Talk:Lufthansa heist

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[edit] In Pop Culture?

Shouldn't there be a section on the heist in pop culture? There have been at least two films about the Burke crew and the Lufthansa robbery. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.221.152 (talk) 21:22, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plagiarism

So does http://everyravlik.blogspot.com/2006/10/ten-greatest-robberies-of-all-time.html steal from this page or vice-versa? Afabbro 14:08, 14 October 2006 (UTC)


I'm sorry....what?

[edit] Aftermath

the way the aftermath reads gives the impression Frank James Burke's death was related to the crime and happened shortly there after. but in wiki's page on frank it says he was 26 when he was killed....8 years after, and apparantly unrelated to, lufthansa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_James_Burke

[edit] Heist not actually in Goodfellas

Actually, the Heist was *not* depicted in the film Goodfellas, only alluded to. The only thing that happens is that Henry Hill hears about it on the radio.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0101243/maindetails However, the films the Big Heist and Ten Million Dollar Heist did depict the event.

That's a good catch, they only talk about the planning and aftermath in the movie. I think I combined a re-enactment of the heist I saw on the history channel with the movie :) --Fxer 20:24, August 22, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 5 million at an airport?

Seems like a lot to me. Was there a bank there? An explanation would be appreciated. =) Lantoka 05:32, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

The money was in the high value terminal/warehouse of the airport. For instance, all the paper money that needs to be destroyed or otherwise returned to the national mints (san fransisco, DC, philadelphia etc..), say when the new $20 were printed and old $20s removed from circulation, has to get there somehow, airports are generally reguarded as more secure than a Greyhound ;) In this specific heist I'm not sure where the money came from, but I believe it was mostly used, circulated non-sequential bills that were impossible to trace. --Fxer 08:23, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

No, it was money being exchanged in West Germany, being held there overnight, and according to Ernest Volkman and John Cummings it was actually closer to $8 million, Hill says $6 million.

[edit] No good sources here?

There's gotta be something better than three movie reviews and a conspiracy website. Where'd this material come from? Tychocat 11:04, 27 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Not terribly encyclopediac

"A wiry man in a black ski mask pulled his mask over his face as the blood began to pour from Whalen's wound." I'll second that we need some sources here.

Agreed, theres a couple repetitions here also, I'm going to delete some.

[edit] Cancerous Contradiction

This article states that Jimmy Conway (Burke) died of Stomach cancer, but the article on Jimmy Burke states that he died of lung cancer. At http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=98 and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/trivia and http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/lucchese2/1.html it's said that he died of lung cancer. Still, other sites from a Google search will say stomach cancer, however, it seems lung cancer is more popular. I don't have any solid reference material to verify one or the other, but am merely pointing out the contradiction. I see now that the article on Henry Hill also shows stomach cancer as cause of Jimmy Conway's death. GravityIsForSuckers 05:11, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What Happened to the money

The article says only a fraction of the heist money was recovered, what happened to the rest? I assume Jimmy stashed it in an undisclosed location? Monkeyspearfish 12:36, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

From what I remember of a History Channel show on the topic, the mafia probably ended up keeping/spending most of the money. The mafias network would make it easy for all the money to disappear, flowing upstream to the bosses at the top, seeing as it was mostly untraceable used bills anyway. --Fxer 16:29, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

Someone tagged this article as not being sourced, however there were three books listed under "sources" so I removed the tag. I've not read the books, so I'll not do inline citations but if someone wishes to do so, please do. I added only two inline citations from articles at crimelibrary.com, which I've read. Also, I did reformat the book citations in proper form though again, I've not read the books. MagnoliaSouth (talk) 13:45, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

Looks like the first paragraph has been vandalized (Cao crime family, Herzog Heist, etc...)...I don;t know how to revert... 162.136.192.1 (talk) 22:51, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Currently looks un-vandalized but the second sentence is missing something: "It began when bookmaker Martin Krugman told Henry Hill (an associate of Jimmy Burke's) about millions of dollars in untraceable money." Anyone more familiar with the subject able to fix it up? (John User:Jwy talk) 00:36, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] sources

Is there someway to notify people that this article (and a few that link here) are in desperate need of sources? 71.56.118.64 (talk) 05:35, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Data from the burke article

This really belongs here: Jimmy Burke never expected the robbery to yield so much cash; his initial estimate was that it would be only about $2 million. He realized 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.

There were a number of murders and disappearances following the Lufthansa robbery, as Burke became increasingly concerned that the others involved would lead the police to him, and because the robbers, having found out the amount of money they stole was a lot bigger than first thought, kept pressing Burke for a bigger share than was originally agreed upon. Burke decided to murder everyone connected to the Lufthansa robbery.

Parnell Steven "Stacks" Edwards was found shot to death in his apartment in South Ozone Park, Queens on December 18, 1978, only one week after the robbery, because instead of driving the van used in the robbery to New Jersey and having it compacted, he drove the van to a girlfriend's house, parked it in a no parking zone, got high and spent the rest of the night partying, then went to sleep. The next day the van was discovered by the police with his fingerprints all over it.

Tommy DeSimone's wife Cookie reported to the police that he had disappeared on January 14, 1979. He was never seen again. Police interviews right after the robbery with the Lufthansa employees who were victims revealed that even though all the robbers wore black ski masks, one employee remembered that one of the robbers was wearing highly polished shoes. Police immediately realized that robber was Tommy DeSimone, known to the police as a Lucchese crime family associate and Robert's Lounge crew member known to be a sharp dresser who always had a habit of wearing highly polished shoes, and that DeSimone would never be involved in a job of this magnitude unless Burke had something to do with it. Although it should be noted that Henry Hill, who became an informant against Burke, admitted that the death of Tommy DeSimone was the only occasion upon which he ever saw Burke shed a tear, and that the murder of DeSimone was in retaliation for the murder of two Gambino crime family members and Gotti associates William 'Billy Batts' DeVino, and Ronald 'Foxy' Gerote and was not connected to the Lufthansa heist murders.

Louis Cafora and his newly wed wife Joanna were reported missing in March, 1979 and never seen again.

Robert McMahon and his close friend Joe Manri were found shot dead in a Buick Electra parked on a Brooklyn street on May 16, 1979.

Paolo LiCastri was found shot to death, his half-naked body smoldering in a garbage-strewn lot in Brooklyn on June 13, 1979.

A cosmetologist and part time cocaine dealer named Theresa Ferrara, who often frequented Robert's Lounge who was at one time or another the mistress of Tommy DeSimone and Paul Vario, was murdered on February 10, 1979 when it was found out she was a police informant. Her dismembered torso was found floating in the waters off Barnegat Inlet near Tom's River, New Jersey on May 18, 1979.

Tom Monteleone, an Italian-Canadian mobster who was involved in a drug deal gone bad with Burke and Richard Eaton, a hustler and con-man, using $250,000 of Lufthansa robbery money, was found murdered in Connecticut in March, 1979.

Martin Krugman, the bookmaker who provided the tip to Henry Hill and Burke's Robert's Lounge crew, of Lufthansa insider Louis Werner who owed Krugman a large gambling debt and was willing to trade inside information in exchange for a share of the robbery proceeds and forgiveness of the gambling debt, vanished on January 6, 1979 and was never seen again. Henry Hill stated Krugman was killed on the orders of Burke who did not want to pay Krugman his $500,000 share of the stolen money. Said Hill, "It was a matter of half a million bucks. No way Jimmy was going to deny himself half a million dollars because of Marty Krugman. If Jimmy killed Marty, Jimmy would get Marty’s half a mill.”

The only robbers that survived Burke's murderous rampage following the Lufthansa Heist were Burke's son, Frank James Burke and Angelo Sepe, a protege of Burke. Burke knew that Sepe would never cooperate with the authorities under any circumstances, and he never pressed Burke for a bigger share of the robbery proceeds. Sepe had been brought in for questioning by the police about the Lufthansa robbery and the only thing he told them was "I don't know whatcha talking about". Sepe was murdered years later in 1984, shot in the head when he answered the door one morning at his Brooklyn apartment, in retaliation for having robbed a mafia-connected drug dealer. Frank James Burke was found shot to death on a Brooklyn street on May 18, 1987, over a drug deal gone bad.

END OF COPY 71.56.118.64 (talk) 06:13, 20 March 2008 (UTC)