Final Confession: The Unsolved Crimes of Phil Cresta

Library Journal

This rollicking tale concerns the life and times of Phil Cresta, a master thief longsought by the FBI. Cresta confessed the details of his unconventional life of crime to retired Boston detective Crowley before he died in 1995. Crowley then collaborated with Boston sports announcer/columnist Wallace to pen this adventurous, fast-paced narrative. Cresta was brilliant, meticulous, inventive, and colorful. He stole more than $10 million in his lifetime, and many of his crimes are still officially listed as unsolved. The daring 1969 Brink's armored car robbery was his downfall, however, landing him on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and forcing him to spend the next five years as a fugitive. Cresta proves an enigmatic character--he could be ruthless when necessary (though he rarely shot to kill)--but he was surprisingly upstanding when dealing with his two lifelong crime partners. The only question remaining is who will play Cresta in the motion picture. Highly recommended.--Karen Sandlin Silverman, Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Just before he died in Chicago, legendary London-born thief Cresta (1928-95) revealed to Crowley, a retired Boston police detective, how he planned and carried out the capers that had baffled both the police and his colleagues for decades. Sports announcer and columnist Wallace help his tell the tales. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

From The Critics

Although Boston resident Phil Cresta stole millions of dollars and was placed on the F.B.I.'s most wanted list, his name has failed to go down in the annals of crime history. Cresta, along with the aid of two accomplices, committed numerous crimes that have remained officially unsolved. Final Confessions reveals these crimes while also painting a social portrait of the Boston crime scene during the 1960s. It would be easy for the reader to feel incredulous upon starting this book; Crowley obtained a great deal of the information about these crimes from conversations with Cresta before he died. Newspaper writer Wallace has researched the background of each crime, from police reports to F.B.I. files, and put together a convincing story. Cresta was born on the north end of Boston, and grew up under the shadow of an abusive father. He went to prison for the first time when he was sixteen, but prison only increased his knowledge of how to commit crimes. Cresta became an expert at picking locks and forging keys, and learned to plan his crimes carefully. Other criminals didn't always know what Cresta was doing. Once, he entered a bar with the tops of three parking meters that he had removed while everyone else was watching the Kennedy inauguration. Everyone laughed. Cresta took the three meters--one for each type that the city used--and had keys made for them. With the keys and several official looking uniforms, he and his partners garnered some $250 dollars a day from the city of Boston, eventually stealing $100,000 dollars. Other crimes proved more risky but no less ingenious. Cresta used inside information to learn about a jewel convention coming to Boston. The jewels of the attendees werestored in the Parker House safe at night with a timed combination. Cresta designed a large suitcase, like the cases used to store the merchandise of the other jewelers, which actually carried his partner and a small oxygen tank. Inside the safe, his accomplice stole jewels from two other cases, and then returned to his case to be carried to safety by Cresta in the morning. It is easy to become engrossed in Final Confessions and forget that Cresta, ingenious and likable, was a criminal who didn't mind hurting people to get what he wanted. The book's authors seem to unabashedly turn him into a hero and downplay his more unsavory elements. The book still succeeds as both a sociological portrait of the Boston crime scene during the 1960s and as a psychological one of a clever criminal.

Kirkus Reviews

An engaging story about the greatest criminal mastermind you've never heard of. According to sportscaster Wallace and ex-cop Crowley, a Boston crook named Phil Cresta devised some Houdini-like means of acquiring rare coins, furs, or whatever potential haul lurked out there in the 1960s. How did several boxes of diamonds disappear from a locked vault? Why did certain cars transporting valuable merchandise break down only on the darkest stretches of road (where masked highwaymen would immediately show up to relieve them of their precious cargo)? The answers to these and many other previously unsolved crimes are right here. Although married twice, Cresta found little time for his wife and kids. He preferred hanging out with his two partners, who shared equally in all profits (which eventually came to millions). This gang of three seldom injured guards or bystanders, but they were prepared to do so if necessary. In fact, Cresta is credited here with a revenge killing that, up to now, had not even been recognized as a homicide by the Boston PD. In 1999, Crowley approached Wallace with newspaper clippings about unsolved crimes, claiming they had all been committed by Cresta. If few had ever heard of Cresta, he maintained, this was only proof of his genius: he had died in 1995, finally penniless and taken in by the former policeman (to whom he supposedly confessed his exploits). Readers may well wonder whether the details of these heists have been responsibly double-checked—or whether Cresta, despite his confession, was a liar. Like most barstool confessions, this ought to be taken with a grain of salt, but it's a good yarn to help while away a rainy afternoon. It'snotlikely to keep the boys on the city desk working overtime, though.

From the Publisher

"You wouldn't necessarily expect a true-crime book to be a whole lot of fun, but this one is. . . . It's exciting, lighthearted, and completely realistic. . . . Phil Cresta and his cohorts were a band of thieves--very clever thieves, to be sure, but thieves nonetheless. They weren't particularly honorable, and they certainly weren't wealthy, but this chronicle of their adventures gives us more excitement than a whole fistful of novels. . . . Even though [Cresta] was a 'bad guy,' it's awfully hard not to like him. Put this at the top of every true-crime fan's reading list."--Booklist (starred review)

"An affectionate look at a true craftsman of crime, one who cared as much for his friends as he did for the rush he'd get whenever he opened the back of a stolen armored car. . . . It's the details of the Cresta story that give Final Confession its charm--because Wallace and Crowley make plain that Cresta's wild run lasted not because of the fear he engendered on the street but because of his painstaking dedication to craft. . . . Final Confession also charms because of the eye that [the authors] have for the humorous moments that flecked an otherwise grim and unforgiving life."--Michael Rezendes, Boston Globe