1 00:00:02,083 --> 00:00:03,042 It's supposed to be easy: 2 00:00:03,167 --> 00:00:04,958 Get in... get out. 3 00:00:04,958 --> 00:00:07,917 Get rich. Nobody gets hurt. 4 00:00:08,042 --> 00:00:12,333 Each airline had their own cargo vaults. 5 00:00:12,333 --> 00:00:15,083 There's a lot of money and a lot of valuables. 6 00:00:15,208 --> 00:00:18,083 But when New York mobsters go after the millions 7 00:00:18,208 --> 00:00:20,958 in Lufthansa's cargo area... 8 00:00:20,958 --> 00:00:22,958 If anybody's seen that movie, "Goodfellas," 9 00:00:22,958 --> 00:00:25,167 this is the way it happened. 10 00:00:25,167 --> 00:00:27,000 Nothing goes to plan. 11 00:00:27,125 --> 00:00:29,250 If anything goes wrong, they're dead. 12 00:00:29,375 --> 00:00:31,583 Like, he wanted something to go wrong. 13 00:00:31,708 --> 00:00:34,250 An inside job with more than a few twists. 14 00:00:34,375 --> 00:00:38,167 It's shocking and violent. 15 00:00:38,167 --> 00:00:40,792 The Lufthansa heist is definitely 16 00:00:40,792 --> 00:00:43,667 one of the deadliest robberies that's ever been committed. 17 00:00:45,375 --> 00:00:46,667 It was about staying alive. 18 00:00:49,042 --> 00:00:50,875 The masterminds behind every great heist 19 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:52,667 see what most people don't... 20 00:00:54,792 --> 00:00:58,042 Risking everything to pull off the score of a lifetime. 21 00:00:58,167 --> 00:01:00,708 It takes a bold plan... 22 00:01:00,833 --> 00:01:02,917 the right team... 23 00:01:03,042 --> 00:01:05,792 and the skill to stay one step ahead of the law. 24 00:01:35,500 --> 00:01:38,250 John F. Kennedy International Airport, 25 00:01:38,375 --> 00:01:40,750 one of the busiest cargo terminals in the world, 26 00:01:40,875 --> 00:01:42,667 and the largest in the US. 27 00:01:42,833 --> 00:01:46,500 It's December, 1978, and more than a million tons of goods 28 00:01:46,667 --> 00:01:48,000 are moving through here, 29 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:49,875 goods that include cash, jewels, 30 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,042 you name it. 31 00:01:51,167 --> 00:01:53,833 For New York's mafia families, 32 00:01:53,958 --> 00:01:56,583 the airport is a cash cow, 33 00:02:02,667 --> 00:02:04,417 There are five main organized crime families. 34 00:02:04,542 --> 00:02:07,333 By the 1970s, they've been occupying New York 35 00:02:07,333 --> 00:02:09,667 and operating for so long 36 00:02:09,833 --> 00:02:12,500 that, in a lot of ways, they feel invincible. 37 00:02:12,625 --> 00:02:15,833 These families operate independently, 38 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,042 but they also cooperate together. 39 00:02:18,208 --> 00:02:20,000 They have their own spheres of influence. 40 00:02:20,125 --> 00:02:22,000 The mob, they would make money 41 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,000 out of the airport in any way they could, 42 00:02:24,125 --> 00:02:26,583 but mostly they would hijack trucks. 43 00:02:26,708 --> 00:02:28,292 You would get the driver 44 00:02:28,292 --> 00:02:30,375 and literally take his load from him. 45 00:02:30,500 --> 00:02:32,875 JFK was the king of the hill. 46 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,167 Today, there's going to be $10 million 47 00:02:36,167 --> 00:02:38,042 worth of goods coming in. 48 00:02:38,208 --> 00:02:40,625 Next week, there's going to be 50 million. 49 00:02:40,750 --> 00:02:43,958 So you might think that there was a lot of robberies 50 00:02:43,958 --> 00:02:46,500 going on at the airport-- not so. 51 00:02:46,625 --> 00:02:49,875 Where most thefts happened were off-airport. 52 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,042 But sometime in 1976, 53 00:02:52,167 --> 00:02:54,125 a Lufthansa cargo agent 54 00:02:54,250 --> 00:02:56,500 named Peter Gruenwald 55 00:02:56,500 --> 00:02:58,125 gets an idea. 56 00:02:59,292 --> 00:03:01,708 Why not stage a heist right here 57 00:03:01,875 --> 00:03:05,167 inside Lufthansa's cargo area? 58 00:03:05,167 --> 00:03:08,917 His only questions are: when and how? 59 00:03:09,042 --> 00:03:12,333 He thought he was a schemer and a great planner, 60 00:03:12,333 --> 00:03:15,333 and he knew the cargo movements. 61 00:03:15,333 --> 00:03:17,500 So he thought about this a long time. 62 00:03:18,417 --> 00:03:19,792 For the next 24 months, 63 00:03:19,917 --> 00:03:23,000 Gruenwald obsessively looks for shipping patterns 64 00:03:23,125 --> 00:03:25,333 and security flaws. 65 00:03:25,458 --> 00:03:28,833 What he sees are dollar signs. 66 00:03:29,417 --> 00:03:31,500 By the late fall of 1978, 67 00:03:31,500 --> 00:03:34,750 he knows December is the right time to strike. 68 00:03:34,875 --> 00:03:37,208 December, without a doubt, is the busiest time 69 00:03:37,333 --> 00:03:40,500 for cargo traffic at Kennedy Airport. 70 00:03:40,625 --> 00:03:42,583 Lufthansa Cargo would get pretty busy 71 00:03:42,708 --> 00:03:44,417 during the holidays, 72 00:03:44,542 --> 00:03:46,333 especially around the Christmas holidays. 73 00:03:46,458 --> 00:03:48,583 European banks use Lufthansa 74 00:03:48,708 --> 00:03:50,667 to ship millions of dollars a month 75 00:03:50,792 --> 00:03:53,667 in currency exchange to banks in the US. 76 00:03:53,833 --> 00:03:57,500 The airline also transports expensive luxury goods. 77 00:03:57,625 --> 00:04:00,833 People are sending gifts, valuable gifts, 78 00:04:00,833 --> 00:04:02,208 to the United States. 79 00:04:02,333 --> 00:04:04,333 It could potentially be millions 80 00:04:04,458 --> 00:04:06,083 and millions of dollars. 81 00:04:06,208 --> 00:04:08,500 It's the perfect target. 82 00:04:10,667 --> 00:04:14,125 And it's in the perfect location. 83 00:04:14,125 --> 00:04:17,667 Lufthansa's cargo is held in building 261, 84 00:04:17,792 --> 00:04:21,958 the last warehouse inside the airport's secure perimeter. 85 00:04:22,083 --> 00:04:24,583 The Lufthansa building was huge. 86 00:04:24,708 --> 00:04:28,333 It was about 180,000 square feet. 87 00:04:28,458 --> 00:04:30,458 It had three floors, 88 00:04:30,458 --> 00:04:33,333 and the third floor was where all the offices were, 89 00:04:33,458 --> 00:04:35,292 and the lunchroom was there. 90 00:04:35,417 --> 00:04:38,417 The main floor was all the cargo area. 91 00:04:38,542 --> 00:04:41,167 And there was the high value room. 92 00:04:41,292 --> 00:04:44,583 At Lufthansa, we call the vault the val room. 93 00:04:45,875 --> 00:04:49,625 Each airline had their own cargo vaults, 94 00:04:49,625 --> 00:04:52,750 warehouses where they put in the high value, 95 00:04:52,875 --> 00:04:59,958 like currency and jewelry and maybe some high-value art. 96 00:05:00,458 --> 00:05:02,208 The most valuable shipments 97 00:05:02,333 --> 00:05:05,333 are held in Lufthansa's high-value room 98 00:05:05,333 --> 00:05:08,000 until they can be picked up by armored cars. 99 00:05:10,375 --> 00:05:14,167 Brinks would take those things to a designated bank 100 00:05:14,292 --> 00:05:16,875 that the airline would have deposited. 101 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,542 And jewelry, a lot of times, 102 00:05:19,667 --> 00:05:23,500 would go into the jewelry center in Manhattan. 103 00:05:23,625 --> 00:05:28,083 The high-value room at the Lufthansa Cargo hangar 104 00:05:28,208 --> 00:05:32,083 was actually two rooms that were divided by a steel door. 105 00:05:32,208 --> 00:05:34,417 When you went into the outer door, 106 00:05:34,542 --> 00:05:37,500 you had to lock it behind you 107 00:05:37,625 --> 00:05:40,917 before you could open the inner door. 108 00:05:41,042 --> 00:05:43,500 If you didn't, you would set off an alarm 109 00:05:43,625 --> 00:05:45,167 again at the Port Authority. 110 00:05:45,333 --> 00:05:47,125 And the inner room is where 111 00:05:47,125 --> 00:05:49,083 they had all of the high-value items-- 112 00:05:49,208 --> 00:05:51,667 cash, jewels. 113 00:05:51,667 --> 00:05:54,333 And so you needed to get into that main room there 114 00:05:54,458 --> 00:05:56,000 in order to pull off the heist. 115 00:05:56,125 --> 00:05:59,417 And there are more challenges. 116 00:05:59,542 --> 00:06:01,333 Even if Gruenwald hits the warehouse 117 00:06:01,333 --> 00:06:03,208 during the night shift, 118 00:06:03,333 --> 00:06:05,375 he needs to subdue seven workers. 119 00:06:05,500 --> 00:06:07,042 Once they're under control, he can 120 00:06:07,167 --> 00:06:08,917 use the supervisor's keys to 121 00:06:09,042 --> 00:06:10,875 get into the high-val room. 122 00:06:11,042 --> 00:06:14,625 There's just one problem, Gruenwald has a plan. 123 00:06:14,750 --> 00:06:17,042 What he doesn't have is a team. 124 00:06:17,167 --> 00:06:21,167 So he turns to a colleague with a known gambling problem 125 00:06:21,167 --> 00:06:25,083 and ties to the mob-- Louis Werner. 126 00:06:26,750 --> 00:06:31,375 I heard from guys at work, Louis liked the gamble, 127 00:06:31,542 --> 00:06:34,667 and he was into some money to the mob. 128 00:06:34,667 --> 00:06:37,375 Louis Werner owes about $6,000 129 00:06:37,500 --> 00:06:40,208 in gambling debts, which is about $26,000 130 00:06:40,375 --> 00:06:41,625 in today's money. 131 00:06:41,625 --> 00:06:44,333 So he was desperate to pay off that debt. 132 00:06:44,333 --> 00:06:47,333 You don't want to be in debt to the mob 133 00:06:47,333 --> 00:06:50,500 because they'll ask you once for the money. 134 00:06:50,667 --> 00:06:52,500 And if you don't have it the second time 135 00:06:52,625 --> 00:06:53,917 they'll come back and break your legs. 136 00:06:55,750 --> 00:06:58,708 A lot of guys like this guy Werner want to get involved 137 00:06:58,875 --> 00:07:01,500 with the mob and want to bring something to the mob 138 00:07:01,625 --> 00:07:03,458 to get into their good graces. 139 00:07:03,583 --> 00:07:06,375 Once a civilian brings something to the mob, 140 00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:07,833 there's no turning back. 141 00:07:07,833 --> 00:07:11,083 Werner brings Grunwald's plan to his bookie, 142 00:07:11,208 --> 00:07:15,125 and it eventually makes its way to a notorious mobster, 143 00:07:15,125 --> 00:07:17,000 Jimmy Burke. 144 00:07:17,167 --> 00:07:20,625 He's a member of New York's Lucchese crime family, 145 00:07:20,750 --> 00:07:23,583 and the guy played by Robert De Niro in "Goodfellas." 146 00:07:23,708 --> 00:07:25,417 Jimmy Burke was an associate 147 00:07:25,542 --> 00:07:26,958 for the Lucchese family. 148 00:07:26,958 --> 00:07:30,000 Jimmy was more like a captain, the status of captain, 149 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,333 because he had his own crew, 150 00:07:31,458 --> 00:07:33,750 even though he was an associate. 151 00:07:33,875 --> 00:07:36,833 Jimmy Burke has a nickname, it's "Jimmy, the Gent," 152 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,667 and he gets this nickname because 153 00:07:38,792 --> 00:07:42,583 of this little habit of tipping drivers $50 154 00:07:42,708 --> 00:07:44,208 whenever he hijacks their trucks. 155 00:07:44,333 --> 00:07:47,500 Either you take the tip and your truck gets hijacked, 156 00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:52,333 or you get killed and your truck gets hijacked. 157 00:07:52,333 --> 00:07:54,500 Burke spies an opportunity 158 00:07:54,667 --> 00:07:58,500 and sends a trusted lieutenant named Joe Buddha 159 00:07:58,667 --> 00:08:00,250 to check out Werner. 160 00:08:03,833 --> 00:08:06,667 Werner, he really does feel that this is his only way out 161 00:08:06,792 --> 00:08:09,417 of his gambling debts, and so he meets with Joe Buddha 162 00:08:09,542 --> 00:08:11,958 as sort of a gamble. 163 00:08:11,958 --> 00:08:15,667 When Lou Werner met up with Joe Buddha, 164 00:08:15,833 --> 00:08:17,875 he put his life on the line. 165 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,542 Because if things didn't go right, 166 00:08:20,667 --> 00:08:23,167 or they suspected him of being an informant, 167 00:08:23,292 --> 00:08:25,125 he was getting killed. 168 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:29,208 But he's a gambler. 169 00:08:29,333 --> 00:08:30,500 He's willing to take that shot, 170 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:31,875 willing to take that bet. 171 00:08:36,333 --> 00:08:37,542 Werner gives Buddha 172 00:08:37,667 --> 00:08:39,292 essentially everything that he has. 173 00:08:41,500 --> 00:08:43,667 So that's the site plan, 174 00:08:43,792 --> 00:08:46,500 that's the list of employees' names, 175 00:08:46,625 --> 00:08:49,000 the security protocol for the high-value room. 176 00:08:50,833 --> 00:08:54,208 But Werner is too scared to really make 177 00:08:54,333 --> 00:08:56,458 the conditions of this deal. 178 00:08:56,458 --> 00:08:57,917 And so the mob sort of implies, yeah, 179 00:08:58,042 --> 00:08:59,500 you're going to get a cut of this, 180 00:08:59,625 --> 00:09:02,625 but Werner doesn't leave these meetings knowing exactly 181 00:09:02,750 --> 00:09:04,375 what he's going to get. 182 00:09:04,500 --> 00:09:05,958 There's always a chance if you're 183 00:09:06,083 --> 00:09:08,000 coming to a crew like the Burke crew 184 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,708 and you are telling them how to steal $1 million 185 00:09:10,833 --> 00:09:13,833 that they will kill you and take you out of the equation 186 00:09:13,958 --> 00:09:16,208 to make a million dollars on their own. 187 00:09:16,333 --> 00:09:17,917 A civilian who goes to the mob 188 00:09:18,042 --> 00:09:19,417 never thinks about the end game, 189 00:09:19,542 --> 00:09:21,583 and it's never gonna go good for them. 190 00:09:21,708 --> 00:09:24,000 With a plan that's a roadmap to riches, 191 00:09:24,125 --> 00:09:27,125 Jimmy the Gent starts building his team. 192 00:09:27,250 --> 00:09:30,083 Some of New York's most vicious made men 193 00:09:30,208 --> 00:09:31,583 will be part of it. 194 00:09:40,167 --> 00:09:43,458 It's just after Thanksgiving, 1978, 195 00:09:43,458 --> 00:09:45,000 and mobster Jimmy the Gent 196 00:09:45,125 --> 00:09:47,500 is holding a meeting in Queens. 197 00:09:47,500 --> 00:09:49,167 He's gathered the most trusted members 198 00:09:49,333 --> 00:09:51,542 of his crew to brief them on what could be 199 00:09:51,708 --> 00:09:52,833 the score of a lifetime. 200 00:09:58,458 --> 00:10:02,875 The first person invited onto the job: Vinny Asaro, 201 00:10:03,042 --> 00:10:05,042 not part of Jimmy's usual crew. 202 00:10:05,208 --> 00:10:07,625 Jimmy was with the Lucchese crime family, 203 00:10:07,625 --> 00:10:10,875 and Vinny was with the Bonannos. 204 00:10:11,042 --> 00:10:13,000 There was no question whatsoever 205 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,167 that Jimmy Burke would bring Vinny Asaro 206 00:10:15,333 --> 00:10:17,083 onto the Lufthansa heist. 207 00:10:17,208 --> 00:10:20,708 So that each of the two crime families can, 208 00:10:20,875 --> 00:10:23,083 in Burke's words, get a taste, 209 00:10:23,208 --> 00:10:27,833 Vinny recruits his cousin, Gaspare "Gary" Valenti. 210 00:10:27,958 --> 00:10:31,167 Gary's an experienced hijacker, and a big earner 211 00:10:31,333 --> 00:10:32,500 for the Bonannos. 212 00:10:32,667 --> 00:10:34,500 My cousin Vinny came to me, he says, 213 00:10:34,625 --> 00:10:36,750 "We got a big score coming down." 214 00:10:36,875 --> 00:10:40,583 He says Jimmy personally wants me to invite you 215 00:10:40,708 --> 00:10:42,750 to be part of the crew. 216 00:10:42,875 --> 00:10:44,875 I says, okay, you know? I'm honored. 217 00:10:45,042 --> 00:10:47,042 In that life, it was an honor. 218 00:10:47,208 --> 00:10:49,000 I says okay. 219 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,708 This is probably $1 million or $2 million. 220 00:10:53,042 --> 00:10:55,000 I said wow. 221 00:10:56,417 --> 00:10:58,708 To head the team, Burke picks his right hand man, 222 00:10:58,833 --> 00:11:02,250 Tommy DeSimone, immortalized by Joe Pesci 223 00:11:02,375 --> 00:11:04,708 in "Goodfellas." 224 00:11:04,875 --> 00:11:07,958 Tommy's a made man, and a guy who scares even 225 00:11:08,083 --> 00:11:09,958 the most hardened mobsters. 226 00:11:12,042 --> 00:11:14,500 The hairs just stood up on the back of my neck. 227 00:11:14,625 --> 00:11:16,750 Tommy was "Two Gun" Tommy. 228 00:11:16,875 --> 00:11:18,875 He always carried two pistols. 229 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:20,625 He was just a wild guy. 230 00:11:20,625 --> 00:11:24,167 He was about 6'3," 6'4," good-looking guy. 231 00:11:24,167 --> 00:11:27,708 If anybody's seen that movie "Goodfellas," 232 00:11:27,875 --> 00:11:30,583 he was an angel in that movie compared to what 233 00:11:30,708 --> 00:11:32,167 his real life was about. 234 00:11:33,625 --> 00:11:35,958 Tommy was a volatile individual. 235 00:11:35,958 --> 00:11:39,542 He was quick to start a fight and would not hesitate 236 00:11:39,667 --> 00:11:42,583 to kill you if he needed to. 237 00:11:42,708 --> 00:11:46,333 Jimmy showed us, this is Lufthansa. 238 00:11:46,458 --> 00:11:48,458 This is the score of scores. 239 00:11:51,167 --> 00:11:53,500 This should be a million at least. 240 00:11:56,125 --> 00:11:58,833 Closer to $2 million in cash. 241 00:11:58,833 --> 00:12:02,333 Jimmy Burke was the real boss behind the robbery 242 00:12:02,500 --> 00:12:06,167 at Lufthansa, knowing how many employees were there, 243 00:12:06,292 --> 00:12:09,042 how many handcuffs would be needed, 244 00:12:09,167 --> 00:12:13,167 how many individuals he needed to conduct a robbery. 245 00:12:13,167 --> 00:12:15,042 Jimmy put everything together. 246 00:12:17,583 --> 00:12:19,250 No doubt about that. 247 00:12:21,458 --> 00:12:25,208 Jimmy's version of the plan seemed simple on paper. 248 00:12:25,375 --> 00:12:28,708 The crew would arrive at Lufthansa at exactly 3:00 a.m. 249 00:12:28,833 --> 00:12:31,208 during the night shifts' meal break. 250 00:12:31,375 --> 00:12:34,833 The van will drop off six men at the front entrance 251 00:12:34,833 --> 00:12:37,000 then continue to the back of the building 252 00:12:37,125 --> 00:12:39,958 and wait for a signal that the robbers inside 253 00:12:39,958 --> 00:12:42,500 have secured the third floor lunchroom. 254 00:12:42,667 --> 00:12:44,500 That's where all but one of the employees 255 00:12:44,625 --> 00:12:46,000 should be gathered. 256 00:12:52,167 --> 00:12:54,167 That one employee? 257 00:12:54,292 --> 00:12:57,500 He's the warehouse supervisor, and he's key to the heist 258 00:12:57,667 --> 00:13:01,583 because he literally holds the keys to the high-val room. 259 00:13:01,708 --> 00:13:05,833 To pull off that plan, the team has to lure him of his office 260 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,792 and prevent him from tripping the silent alarm. 261 00:13:10,292 --> 00:13:11,833 Hmph. 262 00:13:14,333 --> 00:13:17,833 Our warehouse supervisor was Rudy Eirich. 263 00:13:17,958 --> 00:13:21,833 He needed two keys in order to open the doors. 264 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,708 He needed both keys to turn simultaneously 265 00:13:25,875 --> 00:13:30,292 to unlock the door, because if it didn't, 266 00:13:30,292 --> 00:13:32,708 an alarm would go off at the Port Authority. 267 00:13:38,667 --> 00:13:40,167 The plan is set. 268 00:13:40,292 --> 00:13:43,375 Insider Louis Werner will tip off the heist team 269 00:13:43,500 --> 00:13:45,500 when the val room is full. 270 00:13:45,500 --> 00:13:48,708 He leaves original mastermind Peter Gruenwald in the dark. 271 00:13:48,833 --> 00:13:52,000 Werner never tells the mob about Gruenwald, 272 00:13:52,125 --> 00:13:54,542 and he never tells his co-worker, 273 00:13:54,708 --> 00:13:56,792 who invested two years in planning, 274 00:13:56,917 --> 00:13:58,458 what's about to go down. 275 00:13:58,583 --> 00:14:01,750 Werner thinks that if he cuts Gruenwald out of the heist, 276 00:14:01,875 --> 00:14:03,250 that he's going to make more money, 277 00:14:03,375 --> 00:14:06,000 and this is important to him because of his gambling debts. 278 00:14:06,167 --> 00:14:08,708 Gruenwald doesn't really realize what's happening. 279 00:14:08,875 --> 00:14:10,500 He thinks that he's still in on this, 280 00:14:10,625 --> 00:14:14,250 and he thinks that Werner's just biding his time 281 00:14:14,375 --> 00:14:17,458 to come up with a plan. 282 00:14:17,458 --> 00:14:20,875 December 8, 1978, 283 00:14:21,042 --> 00:14:23,250 Werner learns that a Lufthansa flight 284 00:14:23,375 --> 00:14:25,833 just landed with millions in cash 285 00:14:25,958 --> 00:14:28,000 on board from overseas banks. 286 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,792 Whenever we had valuable cargo coming in 287 00:14:30,917 --> 00:14:35,167 on an inbound flight, Brinks was notified 288 00:14:35,292 --> 00:14:39,333 to pick up the valuable cargo. 289 00:14:39,333 --> 00:14:42,167 Brinks would basically pick up money, 290 00:14:42,292 --> 00:14:45,792 and they would take it to the bank. 291 00:14:45,792 --> 00:14:50,375 And back in 1978, the banks closed at 3:00. 292 00:14:50,500 --> 00:14:55,167 So if it got too late, Brinks was not taking the money. 293 00:14:55,292 --> 00:14:58,292 They left it there at our val room. 294 00:15:00,458 --> 00:15:02,792 If Werner can prevent the Brinks armored truck 295 00:15:02,917 --> 00:15:05,833 from making the pickup, millions in cash 296 00:15:05,958 --> 00:15:08,292 will spend the weekend in the high-value room. 297 00:15:08,417 --> 00:15:10,667 When the val shipment came in, 298 00:15:10,792 --> 00:15:12,958 Louis delayed the paperwork. 299 00:15:12,958 --> 00:15:14,750 Brinks said, no, banks are closed 300 00:15:14,875 --> 00:15:16,458 and we're not taking the money. 301 00:15:16,583 --> 00:15:17,958 See, this is the key. 302 00:15:17,958 --> 00:15:21,000 Brinks couldn't make that pickup. 303 00:15:21,125 --> 00:15:23,542 That meant all that cash had to sit 304 00:15:23,708 --> 00:15:28,333 in the vault over the weekend, and it was a lot of money. 305 00:15:33,833 --> 00:15:35,833 It's almost too good to be true. 306 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,583 So Werner lets the team know 307 00:15:38,708 --> 00:15:42,833 there's a ripe opportunity if they can move fast. 308 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,417 We already had the supplies, the ski masks, 309 00:15:45,542 --> 00:15:47,708 the cuffs, the gloves. 310 00:15:47,875 --> 00:15:49,750 Everybody had guns. 311 00:15:49,875 --> 00:15:51,292 We didn't have to worry about that. 312 00:15:51,292 --> 00:15:53,667 Jimmy's crew has everything they need, 313 00:15:53,792 --> 00:15:55,958 except for the perfect vehicle. 314 00:15:56,083 --> 00:15:58,375 They need to steal one ASAP. 315 00:15:58,542 --> 00:16:01,667 Jimmy tells the guys get a van big enough 316 00:16:01,792 --> 00:16:04,458 to hold eight or ten guys. 317 00:16:04,583 --> 00:16:06,958 Because they're planning the heist to be at nighttime, 318 00:16:06,958 --> 00:16:09,625 they would want a black van to blend in better. 319 00:16:09,625 --> 00:16:12,542 It's difficult to come up with the right vehicle. 320 00:16:12,708 --> 00:16:14,708 They spent the whole weekend 321 00:16:14,875 --> 00:16:17,917 looking for a black van to steal. 322 00:16:19,333 --> 00:16:23,458 Joe Buddha finally finds the right van for the job, 323 00:16:23,583 --> 00:16:27,875 just as another huge cargo shipment arrives at Lufthansa. 324 00:16:28,042 --> 00:16:31,042 It should be good news, but there's a catch. 325 00:16:31,167 --> 00:16:34,875 More cash also means additional personnel on site, 326 00:16:35,042 --> 00:16:37,000 something the heist team doesn't know about. 327 00:16:37,125 --> 00:16:39,167 Because we had an extra freighter, 328 00:16:39,167 --> 00:16:40,958 they called in people on overtime. 329 00:16:40,958 --> 00:16:46,917 That night, December 11th, we had three more guys scheduled. 330 00:16:47,042 --> 00:16:49,625 But if you weren't working that day, 331 00:16:49,625 --> 00:16:51,875 you didn't know about the extra section, 332 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:53,375 you would not know there was extra people 333 00:16:53,542 --> 00:16:55,500 called in on overtime. 334 00:16:56,458 --> 00:16:59,083 Unaware of the extra workers, the heist team 335 00:16:59,208 --> 00:17:01,833 meets to review plans. 336 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:03,542 It's finally go time. 337 00:17:03,667 --> 00:17:07,542 That night of the heist, we meet up at Jimmy's. 338 00:17:07,708 --> 00:17:08,833 Everybody shows up. 339 00:17:11,667 --> 00:17:14,333 Everybody checked their guns, checked their gloves, 340 00:17:14,458 --> 00:17:17,792 checked the cuffs, ski mask, everything. 341 00:17:17,917 --> 00:17:21,083 Jimmy said, "Listen, guys, you're the best there are. 342 00:17:21,208 --> 00:17:23,667 "There's nobody better than you guys. 343 00:17:23,667 --> 00:17:25,500 "That's why I picked you. 344 00:17:25,625 --> 00:17:27,875 "You guys are very capable of pulling this off. 345 00:17:28,042 --> 00:17:29,583 There's no doubt in my mind." 346 00:17:29,708 --> 00:17:32,875 The crew heads out in the van, followed by a crash car, 347 00:17:33,042 --> 00:17:34,667 a vehicle ready and waiting 348 00:17:34,792 --> 00:17:38,833 to crash into Port Authority police vehicles if necessary. 349 00:17:38,958 --> 00:17:41,083 They were parked there at a gas station 350 00:17:41,208 --> 00:17:43,500 about two miles away from the airport. 351 00:17:43,667 --> 00:17:46,375 They had their guns outside the car behind the wheels 352 00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:48,125 in case the cops came, you know, 353 00:17:48,125 --> 00:17:50,292 "What are you doing here?" whatever. 354 00:17:50,417 --> 00:17:53,833 So they would stash the guns on the inside of the wheel. 355 00:17:53,958 --> 00:17:56,167 At 3:00 a.m., the van pulls up 356 00:17:56,333 --> 00:17:58,167 to the unrestricted front entrance 357 00:17:58,292 --> 00:18:01,958 of Lufthansa Building 261. 358 00:18:01,958 --> 00:18:04,958 All but two of the crew exit the van. 359 00:18:04,958 --> 00:18:06,667 The heist begins now. 360 00:18:11,333 --> 00:18:14,208 To get into the building, you needed nothing. 361 00:18:14,375 --> 00:18:16,875 We had no alarms and no security guard. 362 00:18:20,125 --> 00:18:22,375 At that time at Lufthansa Cargo, 363 00:18:22,542 --> 00:18:26,167 we never expected a robbery like this. 364 00:18:26,167 --> 00:18:28,917 We had no idea that the biggest 365 00:18:29,042 --> 00:18:34,458 robbery in airline history was about to happen that night. 366 00:18:40,208 --> 00:18:44,042 Just after 3:00 a.m. on December 11, 1978, 367 00:18:44,167 --> 00:18:46,458 Tommy DeSimone and crew 368 00:18:46,583 --> 00:18:49,958 storm into the Lufthansa Cargo Building 261. 369 00:18:49,958 --> 00:18:52,292 They've timed their entry to coincide 370 00:18:52,417 --> 00:18:54,125 with an employee meal break. 371 00:18:54,125 --> 00:18:57,250 When the inside team came in to the lunchroom, 372 00:18:57,375 --> 00:18:59,167 most of the people, from what we understand, 373 00:18:59,333 --> 00:19:03,083 after speaking to them, they were, my words, 374 00:19:03,208 --> 00:19:04,625 "pissing in their pants." 375 00:19:04,625 --> 00:19:07,042 They were very, very scared because these guys 376 00:19:07,167 --> 00:19:09,208 are flashing guns out there. 377 00:19:09,333 --> 00:19:11,250 It was upstairs, the lunchroom. 378 00:19:11,375 --> 00:19:13,833 These guys come in. Tommy was a bad dude. 379 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:15,250 He was homicidal. 380 00:19:15,375 --> 00:19:18,625 He would kill you without blinking an eye. 381 00:19:18,625 --> 00:19:21,125 No reason. Just kill you. 382 00:19:21,125 --> 00:19:24,417 If anything goes wrong, they're dead. 383 00:19:24,542 --> 00:19:27,250 All of the men that are working that evening-- 384 00:19:27,375 --> 00:19:31,333 none of them expected that this was going to happen. 385 00:19:31,458 --> 00:19:34,250 This was sudden, and it's terrifying. 386 00:19:34,375 --> 00:19:37,583 I look at life, when your number's up, it's up, 387 00:19:37,708 --> 00:19:39,333 and there's nothing you can do about it. 388 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:41,667 For some of the guys, in fact, it might have 389 00:19:41,667 --> 00:19:44,708 been the most terrifying night of their life. 390 00:19:44,833 --> 00:19:48,625 Meanwhile, the van drives to the side of the building, 391 00:19:48,750 --> 00:19:51,833 but Gary Valenti deals with the padlocked gate 392 00:19:51,958 --> 00:19:55,125 blocking access to Lufthansa's loading dock. 393 00:19:57,542 --> 00:20:01,083 I was out of a van with bolt-cutters. 394 00:20:01,208 --> 00:20:02,917 I didn't cut the lock. 395 00:20:03,042 --> 00:20:06,833 I was too smart for that, because security would come 396 00:20:06,833 --> 00:20:08,667 around and check the lock. 397 00:20:08,833 --> 00:20:11,917 So I cut the link on a chain and un-linked it. 398 00:20:12,042 --> 00:20:14,625 And then when Frankie pulled in with the van... 399 00:20:17,125 --> 00:20:20,000 I just hooked the link back up. 400 00:20:20,125 --> 00:20:23,292 Valenti is right to be cautious. 401 00:20:23,292 --> 00:20:28,042 Kennedy is a 24-hour by 7 airport. 402 00:20:28,167 --> 00:20:30,333 Planes come in late, late at night. 403 00:20:30,458 --> 00:20:34,000 They don't stop like at midnight and shut down. 404 00:20:36,417 --> 00:20:38,792 So that's why we had a large group of police officers 405 00:20:38,917 --> 00:20:40,250 always patrolling. 406 00:20:40,375 --> 00:20:43,417 We had about 60 on the midnight shift. 407 00:20:43,542 --> 00:20:47,375 At that time of night, there should have been no one back 408 00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:51,250 behind the building unless they were Port Authority people 409 00:20:51,375 --> 00:20:53,375 or Lufthansa employees. 410 00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:56,000 There should not have been anybody there. 411 00:20:58,458 --> 00:21:00,833 Back in the break room, Tommy DeSimone 412 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,083 checks to ensure he secured all the employees 413 00:21:04,208 --> 00:21:06,000 listed by Louis Werner. 414 00:21:06,167 --> 00:21:10,167 They rounded up all the employees into the lunchroom. 415 00:21:10,292 --> 00:21:11,833 They handcuffed them, and they were 416 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:13,500 told to put their heads down. 417 00:21:13,625 --> 00:21:17,208 We were told over and over again, 418 00:21:17,375 --> 00:21:20,083 do as we're told, and nobody was going to get hurt. 419 00:21:21,625 --> 00:21:24,500 They asked for everybody's wallet and car keys, 420 00:21:24,625 --> 00:21:26,625 and they said this way we know where you are. 421 00:21:26,750 --> 00:21:28,333 If you say anything, we know where you live. 422 00:21:28,458 --> 00:21:31,292 If you threaten a person, that person 423 00:21:31,417 --> 00:21:33,333 may or may not try to be a hero. 424 00:21:33,458 --> 00:21:35,167 But when you start threatening their family, 425 00:21:35,167 --> 00:21:37,625 they think twice. 426 00:21:37,750 --> 00:21:39,833 And these guys weren't the brainiest guys, 427 00:21:39,958 --> 00:21:42,583 but they knew how to threaten people's families. 428 00:21:42,708 --> 00:21:45,167 They go to the wife, they go to the children, 429 00:21:45,292 --> 00:21:47,917 and mothers and fathers. 430 00:21:48,042 --> 00:21:50,375 They put that threat to them, and nobody, 431 00:21:50,500 --> 00:21:52,542 nobody wanted to do anything. 432 00:21:52,667 --> 00:21:54,583 They just wanted them to get the hell out of there. 433 00:21:56,167 --> 00:21:59,500 Even the heist team wants to get the hell out of there, 434 00:21:59,500 --> 00:22:02,792 but there are two men missing from the list of employees. 435 00:22:02,917 --> 00:22:08,583 Back outside, the guys in the van are growing concerned. 436 00:22:08,708 --> 00:22:12,792 By now, they expected crew to have locked down the employees 437 00:22:12,792 --> 00:22:14,500 and open the cargo door. 438 00:22:14,625 --> 00:22:16,292 But we're sitting in a van. 439 00:22:16,292 --> 00:22:19,167 We took off the mask because they see two guys 440 00:22:19,167 --> 00:22:21,083 in a van with ski masks on-- 441 00:22:21,208 --> 00:22:23,583 something's wrong, you know? 442 00:22:31,292 --> 00:22:33,333 Sitting in the van, I saw a truck 443 00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:36,292 headed towards the cargo area. 444 00:22:39,542 --> 00:22:42,625 One of the guys working overtime was Kerry Whalen. 445 00:22:44,708 --> 00:22:48,833 He was doing transfers, taking cargo from Lufthansa 446 00:22:48,958 --> 00:22:50,292 to the other airlines. 447 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,625 He must have seen the van out at the back door. 448 00:22:55,625 --> 00:22:57,625 Kerry approaches the cargo bay door 449 00:22:57,750 --> 00:22:59,833 with his eyes on the van. 450 00:22:59,958 --> 00:23:03,208 When he spots the unfamiliar faces inside, 451 00:23:03,375 --> 00:23:05,583 he panics and starts to run. 452 00:23:05,708 --> 00:23:08,125 And if he makes it from here to there, 453 00:23:08,250 --> 00:23:10,167 it's not just the heist that's in danger. 454 00:23:10,292 --> 00:23:12,000 Tommy "Two Guns" up in the break room 455 00:23:12,125 --> 00:23:16,958 is volatile and violent, and he got his nickname for a reason. 456 00:23:18,625 --> 00:23:22,458 When I seen the guy walking towards me, he sees me, 457 00:23:22,458 --> 00:23:24,000 and I know he made me. 458 00:23:24,125 --> 00:23:25,125 I said he can't get away. 459 00:23:25,250 --> 00:23:26,458 'Cause he gets away, 460 00:23:26,583 --> 00:23:28,333 my guys in there are going to get caught. 461 00:23:28,458 --> 00:23:29,958 They're trapped. 462 00:23:29,958 --> 00:23:33,917 I said this guy has got to be taken, one way or the other. 463 00:23:38,875 --> 00:23:40,667 Less than half an hour into the heist, 464 00:23:40,833 --> 00:23:43,667 Gary Valenti and van driver Frankie Burke 465 00:23:43,792 --> 00:23:47,500 are caught off guard by the arrival of an extra employee. 466 00:23:47,625 --> 00:23:52,958 I jumped out and ran up to him, and I says, "Don't move. 467 00:23:53,083 --> 00:23:54,292 Nobody's looking to hurt you." 468 00:23:54,417 --> 00:23:56,083 And he starts to run and holler. 469 00:23:58,542 --> 00:24:00,083 So I hit him in the head with the pistol, 470 00:24:00,208 --> 00:24:03,458 split his head open, and he fell to the ground. 471 00:24:03,583 --> 00:24:06,708 Frankie stuck his pistol in his eye and says, 472 00:24:06,833 --> 00:24:09,167 "Don't move or I'll blow your eye out. 473 00:24:09,333 --> 00:24:10,500 Now just get up." 474 00:24:10,500 --> 00:24:12,833 We cuffed him, and put him in the van. 475 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,625 My crew went to lunch and I was there working because 476 00:24:16,750 --> 00:24:19,833 I was trying to get everything caught up, 477 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,292 and I heard a holler at the back, 478 00:24:23,292 --> 00:24:26,708 and that's when I left my desk to walk over 479 00:24:26,875 --> 00:24:28,375 to see what the noise was. 480 00:24:31,292 --> 00:24:34,500 So I open the outer walkthrough door. 481 00:24:34,625 --> 00:24:38,417 This other guy Ralph comes out... 482 00:24:38,542 --> 00:24:40,500 because he heard the screams. 483 00:24:40,625 --> 00:24:42,500 There's a van back there, and somebody's 484 00:24:42,500 --> 00:24:44,500 standing outside the van. 485 00:24:44,625 --> 00:24:46,833 I guess he heard the door open, and he saw me, 486 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,667 and I asked him if I could help him. 487 00:24:48,792 --> 00:24:52,292 And he said, yes, and stuck a gun in my face. 488 00:24:52,292 --> 00:24:54,000 I put the gun to him. 489 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,083 I said, "Look, I'm not looking for trouble. 490 00:24:57,208 --> 00:25:00,208 Just follow me to the van. Get in the van and be quiet." 491 00:25:00,375 --> 00:25:03,208 And he accommodated, no problem. 492 00:25:03,333 --> 00:25:04,833 And so, we had two of them. 493 00:25:07,042 --> 00:25:09,917 I got in the van, and then I was kind of worried 494 00:25:10,042 --> 00:25:13,167 because I saw the guy that stuck the gun 495 00:25:13,333 --> 00:25:15,500 in my face with no mask on. 496 00:25:17,542 --> 00:25:19,333 The only thing that came to my mind 497 00:25:19,500 --> 00:25:21,000 is that if they're going to shoot me, 498 00:25:21,125 --> 00:25:25,167 I hope it's fast, and worried about my wife and kids. 499 00:25:28,708 --> 00:25:29,833 Then, Joe Buddha come out. 500 00:25:29,833 --> 00:25:33,125 He says, "We can't find two guys." 501 00:25:33,125 --> 00:25:35,708 I said, "Look in my van." 502 00:25:35,833 --> 00:25:37,167 Somebody hollered out. 503 00:25:37,292 --> 00:25:38,500 We're looking for this guy Ralph. 504 00:25:38,625 --> 00:25:39,792 We got everybody. 505 00:25:39,917 --> 00:25:41,500 We're looking for this guy Ralph. 506 00:25:41,667 --> 00:25:43,417 And then the guy that was outside the van 507 00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:45,167 that I saw said, is one of you Ralph? 508 00:25:45,292 --> 00:25:46,917 And I said, yes, me. 509 00:25:50,375 --> 00:25:54,500 They got me out of the van to come in and open the door. 510 00:25:57,625 --> 00:25:59,833 Once the cargo bay door opens, 511 00:25:59,833 --> 00:26:04,125 the van pulls into the warehouse. 512 00:26:04,125 --> 00:26:07,583 They led me through the warehouse with Kerry 513 00:26:07,708 --> 00:26:10,083 with a gun at my back up the stairs. 514 00:26:13,667 --> 00:26:16,167 Things are not going as planned. 515 00:26:16,333 --> 00:26:18,583 There are too many employees, and they're not all 516 00:26:18,708 --> 00:26:20,667 where Werner said they would be. 517 00:26:20,667 --> 00:26:24,458 Potentially outnumbered now, the crew needs to reassert 518 00:26:24,458 --> 00:26:26,083 control of the situation. 519 00:26:29,375 --> 00:26:32,667 In the lunchroom, I could see all the rest of the crew 520 00:26:32,792 --> 00:26:35,167 laying face down on the floor. 521 00:26:35,333 --> 00:26:37,958 I grabbed Kerry, and they said what happened to him? 522 00:26:37,958 --> 00:26:40,667 I said, well, I says, he wanted to be a tough guy. 523 00:26:40,792 --> 00:26:45,917 One of the guys that hit Kerry outside was straddled 524 00:26:46,042 --> 00:26:48,917 over him and hit him again, and said, 525 00:26:49,042 --> 00:26:52,167 "This guy tried to get away when I told him not to." 526 00:26:52,333 --> 00:26:55,708 I said, hey guys, take a look at your buddy here. 527 00:26:55,875 --> 00:26:57,208 It could happen to you. 528 00:26:57,333 --> 00:27:01,458 Nobody wants to hurt you. You're going to hurt yourself. 529 00:27:01,458 --> 00:27:04,875 And I heard somebody say we don't have enough handcuffs. 530 00:27:05,042 --> 00:27:08,917 So somebody else said use rope and tie them up. 531 00:27:09,042 --> 00:27:12,167 And they tied me and Kerry together with rope. 532 00:27:12,292 --> 00:27:15,167 The cargo workers may be accounted for, 533 00:27:15,333 --> 00:27:16,833 but phase two is trickier. 534 00:27:16,958 --> 00:27:19,917 They need to coax the supervisor out of his office 535 00:27:20,042 --> 00:27:23,917 and keep him from pressing the Port Authority panic button. 536 00:27:24,042 --> 00:27:27,250 Doing that hinges on the questionable people skills 537 00:27:27,375 --> 00:27:29,333 of Tommy "Two Gun" DeSimone, 538 00:27:29,500 --> 00:27:31,750 a man not known for his patience. 539 00:27:31,875 --> 00:27:34,958 Tricking the supervisor to leave his enclosed office 540 00:27:35,083 --> 00:27:39,125 was a critical part to making the heist successful. 541 00:27:39,250 --> 00:27:44,750 He was a person that knew about the alarm systems, 542 00:27:44,875 --> 00:27:48,500 and you needed to get him in your custody. 543 00:27:50,375 --> 00:27:53,000 Rudy didn't leave his office, no matter what. 544 00:27:53,125 --> 00:27:58,125 So they made the office senior agent call Rudy on the phone 545 00:27:58,250 --> 00:28:01,333 and told him he had to come up to the office 546 00:28:01,458 --> 00:28:02,625 and talk to them. 547 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,000 He says anything goes wrong, he says-- 548 00:28:07,167 --> 00:28:09,542 Like, he wanted something to go wrong. 549 00:28:09,667 --> 00:28:12,000 If anything goes wrong, they're dead. 550 00:28:12,125 --> 00:28:13,958 With a gun to his head, the senior agent 551 00:28:14,083 --> 00:28:16,667 is finding it difficult to lure Rudy Eirich 552 00:28:16,792 --> 00:28:18,167 to the third floor break room. 553 00:28:18,292 --> 00:28:21,500 Tommy DeSimone tells him, get Rudy and his vault 554 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:25,292 keys upstairs, or else. 555 00:28:25,292 --> 00:28:28,917 And he called down to Rudy on the office phone 556 00:28:29,042 --> 00:28:30,667 that he had a call from Germany, 557 00:28:30,667 --> 00:28:33,167 and they wanted to talk to the supervisor. 558 00:28:35,250 --> 00:28:38,125 Please, just come up. 559 00:28:38,250 --> 00:28:39,500 And it worked. 560 00:28:41,292 --> 00:28:45,542 When Rudy came upstairs, they also stuck a gun on him. 561 00:28:45,708 --> 00:28:48,625 So now he knew there was a robbery going on. 562 00:28:48,750 --> 00:28:51,292 The crew heads for the high-val room 563 00:28:51,292 --> 00:28:54,917 with Rudy in tow, ready to put their inside info 564 00:28:55,042 --> 00:28:56,667 to the ultimate test. 565 00:28:56,667 --> 00:28:58,375 If the locks on the doors aren't handled 566 00:28:58,542 --> 00:29:03,042 in exactly the right sequence, tempers and alarms 567 00:29:03,167 --> 00:29:04,292 will go off. 568 00:29:04,417 --> 00:29:08,167 When the supervisor is leading these men 569 00:29:08,292 --> 00:29:11,333 into the vault, he definitely at this point 570 00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:14,708 does not realize that there's an inside man for this job, 571 00:29:14,875 --> 00:29:18,375 and I think that he believes that he can still trigger 572 00:29:18,542 --> 00:29:21,875 the alarm and get out of this. 573 00:29:22,042 --> 00:29:24,625 Unlock it now. Go ahead. 574 00:29:24,750 --> 00:29:28,250 You needed both keys and turned simultaneously 575 00:29:28,375 --> 00:29:31,833 to unlock the door, because if you didn't, 576 00:29:31,833 --> 00:29:34,500 an alarm would go off at the Port Authority. 577 00:29:36,125 --> 00:29:37,833 The supervisor, he was nervous. 578 00:29:37,833 --> 00:29:39,458 His hands were shaking. 579 00:29:39,458 --> 00:29:42,167 Tommy told him put your hands down and just relax, 580 00:29:42,333 --> 00:29:44,792 because if your hands shake again, he says, 581 00:29:44,917 --> 00:29:46,208 I'll blow your brains out. 582 00:29:46,333 --> 00:29:48,000 Go ahead. Come on. 583 00:29:53,125 --> 00:29:55,833 It's nearly one hour into the Lufthansa heist, 584 00:29:55,833 --> 00:29:58,333 and Jimmy Burke's crew still doesn't 585 00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:00,500 have their hands on the loot. 586 00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:03,333 Success hinges on persuading 587 00:30:03,458 --> 00:30:07,417 the high-value room supervisor to play ball. 588 00:30:08,667 --> 00:30:11,750 Werner told Joe Buddha you had to open the first door, 589 00:30:11,875 --> 00:30:13,583 close it, and then open the second door 590 00:30:13,708 --> 00:30:15,292 to get into the vault. 591 00:30:15,292 --> 00:30:18,917 The supervisor probably could have done something, 592 00:30:19,042 --> 00:30:22,833 but it was a risk I don't think that he was willing to take. 593 00:30:22,958 --> 00:30:25,542 I don't think he wanted to jeopardize 594 00:30:25,667 --> 00:30:27,833 all the employees' lives. 595 00:30:27,958 --> 00:30:29,667 If I had a gun to my head, I think 596 00:30:29,833 --> 00:30:33,500 it would be very hard to say no to what 597 00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:35,250 someone is asking you to do. 598 00:30:35,375 --> 00:30:37,083 It's self-preservation. 599 00:30:37,208 --> 00:30:40,083 When Eirich realizes the thieves know 600 00:30:40,208 --> 00:30:44,750 the secret protocols to avoid tripping the alarm, he folds. 601 00:30:44,875 --> 00:30:47,667 The supervisor went along with everything. 602 00:30:47,792 --> 00:30:49,667 He didn't want to become a dead hero. 603 00:30:49,792 --> 00:30:52,875 The val room is now theirs. 604 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,375 Once the robbers had the vault open, 605 00:30:56,500 --> 00:30:58,250 they moved quickly. 606 00:31:00,167 --> 00:31:01,792 I was the first one in with Tommy, 607 00:31:01,792 --> 00:31:04,708 and there were boxes on the side. 608 00:31:07,542 --> 00:31:09,667 There were exactly 50 boxes. 609 00:31:09,667 --> 00:31:11,208 So Tommy took one. 610 00:31:11,375 --> 00:31:13,917 He threw it on the floor, and he stepped on it. 611 00:31:14,042 --> 00:31:18,500 And he saw 125,000 in hundreds. 612 00:31:18,500 --> 00:31:21,833 When I seen the money, I started doing math in my head. 613 00:31:21,833 --> 00:31:24,000 This is the score of scores. 614 00:31:24,167 --> 00:31:26,167 They're shocked at the amount of money 615 00:31:26,292 --> 00:31:27,333 that they have. 616 00:31:27,333 --> 00:31:30,333 This is more than double what they were expecting. 617 00:31:30,333 --> 00:31:33,333 Thanks to the surprise cargo shipment, 618 00:31:33,458 --> 00:31:36,708 the crew now faces the best kind of work, 619 00:31:36,833 --> 00:31:39,667 carrying off even more cash. 620 00:31:39,792 --> 00:31:41,792 As the boxes are being taken away, 621 00:31:41,792 --> 00:31:45,833 Gary Valenti spies something else. 622 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,792 There was an aluminum case 623 00:31:48,917 --> 00:31:52,167 that was about maybe 3-foot by 3. 624 00:31:52,333 --> 00:31:56,083 I opened up the drawer, and I seen diamonds. 625 00:31:56,208 --> 00:31:58,125 I opened another drawer, and I seen rubies, 626 00:31:58,125 --> 00:32:01,042 and another drawer was emeralds. 627 00:32:01,167 --> 00:32:05,208 The contents of the jewelry case add nearly 900,000 628 00:32:05,333 --> 00:32:06,667 to the whole. 629 00:32:06,792 --> 00:32:09,792 Now, all they need is a clean getaway. 630 00:32:14,167 --> 00:32:17,500 After they got the money out of the val room, 631 00:32:17,625 --> 00:32:19,667 they brought Rudy back upstairs and told him 632 00:32:19,792 --> 00:32:21,333 to lie down on the floor also. 633 00:32:21,458 --> 00:32:23,417 And then we were told that they were 634 00:32:23,542 --> 00:32:27,042 going to leave a guy behind, and we were not to get up. 635 00:32:28,042 --> 00:32:29,167 They got everything out 636 00:32:29,167 --> 00:32:30,958 right into the back of the van. 637 00:32:30,958 --> 00:32:32,542 They were like precise. 638 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,292 As we leave the airport, we're driving, 639 00:32:37,292 --> 00:32:42,000 and Jimmy and Vinny were in a crash car. 640 00:32:42,125 --> 00:32:45,667 And we pull up to them, and say, where to? 641 00:32:45,667 --> 00:32:47,167 Where should we go with it? 642 00:32:47,292 --> 00:32:49,500 Just two minutes after leaving with the loot, 643 00:32:49,625 --> 00:32:51,333 the crew hits a speed bump. 644 00:32:51,458 --> 00:32:55,875 They have a getaway van, but no real getaway plan. 645 00:32:56,042 --> 00:32:58,750 As some say, the brains, right? 646 00:32:58,875 --> 00:33:01,667 You pull off a $6 million heist, 647 00:33:01,792 --> 00:33:03,458 you don't know where to go. 648 00:33:03,458 --> 00:33:06,292 So Vinny yells out, "Go to my cousin's house." 649 00:33:06,292 --> 00:33:08,417 That's what we did, we went to my house, 650 00:33:08,542 --> 00:33:12,333 backed the van in, and unloaded it in my basement. 651 00:33:13,667 --> 00:33:16,833 As the team heads to Gary's, the employees managed to call 652 00:33:16,958 --> 00:33:19,167 the police and share the news. 653 00:33:19,292 --> 00:33:22,417 Lufthansa Cargo has been hit--hard. 654 00:33:22,542 --> 00:33:24,542 The Port Authority's Operations Captain, 655 00:33:24,708 --> 00:33:27,875 Henry DeGeneste, is one of the first to arrive. 656 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:32,667 We had our own detective unit that investigated the mob 657 00:33:32,792 --> 00:33:34,292 for the Port Authority police. 658 00:33:34,417 --> 00:33:37,125 And when they came, they all said, 659 00:33:37,125 --> 00:33:38,833 this has got to be a mob hit. 660 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,500 Nobody else would be brazen enough 661 00:33:40,625 --> 00:33:43,667 to do the robbery at John F. Kennedy Airport than the mob. 662 00:33:45,167 --> 00:33:47,875 Back in Gary Valenti's basement, 663 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,750 the heist team's spirits are high, 664 00:33:50,875 --> 00:33:52,333 and so are the stacks of cash. 665 00:33:52,458 --> 00:33:55,458 And Joe Buddha counted the money. 666 00:33:55,458 --> 00:33:59,458 He says, $2 million, $2.5 million, $3 million, 667 00:33:59,458 --> 00:34:00,833 $4 million. 668 00:34:00,958 --> 00:34:03,000 Oh my God. The money was stacked this high, 669 00:34:03,125 --> 00:34:05,250 all $100 bills. 670 00:34:05,375 --> 00:34:07,292 He says, could you believe this here? 671 00:34:07,417 --> 00:34:09,875 And we're still not done counting. 672 00:34:10,042 --> 00:34:12,833 You talk about euphoria. It was amazing. 673 00:34:12,958 --> 00:34:15,833 You know, the idea that they essentially 674 00:34:15,958 --> 00:34:19,125 stumble upon 5 million, almost $6 million, 675 00:34:19,125 --> 00:34:24,125 it's incredible, especially in that day and age as money. 676 00:34:24,250 --> 00:34:27,333 I mean, this is more than $20 million in today's money. 677 00:34:27,500 --> 00:34:32,125 The idea that that is just one night's take, 678 00:34:32,250 --> 00:34:34,458 it's unbelievable. 679 00:34:38,500 --> 00:34:43,083 The next step should be easy--get rid of the van. 680 00:34:43,208 --> 00:34:47,000 Jimmy Burke assigns this job to crew member 681 00:34:47,167 --> 00:34:49,667 Parnell "Stacks" Edwards. 682 00:34:51,292 --> 00:34:53,375 When a mob uses a car in a robbery, 683 00:34:53,542 --> 00:34:55,500 it's mandatory to get rid of that car. 684 00:34:55,625 --> 00:34:58,125 Being there are so many mob-related junkyards, 685 00:34:58,250 --> 00:35:00,542 you would send it to a junkyard to get crushed. 686 00:35:00,667 --> 00:35:02,000 That's the plan here. 687 00:35:02,125 --> 00:35:06,083 Burke orders Stacks to make the van disappear immediately. 688 00:35:06,208 --> 00:35:08,083 Stacks went over his girlfriend's house, 689 00:35:08,208 --> 00:35:10,000 got drunk, and did some drugs, 690 00:35:10,167 --> 00:35:13,000 and he left the van on the streets for two days 691 00:35:13,125 --> 00:35:15,542 parked illegally. 692 00:35:15,667 --> 00:35:19,500 Meanwhile, news of the heist is everywhere. 693 00:35:19,667 --> 00:35:22,542 There was a holdup of historic proportions 694 00:35:22,708 --> 00:35:25,000 at New York City's Kennedy Airport this morning-- 695 00:35:25,167 --> 00:35:28,000 Several million dollars in cash and jewelry 696 00:35:28,125 --> 00:35:31,542 taken from a cargo hanger by a band of armed men 697 00:35:31,667 --> 00:35:33,333 wearing masks. 698 00:35:33,333 --> 00:35:35,333 The news went viral. 699 00:35:35,333 --> 00:35:38,833 It was the biggest robbery in airline history. 700 00:35:38,958 --> 00:35:43,250 And whispers about an inside job are growing louder. 701 00:35:43,375 --> 00:35:45,875 Within days, our informants told us 702 00:35:46,042 --> 00:35:47,833 that Jimmy Burke and his crew 703 00:35:47,958 --> 00:35:49,292 were involved in the robbery. 704 00:35:49,417 --> 00:35:51,333 There's nothing bigger and better. 705 00:35:51,458 --> 00:35:54,542 We walk around with our chests like this. 706 00:35:54,708 --> 00:35:57,500 And the FBI said, well, we know it was you guys. 707 00:35:57,625 --> 00:36:00,708 Well, if you knew it was us, why don't you pinch us? 708 00:36:00,833 --> 00:36:02,458 The FBI got its first break 709 00:36:02,458 --> 00:36:04,833 when the New York City Police Department 710 00:36:04,833 --> 00:36:10,292 called in the plates of a van that was illegally parked. 711 00:36:10,292 --> 00:36:13,042 When they ran the plates, determined that the van had 712 00:36:13,167 --> 00:36:16,833 been stolen, I specifically was the individual 713 00:36:16,833 --> 00:36:18,167 who recovered that evidence. 714 00:36:18,292 --> 00:36:21,208 There were airway bills from the Lufthansa, 715 00:36:21,375 --> 00:36:24,042 and also envelopes were marked Lufthansa. 716 00:36:24,208 --> 00:36:26,083 What did they find? They didn't find anything. 717 00:36:26,208 --> 00:36:27,708 They said they found this, this, and that. 718 00:36:27,833 --> 00:36:29,667 They found nothing. 719 00:36:29,667 --> 00:36:33,750 A few days later, New York City PD connected 720 00:36:33,875 --> 00:36:36,167 the van to Stack Edwards. 721 00:36:36,292 --> 00:36:38,292 I'm sure when Jimmy Burke heard 722 00:36:38,292 --> 00:36:41,750 about Stacks and his failure to get rid of the van, 723 00:36:41,875 --> 00:36:43,417 that he was livid. 724 00:36:43,542 --> 00:36:46,750 Stacks has to get rid of the van, and he had one job to do, 725 00:36:46,875 --> 00:36:48,042 and he didn't do it. 726 00:36:48,208 --> 00:36:50,375 In Jimmy Burke's mind, Stacks has to go. 727 00:36:57,542 --> 00:37:01,333 The Lufthansa heist went off without a hitch. 728 00:37:01,333 --> 00:37:04,625 When Jimmy Burke hears that someone didn't do their job, 729 00:37:04,750 --> 00:37:07,833 he sends Tommy "Two Gun" DeSimone 730 00:37:07,958 --> 00:37:10,667 to take care of the problem. 731 00:37:10,792 --> 00:37:16,042 When NYPD tracked Stacks to his apartment, 732 00:37:16,208 --> 00:37:18,667 they found him dead. 733 00:37:18,792 --> 00:37:21,292 In that life if you're told to do something, 734 00:37:21,417 --> 00:37:22,792 there's a reason you're told to do it, 735 00:37:22,917 --> 00:37:25,542 and you don't do it, your life is at risk. 736 00:37:25,708 --> 00:37:28,667 With $6 million on the line and pressure 737 00:37:28,833 --> 00:37:32,042 building from the FBI, Burke is determined 738 00:37:32,167 --> 00:37:34,000 to tie up loose ends. 739 00:37:34,167 --> 00:37:36,958 Stacks Edwards is only the first. 740 00:37:36,958 --> 00:37:41,042 The first person Louie Werner contacted to get to the mob 741 00:37:41,167 --> 00:37:44,000 disappeared in January 1979. 742 00:37:44,167 --> 00:37:48,625 Around that same period, Tommy DeSimone also vanished. 743 00:37:48,625 --> 00:37:51,458 Jimmy starts killing people because people 744 00:37:51,583 --> 00:37:53,792 start spending a couple of dollars that he gave them. 745 00:37:53,917 --> 00:37:55,500 He got paranoid. 746 00:37:55,625 --> 00:37:59,125 They bought cars, mink coats and fur coats for their wives, 747 00:37:59,250 --> 00:38:00,667 jewelry, watches. 748 00:38:00,792 --> 00:38:04,292 If members of your crew are spending a lot of money, 749 00:38:04,292 --> 00:38:06,500 it brings attention to you. 750 00:38:06,625 --> 00:38:08,542 Throughout the course of the investigation, 751 00:38:08,708 --> 00:38:11,375 it seemed like we were just a step 752 00:38:11,500 --> 00:38:13,750 or two behind Jimmy Burke. 753 00:38:13,875 --> 00:38:15,500 Every time I went out 754 00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:19,042 to talk to one of Jimmy Burke's associates 755 00:38:19,208 --> 00:38:21,375 that was involved in the robbery, 756 00:38:21,500 --> 00:38:25,125 it seemed that they would end up dead. 757 00:38:26,500 --> 00:38:29,000 Investigators are also determined. 758 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000 They need to find the inside man before he disappears too. 759 00:38:35,208 --> 00:38:37,958 Poor Peter Gruenwald finds out about the heist 760 00:38:37,958 --> 00:38:40,083 at the same time that the rest of the world does. 761 00:38:40,208 --> 00:38:43,833 He gets so panicked that he decides to flee the country, 762 00:38:43,958 --> 00:38:47,333 and he's arrested while trying to flee. 763 00:38:47,333 --> 00:38:50,833 Gruenwald admits that the plan was his, 764 00:38:50,833 --> 00:38:54,333 but he tells investigators he didn't act on it, 765 00:38:54,458 --> 00:38:57,333 and that Louie Werner brought it to the mob. 766 00:38:57,458 --> 00:38:59,500 Werner winds up being the only person 767 00:38:59,625 --> 00:39:01,667 convicted for the Lufthansa hijacking. 768 00:39:01,792 --> 00:39:04,333 The very next day after Werner is convicted 769 00:39:04,333 --> 00:39:06,417 and starts talking about Joe Buddha, 770 00:39:06,542 --> 00:39:07,958 Joe Buddha is murdered. 771 00:39:07,958 --> 00:39:11,000 Law enforcement found Joe Buddha dead on May 17. 772 00:39:11,125 --> 00:39:14,792 They shot him in the head in a car in Brooklyn 773 00:39:14,917 --> 00:39:15,875 and left him there. 774 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,458 Eventually, police link 12 murders 775 00:39:19,583 --> 00:39:21,458 to the Lufthansa heist. 776 00:39:21,458 --> 00:39:25,208 Even more, a classified was potentially linked. 777 00:39:25,375 --> 00:39:27,375 In organized crime circles, 778 00:39:27,542 --> 00:39:30,000 knowing too much about this heist 779 00:39:30,167 --> 00:39:32,125 is a death sentence. 780 00:39:32,250 --> 00:39:34,667 People are getting killed around Jimmy left and right. 781 00:39:34,792 --> 00:39:37,292 I would say approximately between 20 782 00:39:37,292 --> 00:39:40,792 and 30 people got killed, massacred. 783 00:39:40,792 --> 00:39:43,375 Not killed, I would say "massacred," more or less. 784 00:39:43,542 --> 00:39:45,208 The Lufthansa heist is definitely 785 00:39:45,333 --> 00:39:48,500 one of the deadliest robberies that's ever been committed. 786 00:39:48,625 --> 00:39:50,458 As the body count escalates, 787 00:39:50,458 --> 00:39:54,542 the FBI recovers $60,000 from Louis Werner, 788 00:39:54,708 --> 00:39:58,708 but more than $5 million simply vanishes. 789 00:39:58,875 --> 00:40:02,792 Jimmy got the lion's share of the money. 790 00:40:02,792 --> 00:40:06,292 Because of the people who were getting killed, 791 00:40:06,417 --> 00:40:09,042 he was keeping their share. 792 00:40:09,167 --> 00:40:10,542 That's how it goes in the mob. 793 00:40:10,708 --> 00:40:13,167 The guy at the top is getting most of the money, 794 00:40:13,292 --> 00:40:18,208 and the cuts underneath that just get smaller and smaller. 795 00:40:18,333 --> 00:40:21,708 Vinny and I received $750,000 apiece. 796 00:40:21,833 --> 00:40:24,167 A lot of guys never received a full amount. 797 00:40:24,292 --> 00:40:28,500 And the rest of the loot, $60,000 from Louis Verna, 798 00:40:28,500 --> 00:40:31,333 well, that's all the police ever recover. 799 00:40:31,458 --> 00:40:33,625 In the end, Jimmy Burke is convicted, 800 00:40:33,750 --> 00:40:35,625 not for the greatest airline heist in history 801 00:40:35,750 --> 00:40:37,375 or all the murders that followed, 802 00:40:37,542 --> 00:40:39,083 but for his involvement 803 00:40:39,208 --> 00:40:42,500 in a conspiracy to fix college basketball games. 804 00:40:42,625 --> 00:40:45,667 Burke died in prison in 1996. 805 00:40:45,667 --> 00:40:48,875 In the late 1970s, a detailed analysis 806 00:40:49,042 --> 00:40:52,167 of the security measures at JFK is undertaken 807 00:40:52,333 --> 00:40:53,792 by Port Authority officials, 808 00:40:53,917 --> 00:40:56,833 although some call it too little too late. 809 00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:58,583 Security in the cargo buildings 810 00:40:58,708 --> 00:41:00,375 changed dramatically. 811 00:41:00,542 --> 00:41:02,667 We put cameras in all the cargo buildings 812 00:41:02,792 --> 00:41:05,417 that went right into our police desks 813 00:41:05,542 --> 00:41:09,375 so we also could see what was going on. 814 00:41:09,542 --> 00:41:12,792 Gary Valenti and his cousin Vincent Asaro 815 00:41:12,917 --> 00:41:15,333 are the last living survivors of the team 816 00:41:15,333 --> 00:41:17,208 associated with the heist. 817 00:41:17,375 --> 00:41:21,167 In 2015, Gary testified against Asaro, 818 00:41:21,333 --> 00:41:23,083 regarding his cousin's involvement 819 00:41:23,208 --> 00:41:24,583 in the Lufthansa job. 820 00:41:24,708 --> 00:41:26,667 Once I couldn't be an earner anymore, 821 00:41:26,792 --> 00:41:28,708 you know, in that life, that's how you survive. 822 00:41:28,875 --> 00:41:32,125 Either you earn, you're dead, 823 00:41:32,125 --> 00:41:34,042 or you're on a shelf. 824 00:41:34,208 --> 00:41:36,125 So I said, you know what? 825 00:41:37,875 --> 00:41:39,833 I'm gonna become an informant. 826 00:41:39,958 --> 00:41:41,833 I decided. I made up my mind. 827 00:41:41,958 --> 00:41:46,708 I cleared my soul, and I wanna testify. 828 00:41:46,875 --> 00:41:49,917 To the surprise of everyone, including the defendant, 829 00:41:50,042 --> 00:41:52,667 Vincent Asaro is acquitted on all charges 830 00:41:52,833 --> 00:41:55,458 relating to the heist that started right here 831 00:41:55,458 --> 00:41:57,833 in Lufthansa's Building 261. 832 00:41:57,833 --> 00:42:00,458 What began as one worker's fantasy 833 00:42:00,583 --> 00:42:03,833 became the most infamous heist in mob history, 834 00:42:03,958 --> 00:42:07,208 its bloody aftermath, immortalized in "Goodfellas," 835 00:42:07,375 --> 00:42:09,917 with dozens killed and a take 836 00:42:10,042 --> 00:42:13,167 worth more than $20 million in today's dollars. 837 00:42:13,292 --> 00:42:17,833 The Lufthansa job belongs with history's greatest heists.