On Dec. 11, 1978, armed mobsters stole $5 million in cash and nearly $1 million in jewels from a Lufthansa airlines vault at JFK Airport, in what would be for decades the biggest-ever heist on US soil.
And until Thursday’s arrest of Vincent Asaro, the crime went without a single wiseguy criminally charged.
The theft became legendary after mastermind James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke killed off one crew member after another to avoid being ratted out to cops.
Martin Scorsese immortalized the theft in his 1990 film “Goodfellas,” based on Nicholas Pileggi’s book “Wiseguy.” Burke, who died of cancer in prison in 1996, was the inspiration for Robert De Niro’s character, Jimmy Conway.
It all started when bookie Marty Krugman told Luchese associate Henry Hill about a huge stash of cash and jewels that passed through the airport — a tip he got from airport worker Louis Werner, who owed the bookie $20,000.
Burke’s crew pistol-whipped a cargo agent and tied up 10 employees.
Once inside the vault, they found what they were looking for and made off with the hefty haul of gold, jewels and cash — much of it in $50 and $100 bills.