Six Degrees of Brinks to Kevin Bacon

Last week I noted on a social media outlet that Steve McQueen, the director of Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave, had also directed the bleak yet powerful film Hunger, about the 1981 hunger strike by imprisoned Irish Republican Army rebels at the Long Kesh prison.

Sam Millar, who robbed the Brinks depot, was jailed at the prison, located near Belfast, during the hunger strike. A few friends responding to my social media comment remarked how Brinks had odd connections everywhere. Another likened the Brinks robbery to Kevin Bacon, the actor separated by only "six degrees" from everybody.

That prompted me to see if I could travel from Brinks to Kevin Bacon in six steps or fewer.

Here we go:

Sam Millar (the Brinks link) to Long Kesh hunger strike (while Millar was there) to the film Hunger, to the actor Michael Fassbender (who starred in Hunger) to the film X-Men: First Class (which starred Fassbender as Magneto) to Kevin Bacon (who also starred in the same X-Men film).

Yes, it can be done.

***

Regular readers know that we just completed the two-month revisiting of the Brinks trial.

A quick look back at the blog tells me the trial coverage started in mid-January and required 33 installments.

There was, of course, much more to tell, but I could only include so much. The Brinks trial transcripts consist of 10 volumes totaling more than 4,400 pages.

(My thanks again to the wonderful people who work at the U.S. District Court Clerk's Office in Rochester for housing these volumes for more than a year now and giving me access. They had been stored in an archive in the Midwest, where old federal court records go but can be ordered for review. And, I'm sorry to say, I'm not done with them yet.)

My plan now is to take a little of a hiatus - unless something comes along that I think needs to be told (and that may well happen). There are a few reasons for this.

First, there is plenty of post-trial Brinks activity - sentencings, appeals, etc - that will be part of the story. I've been so immersed in the trial that I need a little time to pull that together.

Second, after the post-trial court activities are dispensed with, the saga will turn to the elements that are in some ways more difficult to tell: the first-person portion. That's when the story's focus will shift largely to the disappearance of Ronnie Gibbons, his loose connections to the Brinks robbery, and my 15-year hunt for Ronnie.

I need to organize much of that in advance, and the first-person telling is obviously a different beast than much of what you've read so far.

As you can imagine, I spoke with many people during those years - some helpful, some not-so-much - and some of those conversations were off-the-record or for my background use only. I know some of those talks will stay that way, but there are others that I think won't be problematic to report about. That said, I still need to go back to some of those people for their clearance.

Also, shortly before I started the trial coverage, I asked readers for their favorite installments. I received some response - and those largely matched mine. (Here is that blog if interested.)

I may write about those responses when the hiatus ends, or before.

Also, Ronnie Gibbons lovely niece, Carly, recently Tweeted about the two-year anniversary of the burial of Ronnie in his hometown. That Tweet can be found here. It has one of my favorite photos of Ronnie, a professional boxer, and another pugilist whom you may recognize.

Today is March 12, and my plans are for a break of three to four weeks. As always, feel free to email me during that time about anything. I hope when the blog returns in April, you'll still be there as regular readers.

(To read the initial coverage of the discovery of Ronnie Gibbons' remains, click here. To subscribe to notifications of this continuing narrative blog, click here. To read past installments, click here. Notifications will also be sent via my Twitter account @gcraig1. )