Search of Home of Deceased "Goodfellas" Mobster, Jimmy "The Gent" Burke, Leads to Arrest of Mobsters Connected to 1978 Lufthansa Heist

Jimmy "the Gent" Burke died in 1996.

He is believed to have killed one guy involved in the Lufthansa heist. The article notes that, as in the film, other suspects "turned up dead."

But some guys didn't get wacked. And one of them is under arrest.

Note that while five mobsters were arrested on various charges, only one of them has a Lufthansa Heist connection.

The FBI says it arrested five mobsters in pre-dawn raids on Thursday, including one connected to the 1978 Lufthansa heist at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

Around $5 million in cash and $1 million in jewels -- worth about $20 million today -- were netted in the robbery of a Lufthansa cargo terminal at JFK airport on Dec. 11, 1978. The heist was made famous in the 1990 film “Goodfellas.”

Federal prosecutors issued a wide-ranging indictment Thursday against five defendants, alleging murder, robbery, extortion, arson and bookmaking. One of them, Vincent Asaro, of Howard Beach in Queens, was accused of participating in the heist — one of the largest cash thefts in American history.

...

At Burke’s home, agents found human remains that were identified through DNA testing as those of Paul Katz, who disappeared in 1969 after Burke suspected him of being an informant to the police, the New York Post reports.

I guess that's the guy depicted as a rug merchant in the movie?

Corrected: Although the FoxNews headline suggested this guy was a suspect in the heist, I don't think that's true. He's suspected of being connected to it -- via the murder of Paul Katz, who was a suspect in it.

I don't know if this guy actually had anything to do with the heist, or just killing the guys who did.

Thanks to @slublog.

posted by Ace at 01:45 PM

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