The 1978 Lufthansa Heist was planned by Jimmy Burke (immortalized in Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas), an associate of the Lucchese crime family, and carried out by several of his associates. It all began when bookmaker, Martin Krugman, told Henry Hill (an associate of Jimmy Burke's) about millions of dollars in untraceable money. The money was flown in once a month and was the money exchanged by servicemen and tourists in West Germany and that it was stored in a cardboard vault at Kennedy Airport. The information had come from Louis Werner, who owed Krugman $20,000 in gambling debts and worked at the airport.
On December 11th, at 3.12 a.m. a guard, named Kelly Whalen, patrolling the cargo terminal, spotted a black Ford Econoline van pulling into a bay near a loading platform, for vaults. Whalen walked toward the loading bay, to investigate this peculiar appartion and was struck over the head with a .45 pistol. A wiry man in a black ski mask pulled his mask over his face as the blood began to pour from Whalen's wound. Another man grabbed Whalen's gun and thus disarmed him. Whalen was ordered, by the two men, to disarm the silent alarm, after he did this he was handcuffed behind his back. He saw a series of other men, all carrying rifles or pistols, running into the cargo terminal and then another man took his wallet and said that they knew where his family were and that they had men ready to visit them. Whalen nodded to indicate that he would co-operate with the thieves.
Another guard, Rolf Rebmann, heard a noise by the loading ramp and when he went to investigate, 6 armed, masked men forced their way in and handcuffed him. They then used a one of a kind key from Werner and walked through a maze of corridors to where the two other employees would be. Once these two had been rounded up two gunmen ventured downstairs to look for unexpected visitors and then the other men marched the employees to a lunch room, where the other employees were on a 3 a.m. break. The gunmen burst into the lunch room and brandishing their firearms they showed a bloodied Whalen as an indication of their intentions if anyone got out of line. They knew each employee by name and forced them onto the ground. They made John Murray, the terminal's senior cargo agent, call Rudi Eirich on the intercom. The robbers knew that Eirich was the only guard that night who knew the right combinations to open the double door vault. Murray was made to pretend, to Eirich, that there was a problem with a load from Frankfurt and told Eirich to meet him in the cafeteria. As Eirich approached the cafe he was met by two shotguns and he saw the other employees, bound and gagged on the cafeteria floor. One gunman kept watch over the 10 employees and the other 3 took Eirich, at gun point, down two flights of stairs to the double door vault. He later reported that the men were informed and knew all about the safety systems in the vault and they knew about the double door system, whereby one door must be shut or the other one can't be opened or the alarm will be activated. The men ordered Eirich to open up the first door, to a 10-by-20 foot room. They knew that if he opened up the second door he would activate an alarm to the Port Authority. Once inside they ordered Eirich to lie on the ground and they then began sifting through invoices and freight manifests to determine which parcels they wanted of the many similarly wrapped ones. Finally they began hurling parcels through, one nearly hit Eirich's head, he saw it kicked open and said that inside was stacks and stacks of cash. Around 40 parcels were removed and Eirich was made to lock the inner door before unlocking the outer door because this would trigger an alarm to the Port Authority office. Two of the gunmen were assigned to load the parcels into the vans while the others tied up Eirich. A man, without a ski mask on, burst into the cafeteria and was euphoric, he said to the other gunmen that they had the money in the vans. He was quickly told to put on his ski mask by the other thieves, however some of the employees caught a glimpse of his face. They were told not to call the Port Authority until 4:30 a.m., when the men left it was 4:16 a.m. according to the cafeteria clock and no calls were made until 4:30, when a report of $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels being stolen was made. The employees complied because they knew if the police caught the men they or their families would be harmed or even killed. The robbery took only 64 minutes and was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil at the time.
On December 11th, at 3.12 a.m. a guard, named Kelly Whalen, patrolling the cargo terminal, spotted a black Ford Econoline van pulling into a bay near a loading platform, for vaults. Whalen walked toward the loading bay, to investigate this peculiar appartion and was struck over the head with a .45 pistol. A wiry man in a black ski mask pulled his mask over his face as the blood began to pour from Whalen's wound. Another man grabbed Whalen's gun and thus disarmed him. Whalen was ordered, by the two men, to disarm the silent alarm, after he did this he was handcuffed behind his back. He saw a series of other men, all carrying rifles or pistols, running into the cargo terminal and then another man took his wallet and said that they knew where his family were and that they had men ready to visit them. Whalen nodded to indicate that he would co-operate with the thieves.
Another guard, Rolf Rebmann, heard a noise by the loading ramp and when he went to investigate, 6 armed, masked men forced their way in and handcuffed him. They then used a one of a kind key from Werner and walked through a maze of corridors to where the two other employees would be. Once these two had been rounded up two gunmen ventured downstairs to look for unexpected visitors and then the other men marched the employees to a lunch room, where the other employees were on a 3 a.m. break. The gunmen burst into the lunch room and brandishing their firearms they showed a bloodied Whalen as an indication of their intentions if anyone got out of line. They knew each employee by name and forced them onto the ground. They made John Murray, the terminal's senior cargo agent, call Rudi Eirich on the intercom. The robbers knew that Eirich was the only guard that night who knew the right combinations to open the double door vault. Murray was made to pretend, to Eirich, that there was a problem with a load from Frankfurt and told Eirich to meet him in the cafeteria. As Eirich approached the cafe he was met by two shotguns and he saw the other employees, bound and gagged on the cafeteria floor. One gunman kept watch over the 10 employees and the other 3 took Eirich, at gun point, down two flights of stairs to the double door vault. He later reported that the men were informed and knew all about the safety systems in the vault and they knew about the double door system, whereby one door must be shut or the other one can't be opened or the alarm will be activated. The men ordered Eirich to open up the first door, to a 10-by-20 foot room. They knew that if he opened up the second door he would activate an alarm to the Port Authority. Once inside they ordered Eirich to lie on the ground and they then began sifting through invoices and freight manifests to determine which parcels they wanted of the many similarly wrapped ones. Finally they began hurling parcels through, one nearly hit Eirich's head, he saw it kicked open and said that inside was stacks and stacks of cash. Around 40 parcels were removed and Eirich was made to lock the inner door before unlocking the outer door because this would trigger an alarm to the Port Authority office. Two of the gunmen were assigned to load the parcels into the vans while the others tied up Eirich. A man, without a ski mask on, burst into the cafeteria and was euphoric, he said to the other gunmen that they had the money in the vans. He was quickly told to put on his ski mask by the other thieves, however some of the employees caught a glimpse of his face. They were told not to call the Port Authority until 4:30 a.m., when the men left it was 4:16 a.m. according to the cafeteria clock and no calls were made until 4:30, when a report of $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels being stolen was made. The employees complied because they knew if the police caught the men they or their families would be harmed or even killed. The robbery took only 64 minutes and was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil at the time.