The December 11, 1978 Lufthansa heist was the most infamous caper in U.S. history. At John F. Kennedy International Airport, associates of New York City’s Lucchese crime family netted nearly $6 million (or $22.5 million today) in cash and jewels; almost none of the take was recovered, and only one person served time.
But for many of those behind the audacious theft—which was popularized in movies such as Goodfellas and The Big Heist—dreams of a fat payday gave way to the brutality of an early grave. The reputed head of the operation, James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, allegedly started killing his collaborators almost immediately, starting with Parnell “Stacks” Edwards, shot in his Queens apartment just a week after the robbery took place.
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