Joey Coyle
| Joey Coyle | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Joseph Coyle February 26, 1953 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died |
August 15, 1993 (aged 40) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Occupation | Longshoreman |
Joseph "Joey" Coyle (February 26, 1953 – August 15, 1993) was an unemployed longshoreman in Philadelphia who, in February 1981, found $1.2 million in the street after it had fallen out of the back of an armored car and kept it.[1] His story was made into the 1993 film Money for Nothing, starring John Cusack,[2] as well as a 2002 book by Mark Bowden, Finders Keepers: The Story of a Man Who Found $1 Million.
Coyle passed out some of the money, in $100 bills, to friends and neighbors. He was arrested later in 1981 at JFK Airport while trying to check in to a flight to Acapulco; police found $105,000 of the cash in envelopes taped around his ankles.[1] He was tried, but found not guilty of theft by reason of temporary insanity.[1] The armored car company, Purolator Armored Services, eventually recovered around $1 million of the original amount.[1]
Coyle struggled with drug addiction for most of his adult life.[1] He committed suicide by hanging in his basement on August 15, 1993, about one month before the film Money for Nothing was released.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pace, Eric (August 16, 1993). "Joey Coyle, 40, Dies; Philadelphian Took Armored Car's Cash". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Money for Nothing". The New York Times.