The Big Heist: The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder

by Anthony M. DeStefano

Overview

“A comprehensive account of the legendary 1978 heist . . . impressive.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
The crime that inspired the movie Goodfellas.
The rest of story that couldn’t be told—until now.
 
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 mafioso 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 Mafia families—with never-before-told stories, late-breaking news, and bombshell revelations:
 
Praise for ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO and His Acclaimed Books
 
“Thrilling American crime writing.”
—Jimmy Breslin, author of The Good Rat and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
 
“DeStefano is a master at cutting through the secrecy of the Mafia hierarchy.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
“The best and last word on the subject . . . DeStefano brings the story to life.”
—Jerry Capeci, creator of GangLandNews.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806538310
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Anthony M. DeStefano is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist, author, and preeminent Mob historian. He has covered criminal justice and organized crime for more than three decades as a reporter for Newsday and appeared as an expert source on HISTORY’s documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families. His books on the subject include Broadway Butterfly, The Big Heist, King of the Godfathers, Gangland New York, Top Hoodlum, and Gotti’s Boys, among others. He can be found online at TonyDeStefano.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 The Message from the Bones 11

2 "The Feds Are All Over …" 17

3 A Goodfella's Lament 27

4 "Super Thief" 41

5 "We Will Get You" 52

6 Tales of the Gold Bug 59

7 "I Got a Couple of Million" 74

8 The Ring 78

9 "My God, You Lost Millions" 84

10 The Friends Who Hurt You 93

11 "See, Big Mouth" 105

12 Dead Fellas … and Gals 117

13 The Shakedown Guy 130

14 "We're in Trouble" 137

15 Never Say Never 146

16 Dead Men Told No Tales 156

17 "Score of Scores" 164

18 "Come Dressed" 179

19 "This Is It" 190

20 All in the Family 198

21 "What Is This, Watergate?" 211

22 "Free!" 223

Epilogue 231

Lufthansa Roll Call 235

Notes 241

Bibliography 247

Acknowledgments 251

Index 255

Editorial Reviews

2017-05-09
A straightforward update to the notorious 1978 Lufthansa Airlines heist.Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter DeStefano (Gangland New York: The Places and Faces of Mob History, 2015, etc.) understands the difficulty of opening new aspects of a crime immortalized in journalism, memoirs, and the film Goodfellas: "Of all the Mafia heists, rip-offs, scores, and plunders, none has been more iconic a part of American popular culture than the brazen [Lufthansa] robbery." The author focuses on the 2015 trial of Vincent Asaro, an aged survivor of the era's Five Families crews. Asaro, whose alleged participation in the crime had not been recognized, was wiretapped over several years for the FBI by his cousin Gaspare Valenti, another low-level mobster. The tapes revealed both men scuffling for years as their influence faded within the mob, itself more constricted in today's New York City, as well as the chilling moment when Asaro realized Valenti's betrayal. DeStefano leads up to Asaro's trial with a narrative re-creation of the crime, its murderous aftermath, and the notorious figures involved, including Lucchese family underboss Paul Vario, robbery mastermind Jimmy Burke, and turncoat Henry Hill, the protagonist of Goodfellas. The author tries to counter the ambiguity surrounding the crime, noting, "while Hill's public statements on the heist excluded Asaro...he had actually claimed to law enforcement as far back as 1983 that Asaro was involved." Following the heist and the murders of many participants, Asaro ran stolen car operations for a Bonanno family crew, finding himself marginalized over time: "Part of the problem was Asaro's volatility and temper." Despite Valenti's testimony, Asaro was acquitted at trial, a startling development. Though Asaro's connection to Lufthansa still seems inconclusive, DeStefano paints him as a poignant if unlikable character, a criminal journeyman who survived a violent life to watch his status, wealth, and cherished lifestyle slip away. The book will please Mafia completists, but the overall arc will feel more familiar than revelatory to most true-crime readers.

Kirkus Reviews