NEW CITY – The mastermind of the 1981 Brinks’ armored car
robbery in Rockland County that left two Nyack police officers and security
guard dead should not be released from prison, the Rockland County Legislature
says.
Nyack Police Officers Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly
Brown, and Brinks’ Guard Peter Paige were killed during the October
20, 1981 robbery.
Paige was killed during a $1.8 million armored car heist at the then-Nanuet
Mall, now the Shops at Nanuet. Both officers were killed during the escape
attempt in a shootout at the Mountainview Road entrance to the Thruway
in Nyack, where a permanent memorial is located.
Matulu Shakur, who was born Jeral Wayne Williams, was arrested in 1986
and sentenced in 1988 for his role in the robberies and killings by a
self-proclaimed group known as “The Family.” The group included
Black Liberation Army members and former members of violent groups from
the 1960s, according to news reports.
Shakur was also found guilty in another armored car robbery in which a
guard was shot and killed. He had been accused of participated in 12 robberies
from 1976 to 1981. He was also found guilty of aiding the prison escape
of his sister, Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted in 1977 of killing
a New Jersey state trooper and who fled to Cuba.
Shakur was sentenced to 60 years in prison with the judge recommending
no parole be granted. Under the sentencing rules in effect at the time,
mandatory parole is required after 30 years unless a parole hearing determines
the prisoner would commit new crimes or had repeat, serious violations
of state rules. Shakur is slated to face a parole hearing in April, 30
years after his 1986 arrest.
“The crime forever changed Rockland and left three families without
their fathers, sons and husbands,” said County Legislature Chairman
Alden Wolfe. “The convicted killer cannot serve one day less than
the full federal sentence for planning and carrying out such a violent
crime. When you attack police officers, you attack all society.”
