BANGS WAS NO SAINT: The story goes into police corruption, murder, attempted murder, drug dealing, and the theft and altering of Civil Service exams.

 They nearly got away with the heist, too. But then things got crazy; very crazy. The story goes into police corruption, murder, attempted murder, drug dealing, and the theft and altering of Civil Service exams. The scandal eventually resulted in the breakup of the Metropolitan (MDC) Police, who patrolled certain parkways, parks and MDC facilities in suburban Boston.  https://homenewshere.com/wilmington_town_crier/article_66a96848-fb70-5ac2-acf7-f3899b679d4f.html  Bangs and Doherty, meanwhile, were going nuts. Bangs moved out of Tewksbury and took up with a new girlfriend. He had always been a high roller, into flashy clothes, nice cars and a high life style.

Clemente wrote that Bangs became one of the biggest drug dealers in New England, selling about $15,000 a week in cocaine and other drugs. He and Doherty were also using a large amount of cocaine. They made regular trips to Las Vegas, in an attempt to legitimize the cash they were accumulating.

“By the time I learned that Joe would turn on his closest friend, the damage had been done,” Clemente wrote. “Maybe it was the drugs, maybe it was greed, but he went off the deep end after the heist. When he talked about killing a relative or associate, you could tell he wasn’t kidding.”

Barrett disappeared in 1983, along with much of the loot. It later came out that mobsters Whitey Bulger and Stevie Flemmi had demanded that he turn over money from the robbery. It was reported that he gave them $300,000. Then Bulger allegedly killed him. Barrett’s body was found in 2000, buried beside the Southeast Expressway in Dorchester. Whitey Bulger, who hasn’t been seen since 1994, was one of the best-known crime figures in Boston.