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00:03Tonight, the heist of the century.
00:06Over $5 million in cash and jewels disappears from one of the busiest airports in the country.
00:13Within hours, it's international news that calling it the crime of the century.
00:18Authorities have little to go on until the bodies start piling up.
00:22Every time police track down a suspect, that person ends up with a bullet in the back of his head.
00:27Over the next six months, you had eight bodies drop.
00:31Now, we'll explore the top theories as to who's responsible for the Lufthansa heist.
00:38The FBI gets a tip that someone deposited about $250,000 in a safe deposit box.
00:44But by the time that they are able to investigate, the money's gone.
00:47Before he can be brought in for questioning, his body is found riddled with bullets.
00:52One of them to the back of the head.
00:54So, who orchestrated the Lufthansa heist?
01:12Monday, December 11th, 1978.
01:17New York's John F. Kennedy Airport among America's busiest.
01:23Around 3 a.m., a black van carrying eight masked men drives past the departure gates to the back of
01:30the airport.
01:31JFK, it's one of the country's biggest and busiest airports.
01:36But what the ordinary flyer would fail to notice is outside of the terminals, there are a whole bunch of
01:43warehouses.
01:44And those warehouses are used to store cargo that's bound for other destinations.
01:51If you've got electronics from Japan or wine from France, they're going to be stored there until they can be
01:58shipped onward to their final destination.
02:02Lufthansa is essentially the unofficial airlines of European banks.
02:07They are bringing in American currency, European currency, security bonds.
02:12And on top of that, luxury goods, furs, Swiss watches, fine jewelry, all of this stored at the Lufthansa warehouses.
02:20This is the ramp up right before Christmas.
02:23So they're seeing an influx of merchandise, an influx of cash, influx in jewels.
02:27So that high value room, which normally has a million, now has $5 million at least in cash and about
02:34$800,000 in jewels.
02:36Today's value, about $28 million.
02:39Later that morning, it's scheduled to be loaded onto armored Brinks trucks and delivered to points across Manhattan.
02:47Until then, everything remains under lock and key.
02:52The most valuable goods are kept on the third floor of building 261 in a place called the high value
02:59room, which is always guarded by nighttime guards.
03:02Accessing the high value room is a pretty intricate process.
03:05There are two metal cages divided by a steel door.
03:11To get through the door, you first have to get through the first cage.
03:15That has to be closed and then locked using two keys that have to be turned simultaneously before you can
03:22even open the next door.
03:23And if this protocol is not strictly followed, if it is deviated from in even the slightest way, all sorts
03:31of alarms will start sounding and Port Authority police will be all over the place.
03:36For decades, it's been an airtight system.
03:39No one has dared to try to breach it.
03:42But within the hour, all of that will change.
03:46The van drives up and six of the eight men get out.
03:50They cut off the padlock, run into the warehouse, and they seem to have timed it perfectly.
03:56Because all of the employees are in the employee break room, all having a meal break.
04:01They hold all of them at gunpoint and handcuff them to one another.
04:06And then they take their wallets, and they're looking at their IDs, and they're checking it against a list of
04:11guards.
04:11So these guys know which guards are supposed to be there.
04:15And they tell the guys while they're on the ground, if you guys make any false moves, not only are
04:21we going to shoot you,
04:22but then we're going to go to the address on your ID, and we're going to kill your whole family.
04:27Missing from the list, the nighttime supervisor with the keys to the high-value room.
04:33He's still downstairs in his office.
04:36They can't actually just storm into his office because he's got a panic button under his desk,
04:41and police would show up almost immediately.
04:43So they pull one of the guards off the floor with a gun to his head, and they force him
04:47to call the supervisor.
04:49And he tells him that Lufthansa is on the phone from Germany, and they'll only talk to the person in
04:55charge.
04:55So the supervisor comes out to the floor with his keys.
05:01Now all the thieves have to do is make sure that the manager turns both keys at exactly the same
05:07moment,
05:07or the place will be swarming with cops.
05:11One of these armed guys says, we know how this system works.
05:15If you have a single slip-up, you're a dead man.
05:18So he follows the protocol exactly, gets through the main door, gets into the high-value room.
05:25They see more to steal than they could have ever imagined, and they are ready to take it all.
05:32They start stuffing all of this, cash, jewels, watches, into 40 burlap bags and dragging them meticulously out to the
05:41van.
05:41And by 4.16, they've completely cleaned out the high-value room.
05:48It's the perfect heist.
05:51In just 75 minutes, the thieves pulled off the largest cash robbery in U.S. history at the time, 28
05:58million in today's dollars.
06:02Usually, with cash, you're able to look at the serial numbers and track the currency.
06:07But in this case, because it's older currency and because it's coming from overseas, there's no way to actually do
06:13that.
06:13The serial numbers aren't listed anywhere, so this money is actually untraceable.
06:17They dust for fingerprints, but no forensic evidence is left behind.
06:22Within hours, it's international news.
06:24They're calling it the crime of the century.
06:26These guys just pulled off the perfect crime.
06:29One thing seems highly probable, that this was an inside job.
06:35They knew too much.
06:37They knew, for example, exactly which guards were going to be on duty.
06:41They knew what time, exactly 3 a.m., they'd be going on their break.
06:46They knew the protocol that was required to get through those doors and into the high-value room.
06:52So, at least one of the robbers had to be someone on the inside.
06:56Two days after the heist, the FBI gets an anonymous tip that a low-level Lufthansa cargo agent named Peter
07:06Grunewald might be involved.
07:14Peter Grunewald is approached by the FBI, and at first, he really rebuffs them.
07:20I don't know anything.
07:21I don't want to be part of this.
07:23But they're pretty sure that he knows something.
07:25After the FBI questions him, he does something that makes him even more of a suspect.
07:31He uses his employee discount to buy airline tickets to five different locations.
07:38The Philippines, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Bogota, Colombia.
07:44Obviously, he's buying multiple tickets because he doesn't want anyone who's on his tail to find him.
07:50However, all of these flights are leaving from JFK.
07:54Peter Grunewald ultimately chooses the Bogota flight, where agents are waiting for him at the departure gate.
08:01Peter Grunewald folds entirely under pressure.
08:05And what he says is, yes, technically, I did organize this heist, but I did not know it was going
08:14to happen.
08:18Peter Grunewald is driving to work on the morning of Monday, December 11th, 1978, when he hears that there's been
08:24this big heist at the Lufthansa cargo terminal, and it sounds like exactly his idea.
08:30And he thinks Lewis did it.
08:34Lewis Werner, who had been with Lufthansa since 1968, works as a cargo supervisor for the airline.
08:41He immediately went and confronted Lewis Werner and accused him of stealing his plans and carrying the heist out without
08:48him.
08:49So he demands $300,000 from Werner to keep quiet.
08:53Werner, however, only gives him $10,000 and basically tells him to keep that, and he would throw him more
08:59money once things cool down.
09:02Using the information provided by Grunewald, police quickly turn their attention to his would-be accomplice, Louis Werner.
09:11His job is to sign for the money that's been brought in by Lufthansa before it's taken away and placed
09:19in a secure bank.
09:20But on Friday, December 8th, when this big shipment was there, he conveniently arranged to be away from his post
09:28for a full 90 minutes.
09:30So when the Brinks truck gets there, there's no one to sign for the money.
09:34That means it's going to be in the high-value room all weekend.
09:39The FBI starts trailing Werner, and it confirms all of their suspicions.
09:45He's paid off all of his gambling debts, and on top of that, he's bragging to everyone he can.
09:50He's bragging to his girlfriend, his estranged wife.
09:52He's telling everyone that he is involved in the heist.
09:57So Werner, not a seasoned criminal, makes a lot of mistakes.
10:01First thing he does, he spends a lot of money.
10:03He buys a brand-new van, takes his girlfriend and her kids on a luxurious vacation.
10:07How do you get this money working a job where you're only getting paid $20,000 a year?
10:12He is the prime suspect at this point.
10:14So they grab him coming out of a bowling alley with his girlfriend.
10:17The feds pressure Werner to give up his accomplices, but he refuses to name names.
10:24A trial date is set for May 4th, 1979.
10:29With the help of Grunwald's testimony, Werner is found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
10:35So basically within six months of the heist, authorities have their first conviction
10:40and the conviction of the potential architect of the whole plot.
10:45But if Werner was one of the original planners and the key man inside,
10:49it doesn't explain what happens to the $5 million after he goes to jail.
10:55Werner says he never spoke with any of the other participants face-to-face.
11:00He simply got phone calls instructing him what to do,
11:03and then of course he made phone calls passing information along.
11:06And he didn't know any names.
11:08Even though he's the one who had the plan, he was not the one who was behind it.
11:14And in fact, that money was with whoever did.
11:21In the months after the Lufthansa heist,
11:24feds believe that only someone in the New York mafia
11:27would be brazen enough to pull off a robbery of this magnitude.
11:32New York City in the 70s is pretty much run by the mob.
11:37There are five families and they each have their own district.
11:41JFK is controlled by the Lucchese family,
11:44but right around JFK in Queens, other mob families control that area.
11:50So there's a little bit of cooperation among the families.
11:54For much of the Lucchese family's existence,
11:57it was known as the least high profile of the five families.
12:03However, in the mid-1970s, a new Don took over,
12:07and he was determined to make the Lucchese family more powerful.
12:11And he did that by stealing just about anything he could get his hands on.
12:16One of the Lucchese family's favorite hangouts is Robert's Lounge.
12:21It's a run-of-the-mill bar in the working-class Ozone Park neighborhood,
12:25a few miles from JFK Airport.
12:30Authorities start to track members of the Lucchese family
12:33and the activities around the lounge,
12:34and they start to notice that one of the mafia members
12:37has been spending a lot of money recently,
12:40as if he has suddenly come into some cash.
12:43His name is Angelo Seppi.
12:45He buys his girlfriend a brand-new Cadillac,
12:48and he drops $9,000 in cash
12:51on a brand-new 1979 Ford Thunderbird.
13:00Authorities know Angelo Seppi
13:02as being affiliated with the Lucchese family,
13:05as being sort of a muscle man for the Lucchese family.
13:08And here's this guy with his new T-bird.
13:12So what they do is they put a bug in the T-bird,
13:16and they think they have great stuff
13:18because Angelo Seppi is talking about the heist in the T-bird.
13:24They think they're on to something big.
13:26Okay, this is the big break in the case.
13:29Unfortunately, when they play the tape back later,
13:33the voices are muffled.
13:35Only bits and pieces can be picked up.
13:38Angelo Seppi, as a way to combat
13:40the possibility that his car was bugged,
13:43would turn up the radio when he'd have these conversations,
13:46which would jumble their surveillance.
13:48The people that were listening
13:50would have a difficult time deciphering
13:52between whether the participants
13:53in the conspiracy were talking,
13:56or was it a disc jockey talking,
13:57or was it a song that was playing on the radio.
14:02Police know Seppi as an enforcer,
14:05mob muscle who collects debts and carries out hits.
14:08Lately, there have been several murders
14:10of potential Lufthansa suspects,
14:12all frequent visitors to Robert's Lounge.
14:16One is Stax Edwards,
14:18who is known to have ties to the Lucchese family.
14:22Stax Edwards has one job in this heist,
14:25and that is to make the black van used in the heist disappear.
14:31But rather than do as instructed,
14:34he parks it illegally.
14:35He partied all night with his girlfriend,
14:38and he passed out, forgot about the van.
14:42Meanwhile, the cops all over New York,
14:45I mean, this is the biggest thing going.
14:47They're looking for that van,
14:48and they find it right in front of a fire hydrant.
14:52They dust it for prints,
14:53and lo and behold,
14:55they find Stax prints on him.
14:58Immediately, he's on the watch list,
15:00and the FBI, law enforcement,
15:03everybody wants to speak to this guy.
15:06Before he can be brought in for questioning,
15:09his body is found riddled with bullets,
15:11five of them total,
15:13one of them to the back of the head,
15:14which is the calling card of a mob hit,
15:18execution style.
15:20Within the week,
15:21two more Lucchese associates turn up dead.
15:25One of them is a bookmaker.
15:27His body is found in a Brooklyn garbage dump.
15:30Another Lucchese associate,
15:32who's called the stick-up man,
15:33is found in his car,
15:34slumped over the steering wheel,
15:36a bullet in the back of his head.
15:39It seems that whoever's carrying out these executions
15:42is going after potential Lufthansa perpetrators
15:45before authorities can question them.
15:48If there's one suspect in all of these,
15:50it's Angelo Seppi.
15:54Authorities are convinced that Seppi
15:56is somehow connected to all three murders.
15:59It's possible he's killing off fellow mobsters,
16:01either to shut them up,
16:03or to prevent them from claiming their share
16:05of the Lufthansa loot.
16:07Lucky for law enforcement,
16:09they can bring Seppi in
16:11for an unrelated drug charge.
16:14Now, when they bring him in,
16:15they ask him about the heist.
16:16He says nothing.
16:17I know nothing.
16:18It gives them time to go search his house.
16:20They find nothing.
16:22They know he's involved,
16:24but they just don't have enough.
16:26So he goes away for some time on a parole violation,
16:29and they figure once he gets out from that,
16:32they will follow him until he screws up, makes an error.
16:37After 10 months in jail, Seppi goes free,
16:40and the FBI start tailing him again.
16:43Then comes a twist in the investigation.
16:46Angelo Seppi, mob enforcer, turns up dead.
16:50They find his body in the basement of his apartment building,
16:53three bullets in his head,
16:54and his 19-year-old girlfriend dead,
16:57one shot to the mouth.
16:58Well, now, it turns out Seppi himself is a victim.
17:03That means he isn't the guy behind the heist.
17:06He's working for someone else.
17:08And whoever that is wants him to be silenced as well.
17:17Though no one died during the Lufthansa heist,
17:19a trail of bodies has turned up in its wake.
17:23The FBI is now taking a long, hard look
17:26at one man in the Lucchese family
17:28cold enough to murder his fellow conspirators.
17:33If there's any mobster who wouldn't think twice
17:35about shooting a friend in the back of the head,
17:38it's Jimmy the Gent.
17:39Most people probably know Jimmy the Gent
17:41from the character that Robert De Niro
17:43played in Goodfellas.
17:45In 1962, Jimmy Burke is set to marry his fiancée,
17:49and a few weeks before the wedding,
17:51he realizes that she's being stalked by an ex.
17:54The day of their wedding,
17:57that ex is found killed
17:59with his remains strewn about his car.
18:03Burke is never actually charged with the crime,
18:06but his reputation for bloody vengeance starts to spread.
18:10He gets a new job in the Lucchese family.
18:13They put him to work hijacking cargo trucks.
18:16And he earns the nickname Jimmy the Gent
18:18because he's said to politely offer $50
18:21to the drivers of these trucks
18:23in exchange for their contents.
18:27By 1978, Burke has grown wealthy,
18:30so much so that he buys Robert's Lounge,
18:33making it an official hangout for him
18:35and his fellow thieves.
18:38Because of Burke's role in truck hijackings,
18:41his connection with the Lucchese family,
18:43and his connection with the JFK rackets,
18:45law enforcement are pretty sure
18:47that he has his hands in some way
18:50connected to the Lufthansa heist.
18:52They just have to figure out how to prove this.
19:00In order to get Jimmy,
19:02they start arresting anyone they can
19:04who spends time in Robert's Lounge.
19:07These are people with parole violation,
19:10minor criminal records,
19:11and they offer pardons in exchange for information
19:15that might lead to the arrest of Jimmy.
19:18One low-level bookie confesses
19:20that he is in Robert's Lounge
19:22the night after the heist,
19:25and that Jimmy comes in
19:26waving a bunch of cash around saying,
19:29let's have a drink on Lufthansa.
19:31Jimmy is well aware
19:32that the cops are following him.
19:34There's one time
19:35where there's an undercover cop at the bar,
19:37and Jimmy orders himself around a drinks
19:40and a glass of milk for the cop.
19:42There's another time
19:43when they had bugged his car,
19:45and he found it and shot it three times.
19:49He is so convinced that he is invincible
19:53that he's really toying with law enforcement.
19:56He knows that there are people surveilling his house,
19:59so he gets up in the middle of the night,
20:00and he'll go on these little joy rides,
20:02and he knows that these guys have to follow him
20:04wherever he goes.
20:05He just drives around the neighborhood,
20:06and when he comes back,
20:08he waves and laughs
20:09and just heads back in and goes to bed.
20:12Burke's cockiness may come from the fact
20:14that he appears to have an airtight alibi
20:17for the early hours of December 11th, 1978.
20:22He's arrested in Georgia
20:24for possession of cocaine,
20:26and he's sentenced to three months
20:27in a rehab program.
20:29He does those three months
20:31in the community treatment program
20:32in Times Square in Manhattan,
20:34and he's supposed to be there all the time,
20:37and he's checked on on regular intervals.
20:41That's where he is on the night of the heist,
20:43so how could he possibly be involved in it?
20:47And every time authorities
20:48find a potential new witness to Finger Burke,
20:52they end up dead.
20:54By the summer of 1979,
20:57nine more suspected people connected
20:59with the Lufthansa heist have been found dead.
21:02Authorities still find no clues left behind
21:05at these murder scenes,
21:06but because associates of the Lucchese family
21:09and of Burke's keep turning up dead,
21:11they think that maybe he's becoming paranoid
21:13and is continuing to cover his tracks.
21:17Then, in May 1980,
21:20the Lufthansa case takes a dramatic turn.
21:23Longtime Burke associate Henry Hill
21:26is arrested on serious drug charges.
21:29Under interrogation,
21:31he offers to make a deal.
21:33According to Henry Hill,
21:35Burke is the guy who planned the heist,
21:38executed it,
21:39and now has been bumping off
21:40anybody who might be associated with it.
21:42Hill is afraid that he is on Burke's hit list
21:45and that he's going to be next,
21:47so better that Burke get put away
21:49than he ends up dead.
21:51Burke isn't just knocking people off
21:53because he doesn't want them testifying against him.
21:56He's doing it because everyone who is killed,
21:58that's one less person to share the loot.
22:02Hill alleges that Burke snuck out of the treatment center
22:06in between the bed checks,
22:08and on the night of the heist,
22:10he is, in fact, one of the six men there.
22:13Hill's testimony syncs up
22:15with everything else the feds have discovered.
22:17The trouble is,
22:19it's still not enough to pin the heist on Burke.
22:22Law enforcement can't find anyone
22:25to corroborate Hill's claims.
22:27And added to that, Hill's doing this
22:29in exchange for a reduced sentence
22:31and federal protection.
22:33So this calls into question
22:35the sincerity of everything he says.
22:38Still, authorities are certain
22:40they have their man in Burke.
22:42They just need to find another way
22:44to bring him to justice.
22:47Authorities start questioning Henry Hill
22:49about his own alibi for that night,
22:51and he says he can't possibly
22:52have been involved in the heist
22:54because he was off at Boston College
22:56conducting a point-shaving scheme
22:58under the orders of Burke.
23:00As part of the scheme,
23:02Burke and Hill would pay players
23:03to throw certain plays
23:05or score a certain number of points
23:07in order to get within
23:08a certain scoring range.
23:11That allows gamblers
23:12to then place high-value bets
23:14on these games
23:15and reap huge monetary benefits.
23:18In 1982, Jimmy Burke is convicted
23:21of racketeering and sports betting,
23:24and he's sent away for 12 years.
23:26But 12 years isn't enough time
23:28for Henry Hill to feel safe.
23:31So he provides the authorities
23:32with more information
23:34on another crime
23:35to try and keep Jimmy Burke behind bars.
23:38Because the minute Jimmy gets out,
23:40Henry's a dead man.
23:43Burke is sent to prison,
23:45but not for the Lufthansa heist.
23:46It's a classic mob history story.
23:49You've got someone,
23:50you can't pin a crime on them,
23:52but you can pin other things.
23:53Problem is,
23:54still means that the original crime
23:56is unsolved.
23:57If all we have to go on
23:59is Henry Hill's testimony,
24:01it seems like the Lufthansa case
24:03is closed.
24:04But there's one nagging concern
24:06about this.
24:07Burke is not a mob heavyweight.
24:10Even if Burke is the one
24:12who plans the robbery
24:13and executes the robbery,
24:15he's got to get the blessing
24:17of somebody higher up
24:18in the organization.
24:19And whoever that is
24:21might be the one
24:22who's made off
24:23with the missing millions of dollars.
24:26The Lucchese crime family
24:28rules over the borough of Queens
24:31and nothing happens on their turf
24:33unless it's sanctioned from the top.
24:36So after the Lufthansa heist in 1978,
24:40feds are convinced
24:41that while low-level mobsters
24:43might have carried out
24:44the actual robbery,
24:45the $5 million payload
24:47travels much further
24:49up the food chain.
24:50To get it back,
24:52they'll need to bring down
24:53the godfather himself.
24:55Crime families operate
24:57and are successful for so long
24:58because you have this separation.
25:01The guy that's ordering
25:02these crimes to be committed
25:04is so far separated
25:05from people actually committing crimes
25:07that when the FBI
25:09and the local police
25:10are making these arrests,
25:11they can only get
25:12this bottom level.
25:13But the people above them
25:15that are pulling the strings,
25:16they never go to jail.
25:18This time,
25:19the feds have a secret weapon.
25:21They have Henry Hill
25:22who's turned informant
25:23and is in the
25:24Witness Protection Program.
25:25He's worked for the Lucchese family
25:27for decades.
25:28According to Hill,
25:29the Lucchese family
25:30have their hands
25:31in all kinds of industries
25:32across New York.
25:34Trucking, construction,
25:35the garment industry,
25:36and they also make a lot of money
25:38shipping stolen goods
25:40and shaking down
25:41transportation
25:41and union organizations.
25:43The Lucchese family
25:45used to be one
25:46of the smaller families,
25:47but now under this dawn,
25:49with the increased amount
25:51of smuggling and stealing,
25:53not just from JFK,
25:55but also from LaGuardia
25:57and Newark,
25:57they've become one
25:58of the strongest
25:59and most powerful
26:01families in the mob.
26:07The head of the Lucchese family
26:09is Don Antonio Corralo,
26:11better known as Tony Ducks.
26:13He's been in charge
26:14of the family since 1974,
26:17and he gets his nickname
26:18because of his uncanny ability
26:20to duck law enforcement.
26:22Part of what makes him
26:23so hard to arrest
26:24is he's got 500 foot soldiers
26:26under his command.
26:27He also rarely leaves
26:29his mansion in Queens,
26:30where he's surrounded
26:31by a two-story brick wall,
26:33bodyguards,
26:34and attack dogs.
26:37Authorities already
26:38pretty much know this,
26:39but Henry Hill confirms
26:40that while the Lufthansa heist
26:42might have been
26:43Jimmy Burke's idea
26:45or his brainchild,
26:46he still needs
26:47the Don's blessing.
26:48And Hill confirms
26:49that Tony Ducks
26:50gave him his blessing
26:51to carry out the heist
26:52in exchange for 50%
26:54of the loot.
26:57According to Hill,
26:58Tony Ducks
26:59isn't just doling out blessings
27:01and collecting money.
27:02He's organizing
27:03every detail
27:04of the operation.
27:06At the time of the heist,
27:07Jimmy Burke
27:08is serving time
27:09in the rehab center
27:10in Times Square
27:11in New York.
27:12The thing is,
27:13he should be serving
27:14that time in Georgia,
27:15because after all,
27:16that's where he was busted
27:17for cocaine possession.
27:19Agents are wondering
27:20whether it's Tony Ducks
27:22who managed to arrange
27:23to have Burke
27:25serve his time
27:26in New York
27:26rather than Georgia.
27:27So, if that's the case,
27:29then really,
27:30Tony Ducks
27:31is the one
27:31who's in control
27:32of this operation
27:33and not Jimmy the Gen.
27:35In addition
27:37to Hill's testimony,
27:39they also have
27:40the testimony
27:40of the Don's chauffeur
27:43who says
27:44that just days
27:45after the heist,
27:47the Don was already
27:48planning the execution
27:50of many of the people
27:51involved.
27:52Nobody actually speaks
27:54to the Don himself
27:55directly except
27:56except for his lieutenants.
27:57There are several levels
27:58of men before
27:59the order of a hit
28:00gets to the actual assassin,
28:02and that's by design.
28:03That's so that there
28:04are many levels
28:05of protection
28:05so that you can't
28:06trace that order
28:07directly back
28:08to the Don.
28:09If the feds
28:10can't nail Tony Ducks
28:11on the murders
28:12and the heist itself,
28:14there's only one other way
28:15authorities think
28:16they can bring him down,
28:18by finding the money.
28:22Authorities already know
28:23about the network
28:25that Tony Ducks
28:25uses to distribute money,
28:27but he seems
28:28to be behaving
28:29with more caution
28:30than usual,
28:31understandable
28:32after a heist
28:33of this size.
28:34The way his network
28:35operates is that
28:37the cash first comes
28:38to his walled compound
28:40in Queens,
28:41then he takes his cut,
28:43which is going to be laundered
28:44through his various businesses,
28:45but the rest of it
28:46is parceled out
28:47in small quantities
28:49and carried via couriers
28:52to various locations
28:53in the United States.
28:55One of authorities'
28:57major leads
28:57points them towards
28:58a lieutenant's house
28:59in Hollywood, Florida,
29:01where they believe couriers
29:02have brought a lot
29:04of this money to,
29:05and they're sent back
29:06to New York
29:06to make that run again.
29:08According to Henry Hill,
29:10once these couriers
29:11have either outlived
29:12their usefulness
29:13or might be getting
29:14too close and might turn,
29:16Tony Ducks orders
29:17their assassination.
29:20Once the money
29:21gets to Florida,
29:22where it goes
29:23is anyone's guess.
29:24The FBI gets a tip
29:26that $250,000 of it
29:28can be found
29:28in a safe deposit box
29:30in a Florida bank
29:31in Miami,
29:31but by the time
29:32the FBI gets there,
29:33it's been cleaned out.
29:35Law enforcement suspects
29:36at that point
29:37that Tony Ducks
29:38has laundered
29:40all of this money
29:41through legitimate businesses.
29:44He's got a flower shop,
29:45he's got taxi stands,
29:46he's got bars
29:48and restaurants,
29:49and that money
29:50was probably
29:50already laundered
29:52and will never be found.
29:55At this point,
29:56the only person
29:56ever arrested
29:57and convicted
29:58of the Lufthansa heist
30:00is Louis Werner.
30:01Tony Ducks
30:02Ducks another one here,
30:03and it's never
30:04pinned to him.
30:05They find none of the cash
30:06and no evidence
30:07to bring him into court.
30:12It's been almost seven years
30:14and the FBI
30:15is no closer
30:16to tracking down
30:17the mastermind
30:18or the $5 million
30:19in cash
30:20from the Lufthansa heist
30:22of 1978.
30:24The trail has gone
30:26completely cold
30:26by the early 1980s.
30:28Not only can the feds
30:29not find the money,
30:30but key witnesses
30:31refuse to talk.
30:33Pretty much
30:34every suspect
30:35that they have in mind
30:36has been killed,
30:37and there's really
30:38no way to connect
30:39the remaining players
30:41to the crime itself.
30:43Things start to change,
30:44though,
30:45when in 1985,
30:47there's a new mob boss
30:48on the rise
30:49in the Gambino family
30:50who feds realize
30:52might have had a hand
30:53in Lufthansa as well.
30:55John Gotti
30:56killed his way to power
30:57in December of 1985
30:59by organizing
31:01the assassination
31:02of his predecessor,
31:04Paul Castellano,
31:05in a very high-profile
31:07gangland execution
31:08carried out
31:09in Midtown Manhattan
31:10during the Christmas
31:11shopping season.
31:13The reason Gotti
31:15felt that he had
31:15to murder his godfather
31:17is because he's
31:18totally anti-drugs
31:19and doesn't want
31:20the Gambino family
31:21involved in narcotics
31:22at all.
31:23Gotti and his crew
31:24had been indicted
31:25on a drug charge,
31:26so he's now afraid
31:27that when the Don finds out,
31:29he'll have him killed.
31:30So it's basically
31:31a situation where
31:32Gotti whacks his godfather
31:33before he gets
31:34whacked himself.
31:35Now, with narcotics
31:37sales sanctioned
31:39from the very top,
31:40the Gambino family
31:41becomes one of
31:42the most profitable
31:42and violent gangs
31:44in New York City.
31:47Under the control
31:49now of John Gotti
31:50as the godfather,
31:51the Lucchese family
31:53expand their criminal empire.
31:54This is the time
31:55where they start
31:55to make huge profits.
31:57But also,
31:58John Gotti
31:59is not a low-key,
32:01under-the-radar guy.
32:02The dapper Don,
32:03like, he's seen
32:04in the newspaper all the time.
32:05He gets a second nickname,
32:06and that's the Teflon Don.
32:08Because every time
32:08they came after him
32:10for these different crimes,
32:11it just kind of
32:12slid off of him.
32:13Gotti's flashy lifestyle
32:15definitely draws
32:16the attention
32:16of law enforcement.
32:17And almost immediately
32:19after coming to power,
32:20feds start wiretapping,
32:22bugging his establishments,
32:23trying to get information
32:24about him
32:25in order to bring him
32:26and the Gambino family down.
32:28Thanks to those wiretaps,
32:30in 1986,
32:31Gotti is arrested
32:32on charges
32:33of racketeering
32:34and extortion.
32:35As authorities
32:36are building their case
32:37against Gotti,
32:38another thing comes up.
32:39It turns out
32:40that Gotti received
32:42a huge cut
32:43of the take
32:43from the Lufthansa heist.
32:50This comes as a surprise
32:52to the FBI.
32:53The agency knows
32:54the Lucchese mob
32:55is behind the heist,
32:56but never suspected
32:59they could have been
33:00cooperating
33:00with a rival family.
33:02The Gambino family
33:04holds a lot of sway
33:05in parts of South Queens
33:07near JFK,
33:08which is territory
33:09that they basically share
33:10with the Lucchese family.
33:12So it would have been
33:13pretty natural
33:14for Gotti
33:15and the Gambino family
33:16to be key players
33:17in the Lufthansa heist.
33:20During the course
33:21of the investigation,
33:21they find out
33:22that Gotti
33:23is integral
33:24as part of the heist.
33:26They use his garage
33:27as a waypoint
33:28to transfer the money
33:29from the robbery
33:30to a switch car,
33:31and then Gotti
33:32offers his other services
33:34to crush that van
33:35to destroy evidence.
33:37Stax Edwards got delayed
33:39and the car got discovered,
33:41but initially,
33:43the plan for John Gotti
33:44was that him
33:45and his crew
33:45were going to get rid
33:46of the getaway vehicle.
33:48That scrapyard
33:49is owned by the Gambinos.
33:51This suggests
33:52that the Gambino family
33:54has been involved
33:54in the heist
33:55from the very beginning.
33:57Allegedly,
33:57Gotti's take
33:58from the Lufthansa heist
33:59comes to around $200,000.
34:03Considering that
34:04other participants
34:05collect only a small portion
34:06of the money they're owed,
34:08Gotti's whopping payout
34:09suggests he played
34:11a major role
34:12behind the scenes.
34:14If Gotti did help
34:16haul the Lufthansa loot,
34:18it's likely that
34:19it was shuttled
34:19throughout the various
34:21Gambino family activities,
34:22including high-level narcotics.
34:24So whether it's
34:25the Lucchese family
34:26or the Gambino family,
34:28the result is the same.
34:29The money is nowhere
34:30to be found.
34:31In 1992,
34:32Gotti is finally convicted,
34:34not for the Lufthansa heist,
34:36but on various
34:37conspiracy charges.
34:39Agents continue
34:40to try to get him
34:40to confess to the heist,
34:42but he remains silent.
34:44With Gotti's death
34:45in 2002,
34:46the only one
34:47directly involved
34:48in the heist
34:49who goes to jail for it
34:50is Louis Werner.
34:51Everyone else
34:52either walks
34:53or takes the secret
34:54to their graves.
34:58For nearly
34:58four decades
34:59after the Lufthansa heist,
35:01the investigation
35:02remains cold.
35:04Neither the mastermind
35:05nor the $5 million
35:06in stolen cash
35:07has ever been found.
35:09In 2014,
35:10authorities make
35:12their first arrest
35:12in the Lufthansa case
35:14in over 35 years.
35:16They arrest
35:1680-year-old
35:17Vincent Asaro,
35:18who's a made man
35:19and member
35:19of the Bonanno family.
35:21Authorities say
35:22that Asaro
35:23has been pretty entrenched
35:24in the Bonanno family
35:25syndicate for decades.
35:26The FBI
35:27has suspected
35:28for many years
35:29that Asaro
35:29might have
35:30some connection
35:31to the case,
35:32but they never
35:32had any hard evidence
35:34to implicate him.
35:35However,
35:36in this new investigation
35:37and trial,
35:38the FBI thinks
35:39it's found enough
35:40to connect
35:41a third mob family
35:43to the heist.
35:50In 1978,
35:52at the time
35:52of the Lufthansa heist,
35:53the Bonanno crime family
35:55is essentially
35:55the smallest
35:56of the five families
35:57in New York.
35:57And this small size
35:59allows them
36:00to really partner up
36:01with the other four families
36:02to pull off heists
36:04and other crimes.
36:06Even though it's been decades
36:07since the Lufthansa heist,
36:09authorities still want
36:10to figure out
36:11where that $5 million went.
36:12And they're convinced
36:14that Vinny Asaro
36:15and the Bonanno crime family
36:17might have
36:18the missing information
36:19they need
36:19to track down this money.
36:22The key witness
36:23at the trial
36:24is Asaro's cousin,
36:25a longtime Bonanno associate
36:27turned FBI informant.
36:30At Asaro's trial,
36:32it becomes known
36:32that his cousin
36:33had secretly recorded
36:35conversations between them
36:36between 2010 and 2013.
36:38And one of these recordings,
36:40Asaro allegedly confesses
36:42to the Lufthansa heist.
36:44The cousin gets Asaro
36:46to reminisce
36:46about that night
36:47in December 1978
36:49when he showed up
36:50with burlap sacks
36:51filled with cash
36:53and gold coins
36:53and crates filled
36:55with watches and jewels.
36:57Asaro's cousin
36:58essentially gets
36:59Vinny Asaro
36:59to admit to the whole events
37:02of the evening
37:02of the Lufthansa heist,
37:04including how Asaro
37:06talked his cousin
37:07into being the person
37:08who would hide the money.
37:10According to this
37:11taped confession,
37:12a week later,
37:13someone shows up
37:14at his cousin's door,
37:15rings the doorbell,
37:16and takes all the loot.
37:18When Asaro takes the stand
37:20and is forced to listen
37:21to the secret recordings,
37:22he dismisses them
37:24with a wave of his hand.
37:26Asaro takes the stand
37:28and is completely defiant.
37:29He accuses his cousin
37:30of simply being a rat
37:32who will say anything
37:33in order to have
37:34his own crimes pardoned.
37:36Asaro admits
37:36under cross-examination
37:38that he knew
37:38about the heist,
37:39but it was carried out
37:40by people he knew
37:41who hung out with him
37:42at Robert's Lounge.
37:43Asaro says,
37:45I was never really involved.
37:47Another witness
37:48corroborates the cousin
37:49by saying that he saw Asaro
37:51with an attache case
37:53full of money and jewels,
37:56and he saw Asaro
37:58giving that attache case
37:59to a Bonanno leader,
38:01sort of as a tribute.
38:03So of course he would have known
38:05about Lou Tons' heist.
38:07Asaro claims
38:08that he was offered
38:09hush money from Jimmy the Jet
38:10to keep quiet about the heist,
38:12but that he never received it.
38:14And he didn't go after that money
38:16because he says
38:17he knew better
38:18than to approach a man
38:20as violent as Jimmy.
38:21But another informant
38:23counters that claim.
38:24He says Asaro
38:25was suddenly able
38:26to pay off
38:27all of his gambling debts
38:28in just one day,
38:29and then he proceeded
38:30to place even more bets thereafter.
38:33By the 1990s,
38:35Asaro had really lost everything.
38:36He was a gambler.
38:38He was into drugs.
38:39He used to be a captain
38:40of the Bonanno family,
38:41and they demoted him.
38:43He really was kind of nothing.
38:45He was living out
38:45in a small house in Queens
38:47until 2014,
38:49when he was charged
38:50with being involved
38:51in the heist.
38:52Asaro is quite a character
38:54during his trial.
38:55He is very insistent
38:58that he needs to have
38:59a clear sight line
39:00to all of his accusers,
39:01and he essentially goes
39:03out of his way
39:03to threaten them.
39:05He even mouths obscenities
39:06while he is on the stand.
39:09Asaro's defense team
39:10plays along
39:11with these belittling tactics
39:13by portraying his cousin
39:15as just a desperate guy
39:17who is out to have
39:18his own crimes forgiven
39:20by making up stories
39:21about a member of the family.
39:23The strategy seems to work.
39:26On November 12, 2015,
39:28after just two days
39:30of deliberation,
39:31the jury announces
39:32its verdict.
39:34Not guilty on all charges.
39:38Prosecutors are just speechless.
39:40They've been working
39:40on this case for years,
39:41and they had a dozen witnesses
39:44testifying that they thought
39:45that this would stick.
39:47Jurors don't offer
39:48any explanation
39:48for their verdict,
39:49but many do feel
39:50that the prosecutors
39:52reliance on turned informants
39:54and witnesses
39:55who were trying
39:56to expunge their own records
39:57was unreliable.
40:00It's yet another setback
40:01for the decades-old
40:03criminal investigation,
40:04and most likely,
40:05the government's last chance
40:07to try someone
40:08for the Lufthansa heist.
40:11Asaro walks free.
40:13He claps for the jurors.
40:15He hugs his lawyers.
40:16He thanks the judge,
40:18and then he goes
40:19to get into his car,
40:20and as he does so,
40:21he says to his lawyer,
40:23a very mafia-sounding quip,
40:25don't let them see
40:26the body in the trunk.
40:28Unfortunately,
40:29Asaro's full involvement
40:30in the Lufthansa heist
40:31and the whereabouts
40:32of the $5 million
40:33might never be fully known.
40:35He dies in 2023
40:37in his modest house
40:38in Queens,
40:39just a few miles
40:41from JFK.
40:43To this day,
40:45the only person
40:46actually convicted
40:48in the Lufthansa heist
40:49is low-level airline worker
40:51Louis Werner,
40:53Jimmy Burke,
40:55the Lucchese,
40:56Gambino,
40:56and Bonanno
40:57family godfathers,
40:58and other major players,
41:00all escaped charges
41:02related to the Lufthansa heist.
41:04And with all of them
41:06now dead,
41:06the secret of what happened
41:08to the missing millions
41:09may be gone forever,
41:10making it
41:11one of the most elusive
41:12and bloody open cases
41:14in American history.
41:16I'm Lawrence Fishburne.
41:17Thank you for watching
41:18History's Greatest Mysteries.
41:20History's Greatest Mysteries.
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