The police alleged that Kelley had in his possession 16 brand new $1 bills which bore the serial numbers of money stolen from a bank in Belmont nearly two months earlier.
Kelley was subsequently found guilty of the lesser charge of receiving stolen goods and sentenced to four to five years in State Prison.
Boston mobster Vincent Teresa served as a lieutenant to mob family boss Raymond Patriarca; he claimed in his book My Life in the Mafia that Kelley was the man who planned the robbery.
[9][page needed] Kelley came under intense scrutiny and pressure from postal inspectors and other federal authorities towards the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations.
Kelley had also sought the return of $235 that had been seized by the Postal Inpectors, as well as two money bags from the First National Bank of Boston, and a piece of clothesline.
The three were charged with armed robbery of the US Mail while putting the lives of postal workers in jeopardy by means of dangerous weapons, namely guns[14] Kelley was represented by attorney F. Lee Bailey, who won an acquittal.
[15] Kelley allegedly was involved in the planning of the robbery of a Brink's armored car in Boston on December 28, 1968 that netted approximately $500,000 in cash and a similar amount in checks.
[19] Kelley gave testimony linking Patriarca and other family members to the murder of Rudolph "Rudy" Marfeo and Anthony Melei.