Publisher's Synopsis
"Terrific DeStefano. He finally gives us a fitting end to the murderous and fabled story of the 1978 Lufthansa heist."-Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy and Casino
"A comprehensive account of the legendary 1978 heist . . . impressive."
-Publisher's Weekly
The crime that inspired the movie Goodfellas.
The 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 Mafia don 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 crime families-with never-before-told stories, late-breaking news, and bombshell revelations:
* New details on the heist's planning: who was involved, how they pulled it off, and what really happened to the almost $6 million in cash and jewels they stole from JFK Airport
* Why suspected heist participant Vincent Asaro was found NOT GUILTY of all charges-racketeering, theft, and murder-even after being observed by the FBI for more than three decades
* The shocking discovery of human bones in a Queens home belonging to a relative of Jimmy Burke, the homicidal Lucchese crime family associate who assembled the Lufthansa heist team-and masterminded the caper, then the biggest cash robbery in American history.
* The eye-opening testimony of gangsters-turned-informants Salvatore Vitale and Gaspar Valenti-and what it reveals about the Mafia code of silence known as Omerta
* The greed, betrayal, murder, and other frightening insights into the Bonanno and Lucchese crime families
* Disturbing claims about how some members of the NYPD leaked information to mobster Jimmy Burke and may have helped hide evidence of a mob murder victim's demise
An invaluable addition to any crime library, this is the most complete, thorough, and up-to-date account of the Lufthansa heist currently available. Pulitzer-Prize winner Anthony DeStefano draws from his years of experience reporting on the mob for New York Newsday-as well as his firsthand coverage of the Asaro indictment and attendence at the trial-to expose the all-too-human heart of organized crime in America. The Big Heist is thrilling, shocking, and impossible to put down.
