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{{Short description|1978 cash robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, US}}
{{For|the book|The Lufthansa Heist}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox news event
| title = Lufthansa heist
| reported death(s) =
| convictions = 1
| verdict = Louis Werner convicted<br>Vincent Asaro acquitted
| accused =
{{blist
| [[James Burke (gangster)|James Burke]]
| Louis Werner
| [[Thomas DeSimone]]
| Angelo Sepe
| Joseph M. Costa
| Louis Cafora
| Paolo LiCastri
| Joe "Buddha" Manri
| Martin Krugman
| [[Vincent Asaro]]
| Robert McMahon
}}
| charges =
| suspects =
| inquest =
| inquiries =
| reported property damage =
| reported missing =
| reported injuries =
| outcome = [[United States dollar|$]]5 million in cash and<br>$875,000 in jewelry stolen
| participants =
| cause =
| also known as =
| venue = [[Lufthansa]] cargo building 261<br>[[John F. Kennedy International Airport]]
| ___location = [[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| coordinates = {{coord|40.662|-73.787|region:US-NY_type:event|display=inline,title}}
| time = 3:00 to 4:30 a.m.
| timezone = [[Eastern Time Zone|EST]], [[UTC−05:00|UTC−5]]
| duration = <!-- {{duration|h=x|m=x|s=x}} or {{time interval|date1|date2|options}} -->
| date = December 11, 1978
| litigation =
}}
The '''Lufthansa heist''' was a [[robbery]] which took place at [[New York City]]'s [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] on December 11, 1978. An estimated [[United States dollar|US$]]5.875 million (equivalent to US$28.32 million in 2024) was stolen, with $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewelry, making it the largest cash robbery committed in the U.S. at the time.<ref name=linhist>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SaIrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l_wFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7234%2C2353206 |work= Nashua Telegraph |___location=(New Hampshire) |agency=Associated Press |title=N.Y. theft largest in history |date=December 12, 1978 |page=2}}</ref><!--<ref name=bgfmic>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cEFYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wfYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6387%2C8072196 |work=The Bulletin |___location=(Bend, Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Bandits get $5 million in cash |date=December 12, 1978 |page=1}}</ref>--><ref name="NYTDec14">{{cite news |first=Leslie |last=Maitland |title=Airport Cash Loot Was $5 Million; Bandits' Van Is Found in Canarsie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/14/archives/airport-cash-loot-was-5-million-bandits-van-is-found-in-canarsie.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=A1 |date=December 14, 1978 |access-date=26 August 2009 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215031826/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/14/archives/airport-cash-loot-was-5-million-bandits-van-is-found-in-canarsie.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[James Burke (gangster)|James Burke]], an associate of the [[Lucchese crime family]] of New York, was reputed to be the mastermind of the robbery, but was never officially charged in connection with the crime. Burke is also alleged to have either committed or ordered the murders of many co-conspirators in the robbery, both to avoid being implicated in the heist and to keep their shares of the money for himself.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Janos |first=Adam |date=December 10, 2018 |title=Lufthansa Heist Murders: How Paranoia Led to the Deaths of 6 Mobsters |url=https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/lufthansa-heist-murders-mafia-mobsters |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209060519/https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/lufthansa-heist-murders-mafia-mobsters |archive-date=December 9, 2020 |access-date=2021-02-15 |publisher=[[A&E (TV network)|A&E]] |language=en}}</ref> The only person convicted in the Lufthansa heist was Louis Werner, an airport worker involved with the planning.<ref name=":0" />
The money and jewelry have never been recovered. The heist's magnitude made it one of the longest-investigated crimes in U.S. history; the latest arrest associated with the robbery was made in 2014, which resulted in [[acquittal]].
==Planning==
{{one source|section|date=December 2024}}
The heist was allegedly planned by [[James Burke (gangster)|James Burke]], an associate of the [[Lucchese crime family]] of [[New York City]], and was carried out by several associates. The plot began when [[bookmaker]] Martin Krugman told Burke's associate, [[Henry Hill]], that the German airline [[Lufthansa]] flew in currency to its cargo terminal at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]]. The information had originally come from Louis Werner, an airport worker who owed Krugman $20,000 for gambling debts ({{Inflation|US|20000|1977|r=-3|fmt=eq}}), and from his co-worker Peter Gruenwald.<ref name="Wiseguy"/> Werner and Gruenwald had previously been successful in stealing $22,000 in foreign currency ({{Inflation|US|22000|1976|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) from Lufthansa in 1976.<ref name=tru/>
Burke selected [[Tommy DeSimone]], Angelo Sepe, Louis Cafora, Joe Manri, Paolo LiCastri and Robert McMahon to carry out the robbery.<ref name=tru/> Burke's son Frank would drive one of the backup vehicles, while Parnell "Stacks" Edwards was tasked with disposing of the van afterwards.<ref name=tru>{{cite web
|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/1.html
|title=The Lufthansa Heist Revisited
|access-date=2008-09-20
|last=May |first=Allan
|publisher=trutv.com
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112063349/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/1.html
|archive-date=2008-11-12}}</ref> Depending on his role in the robbery, each participant was to receive cuts of between $10,000 to $50,000. However, those amounts were based on the estimated haul, which was only $2 million compared to the actual take of $5.875 million. Werner was to receive a flat 10% of the take.<ref name=tru/>
==Heist==
At around 3:00 a.m. on Monday, December 11, 1978, a black [[Ford Econoline]] van carrying the six members of the robbery crew pulled up to Building 261, Lufthansa's cargo terminal at Kennedy Airport. After cutting the padlock at the gate with a pair of [[bolt cutter]]s, some of the crew climbed up the stairs of the east tower and entered wearing ski masks and gloves.<ref name=tru/><ref name="Whalen">{{cite book|last=Whalen|first=Kerry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7heDQAAQBAJ|title=Inside the Lufthansa HEI$T: The FBI Lied|date=11 April 2014|publisher=BookBaby|isbn=978-1-4835-2482-5}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Inside the terminal, John Murray, a senior cargo agent, was the first employee to be taken hostage. He was escorted into the lunchroom where five other Lufthansa employees had been on their meal break since 3:00 a.m. and ordered to lie flat on the floor with their eyes closed. Murray was asked who else was in the warehouse. He replied that Rudi Eirich, the night shift cargo traffic manager, and Kerry Whalen, a cargo transfer agent, were present. Murray was forced to lure Eirich to come upstairs; he joined the rest of the captured employees.<ref name=tru/>
Outside the terminal, Whalen noticed two unmasked men sitting in a black van parked at the loading ramp as he drove past. Whalen parked and walked toward the van. One of the men told him to get in the van. Whalen attempted to run and screamed for help, but was [[pistol-whipping|pistol-whipped]] and thrown into the van. He was brought inside the building to join the other hostages in the lunchroom.<ref name=Whalen/><ref name="stef">{{cite book|last=DeStefano|first=Anthony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aspaDwAAQBAJ&q=james+burke+Saint+Charles+Cemetery&pg=PT135|title=The Big Heist: The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder|publisher=Citadel|year=2017|isbn=9780786040834|access-date=November 15, 2020|archive-date=February 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215011354/https://books.google.com/books?id=aspaDwAAQBAJ&q=james+burke+Saint+Charles+Cemetery&pg=PT135|url-status=live}}</ref>
Meanwhile, inside the warehouse, employee Rolf Rebmann heard a noise by the loading ramp and went to investigate; he was captured and brought with Whalen to the lunchroom to join the others.<ref name="Wiseguy"/> Some of the robbers took Eirich at gunpoint to the double-door vault.<ref name=tru/> They removed 72 fifteen-pound cartons of untraceable money from the vault and placed them inside the van.<ref name=tru/>
At 4:21 a.m., the van pulled to the front of the building and the crash car pulled in behind. Two gunmen climbed into the van as the others climbed into the Buick. The employees were told not to call the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department|Port Authority Police]] until 4:30 a.m., when the first emergency call was recorded.<ref name=tru/> The robbers drove to meet Burke at an auto repair shop in [[Canarsie, Brooklyn|Canarsie]], [[Brooklyn]], where the boxes of money were removed from the van and placed in the trunks of two automobiles. Burke and his son drove off in one car. Four others{{snd}}Manri, McMahon, DeSimone and Sepe{{snd}}drove away in the second car.<ref name=tru/>
==Aftermath==
===Investigation===
Edwards was instructed to drive the van to [[New Jersey]], where it (along with any potential evidence inside) was to be destroyed in a [[junk yard]] belonging to [[John Gotti]]. Instead, he parked the black Ford van in front of a [[fire hydrant]] at his girlfriend's apartment, where police discovered it two days after the heist. The plates were stolen and the police impounded the van. They soon found Edwards' fingerprints and connected it to the robbery.<ref name=":0" />
Lucchese [[caporegime|capo]] [[Paul Vario]] subsequently ordered DeSimone to kill Edwards.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Volkman |first1=Ernest |last2=Cummings |first2=John |title=The Heist |date=January 1, 1988 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=9780440200291 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcDp8MGPJlgC&q=desimone++dipalermo |access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> Once they found out where Edwards was hiding, DeSimone and Sepe went to his hideout and shot him five times in the head.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pileggi |first1=Nicholas |title=When Big Heist Is Pulled, A Trail Of Death Follows |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/03/19/when-big-heist-is-pulled-a-trail-of-death-follows/ |access-date=29 July 2015 |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=March 19, 1986 |archive-date=August 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150829070836/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-03-19/features/8601200790_1_lufthansa-cargo-vault-gambling-debts |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYTDec14"/>
Within three days of the robbery, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) identified the Burke crew as the likely perpetrators, largely due to the discovery of the van, coupled with Edwards' pre-established connections with the crew at [[Robert's Lounge]]. FBI agents set up heavy surveillance, following the crew in helicopters and [[Covert listening device|bugging]] their vehicles, the phones at Robert's Lounge, and even the [[payphone]]s nearest to the bar. The FBI managed to record a few bits of tantalizing chatter despite background noise, such as Sepe telling an unidentified man about "a brown case and a bag from Lufthansa" and his telling his girlfriend, "... I want to see... look where the money's at... dig a hole in the cellar [inaudible] rear lawn..." However, this was not enough to definitively connect the crew to the heist, and no [[search warrant]]s were issued.<ref name="Wiseguy"/>
According to Hill, Burke became paranoid once he realized how much attention Edwards' failure had drawn, and resolved to kill anyone who could implicate him in the heist. With the murders of most of the heist associates and planners, little evidence and few witnesses remained connecting Burke or his crew to the heist. However, the authorities were eventually able to gather enough evidence to prosecute Werner for helping to plan the heist. Werner was the only man convicted of the robbery, in 1979, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.<ref name=tru/><ref name=sepe/>
When Whalen was interviewed by the authorities, he was shown police archive photos and positively identified one of his assailants as Sepe.<ref name=Whalen/><ref name=stef/> Eirich later reported that the robbers were well-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 robbers 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 Police unit at the airport.<ref name=tru/>
[[Vincent Asaro]], a capo in the [[Bonanno crime family]], was arrested on January 23, 2014, in conjunction with an [[indictment]] charging him with involvement in the Lufthansa heist; his cousin, Gaspare Valenti, testified against him.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/alleged-mobster-vincent-asaro-charged-1978-goodfellas-lufthansa-heist |title=Alleged mobster Vincent Asaro charged over 1978 'Goodfellas' airport heist |date=24 January 2014 |access-date=12 October 2015}}</ref> The case against Asaro was based on information given in part by former Bonnano boss [[Joseph Massino]], who was referred to by Asaro's attorney as "one of the worst witnesses I've ever seen."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alleged-bonanno-crime-family-member-arrested-in-1978-lufthansa-heist-that-netted-58m/ |work=[[CBS News]] |title=Alleged Bonanno crime family member arrested in 1978 Lufthansa heist that netted $5.8M |date=23 January 2014 |access-date=January 24, 2014 |archive-date=January 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140124051600/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alleged-bonanno-crime-family-member-arrested-in-1978-lufthansa-heist-that-netted-58m/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On November 12, 2015, Asaro was [[acquittal|acquitted]] of all charges connected to the heist by a jury in Brooklyn.<ref name="NotGuilty">{{cite news |last=Clifford |first=Stephanie |date=November 12, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/nyregion/vincent-asaro-accused-in-lutfhansa-heist-is-found-not-guilty.html |title=Vincent Asaro, Accused in Lufthansa Heist, Is Found Not Guilty |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref> For further details, see [[Vincent Asaro#Lufthansa heist accusations|2014 Lufthansa heist accusations]].
The stolen cash and jewelry have never been recovered.<ref name=hill/>
===Murders of heist associates===
Burke also realized that Edwards' failure to dispose of the van led the police to his crew, and he resolved to kill anyone who could implicate him in the heist. The first to be murdered, just seven days after the heist, was Edwards himself—shot and killed in his apartment on December 18 by DeSimone and Sepe.<ref name="Wiseguy"/> This was the first in a series of co-conspirators and their acquaintances who were murdered at Burke's orders.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/1.html |title=All about the Lufthansa Heist |access-date=2007-10-29 |last=May |first=Allan |website=CrimeLibrary.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001002735/http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/1.html |archive-date=2007-10-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/lucchese2/1.html |title=Lucchese Crime Family Epic: Descent into Darkness Part II |access-date=October 29, 2007 |last=Jones |first=Thomas L. |website=CrimeLibrary.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001000613/http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/lucchese2/1.html |archive-date=2007-10-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=hill>{{Cite book |title=Gangsters and Goodfellas |last=Hill |first=Henry |year=2007 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781590771297 }}</ref>
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
!scope="col"| Victim
!scope="col"| Date
!scope="col"| Details
|-
!scope="row"|{{nowrap|{{sortname|Parnell Steven "Stacks"|Edwards|nolink=y}}}}
| {{dts|1978|December|18}} ||Blues musician, credit card theft expert and getaway van driver. Shot by DeSimone and Sepe for failing to dispose of the van, thus pointing the authorities to the Burke crew, and out of concern that he would inform if captured.<ref name=":0"/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Martin|Krugman|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|January|6}}||An associate of Burke and Hill's, and owner of a wig shop and men's hair salon, both named "For Men Only", in [[Queens]]. Krugman was the first to tip off Burke (via Hill) about the potential for a major heist at the Lufthansa terminal. He was eventually murdered and [[dismemberment|dismembered]] by Burke and Sepe in Asaro's fence factory, after his increasingly nervous and angry demands for his $500,000 cut from the heist convinced Burke that he was about to inform the FBI.<ref name=tru/> His body was never found, and in 1986 he was declared [[legally dead]]. His wife, Fran, received a $135,000 payout from his [[life insurance]] policy.
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Richard|Eaton|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|January|17}}||[[Florida]]-based con artist and associate of Tom Monteleone. He was uninvolved with the actual heist, but was [[torture]]d and murdered by Burke after absconding with $250,000 of his money in a fake [[cocaine]] scam, and skimming some of the take while it was [[Money laundering|laundered]] through various legitimate establishments, including Monteleone's club. Eaton's body was discovered hogtied and hanging in a meat freezer truck.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-finds-possible-human-remains-at-former-home-of-late-gangster-james-burke-the-man-who-inspired-8665712.html |title=FBI finds possible human remains at former home of late gangster James |first=Tim |last=Walker |date=2013-06-20 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |access-date=2018-04-24 |language=en-GB |archive-date=April 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425033409/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-finds-possible-human-remains-at-former-home-of-late-gangster-james-burke-the-man-who-inspired-8665712.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Burke was eventually convicted of Eaton's murder in 1985 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.<ref name="obit">{{Cite news |last=Hobbs |first=Dick |title=Obituary: Jimmy Burke |newspaper=The Independent |date=29 April 1996 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-jimmy-burke-1307376.html |access-date=27 September 2010 |___location=London, UK |archive-date=June 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090607101130/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-jimmy-burke-1307376.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Tom|Monteleone|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|March}}||Florida-based restaurateur, mobster and associate of Eaton's. 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 off part of the take while laundering it through his club.<ref name=hill/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Louis|Cafora|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|March}}||Brooklyn parking lot owner and money launderer. Cafora had been Burke's cellmate in prison and was contracted by Burke to launder some of the take through his collection of legitimate lots. Cafora's indiscreet, gaudy lifestyle and insistence on informing his wife Joanna about mob business, including the heist, eventually led to Burke's ordering both to be murdered. Within days of the heist and against Burke's orders, Cafora bought his wife a custom pink [[Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham]] with his cut of the money and brazenly drove it to a meeting just blocks from Kennedy Airport, where the FBI was still investigating the heist. His body was never found.<ref name=hill/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Joanna|Cafora|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|March}}||Louis Cafora's wife, presumably murdered along with him.<ref name=hill/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Joe "Buddha"|Manri|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|May|15}}||Night-shift [[Air France]] cargo supervisor. Manri was a long-time Burke associate, and his inside information helped plan the heist. Manri was repeatedly offered the opportunity to turn state's evidence and enter the [[Witness Protection Program]], as was fellow airport worker Robert McMahon, an offer which both refused. Manri was found dead in a parked car alongside McMahon, five months after the heist, shot execution-style in the back of the head.<ref name=hill/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Robert|McMahon|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|May|16}}||[[Air France]] night-shift supervisor at Kennedy Airport, involved in the similar [[Air France robbery]] in 1967 with Burke associate Henry Hill. Suspected of helping 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.<ref name=hill/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Paolo|LiCastri|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|June|13}}||[[Illegal immigrant]], [[Sicily|Sicilian]]-born [[Pizza Connection Trial|Pizza Connection]] [[drug trafficker]] and [[Gambino crime family]] associate. He was not involved in the actual heist but was a liaison from the Gambino family whose job was to oversee the plans and ensure that 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.<ref name=hill/>
|}
Others involved in the planning, execution, or followup of the heist who were killed, but not on Burke's orders in 1979.
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
!scope="col"| Victim
!scope="col"| Date
!scope="col"| Details
|-
!scope="row"|{{nowrap|{{sortname|Thomas|DeSimone}}}}
| {{dts|1979|January|14}} || Was involved in the similar Air France robbery in 1967 with Burke associate Henry Hill. DeSimone disappeared on January 14, 1979, and presumed murdered for having carried out the unrelated murders of two Gambino family members: [[made man]] [[William Bentvena|William "Billy Batts" Bentvena]] and associate [[Ronald Jerothe|Ronald "Foxy" Jerothe]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_uACAAAAMBAJ&q=tommy+desimone+borrow+%2460&pg=PA41 |title=The Great Getaway: The Inside Story of the Lufthansa Robbery |first=Doug |last=Feiden |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date=June 4, 1979 |access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Theresa|Ferrara|nolink=y}}
|{{dts|1979|February|10}}||Occasional mistress of DeSimone's and associate of both Eaton and Monteleone. Ferrera disappeared February 10, 1979; her dismembered [[torso]] was found floating in [[Barnegat Inlet]], near [[Toms River, New Jersey]], on May 18.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/05/archives/the-region-girl-has-operation-on-rejoined-leg.html |title=The Region: Police Seek Identity of Body in Ocean |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 5, 1979 |page=B2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1981/01/18/lufthansa-case-holds-clues-for-point-shaving-investigators/cec3f812-16bd-42ac-ba58-24b94fd8a9e6/ |title=Lufthansa Case Holds Clues for Point-Shaving Investigators |first1=Dan |last1=Lauck |first2=Joe |last2=Pichirallo |date=January 18, 1981 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026174513/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1981/01/18/lufthansa-case-holds-clues-for-point-shaving-investigators/cec3f812-16bd-42ac-ba58-24b94fd8a9e6/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Angelo|Sepe|nolink=y}}
| {{dts|1984|July|18}} ||Lucchese family member and a close associate of Burke, DeSimone and Tony Rodriguez. Sepe was responsible for most of the post-heist murders. Sepe and his girlfriend were themselves 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 family.<ref name=sepe>{{cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/19/Detectives-searched-for-clues-Thursday-in-the-slaying-of/9674459057600/ |title=Detectives searched for clues Thursday in the slaying of a suspect |website=UPI.com |date=July 19, 1984 |access-date=January 2, 2020 |archive-date=January 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102215050/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/19/Detectives-searched-for-clues-Thursday-in-the-slaying-of/9674459057600/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Joanne|Lombardo|nolink=y}}
| {{dts|1984|July|18}} ||Sepe's 19-year-old girlfriend. Shot once in the mouth.<ref name=sepe/>
|-
!scope="row"|{{sortname|Frank|Burke|nolink=y}}
| {{dts|1987|May|18}} ||Son of Jimmy Burke and believed to be involved in the heist; he was murdered by his [[drug dealer]] over a botched [[heroin]] deal.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/19/The-drug-dealer-son-of-imprisoned-mobster-James-Jimmy/9406548395200/ |title=The drug dealer son of imprisoned mobster James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke was shot dead |date=May 19, 1987 |website=UPI.com |access-date=January 2, 2020 |archive-date=January 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102211908/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/19/The-drug-dealer-son-of-imprisoned-mobster-James-Jimmy/9406548395200/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|}
==Informants==
* '''Janet Barbieri''', Louis Werner's girlfriend and future wife, who testified against Werner before a grand jury.<ref name="Wiseguy"/>
* '''William Fischetti''', a taxi dispatch company owner<ref name="Wiseguy"/>{{Rp|228–229}} and a mob relative who was involved in selling stolen [[bearer bond]]s.
* '''Peter Gruenwald''', a Lufthansa heist organizer, who testified against his friend and fellow co-worker Louis Werner.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}
* '''Frank Menna''', a numbers-runner who had been worked over by Sepe and Daniel Rizzo because of his boss Martin Krugman's incompetence.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}
* '''Louis Werner''', a [[Manhattan]] [[accountant]] who doubled as a money launderer.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}
In April 1980, Hill was arrested on unrelated narcotics charges. He became convinced that his former associates planned to have him killed: Vario, for dealing drugs; and Burke, to prevent Hill from implicating him in the Lufthansa heist. With a long sentence hanging over him, Hill agreed to become an informant and entered the Witness Protection Program with his family. He was not able to help the government obtain convictions against Vario or Burke for the heist, although both were convicted of other crimes{{specify|date=December 2024}}{{which|date=December 2024}} as a result of his testimony.<ref name="Wiseguy">{{cite book |last=Pileggi |first=Nicholas |title=Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1986 |isbn=0-671-44734-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/wiseguy00nich_aso}}{{pages needed|date=December 2024}}</ref>{{pages needed|date=December 2024}}
== Adaptations ==
The Lufthansa heist is the main subject of two well-known television films – ''The 10 Million Dollar Getaway'' (1991)<ref>{{cite web|last=Canton|first=Maj|date=1991|title=The 10 Million Dollar Getaway|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/film/xdy8/the-10-million-dollar-getaway|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215024732/https://www.radiotimes.com/film/xdy8/the-10-million-dollar-getaway/|archive-date=February 15, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2016|website=[[Radio Times]]}}</ref> and ''[[The Big Heist]]'' (2001) – and is a key plot element in the film ''[[Goodfellas]]'' (1990).
==See also==
* [[List of bank robbers and robberies#Large-value US robberies|List of large value US robberies]]
* [[Toronto Pearson International Airport heist]], a 2023 [[grand theft]] at an Air Canada Cargo terminal
==References==
{{reflist}}
==
* {{cite book
|last=Hill
|first=Henry
|author2=Daniel Simone
|title=The Lufthansa Heist: Behind the Six-Million-Dollar Cash Haul That Shook the World
|publisher=Lyons Press
|year=2015
|isbn=978-1493008490
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Hill
|first=Henry
|author2=Gus Russo
|title=Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys, Witness Protection, and Life on the Run
|publisher=M. Evans and Company, Inc.
|year=2004
|isbn=1-56731-757-X
|url=https://archive.org/details/gangstersgoodfel00hill
}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Volkman
|first1=Ernest
|last2=Cummings
|first2=John
|title=The Heist: How a Gang Stole $8,000,000 at Kennedy Airport and Lived to Regret It
|date=October 1986
|publisher=Franklin Watts
|___location=New York
|isbn=0-531-15024-0}}
{{
{{Lucchese crime family}}
{{American Mafia}}
[[Category:Lufthansa heist| ]]
[[Category:Aviation in New York City]]
[[Category:History of New York City]]
[[Category:John F. Kennedy International Airport]]
[[Category:Lucchese crime family heist]]
[[Category:1978 crimes in the United States]]
[[Category:1978 in New York City]]
[[Category:Robberies in the United States]]
[[Category:Crimes in Queens, New York]]
[[Category:December 1978 in the United States]]
[[Category:December 1978]]
[[Category:1970s in Queens]]
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