to work for the Brink's company for the next 20 years; he was killed at age 68, while making a Brinks delivery in the September 11 attacks.
Read more about this topic: Brink's Robbery (1981)