American Outlaws: Goodfellas
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Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.
Speaker 1: Warning, Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and
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Speaker 3: Now. You may think you know the story of Goodfellas
Speaker 3: who was involved in what really happened? But do you do? You?
Speaker 3: Actually does anyone? And while you may know the story
Speaker 3: of Goodfellow, you haven't heard the kind of murdery version
Speaker 3: of the real crime yet. And I hope I think
Speaker 3: you're going to want to now, So if you're ready,
Speaker 3: please join me as we uncover what truths we can
Speaker 3: and solve what mysteries we may. Kind of murderies Bad
Speaker 3: Fellas cocaine chaos and the legendary Luftanza heist starts. Now,
Speaker 3: the Luftanza highst stands as a stark reminder of the
Speaker 3: audacity and brutal effectiveness, at least up to a point
Speaker 3: of organized crime. The heist, which occurred in the winter
Speaker 3: chill of December nineteen seventy eight at the John F.
Speaker 3: Kennedy International Airport, was not just another theft of jewels
Speaker 3: and cash. It was the largest heist of its kind
Speaker 3: in American history. The plot was orchestrated by a cadre
Speaker 3: of associates, and their target was nothing short of staggering,
Speaker 3: and estimated five million dollars in untraceable American currency and
Speaker 3: an additional eight hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in jewels. Now,
Speaker 3: that's a haul that would be impressive at any time
Speaker 3: in American history, but adjusted for inflation, the roughly six
Speaker 3: million dollars in cash and jewels taken in nineteen seventy
Speaker 3: eight would be worth twenty six million dollars today. The loot,
Speaker 3: flown in from West Germany was sitting in the Luftanza
Speaker 3: Airlines cargo building, seemingly secure yet tantalizingly vulnerable. As this
Speaker 3: story will reveal, the audacity of the heist was matched
Speaker 3: only by its brutal aftermath. In the years that followed,
Speaker 3: a blood bath ensued within the criminal underworld. The architects
Speaker 3: of the heist, perhaps driven by paranoia, greed, or a
Speaker 3: twisted sense of self preservation, began to eliminate anyone who
Speaker 3: could tie them back to the crime. The purge was
Speaker 3: ruthless and indiscriminate, leaving a trail of bodies, each a
Speaker 3: silenced witness to the highst For if mobsters and pirates
Speaker 3: share one piece of wisdom, it's the dead Men tell
Speaker 3: no tales. Now, four decades later, the shroud of mystery
Speaker 3: still lingers. The few who survived the ensuing bloodmath managed
Speaker 3: to evade justice, slipping through the fingers of law enforcement.
Speaker 3: Their survival speaks to a combination of luck, cunning, and
Speaker 3: a code of silence or omerta that is as old
Speaker 3: as organized crime itself. The Luftanza heist exposes the dark
Speaker 3: underbelly of the American dream, where ambition and avarice collide
Speaker 3: with fatal consequences. In the shadowy hours before dawn on
Speaker 3: December eleventh, nineteen seventy eight, a stolen black forty conoline
Speaker 3: van parked ominously outside of New York's JFK International Airport.
Speaker 3: Inside a group of men, faces hidden behind black ski masks,
Speaker 3: waited with baited breath for this signal to launch one
Speaker 3: of the most audacious and richest heists in American history.
Speaker 3: At three twelve a m. It was go time. The
Speaker 3: van backed up to the deliveries entrance of the Luftanza
Speaker 3: Airlines terminal, and the masked men, armed and resolute, made
Speaker 3: their injury. What transpired in the next sixty four minutes
Speaker 3: was a display of criminal expertise and precision. The robbers
Speaker 3: infiltrated the terminal, executed their plan with chilling efficiency, and
Speaker 3: disappeared into the night, their van now laiden with five
Speaker 3: million in untraceable cash and an additional one million in jewels.
Speaker 3: This operation marked the largest cash robbery on US soil
Speaker 3: at the time, a record that added much to the
Speaker 3: heist's infamy and its inevitable cementing into the American cultural zeitgeist.
Speaker 3: The Luftanza Heights would capture the public imagination not just
Speaker 3: for its sheer scale and execution, but also for its
Speaker 3: lasting impact on the criminal underworld. In the years that
Speaker 3: followed the highest the wave of violence and retribution swept
Speaker 3: through the ranks of those involved. The betrayal and paranoia
Speaker 3: that followed left a trail of bodies as key figures
Speaker 3: connected to the heist were systematically eliminated. Remarkably, despite the
Speaker 3: magnitude of the crime and its bloody aftermath, only one
Speaker 3: individual was ever imprisoned in connection to the heist. This
Speaker 3: singular conviction underscores the complexity of the criminal network behind
Speaker 3: the operation and the challenges faced by law enforcement in
Speaker 3: unraveling the full extent of the plot. Just over a
Speaker 3: decade later, the story of the Luftanza heist would be
Speaker 3: etched forever into popular culture through Martin Scorsese's nineteen ninety
Speaker 3: film Goodfellas, which dramatized the events and characters involved and
Speaker 3: offered a glimpse into the intricate web of loyalties and
Speaker 3: betrayals within the world of organized crime. However, the Luftanza
Speaker 3: heist was a crime emblematic of its era, and indeed
Speaker 3: it seems implausible in today's world marked by advance security
Speaker 3: and surveillance technologies. However, in the New York of the
Speaker 3: nineteen seventies, the landscape was vastly different, shaped significantly by
Speaker 3: the pervasive influence of the mafia. For this was a
Speaker 3: time when the American cosinostra was that the apex of
Speaker 3: its power. This period, from the nineteen seventies into the
Speaker 3: early eighties represented a peak in criminal activity in New
Speaker 3: York City, much of it orchestrated under the aegis of
Speaker 3: the Five Families of the New York Mafia. These families Bonano, Colombo, Gambino, Genovesi,
Speaker 3: and Luksi held sway over large swaths of the city.
Speaker 3: Their influence was so profound that they were implicated in
Speaker 3: almost every major crime of the era. Central to the
Speaker 3: story of the Luftanza heist was the luks family, in
Speaker 3: particular an associate named Jimmy Burke, who emerged as the
Speaker 3: mastermind behind the daring operation. Burke's depiction by Robert De
Speaker 3: Niro as Jimmy Conway and Goodfellows brought a cinematic flare
Speaker 3: to his real life persona, highlighting his unique position within
Speaker 3: the mafia hierarchy. You see, Burke as an Irish American
Speaker 3: stood apart in the predominantly Italian American mafia. This distinction
Speaker 3: barred him from becoming a made man, a formal member
Speaker 3: of the mafia family, but it also afforded him a
Speaker 3: degree of autonomy uncommon among his peers. Unable to be
Speaker 3: formally inducted due to his heritage, Burke instead navigated the
Speaker 3: criminal landscape as a sort of free agent, unbound by
Speaker 3: the strict allegiances that often defined the lives of mafia associates.
Speaker 3: His early life saw him gravitating toward the Luksey family,
Speaker 3: becoming an influential associate who worked the streets on their behalf.
Speaker 3: It was this blend of outsider status and deep integration
Speaker 3: within the Luczy family operations that positioned Jimmy Burke to
Speaker 3: orchestrate the Luftanza heist. His role in the audacious robbery
Speaker 3: underscored not just his criminal acumen, but also the complex
Speaker 3: dynamics of mafia affiliations and the power str ructures. During
Speaker 3: one of the most turbulent periods in New York City's
Speaker 3: criminal history, the genesis of the Luftanza highst unfolded in
Speaker 3: an unassuming setting, Roberts Lounge. This tavern nestled in the
Speaker 3: Ozone Park neighborhood, of Queen's and owned by Jimmy Burke,
Speaker 3: was more than just a local watering hole. It was
Speaker 3: a clandestine nexus for criminals, a place where illicit deals
Speaker 3: were broker and nefarious plans hatched. It was in this
Speaker 3: den of iniquity that a pivotal meeting took place, setting
Speaker 3: the stage for the historic heist. Burke's associate Henry Hill,
Speaker 3: later immortalized by Rayleiota and Goodfellows by godwa Performance encountered
Speaker 3: a book maker named Martin Krugman at Roberts Lodge. This
Speaker 3: meeting would prove to be faithful. It was Krugman who
Speaker 3: unwittingly planted the seeds for the Luftanza heist. Krugman relayed
Speaker 3: information to Hill that was too enticing to ignore, a
Speaker 3: stash of six million and untraceable cash and jewelry ripe
Speaker 3: for the taking of the John F. Kennedy International Area.
Speaker 3: This intel came from Lewis Warner, a JFK Airport worker
Speaker 3: indebted to Krugman. Warner had revealed that the Luftanza Airlines
Speaker 3: terminal housed a vault used for transporting and storing large
Speaker 3: sums of currency. The cash flown in monthly from West
Speaker 3: Germany represented the accumulated monetary exchanges from servicemen and tourists.
Speaker 3: This regular influx of untraceable American currency was a tantalizing target.
Speaker 3: Jimmy Burke's interest was further peaked by the knowledge that
Speaker 3: such a heist was feasible. Warner himself had previously pilfered
Speaker 3: twenty two thousand from a Lufton's vault. Sensing an opportunity
Speaker 3: of unprecedented scale, Burke agreed to orchestrate the heist for
Speaker 3: the Luks family. Over the ensuing months, a meticulous plan
Speaker 3: was crafted. Burke, Warner, Krugman, and the other associates, leveraging
Speaker 3: their knowledge of the airport's layout in security protocols, devised
Speaker 3: a strategy. Warner's inside information was invaluable, offering specifics on
Speaker 3: where to park, the optimal time for injury, and the
Speaker 3: duration of their stay inside the terminal. This planning phase
Speaker 3: marked the careful orchestration of what would become one of
Speaker 3: the most audacious thefts in American history. Each detail, from
Speaker 3: the timing to the logistics was methodically plotted, setting the
Speaker 3: stage for a heist that would reverberate through the annals
Speaker 3: of crime. And forever change the landscape of organized criminal activity.
Speaker 3: As the plan took shape, Jimmy Burke meticulously assembled a
Speaker 3: crew that would be capable of carrying out this daring robbery.
Speaker 3: The team comprised a blend of seasoned criminals from the
Speaker 3: Lucsey family, an ally from the Gambino family, and close
Speaker 3: associates of Burke himself. Tommy de Simone, portrayed as Tommy
Speaker 3: DeVito by Joe Peshi and Goodfellows, was a key player
Speaker 3: in this ensemble. Alongside him were Angelo Seppi, Lewis Kefora,
Speaker 3: Jo Civitello Senior, Tony Rodriguez, Joseph m Costa, Joe Manry,
Speaker 3: and Robert McMahon from the Luczy family. Pallo Lucastri, representing
Speaker 3: the Gambino family, was also roped in, signifying the heist's
Speaker 3: cross family collaboration. Additionally, Burke's own son, Frank, and an
Speaker 3: associate named Parnell stax Edwards were chosen for crucial driving roles.
Speaker 3: The plan was precise. De Simone, Seppe, Kufora, Civatello, Rodriguez, Costa,
Speaker 3: Manry and McMahon, and le Castri would execute the heist.
Speaker 3: They would operate in a stolen Ford a conoline van
Speaker 3: driven by Edwards. Frank Burke's role was equally crucial. He
Speaker 3: would be stationed outside the airport in a crash car,
Speaker 3: ready to intervene and obstruct any police vehicles that might
Speaker 3: threaten the operation. In other words, it was his job
Speaker 3: to crash into any cop cars that might show up.
Speaker 3: Beyond the core team, other associates also played vital roles.
Speaker 3: Paul Verio, the under boss of the Lukeesy family portrayed
Speaker 3: by Paul Sorbino and Goodfellas, delegated his son Paul Junior,
Speaker 3: to oversee the acquisition of their share of the loot.
Speaker 3: Vincent Asaro, a crime crew chief from the Bonano family,
Speaker 3: was also involved. Vincent's inclusion under score the heist's territorial implications,
Speaker 3: as the crime would occur on Bonano turf. Jimmy Burke,
Speaker 3: the orchestrator of this grand scheme, would oversee the operation
Speaker 3: from a distance. His role extended beyond the planning and execution.
Speaker 3: He was also tasked with managing the aftermath, ensuring that
Speaker 3: all loose ends were tied up, a responsibility that hinted
Speaker 3: at the darker aspects of the heists fallout. This assembly
Speaker 3: of criminal talents, drawn from various factions of New York's
Speaker 3: mafia landscape, highlighted the extensive reach and influence of organized
Speaker 3: crime during this era in the nineteen seventies. The heist
Speaker 3: was not just a testament to their criminal prowess, but
Speaker 3: also an illustration of the complex interplay of alliances and
Speaker 3: territories within the mafia's larger structure. In the early hours
Speaker 3: of December eleventh, nineteen seventy eight, it was go time.
Speaker 3: The stolen ford o'conoline van, as meticulously planned, parked outside
Speaker 3: of the Luftanza terminal at JFK Airport. The heist was
Speaker 3: triggered when cargo agent carried Whalen, sensing something amiss, approached
Speaker 3: the van. His decision to investigate set in motion a
Speaker 3: series of events that unfolded with terrifying efficiency. Whalen was
Speaker 3: quickly subdued, pistol whipped, and dragged into the van. The assailants,
Speaker 3: demonstrating their willingness to go to any lengths, rifled through
Speaker 3: his wallet and threatened his family. Whalen had no choice
Speaker 3: but to comply with their demands. The situation escalated when
Speaker 3: another agent drawn by the disturbance, arrived at the loading dock,
Speaker 3: he walked into an ambush. Six masked men, armed and ready,
Speaker 3: swiftly overpowered him. Utilizing a key provided by Lewis Warner,
Speaker 3: the insider who had facilitated the heist, the robbers gained
Speaker 3: access to the building and swiftly rounded up the remaining employees,
Speaker 3: hurting them into a break room. Whalen, bloody and battered,
Speaker 3: served as a stark warning to the hostages of the
Speaker 3: robbers deadly seriousness. The next phase involved Rudy Elrich, a
Speaker 3: senior cargo agent. Warner had informed the robbers that Elrich
Speaker 3: was the only individual capable of navigating the vault's complex
Speaker 3: two door system. Summoned under the ruse of a technical
Speaker 3: issue with the cargo, Elrich found himself coerced into opening
Speaker 3: the vault. The team's knowledge of the vault's security system
Speaker 3: was surprisingly thorough, a testament to Warner's detailed briefing. The
Speaker 3: double door system was a crucial hurdle. Any error could
Speaker 3: trigger an alarm, instantly locking down the airport. The procedure
Speaker 3: required the first door to be unlocked, opened, and then
Speaker 3: re locked before the second door could be opened. This
Speaker 3: process had to be reversed upon exit to ensure everything
Speaker 3: when according to plan, The robbers had Elrich open the
Speaker 3: first door and then wait with them in the chamber
Speaker 3: between the doors while they assessed the cargo. This sequence
Speaker 3: of events highlighted not just the careful planning and execution
Speaker 3: of the heights, but also a level of inside knowledge
Speaker 3: that the robbers possessed. Each step was calculated to avoid
Speaker 3: detection and ensure a swift escape, painting a picture of
Speaker 3: a heist that was as meticulously orchestrated as it was
Speaker 3: brutally executed. In the tense moments within the Luftanza terminal,
Speaker 3: the robbery reached its climax. Rudy Elrich, coerced at gunpoint,
Speaker 3: lay prone on the ground, witness to the meticulous theft
Speaker 3: unfolding before him. The robbers, with clinical precisions, sifted through
Speaker 3: cargo manifests, carefully selecting their targets. Out of the multitude
Speaker 3: of parcels they earmarked about forty for theft, each chosen
Speaker 3: for its value. With their lute identified, Elrich was compelled
Speaker 3: to unlock the second door of the vault. The cargo
Speaker 3: now destined to be part of one of the most
Speaker 3: significant heights in US history, was methodically moved into the
Speaker 3: chamber and secured. The final act of the robbery was
Speaker 3: executed with the same cold efficiency that had marked its beginning.
Speaker 3: Once the outer door of the vault was unlocked, one
Speaker 3: of the assailants escorted Elrich back to the break room,
Speaker 3: where he rejoined the other employees who remained under strict guard.
Speaker 3: By four sixteen a m. The task was complete. All
Speaker 3: the selected cargo had been loaded into the waiting Econo
Speaker 3: line van. The Luftanza employees, under threat of severe retribution
Speaker 3: against their families and loved ones, were instructed not to
Speaker 3: contact the authorities until four to thirty am. This directive
Speaker 3: provided Burke's men a critical fifteen minute window to make
Speaker 3: their escape. Fearing for their own lives and the lives
Speaker 3: of the ones that they loved, the employees adhered to
Speaker 3: their captor's orders, waiting fourteen minutes before raising the alarm.
Speaker 3: When they finally did call for help at four thirty am,
Speaker 3: Burke's crew was nowhere to be seen. In those sixty
Speaker 3: four minutes, the Luftonza heights had been executed flawlessly. The
Speaker 3: crew had managed to abscond with an estimated five million
Speaker 3: dollars in cash and an additional approximately one million in jewelry.
Speaker 3: The magnitude of the heist was unprecedented, and for the
Speaker 3: moment they had evaded capture, the heist not only demonstrated
Speaker 3: the ingenuity and audacity of Burke and his team, but
Speaker 3: also underscored the limitations of security measures at the time.
Speaker 3: The success of the operation, at least initially, would go
Speaker 3: on to become a legend in the criminal underworld and
Speaker 3: a haunting reminder of the era's vulnerability to such organized
Speaker 3: crime activities. But then the Lufton's heist, which had been
Speaker 3: executed with such precision and cunning, was on the verge
Speaker 3: of unraveling due to a single reckless mistake. Parnell stax Edwards,
Speaker 3: one of Burke's men, had been given a crucial yet
Speaker 3: seemingly simple task to dispose of the forda'conoline van used
Speaker 3: in the heist. This task was vital to ensure that
Speaker 3: no traces led back to the perpetrators. However, stax Edwards's
Speaker 3: actions following the successful heist would prove to be a
Speaker 3: fatal misstep. On December thirteenth, two days after the robbery,
Speaker 3: a seemingly innocuous event triggered the beginning of the unraveling.
Speaker 3: A police officer in Canarsi, Brooklyn reported a large van
Speaker 3: parked illegally. The van's description matched the one provided by
Speaker 3: the Luftanza employees, sending a potential lead. Police investigators and
Speaker 3: fingerprint experts converged on the location, impounding what they believed
Speaker 3: to be the same vehicle spotted at JFK Airport. The
Speaker 3: forensic examination of the van led to a significant breakthrough.
Speaker 3: Finger prints were identified as belonging to Parnell Edwards. This
Speaker 3: discovery inadvertently connected the heist to Burke's crew, a connection
Speaker 3: that would otherwise have remained concealed. However, Edwards would never
Speaker 3: face police questioning he'd already been eliminated by Jimmy Burke
Speaker 3: belying his nickname Jimmy the Gent by murdering Edwards for
Speaker 3: his blunder. Parnell edwards deviation from the plan was marked
Speaker 3: by a series of misjudgments and misjudgments is putting it
Speaker 3: lightly more like fatal errors. Instead of immediately taking the
Speaker 3: car to a car compactor in New Jersey, as instructed,
Speaker 3: he decided to visit his girlfriend's house in Canarsi. His
Speaker 3: next decision to indulge in marijuana, purportedly smoking two joints,
Speaker 3: then drinking a bunch of booze and doing cocaine led
Speaker 3: Edwards to carelessly park the van in a no parking
Speaker 3: zone and subsequently pass out forgetting about the vehicle entirely.
Speaker 3: This lapse in judgment by Edwards not only cost him
Speaker 3: his life, but also signaled the beginning of the end
Speaker 3: for the secrecy surrounding the Luftanza heist. It was a
Speaker 3: stark reminder that even the most meticulously planned crimes can
Speaker 3: unravel due to a single act of carelessness, turning what
Speaker 3: would have been a quote perfect crime into a pathway
Speaker 3: leading investigators closer to the truth. In the aftermath of
Speaker 3: the Luftanza Highst and the critical mistake made by Edwards,
Speaker 3: Jimmy Burke, the Heighst's mastermind, was thrust into a state
Speaker 3: of deep paranoia and urgency. Facing the prospect of his
Speaker 3: meticulously executed plan unraveling and the imminent threat of police scrutiny,
Speaker 3: Burke resorted to a chilling strategy to ensure the continued
Speaker 3: secrecy of the operation, a ruthless elimination of potential informants.
Speaker 3: Henry Hill, that's Raeliota from Goodfellas, who later turned into
Speaker 3: a crucial witness for the government, offered a harrowing account
Speaker 3: of Burke's reaction. Hill depicted Burke as consumed by anxiety
Speaker 3: following the discovery of the van and the rapid progress
Speaker 3: of the investigation by the FBI, which within three days
Speaker 3: had identified Burke and his crew as the prime suspects.
Speaker 3: Driven by a desperate need to protect himself, Burke, according
Speaker 3: to Hill, was determined to silence anyone who could potentially
Speaker 3: link him to the heist. This vow marked the beginning
Speaker 3: of a brutal and systematic campaign of elimination. The retribution
Speaker 3: began with Stax Edwards, the man whose blunder had jeopardized
Speaker 3: the entire operation. Edwards was murdered in his apartment by
Speaker 3: Tommy de Simone and Angelo Seppi, two of Burke's trusted associates.
Speaker 3: Following Edwards, Martin Krugman, the bookmaker who had initially provided
Speaker 3: the tip off about the Luftanza cargo, meant a similar fate,
Speaker 3: but Burke's wrath didn't stop with these initial targets. Over
Speaker 3: the next six months, several members of the heist crew,
Speaker 3: as well as some of their immediate family members, were
Speaker 3: either killed or disappeared. This list of victims included Frank Burke,
Speaker 3: Jimmy's own son. The killings were carried out either directly
Speaker 3: by Burke or orchestrated through his associates. The wave of
Speaker 3: violence underscored the brutal lengths to which Burke was willing
Speaker 3: to go to maintain the secrecy surrounding the heist. It
Speaker 3: painted a bloody picture of the mafia's internal dynamics, where
Speaker 3: loyalty was secondary to self preservation and human life was
Speaker 3: expendable in the face of potential exposure. The Luftanza heist,
Speaker 3: initially hailed as a master stroke of criminal planning, thus
Speaker 3: descended into a dark saga of betrayal and bloodshed, erasing
Speaker 3: almost all direct links to one of the most significant
Speaker 3: robberies in American history. The aftermath of the heist, marked
Speaker 3: by Jimmy Burke's ruthless elimination of almost all involved, led
Speaker 3: to an ironic twist. Despite the magnitude of the crime,
Speaker 3: very few faced legal repercussions directly tied to the heist.
Speaker 3: Forty five years later, now the record shows that only
Speaker 3: one individual served time for direct involvement in the robbery.
Speaker 3: Lewis Werner, the JFK airport worker whose inside information was
Speaker 3: crucial to the highest execution, was arrested four months after
Speaker 3: the event. He was convicted for his role in providing
Speaker 3: layout details of the terminal to the robbers. In May
Speaker 3: nineteen seventy nine. Werner received a sentence of fifteen years
Speaker 3: in prison, a punishment that stood in stark contrast to
Speaker 3: the fates of his co conspirators, most of whom meant
Speaker 3: violent inns. Henry Hill, a key associate in the heist,
Speaker 3: found himself in a precarious position by nineteen eighty when
Speaker 3: he was arrested for narcotics trafficking. Fearing that Jimmy Burke
Speaker 3: would eliminate him to prevent any possibility of cooperation with
Speaker 3: the authorities, Hill decided to become proactive to do what
Speaker 3: he could to protect his life. He chose to become
Speaker 3: an informant. Hill's decision to collaborate with the FBI in
Speaker 3: exchange for protection marked a significant turning point. His extensive
Speaker 3: knowledge about Burke, Varrio, and others within the mafia proved invaluable.
Speaker 3: His testimony led to several convictions, and for his own safety,
Speaker 3: Hill entered the witness Protection program, effectively vanishing from the
Speaker 3: public eye. Both Paul Varrio and Jimmy Burke's significant figures
Speaker 3: in the criminal enterprise, eventually faced imprisonment. However, their convictions
Speaker 3: were unrelated to the Luftanza heist. Varrio was apprehended on
Speaker 3: charges of racketeering, gambling, and loan sharking, while Burke was
Speaker 3: caught for his involvement in a college basketball point shaving scandal.
Speaker 3: Both men died in prison, with Vario passing away in
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty eight and Burke in nineteen ninety six. The
Speaker 3: Luftanza heist, despite its grand scale and the intense investigation
Speaker 3: that followed, resulted in surprisingly few direct legal consequences for
Speaker 3: those involved. The majority of the participants were either murdered
Speaker 3: or disappeared, and those who did face the law were
Speaker 3: convicted on unrelated charges. This outcome highlights the complex and
Speaker 3: often elusive nature of organized crime and the challenges faced
Speaker 3: by law enforcement in bringing such perpetrators to justice. In
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen, a significant development occurred in the long dormant case,
Speaker 3: with the arrest of Vincent desarro A reputed figure in
Speaker 3: the Banano crime family. This arrest came thirty six years
Speaker 3: after the infamous heist at JFK Airport. Asorrow, then seventy
Speaker 3: eight years old, faced trial in connection with the heist,
Speaker 3: stirring renewed interest in a case steeped in mafia lore
Speaker 3: and unsolved mysteries. However, his trial did not lead to
Speaker 3: a conviction for a Sorrow. Despite the charges, he staunchly
Speaker 3: denied any involvement in the heist, a claim that was
Speaker 3: supported by Henry Hill before Hill's death in twenty twelve.
Speaker 3: The outcome of the trial was a Sorrow's acquittal on
Speaker 3: all charges related to the Luftanza highst leading to his release. However,
Speaker 3: a Sorrow's freedom was short lived. He was later arrested
Speaker 3: and convicted in twenty seventeen for a road rage incident,
Speaker 3: leading to an eight year prison sentence. This sequence of
Speaker 3: events paralleled the fates of other key figures connected to
Speaker 3: the Luftanza heist, notably Paul Vario and Jimmy Burke, whose
Speaker 3: incarcerations were also unrelated to the heist itself. The legal
Speaker 3: case surrounding the Luftanza heist. Despite these later develop and
Speaker 3: the eventual demise of key figures like Burke and Barrio
Speaker 3: remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the
Speaker 3: annals of American crime, though we essentially know what happened
Speaker 3: that night and who was involved, or at least we
Speaker 3: think we do, largely for most of us because of
Speaker 3: the movie Goodfellas. Since only Werner was ultimately imprisoned, specifically
Speaker 3: for his role in the heist, the Luftanza heist is
Speaker 3: still considered an open case, its legacy one of bloodshed, betrayal,
Speaker 3: and the seemingly impenetrable wall of silence that the mafia
Speaker 3: calls omerta, although in this case that wall of silence
Speaker 3: was certainly fortified by repeated brutal murder. So many corpses
Speaker 3: put in the ground at the paranoid behest of Jimmy Burke,
Speaker 3: and the many secrets of the Luftanza Heist buried forever
Speaker 3: alongside those who carried them until next time. I'm Zevan Odelberg,
Speaker 3: and and this has been kind of murdery.
Speaker 1: If you like the show, please subscribe to review and
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Speaker 1: at Kinda Murgury or email at Kindermurgury. At gmail dot com.
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