The Lufthansa Heist: Behind the Six-Million-Dollar Cash Haul That Shook the World

by Henry Hill, Daniel Simone True Crime Writer and author of The Lufthansa Heist

Overview

Now in paperback, the inside story—from the organizer himself--of the largest unrecovered cash haul in history. This full account that brings the reader behind the heist memorialized in Goodfellas that has baffled law enforcement for decades. From Henry Hill himself, in the last book he worked on before his 2012 death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493026647
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Pages:	382
Sales rank:	145,978
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

The late Henry Hill entered the Federal Witness Protection Program in 1980 and assisted the government in building cases against forty-six top Mafia associates, severely wounding the major five gangland organizations. He collaborated with author Nick Pileggi on the book Wiseguy, which became a New York Times #1 Best Seller. In 1990, Nick Pileggi and Martin Scorsese adapted Wiseguy to a screenplay, and with Henry Hill's guidance, Mr. Scorsese directed the film. Until he died in 2012, Henry Hill toured the country on speaking engagements lecturing high school students not to emulate his past life and career. Daniel Simone is a writer who has co-written autobiographies and published numerous shorter pieces on prominent figures in film, theater, and fiction. He created and wrote a monthly feature for Long Island Pulse magazine called "Between the Lines" where he interviewed and profiled renowned novelists. In September of 2012, he appeared in the one-hour Biography Channel documentary Mobsters: Jimmy the Gent Burke, which centered on the life and career of Jimmy Burke.

Editorial Reviews

08/10/2015
Readers who place a premium on truth in their true crime may be disappointed by this account of a legendary 1978 theft from JFK Airport; a preface states that the book's narrative is based in part on "informed judgment," and that the authors recreated scenes and dialogue "with literary technique combined or imagined." Coauthor and former mobster-turned FBI informant Hill, who partook in the heist provides a first-person account of his involvement; the problem is he was absent for the actual execution of the robbery, and thus any contribution he makes to the account of that episode must be second-hand. The authors go too far with including implausible details that suggest fabrication and add nothing to the inherent drama of the story. Purple prose ("due to her overcharged sexual urges, moments of hot flashes often emblazoned the voluptuous Lina") and sloppiness (sharks are described as "man-eating mammals") don't help matters. It's also unsettling to read in the afterword that the identification of the man responsible for murdering one of the Lufthansa robbers in the text was only theoretical. Given Hill's colorful life, much better conveyed in the book Wiseguy (1985), written in collaboration with Nicholas Pileggi, the decision to gild the lily here again and again is baffling and disappointing. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Cinematic in style, this enthralling read is one you won’t want to miss.

From the Publisher

For about a fourth of this remarkable true-crime story, readers will feel these low-level mobsters are the cutest little psychopaths ever. Boozing, gambling, wrenching, stealing- just guys having fun. Their charm fades, though, as we move into the meat of the story, the 1978 heist of $6 million from the Lufthansa safe at Kennedy Airport. The late Henry Hill- Ray Liotta played him in Goodfellas – was on the fringe of the action. With coauthor Simone’s help, he narrates much of the story- up to the end, when he turns snitch. Simone tells the rest of this engrossing tale directly, and he is one helluva writer. One man’s “temper ignited as easily as gasoline vapor.” A woman’s running mascara “made her look like a spider.” Simone spends much time on officialdom’s attempts to jail these reprobates, and maybe it’s unintentional that he makes the cops out as no brighter than the perps they chase. Like many of the most compelling true-crime tales, the distinction between cops and robbers is blurry at best. Fine reading. – Don Crinklaw

Booklist

The Lufthansa Heist is an amazing, in-depth look at one of the most notorious heists in American and Queens history.

The Queens Gazette

For about a fourth of this remarkable true-crime story, readers will feel these low-level mobsters are the cutest little psychopaths ever. Boozing, gambling, wrenching, stealing- just guys having fun. Their charm fades, though, as we move into the meat of the story, the 1978 heist of $6 million from the Lufthansa safe at Kennedy Airport. The late Henry Hill- Ray Liotta played him in Goodfellas – was on the fringe of the action. With coauthor Simone’s help, he narrates much of the story- up to the end, when he turns snitch. Simone tells the rest of this engrossing tale directly, and he is one helluva writer. One man’s “temper ignited as easily as gasoline vapor.” A woman’s running mascara “made her look like a spider.” Simone spends much time on officialdom’s attempts to jail these reprobates, and maybe it’s unintentional that he makes the cops out as no brighter than the perps they chase. Like many of the most compelling true-crime tales, the distinction between cops and robbers is blurry at best. Fine reading. – Don Crinklaw

Booklist