The big heist
Subtitle: the real story of the Lufthansa heist, the Mafia, and murder
By: Anthony M. DeStefano
Publisher: Citadel Press / Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
ISBN-13: 9780806538303
Subjects: Organized crime; Deutsche Lufthansa (1953- ); Case studies; Robbery
Description: One of the biggest scores in Mafia history, the Lufthansa Airlines heist of 1978 has become the stuff of Mafia legend--and a decades-long investigation that continues to this day. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony DeStefano sheds new light on this legendary unsolved case using recent evidence from the 2015 trial of eighty-year-old Mafia don Vincent Asaro, who for the first time speaks out on his role in the fateful Lufthansa heist. This blistering you-are-there account takes you behind the headlines and inside the ranks of America's infamous crime families--with never-before-told stories, late-breaking news, and bombshell revelations: * New details on the heist's planning: who was involved, how they pulled it off, and what really happened to the almost $6 million in cash and jewels they stole from JFK Airport * Why suspected heist participant Vincent Asaro was found NOT GUILTY of all charges--racketeering, theft, and murder--even after being observed by the FBI for more than three decades * The shocking discovery of human bones in a Queens home belonging to a relative of Jimmy Burke, the homicidal Lucchese crime family associate who assembled the Lufthansa heist team--and masterminded the caper, then the biggest cash robbery in American history. * The eye-opening testimony of gangsters-turned-informants Salvatore Vitale and Gaspar Valenti--and what it reveals about the Mafia code of silence known as Omerta * The greed, betrayal, murder, and other frightening insights into the Bonanno and Lucchese crime families * Disturbing claims about how some members of the NYPD leaked information to mobster Jimmy Burke and may have helped hide evidence of a mob murder victim's demise An invaluable addition to any crime library, this is the most complete, thorough, and up-to-date account of the Lufthansa heist currently available. Pulitzer-Prize winner Anthony DeStefano draws from his years of experience reporting on the mob for New York Newsday--as well as his firsthand coverage of the Asaro indictment and attendence at the trial--to expose the all-too-human heart of organized crime in America. The Big Heist is thrilling, shocking, and impossible to put down.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-249) and index.
Table of contents: title: The message from the bones; title: "The Feds are all over..."; title: A goodfella's lament; title: "Super thief"; title: "We will get you"; title: Tales of the gold bug; title: "I got a couple of million"; title: The ring; title: "My God, you lost millions"; title: The friends who hurt you; title: "See, big mouth"; title: Dead fellas...and gals; title: The shakedown guy; title: "We're in trouble"; title: Never say never; title: Dead men told no tales; title: "Score of scores"; title: "Come dressed"; title: "This is it"; title: All in the family; title: "What is this, Watergate?"; title: "Free!"; title: Epilogue; title: Lufthansa roll call.