An amateur historian says he’s found evidence that the namesake of New York's popular Jones Beach played a key role in an infamous pirate heist in the Red Sea centuries ago. James Bailey says colonial-era documents suggest Thomas Jones was recruited to help English pirate Capt. Henry Every and his crew evade authorities after they captured the Ganj-i-Sawai. The royal Indian vessel was laden with tens of millions of dollars’ worth of gold and silver when it was attacked in 1695. Jones went on to become a prominent New Yorker who operated a whaling operation on the barrier beach on Long Island that now bears his name.