The Bonded Vault heist was the August 1975 robbery of the Bonded Vault Company, a commercial safe-deposit business occupying a vault inside Hudson Fur Storage in Providence, Rhode Island. It served as the unofficial "bank" used by the Patriarca crime family and associates. The stolen valuables were worth about $30 million (equivalent to $ million in ). According to The Providence Journal, it was among the biggest heists in US history and resulted in the longest and costliest criminal trial in Rhode Island history. Background Hudson Fur Storage was a commercial storage facility at 101 Cranston Street in the West End neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island inside a red brick former church building. A large vault contained 146 large safe-deposit boxes, and each box was two feet high, two feet wide, and four or five feet deep, according to WPRI. The boxes were a separate legal entity from Hudson Fur Storage called the Bonded Vault Company, used by members of the Patriarca crime family and their associates. Heist On Thursday, August 14, 1975, eight men traveled in a van to Hudson Fur Storage: Robert "The Deuce" Dussault, Charles "Chucky" Flynn, Joe "The Dancer" Danese, Gerald "Gerry" Tillinghast, Ralph Byrnes, Jacob Tarzian, John Ouimette, and Walter Ouimette. The storage facility had a minimal security system, thought to be unnecessary due to the reputation of Patriarca and his associates. At around 8:00 AM, Dussault entered the business by the front door, wearing sunglasses and a suit and carrying a briefcase, posing as a client. He pointed a .38-caliber revolver at business co-owner Samuel Levine and warned employees not to "reach for any buttons or I'll blow your head off". He had Levine gather his employees in an office and put pillowcases over their heads. Six of the other men then entered the business, while one remained outside as a look-out. The thieves tried unsuccessfully to drill into the safe deposit boxes, but they succeeded by using a crowbar to pry the doors off their hinges, and proceeded to stuff valuables into duffel bags. On their way out, the robbers shut employees in a bathroom. Dussault told them to wait five minutes before leaving, and one of the thieves took co-owner Hyman Levine's driver's license, threatening him not to try to identify them. The employees left the bathroom after waiting about five minutes, and pushed the business's alarm button to call the police,