Rockland legislature opposes parole of Brink’s robbery mastermind

NEW CITY – The man who orchestrated 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, 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.”