BY JULIA DI MARCELLO

Before we begin this thrilling heist story make sure you got your MBT essentials on standby. Is your plate of Spicy Rigatoni hot and ready? Did you just pour your Espresso Martini? If you answered yes to both questions, we’re good to go. If not, what are ya waiting for? We got a holiday heist story to tell.

Let’s get to it.

Once upon a time, there was an international airport in Jamaica, Queens that did not expect to go upside down 2 weeks before Christmas. Masked robbers stole five million dollars in cash from a Lufthansa Airlines cargo building at John F. Kennedy airport. 42 years later, this is known to be the Lufthansa heist. This iconic heist is looked back upon during the holiday season. 

How was this accomplished you may ask? Someone from the inside helped pull this off. Peter Gruenewald, a Lufthansa cargo worker at JFK, knew about the large amounts of unmarked cash that Lufthansa regularly flew in from Europe. You would think the massive amounts of cash would be quickly moved to a bank once landed. Nope. Due to normal flight delays, trucks would leave the airport and not wait for the new arrival time. Because of this, the cash would be stored at cargo until the next business day. Thus allowing it to be easy for someone to get their hands on the ‘scarole’.  

With that being said, Gruenewald hit up his buddy Louis Werner, “Ayo Lou - I got a project for us.” 

Werner, knowing about his extremely high gambling debt, agreed to the plan. “Pete, you're a genius. I’ll help you brother.” 

Shortly after, Werner got Martin Krugman involved. Krugman was a big bookmaker in the area. Krugman then took this idea to his buddy, infamous mobster-turned-movie consultant Henry Hill. Hill was a part of the gangsters run by James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke. Jimmy's crew became closely associated with the Lucchese crime family after earning years of money through nefarious deeds. Jimmy’s crew also gained a solid rep in the beautiful world of organized crime. 

Burke and Hill lead and planned this infamous robbery. Jimmy’s people were extremely familiar with JFK. Anytime they needed a quick dollar,  the airport was a simple and great go-to. Two to three trucks per week were hijacked from JFK for quick cash. If the trucks were filled with merchandise such as televisioons, clothes or food, they knew how to move it to get their ends met. 

Alright - here is the good part. You ready? It was a cold and dark Monday morning. At 3:00 AM, Burke and Hill waited for word from the inside man, Werner. The masked men jumped off a black van after pulling up to Lufthansa’s storage area. The men bursted in holding up their guns and quickly handcuffed the night-shift employees. The supervisor was forced by the gunmen to open up the 10 by 20 foot vault to avoid any alarms to go off. One thing led to the next. All of the cash, jewels, and rest of the goodies were loaded in the van. The crew hopped back in and drove away. This whole heist took a little bit over an hour. How crazy is that? 

The end. 

Did you think it was actually over? Nope, there’s more. 

The black van was intended to be brought to a mob-controlled junk yard the night of the robbery. The getaway driver,Parnell Steven “Stacks” Edwards, got too drunk and left it parked illegally in Brooklyn. The van was found with tons of fingerprints and footprints in the vehicle. Burke cut his ties between Edwards and his crew. Stacks became the first suspect in the crime to be murdered. As Burke got more and more greedy for a larger share of the money, Krugman disappeared on January 6, 1979. By the summer of 1979, eight men associated with the robbery were dead or missing. 

With all these mobster bodies piling up, the FBI decided to take a minute and put their attention to Louis Werner. Werner was convicted for his role in the heist thanks to Gruenewald’s testimony, however, he refused to tell his co-conspirators. 

If we flash forward to spring of 1980, Hill testified against Burke and Paul Vario who is underboss of the Lucchese family. Long story short, “Jimmy the Gent'' died in prison in 1996 and Vario was convicted of racketeering in 1988. A small percentage of the stolen money was recovered, but the rest remains unknown in the vast hands of crime bosses. 

The end. 

I mean it this time. The story is over. 

We hope you enjoyed this holiday heist story. Perhaps on your next flight at JFK, you’ll remember this heist while traveling.  

Catch Tony telling you another crime story soon. 

Happy Holidays!