Lufthansa heist
Encyclopedia
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport
on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil. This robbery was the subject of two television films, The 10 Million Dollar Getaway and The Big Heist
, and is a key plot element in the 1990 film Goodfellas
. Presently, as announced in the August 20, 2011, issue of The Middletown Press, the author, Daniel Simone, and Henry Hill are collaborating on the production of a book and screenplay that will outline the true account of the famous robbery with facts and particulars never before revealed. The title of this project is, "The Lufthansa Heist".
, and carried out by several of his associates. The plot began when bookmaker Martin Krugman told Henry Hill
(an associate of Jimmy Burke's) about millions of dollars in untraceable money: American currency flown in once a month from monetary exchanges for servicemen and tourists in West Germany
. After arriving via Lufthansa
, the currency was then stored in a vault at Kennedy Airport. The information had come from Louis Werner, a worker at the airport who owed Krugman $20,000 in gambling debts, and from his co-worker Peter Gruenwald. Werner and Gruenwald had previously been successful in stealing $22,000 in foreign currency from their employer, Lufthansa, in 1976.
Louis Werner helped Krugman throughout the planning, even telling him where the robbers should park. A Ford Econoline 150 van would be used to transport the cash, and a "crash car" would accompany the van to run vehicular interference should the plot be interrupted and a chase ensue. Burke decided on Tommy DeSimone, Joe Civitello, Sr., Louis Cafora, Angelo Sepe, Tony Rodriguez, and Burke's son Frank James Burke
as inside gunmen. Paolo LiCastri
, a Sicilian
shooter, was later included as a representative of the Gambino crime family
, which had been promised a tribute payment to sanction the crime. Parnell Edwards, an African American associate of Burke's gang who served as a "gofer" and chauffeur was also included to dispose of the van used in the heist.
Once everyone was together, Jimmy told Lucchese family Underboss Paul Vario
, who sent his son, Peter, to collect his 'end' of the loot. Vinne Asaro, who was the Gambino family's crew chief at the airport, would also be owed money because Burke, a Lucchese associate, was performing the robbery on territory belonging to the Gambino family.
On December 11, at 3:12 a.m., cargo agent Kerry Whalen, returning from making a transfer, spotted a black Ford Econoline van pulling into a bay near a loading platform for vaults. When Whalen walked toward the loading bay to investigate, he was struck over the head with a .45 pistol. Whalen saw a series of armed men running into the cargo terminal and then another man took his wallet and said that they knew where his family was and that they had men ready to visit them. Whalen nodded to indicate that he would co-operate with the robbers.
Senior agent Rolf Rebmann heard a noise by the loading ramp, and when he went to investigate, six armed, masked men forced their way in and handcuffed him. They then used a one-of-a-kind key from Werner and walked through a maze of corridors to where the two other employees would be. Once these two men had been rounded up, two gunmen ventured downstairs to look for unexpected visitors. The other men marched the employees to a lunch room, where the other employees were on a 3 a.m. break.
The gunmen burst into the lunch room; brandishing their firearms, they showed a bloodied Whalen as an indication of their intentions if anyone got out of line. They knew each employee by name and forced them onto the ground. They made John Murray, the terminal's senior cargo agent, call Rudi Eirich on the intercom. The robbers knew that Eirich was the only guard that night who knew the right combination to open the double door vault. Murray was made to pretend to Eirich that there was a problem with a load from Frankfurt
and told Eirich to meet him in the cafeteria. As Eirich approached the cafe he was met by two shotguns and he saw the other employees bound and gagged on the cafeteria floor. One gunman kept watch over the ten employees and the other three took Eirich at gun point down two flights of stairs to the double door vault.
Eirich later reported that the men were informed and knew all about the safety systems in the vault, including the double door system, whereby one door must be shut in order for the other one to be opened without activating the alarm. The men ordered Eirich to open up the first door, to a 10-by-20 foot room. They knew that if he opened the second door he would activate an alarm to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
, which maintained a police force at the airport. Once inside, they ordered Eirich to lie on the ground and began sifting through invoices and freight manifests to determine which parcels they wanted from among the many similarly wrapped ones.
Finally, they began hurling parcels of cash through the door. Around 40 parcels were removed. Eirich was then made to lock the inner door before unlocking the outer door. Two of the gunmen were assigned to load the parcels into the van while the others tied up Eirich. The employees were told not to call the Port Authority until 4:30 a.m. When the men left it was 4:16 a.m. According to the cafeteria clock no calls were made until 4:30, when a report of the theft was made. This 15-minute buffer was crucial because Werner's inside information made the robbers aware that the Port Authority Police could seal off the entire airport within 90 seconds.
At 4:21 a.m., the van containing the robbers and the stolen cash pulled out of the cargo terminal and left JFK, followed by the crash car. The robbery took only 64 minutes and was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil at the time.
The robbers drove to a garage in Canarsie, Brooklyn
, where Jimmy Burke was waiting. There, the money was switched to a third vehicle that was driven away by Jimmy Burke and his son Frank. The rest of the robbers left and drove home, except Paolo LiCastri
, who insisted on taking the subway home. Parnell "Stacks" Edwards put stolen license plates on the van and was supposed to drive it to an auto junk yard in New Jersey where it would be compacted to scrap metal.
Burke and his son Frank drove the third car with all the stolen money to a safehouse to be counted. This is when James Burke realized the true scope of the robbery. Burke never expected the robbery to bring in more than $2 million and was shocked by the $6 million haul.
, apparently intending to deliver the van to the junkyard the next day.
The next day, while Edwards was still asleep in his girlfriend's apartment, the van was discovered by the police and quickly identified as the vehicle used in the burglary. Edwards himself successfully fled the complex without being apprehended. His finger prints were later found on the wheel of the vehicle, and a muddy shoe print found at the airport was matched to a pair of Puma
athletic shoes Edwards owned.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
had two suggestions of who led the heist, the John Gotti
crew or the Jimmy Burke crew, and within 3 days of the robbery, the FBI knew it was the Burke crew. The FBI set up surveillance of the crew, following them in helicopters and installing wiretaps
in their vehicles. There were a few bits of tantalizing chatter that the FBI managed to record in spite of the obliterating wall of rock and disco music, such as Angelo Sepe telling an unidentified man about "...a brown case and a bag from Lufthansa..." or his telling his girlfriend, Hope Barron, "...I want to see...look where the money's at...dig a hole in the cellar[inaudible] rear lawn..." But this was not enough to connect Sepe and his crew to the theft.
According to Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke became paranoid and agitated once he realized how much attention Edwards' failure had drawn, and resolved to kill anyone who could implicate him in the heist, starting with Edwards.
With the violent deaths of most of the heist associates and planners, there was little evidence and few witnesses to the involvement of Burke or his crew in the execution of the heist. The authorities were able to gather enough evidence to prosecute inside man Louis Werner for helping to plan the heist.
The stolen cash and jewelry were never recovered.
When Jimmy Burke realized that Edwards' failure to properly dispose of the van had already drawn attention to his crew, he resolved to kill anyone who could implicate him in the heist. The first to be murdered, just 7 days after the heist, would be Edwards - shot to death in his apartment on December 18, 1978 by Tommy DeSimone and Angelo Sepe. This was the first in a series of players, or their acquaintances, who were murdered after the heist at Burke's orders:
Others involved in the planning, execution or followup of the heist were not killed in Burke's witness elimination program of 1978-79, but did suffer other violent ends.
Fourteen months after the heist, Henry Hill was arrested on other charges. He soon learned that Burke and Sepe had been planning to kill him, and that his arrest made the others believe he was a threat to reveal details of the heist. A month later, Hill entered the Witness Protection Program. He was not able to help the government obtain convictions against Vario or Burke for the Lufthansa robbery, although both were convicted of murder because of his testimony.
associate Donald Frankos
later expressed frustration in being a close friend of Jimmy Burke and regular habitué at Robert's Lounge
but not involved in the actual heist in his biography Contract Killer: The Explosive Story of the Mafia's Most Notorious Hit Man Donald "The Greek" Frankos.
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil. This robbery was the subject of two television films, The 10 Million Dollar Getaway and The Big Heist
The Big Heist
The Big Heist is an American television movie which aired in 2001, on the A&E Television Networks.The film portrays the events of the 1978 Lufthansa Heist. The events and characters depicted in the film were also the subject of the much more well-known 1990 film Goodfellas, directed by Martin...
, and is a key plot element in the 1990 film Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
. Presently, as announced in the August 20, 2011, issue of The Middletown Press, the author, Daniel Simone, and Henry Hill are collaborating on the production of a book and screenplay that will outline the true account of the famous robbery with facts and particulars never before revealed. The title of this project is, "The Lufthansa Heist".
Planning and execution
As investigators later determined, the crime was planned by Jimmy Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime familyLucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
, and carried out by several of his associates. The plot began when bookmaker Martin Krugman told Henry Hill
Henry Hill (mobster)
Henry Hill is a former American mobster, Lucchese crime family associate, and FBI informant whose life story was documented in the book Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, and in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film, Goodfellas, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta.-Early life:Henry...
(an associate of Jimmy Burke's) about millions of dollars in untraceable money: American currency flown in once a month from monetary exchanges for servicemen and tourists in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. After arriving via Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
, the currency was then stored in a vault at Kennedy Airport. The information had come from Louis Werner, a worker at the airport who owed Krugman $20,000 in gambling debts, and from his co-worker Peter Gruenwald. Werner and Gruenwald had previously been successful in stealing $22,000 in foreign currency from their employer, Lufthansa, in 1976.
Louis Werner helped Krugman throughout the planning, even telling him where the robbers should park. A Ford Econoline 150 van would be used to transport the cash, and a "crash car" would accompany the van to run vehicular interference should the plot be interrupted and a chase ensue. Burke decided on Tommy DeSimone, Joe Civitello, Sr., Louis Cafora, Angelo Sepe, Tony Rodriguez, and Burke's son Frank James Burke
Frank James Burke
Frank James Burke-Conway was a Gambino crime family mob associate and the son of mobster Jimmy Burke.-Mob relations:...
as inside gunmen. Paolo LiCastri
Paolo LiCastri
Paolo LiCastri was a made man, or "Man of Honor" who worked under Carlo Gambino and Carmine Galante.-Biography:...
, a Sicilian
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
shooter, was later included as a representative of the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
, which had been promised a tribute payment to sanction the crime. Parnell Edwards, an African American associate of Burke's gang who served as a "gofer" and chauffeur was also included to dispose of the van used in the heist.
Once everyone was together, Jimmy told Lucchese family Underboss Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
, who sent his son, Peter, to collect his 'end' of the loot. Vinne Asaro, who was the Gambino family's crew chief at the airport, would also be owed money because Burke, a Lucchese associate, was performing the robbery on territory belonging to the Gambino family.
On December 11, at 3:12 a.m., cargo agent Kerry Whalen, returning from making a transfer, spotted a black Ford Econoline van pulling into a bay near a loading platform for vaults. When Whalen walked toward the loading bay to investigate, he was struck over the head with a .45 pistol. Whalen saw a series of armed men running into the cargo terminal and then another man took his wallet and said that they knew where his family was and that they had men ready to visit them. Whalen nodded to indicate that he would co-operate with the robbers.
Senior agent Rolf Rebmann heard a noise by the loading ramp, and when he went to investigate, six armed, masked men forced their way in and handcuffed him. They then used a one-of-a-kind key from Werner and walked through a maze of corridors to where the two other employees would be. Once these two men had been rounded up, two gunmen ventured downstairs to look for unexpected visitors. The other men marched the employees to a lunch room, where the other employees were on a 3 a.m. break.
The gunmen burst into the lunch room; brandishing their firearms, they showed a bloodied Whalen as an indication of their intentions if anyone got out of line. They knew each employee by name and forced them onto the ground. They made John Murray, the terminal's senior cargo agent, call Rudi Eirich on the intercom. The robbers knew that Eirich was the only guard that night who knew the right combination to open the double door vault. Murray was made to pretend to Eirich that there was a problem with a load from Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and told Eirich to meet him in the cafeteria. As Eirich approached the cafe he was met by two shotguns and he saw the other employees bound and gagged on the cafeteria floor. One gunman kept watch over the ten employees and the other three took Eirich at gun point down two flights of stairs to the double door vault.
Eirich later reported that the men were informed and knew all about the safety systems in the vault, including the double door system, whereby one door must be shut in order for the other one to be opened without activating the alarm. The men ordered Eirich to open up the first door, to a 10-by-20 foot room. They knew that if he opened the second door he would activate an alarm to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
, which maintained a police force at the airport. Once inside, they ordered Eirich to lie on the ground and began sifting through invoices and freight manifests to determine which parcels they wanted from among the many similarly wrapped ones.
Finally, they began hurling parcels of cash through the door. Around 40 parcels were removed. Eirich was then made to lock the inner door before unlocking the outer door. Two of the gunmen were assigned to load the parcels into the van while the others tied up Eirich. The employees were told not to call the Port Authority until 4:30 a.m. When the men left it was 4:16 a.m. According to the cafeteria clock no calls were made until 4:30, when a report of the theft was made. This 15-minute buffer was crucial because Werner's inside information made the robbers aware that the Port Authority Police could seal off the entire airport within 90 seconds.
At 4:21 a.m., the van containing the robbers and the stolen cash pulled out of the cargo terminal and left JFK, followed by the crash car. The robbery took only 64 minutes and was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil at the time.
The robbers drove to a garage in Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie is a neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, United States. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18....
, where Jimmy Burke was waiting. There, the money was switched to a third vehicle that was driven away by Jimmy Burke and his son Frank. The rest of the robbers left and drove home, except Paolo LiCastri
Paolo LiCastri
Paolo LiCastri was a made man, or "Man of Honor" who worked under Carlo Gambino and Carmine Galante.-Biography:...
, who insisted on taking the subway home. Parnell "Stacks" Edwards put stolen license plates on the van and was supposed to drive it to an auto junk yard in New Jersey where it would be compacted to scrap metal.
Burke and his son Frank drove the third car with all the stolen money to a safehouse to be counted. This is when James Burke realized the true scope of the robbery. Burke never expected the robbery to bring in more than $2 million and was shocked by the $6 million haul.
Investigation
Driver Parnell "Stacks" Edwards was supposed to take the van used in the burglary to a car compactor to have it destroyed; instead, jubilant from the gang's easy heist, he got high on marijuana while en route to the junkyard, drove the van to his girlfriend's apartment, conspicuously parked it in a no-parking zone, and spent the evening getting drunk and snorting cocaineCocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, apparently intending to deliver the van to the junkyard the next day.
The next day, while Edwards was still asleep in his girlfriend's apartment, the van was discovered by the police and quickly identified as the vehicle used in the burglary. Edwards himself successfully fled the complex without being apprehended. His finger prints were later found on the wheel of the vehicle, and a muddy shoe print found at the airport was matched to a pair of Puma
PUMA AG
Puma SE, officially branded as PUMA, is a major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated until the two...
athletic shoes Edwards owned.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
had two suggestions of who led the heist, the John Gotti
John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age...
crew or the Jimmy Burke crew, and within 3 days of the robbery, the FBI knew it was the Burke crew. The FBI set up surveillance of the crew, following them in helicopters and installing wiretaps
Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
in their vehicles. There were a few bits of tantalizing chatter that the FBI managed to record in spite of the obliterating wall of rock and disco music, such as Angelo Sepe telling an unidentified man about "...a brown case and a bag from Lufthansa..." or his telling his girlfriend, Hope Barron, "...I want to see...look where the money's at...dig a hole in the cellar[inaudible] rear lawn..." But this was not enough to connect Sepe and his crew to the theft.
According to Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke became paranoid and agitated once he realized how much attention Edwards' failure had drawn, and resolved to kill anyone who could implicate him in the heist, starting with Edwards.
With the violent deaths of most of the heist associates and planners, there was little evidence and few witnesses to the involvement of Burke or his crew in the execution of the heist. The authorities were able to gather enough evidence to prosecute inside man Louis Werner for helping to plan the heist.
The stolen cash and jewelry were never recovered.
Violent deaths of heist associates
When Jimmy Burke realized that the robbery had netted $6 million, rather than the $2 million he expected, he knew that a robbery of this magnitude would attract the intense attention of local, state and federal authorities, causing a lot of problems for everyone involved as well as organized crime in New York in general. Burke became increasingly concerned that there were too many witnesses who knew his involvement, and too many who became greedy once learning the true amount of money stolen in the heist.When Jimmy Burke realized that Edwards' failure to properly dispose of the van had already drawn attention to his crew, he resolved to kill anyone who could implicate him in the heist. The first to be murdered, just 7 days after the heist, would be Edwards - shot to death in his apartment on December 18, 1978 by Tommy DeSimone and Angelo Sepe. This was the first in a series of players, or their acquaintances, who were murdered after the heist at Burke's orders:
| Victim(s) | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Edward Steven "Stacks" Parnell | African-American blues musician, credit card theft expert and getaway truck driver. Shot by DeSimone and Sepe for failing to dispose of the truck, pointing the authorities to the Burke organization, and out of concern that he would inform if captured. | |
| Martin Krugman | Hairdresser and wig store proprietor, loan shark and bookmaker. A longtime associate of the Burke gang and regular at Hill's club, it was Krugman who first tipped off Burke (via Hill) about the potential for a major heist at the Lufthansa terminal. He was murdered and dismembered by Burke and Angelo Sepe after his increasingly nervous and angry demands for his $500,000 cut from the robbery convinced Burke he was about to inform to the FBI. His death is depicted graphically in the movie Goodfellas, and his remains were never found. | |
| Richard Eaton | Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010... associate of Tom Monteleone, Burke front man, consummate grifter and con-artist. Uninvolved with the actual heist, he was personally tortured and murdered by Burke after absconding with $250,000 of Burke's money in a fake cocaine scam, and skimming some of the money from the heist while it was laundered through various legitimate establishments, including Monteleone's club. His body was discovered hogtied and hanging in a meat freezer truck. The actual circumstances of his death were depicted as those of Angelo Sepe in the movie Goodfellas, though the real Sepe was not a victim and actually carried out most of the murders during Burke's witness elimination program of 1978 and 1979. |
|
| Occasional mistress of Tommy DeSimone and associate of both Richard Eaton and Tom Monteleone, murdered because of her knowledge of the heist and suspicion she conspired with Eaton and Monteleone to skim part of the money taken during the Lufthansa heist. | ||
| Tom Monteleone | Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010... restaurateur and mobster. Associate of Richard Eaton, Monteleone owned The Players Club, a local bar frequented by Burke gang members, and was accused by Burke of conspiring with Eaton and Ferrara on a fake cocaine deal and skimming of part of the heist money while laundering it through his club. |
|
| Louis Cafora | Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City , and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn... parking lot owner and money launderer. Cafora had been Jimmy Burke's cellmate during his time in prison, and was contracted by Burke to launder some of the money from the heist through his collection of legitimate lots. Cafora's indiscreet, gaudy lifestyle and insistence on informing his wife Joanna about gang business, including the heist, eventually led to Burke ordering both to be murdered. Within days of the heist and against Jimmy Burke's orders, Cafora bought his wife a custom pink Cadillac Fleetwood Cadillac Fleetwood Lawrence P. Fisher was the Fisher brother most closely involved with Cadillac in its early years. In 1916 he joined the Fisher Body Company which had been formed by two of his brothers in 1908. Larry was one of four of the seven Fisher brothers who brought Fisher Body Corporation under the General... with his share of the heist and brazenly drove it to a gang meeting just blocks from the JFK Air Cargo Center where the FBI was still investigating, an incident that was reproduced in Goodfellas. His body was never found. |
|
| Joanna Cafora | Louis Cafora's wife, presumably murdered along with him. | |
| Joe "Buddha" Manri | Night-shift Air France Air France Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance... cargo supervisor. A long time Burke gang associate, Manri's inside information helped plan the heist. Like fellow Air France/JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North... inside man Robert McMahon, Manri was repeatedly offered the opportunity to turn state's evidence and enter the Witness Protection Program, an offer which both refused. He was found dead in a parked car alongside McMahon five months after the heist, shot execution-style in the back of the head. |
|
| Robert McMahon | Air France Air France Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance... night shift supervisor at John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North... involved in the similar Air France Robbery of 1967 with Jimmy Burke associate Henry Hill. Suspected of helping Joe Manri plan the Lufthansa heist. He was found dead in a parked car alongside Manri five months after the heist, shot execution-style in the back of the head. |
|
| Illegal immigrant, Sicilian Sicily Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,... -born Pizza Connection Pizza Connection Trial The Pizza Connection Trial was one of the longest criminal jury trials on record in the district of Manhattan. It took place between October 24, 1985 and March 2, 1987-Scope of the trial:... drug trafficker, and Gambino crime family Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963... associate. Uninvolved in the actual heist, he was a liaison from the Gambino family whose job was to oversee the plans and ensure the Gambinos received their $200,000 cut. His naked and bullet-riddled corpse was discovered on a burning trash heap six months after the heist. |
Others involved in the planning, execution or followup of the heist were not killed in Burke's witness elimination program of 1978-79, but did suffer other violent ends.
| Victim(s) | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| to 1979 Jan | Was involved in the similar Air France Robbery Air France Robbery (1967) In 1967, $420,000 in cash was stolen from the Air France cargo terminal at New York City's JFK International Airport. While there were a large number of cargo thefts at JFK airport in 1967, this was the largest cash robbery that had taken place at the time. It was carried out by Henry Hill,... of 1967 with Jimmy Burke associate Henry Hill Henry Hill (mobster) Henry Hill is a former American mobster, Lucchese crime family associate, and FBI informant whose life story was documented in the book Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, and in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film, Goodfellas, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta.-Early life:Henry... . A particularly close, loyal and trustworthy friend of Burke, not involved in the Lufthansa heist until the murder of Parnell Edwards. Was murdered after the execution of Edwards and no later than January 14, 1979, for having carried out the unrelated murders of two made Made man A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy... Gambino crime family members and Gotti associates: William 'Billy Batts' DeVino, and Ronald 'Foxy' Gerote - similar to the fate of the Joe Pesci Joe Pesci Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks... character in Goodfellas Goodfellas Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese... . |
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| Angelo Sepe | Lucchese crime family Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder... member, a particularly close, loyal and trustworthy friend of DeSimone and Burke. Sepe was responsible for most of the murders for Burke's witness elimination program of 1978-79. Sepe and his girlfriend were murdered by unknown members of a Lucchese hit squad, reportedly a week after robbing a Lucchese-affiliated drug trafficker of thousands of dollars in cocaine and cash earmarked for the organization. |
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| Joanna Lombardo | Angelo Sepe's girlfriend. | |
| Son of Jimmy Burke and believed to be involved in the heist, was murdered by his drug dealer over a botched heroin deal. |
The informants
- Peter Gruenwald, a Lufthansa heist organizer, who testified against his friend and fellow co-worker Louis Werner.
- Louis Werner, a Manhattan accountant who doubled as a money launderer.
- William "Bill" Fischetti – was a taxi dispatch company owner, he was a mob relative who was involved in selling stolen bearer bondBearer bondA bearer bond is a debt security issued by a business entity, such as a corporation, or by a government. It differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered – no records are kept of the owner, or the transactions involving ownership. Whoever physically...
s. Fischetti had an affair with Beverly Werner.
- Frank Menna, a numbers-runner who had been worked-over by Angelo John Sepe and Daniel Rizzo because of his boss Martin Krugman's incompetence.
- Janet Barbieri, Louis Werner's girlfriend and future wife, testified against Werner before a Grand JuryGrand juryA grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
.
Fourteen months after the heist, Henry Hill was arrested on other charges. He soon learned that Burke and Sepe had been planning to kill him, and that his arrest made the others believe he was a threat to reveal details of the heist. A month later, Hill entered the Witness Protection Program. He was not able to help the government obtain convictions against Vario or Burke for the Lufthansa robbery, although both were convicted of murder because of his testimony.
The ending
- Jimmy Burke was convicted of murdering Richard Eaton. Burke died of lung cancer in a Buffalo hospital after being transferred there from the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, April 13, 1996.
- Paul VarioPaul VarioPaul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
died in Fort Worth Federal Prison (FCI Fort Worth)Federal Correctional Institution, Fort WorthFederal Correctional Institution Fort Worth, is a low security institution in Fort Worth, Texas housing male offenders.FCI Fort Worth is located in the southeastern corner of Fort Worth...
of respiratory illness May 3, 1988 at age 73. - Henry HillHenry Hill (mobster)Henry Hill is a former American mobster, Lucchese crime family associate, and FBI informant whose life story was documented in the book Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, and in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film, Goodfellas, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta.-Early life:Henry...
entered the Witness Protection Program. - Anthony Rodriguez, survived the aftermath of the heist and was later arrested in 1988 when he was involved in a large auto car theft ring in New York City. He was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in a federal institution in the Atlanta penitentiary for rackeetering and was released in 1992 to a halfway house in New York City to serve out the remainder of his time.
- Martin Krugman's body was never found. In 1986 he was declared legally deceased and his wife, Fran, received a $135,000 pay-out from his life insurance policy.
- Theresa FerraraTheresa FerraraTheresa Ferrara an Italian-American born in the Five Towns area of Long Island, New York. She worked with Lucchese crime family associates, and eventually became an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation . Ferrara was a distant relative of New Orleans crime family boss Carlos Marcello...
's disappearance or murder has not been resolved, nor anyone charged. - Paolo LiCastriPaolo LiCastriPaolo LiCastri was a made man, or "Man of Honor" who worked under Carlo Gambino and Carmine Galante.-Biography:...
, Joe Manriquez (a.k.a Joe Manri), Robert McMahon, and Angelo Sepe's murders haven't been solved. - Louis Cafora and his wife Joanna's bodies have never been found.
- Tommy DeSimone's body was never found.
- Peter Gruenwald rekindled the relationship with his estranged wife and disappeared into the Witness Protection Program.
- Bill Fischetti divorced his wife and disappeared into the Witness Protection Program.
- Frank Menna disappeared into the Witness Protection Program.
- Louis Werner convicted on May 16, 1979; married Janet Barbieri following his release from prison.
Grievances with Burke over Lufthansa
Lucchese crime familyLucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
associate Donald Frankos
Donald Frankos
Donald "Tony the Greek" George Frankos, November 10, 1938 Hackensack, New Jersey, was a Greek-Italian contract killer and mob associate of the Lucchese crime family, who later became a government witness....
later expressed frustration in being a close friend of Jimmy Burke and regular habitué at Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
but not involved in the actual heist in his biography Contract Killer: The Explosive Story of the Mafia's Most Notorious Hit Man Donald "The Greek" Frankos.
See also
- Air France Robbery (1967)Air France Robbery (1967)In 1967, $420,000 in cash was stolen from the Air France cargo terminal at New York City's JFK International Airport. While there were a large number of cargo thefts at JFK airport in 1967, this was the largest cash robbery that had taken place at the time. It was carried out by Henry Hill,...
- an earlier major robbery at the same airport carried out by a crew related to the Lufthansa heist - GoodfellasGoodfellasGoodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
- a film about the Lucchese crime family, featuring an account of the Lufthansa heist - The Big HeistThe Big HeistThe Big Heist is an American television movie which aired in 2001, on the A&E Television Networks.The film portrays the events of the 1978 Lufthansa Heist. The events and characters depicted in the film were also the subject of the much more well-known 1990 film Goodfellas, directed by Martin...
- a film that focuses on the Lufthansa heist