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Comic Book Heaven Docu-Short

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Comic shops in queens were not for the weak of heart.

Here is another shop in my old neighborhood of Jackson Heights.

 

Officials Detail Two Lives of Brink's Robbery Suspect

By MARY B. W. TABOR

Published: November 15, 1993

In his Jackson Heights neighborhood, the man who called himself Andre Singleton was known as the owner of a bustling comic-book shop, a religious family man, a responsible tenant who lived quietly with his wife and three children.

 

In another life in Ireland, it had been a different story. The trim, neatly dressed man was Samuel Ignatius Millar, a young rebel from Belfast who had spent at least eight years in prison, first for belonging to a "proscribed group," then on weapons and explosives charges. In 1984, at age 29, he made his way to the United States under an assumed name. He worked as a street vendor, seeking to start anew.

 

The authorities now claim that while he shed his old identity when he came to this country, Mr. Millar did not leave behind his criminal ways. Last week, Mr. Millar became one in an odd trio of suspects, including a Melkite priest and a former police detective, accused of helping to steal $7.4 million from the Brink's armored car service in Rochester -- one of the biggest armed robberies in United States history. Looking for Clues

 

Law-enforcement officials said yesterday that they still did not know who actually robbed the Brink's depot last January. Nor do they know what became of all the money or whether the robbery was linked to the struggles in Northern Ireland.

 

But they have begun investigating the suspects' pasts, examining evidence found in their apartments, looking for clues to the robbery and where the money went. None of the three has been accused of direct participation in the robbery, but officials said further charges might be made in the case.

 

"We don't know who did it," said Special Agent Paul M. Moscal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Buffalo. "And we still don't know what the motive was. I don't think anyone knows at this point."

 

While lawyers for the men have denied connections to the outlawed Irish Army or other Northern Irish causes, both the priest under arrest, the Rev. Patrick Moloney, and Mr. Millar have histories of involvement in Ireland's conflict, the authorities said.

 

Father Moloney, 61, who is known for running a shelter for homeless teen-agers on Manhattan's Lower East Side, was arrested in 1982 for trying to smuggle weapons into Ireland for the I.R.A. with his brother, John, officials said. The brother was convicted, but "Father Pat" was released.

 

Thomas O'Connor, the retired police detective who was working as a security guard at the Brink's depot when it was robbed, also had connections to Ireland. In 1983, on a tour of his parents' native land, Mr. O'Connor met Mr. Millar, who was fresh out of prison, according to a court affidavit. Creating a New Identity

 

The next year, after Mr. Millar was refused an American visa because of his criminal background, Mr. O'Connor helped smuggle the young Irishman into this country, the affidavit said.

 

With Father Moloney's help, Mr. Millar became "Andre Singleton," prosecutors said. The real Mr. Singleton, who had been in a drug-rehabilitation program run by the priest, had died several years before, so his Social Security number and drivers' license number were quietly slipped to the young Irishman. He would later also use the name Frank Saunders, court records show.

 

To support his family, who had arrived on a temporary visa, Mr. Millar worked first as a street vendor, then as a comic-book salesman. Selling first out of his apartment at 35-30 80th Street, he moved earlier this year to 77-07 24th Avenue and rented a storefront nearby, opening a shop called KAC Comics & Collectibles, which did a brisk business.

 

"He was very nice, never a problem," said Terry McLaughlin, 48, who rented the store to Mr. Millar for $700 a month and who saw the Millar family at the nearby Catholic church nearly every Sunday. "He took his three kids to school every day. He could have been father of the year."

 

A woman who gave her name as Mrs. Tam, who said she owned the Millars' apartment, said that she, too, was surprised with his arrest. "They were a very nice couple," she said. "They went to bed early. I saw the husband taking the kids to school, McDonald's and the movies. They had a very good family life."

 

And Liliana Morales, 32, who lived next door, said she had found them very low-key, tidy neighbors. But Ms. Morales said that in recent months, she had begun to notice something amiss -- something that seemed to escape Mr. Millar.

 

"We always used to see a lot of cops on the corner with binoculars," she said. "We saw them at the comic-book store too. Everybody in the neighborhood saw the police. But he he never seemed to notice." Suitcases of Cash

 

Indeed, only weeks after the January robbery, detectives had matched a tire track found outside the Rochester depot to those on a 1984 Plymouth Voyager minivan owned by Mr. Millar's wife, Bernadette Fennel.

 

And in the months that followed, the F.B.I. and the police carefully watched Mr. Millar as he came and left his shop, his apartment, his church. They also watched as he made several trips carrying duffel bags to and from an apartment on First Avenue in Manhattan, where a raid by investigators on Thursday uncovered an electronic money counter and duffel bags and suitcases full of cash.

 

While it is still unclear what happened to all of the money, court records say that Mr. Millar used an assumed name to open a $25,000 bank account and to buy postal money orders, and spent some of the cash on a one-week February vacation to Florida with his wife and children, paying with $20 bills. Ms. Fennell, the children and a friend took a June trip to Hawaii as well; she paid $2,400 in $20 bills for the trip, officials said.

 

And Mr. Millar received a 1993 Ford Explorer from Father Moloney, who bought the vehicle with $26,000 in cash, officials said.

 

The authorities finally arrested Mr. Millar on Nov. 12 outside a post office near his home.

 

His wife, a slight, blonde woman, yesterday declined to comment and referred reporters to her husband's lawyer, Frank Durken. A man who answered the telephone at Mr. Durken's office yesterday said that the lawyer could not be reached until Monday.

 

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