Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-05-18

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an ambush outside of his home
Rhode Island Attorney General
William E. Powers announced
police had found one of the archi-
tects of the Drinks raid in Bos-
ton-the Nations biggest cash
haul.
Mr.. Powers dictated this state
Iment to reporters:
1--WE have located and talked to
ia witness who will testify under
oath before a grand jury that he
blamed the details of the Brink s
robbery with Joseph F. McGuiness
of Boston,"
Arrested and Released.
McGuiness, 48, longtime
friend of O'Brien and also a night
club operator, was taken into
custody by Boston police tonight
for questioning about the Staying
Half an hour before Mr.. Powers
mentioned his name, Boston police
let him go. They said they were
satisfied with his account of his
movements today, and could find
him any time they needed him.
Mr.. Powers said McGuiness
could not be placed on the scene
of the Drinks robbery on January
II. l950-at that hour he was six
miles away talking with a police
lieutenant-"but We feel certain
he can be convicted as an Access
sorry before the fact"
Mr.. Powers refused to name his
witness but said he was passing
the information on to Massachu-
sets Attorney General Francis E
Kelly. Mr.. Kelly was not home
and could not be reached for COM
ment.
Chain of Events.
The OBrien Staying at dawn
started a chain of developments
/. O'Brien's body was found
outside his cottage home about s
am. an autopsy showed he had
been shot twice. The first blast
went into his brain and killed him
instantly. The second, after he
crumpled, penetrated the heart
2. Police took into custody as a
material witness Julius Kenner
55-year- old Providence jewele1
with criminal record dating to
1915. They said Kenner was with
O'Brien at 9 pm. last night.
Both O'Brien and Kenner were
named only last Wednesday, police
disclosed, as among the seven OF
more men who plotted and carried
through the daring Drinks foray
Fingered" BY Prisoner.
They were fingered" by ALFRED
A. Gagnon of Pawtucket. a pris'
oner at Rhode Island State prison
who told Mr.. Powers and Mr.. Kelly
he had provided the peajackets
halloween masks and rope uset
by the bandits. Gagnon, seized il
Chicago last month, is awaiting
trial on a charge of attempted rob-
berry of a Providence diamond mer'
chant.
3. Police, giving new credence tt
Gagnon's story, which they hae
previously shrugged off as littl'
more than rehash of newspaper
accounts. went through OBrien'
home from cellar to attic. Chic
Arthur Groleau said they wer'
looking for Drinks loot, and espe'
cially safe that Gagnon hae
mentioned having seen when thu
loot was divided-but they founC
nothing.
4. Two shotgun shells from a 16'
gauge gun were found 200 yard.
from the O'Brien doorstep.
Though Mr.. Powers identified
McGuiness-an ex-convict who
has done time for such crimes a.
carrying a gun, robbery and mar
cotics violations-as one of the
Drinks planners. he conceded il
would not be possible to place
him at the robbery scene.
Always Had Alibi.
Ever since the night of the
robbery McGuiness has had ar
alibi-he was talking to Police 1t
James v. Crowley in Eglestor
Square, six miles from the Drinks
garage, at the time of the stickup
Police quoted McGuiness as say
ing he had known O'Brien fol-
more than 20 years but hadn't
seen him in nine months. Nc
Guinness. they added, has served
sentences for robbery, carrying q
loaded gun and for a narcotics
violation.
Kenner, taken to State police
GC1o az 44IINOlI tOk1lSll,
after intensive questioning, has q
police record dating to 1915, when
he was in his teens. Police said
he was sentenced to serve one
year for larceny in Boston in 1915
year for larceny in Rhode Is
land in 1918, fined $50 for vag-
rancy in Rochester, N. Y. in 1918
and picked up at various other
times as a vagrant, suspicious
person and pickpocket.
The most recent entry was
dated September %. 1880, when
Kenner was taken into custody at
Hamtramck, Mich, as a person
lof no known occupation during a
murder investigation. He later
Twas released.