How A Gang Stole $8,000,000 At JFK Airport | Daring Capers S1 EP4 | Wonder

[Music] when a shipping clerks idle scheme turns into the biggest heist in US history no one's more surprised than he is but sudden wealth can have lethal consequences [Music] [Applause] Friday December 8th 1978 New York's Kennedy Airport it's business as usual at the Lufthansa overseas cargo terminal [Music] each year billions of dollars in cash and merchandise clear this room from all over Europe the lore of this untold wealth can be intoxicating and a Lufthansa shipping clerk named Luis Warner fell deeply under its spell deep enough to be in way over his head when he wasn't gambling away his paycheck Luis Warner and his best friend and co-worker Peter Grunwald thought up ways to ripoff Lufthansa years earlier they even drew floor plans and copied employee schedules in fact they devised what seemed like a perfect plan except for one crucial detail the only thing that required the plane to work were robbers which Grunwald and Werner had terrible difficulty finding they fought over what to do next and their friendship disintegrated the plans said nearly forgotten as months passed Warner went further into debt he began receiving threats from his bookie a man named Marty Krugman Marty Cruise and hung out at a bar called Roberts lounge which laid just outside the airport and just outside the law Roberts lounge is one of those places you wouldn't want to be caught dead in those for the guys who come here being caught dead is an occupational hazard it was the haunt of a gang of hoods and cronies known predictably as the Roberts lounge gang their lives was a series of scores scores meaning yeah a job a criminal job whether it be an armed robbery or to beat somebody out of money a local proprietor or a scam they went from one to another wernher hopelessly in debt realized he had something that would erase his obligations to Krugman and make himself a little money besides the heist plans Krugman shared the idea with his boss Jimmy Burke a mob enforcer who owned the lounge and the gang was going back Burke had an incredible violent reputation in one case Jimmy was known to have broken every single bone in the face of someone who was late on a payment now Burke was in trouble himself the mob demanded he keep the cash flowing he needed a lucrative plan he needed Werner's plan [Music] New York's major crime families had their hooks at Kennedy Airport Burke would have to have their blessing first [Music] [Music] Berchtold the plan to his boss Paul Vario a captain of the Lucchese crime family Burke promised him the lion's share of the profits the entire haul was expected to be around two million dollars permission granted armed with Werner and Grunwald's plan Burke and the Roberts lounge gang hammered out the details they'd go in late when only a skeleton crew of 10 was on striking while the graveyard shift was at lunch the gang would break into two teams team one would capture the employees in the lunchroom team two would secure the cargo terminal it was a brilliantly simple plan remember these guys aren't they're not Cowboys necessarily they don't want to go in shooting up a place because puts a tremendous amount of pressure on them afterwards law enforcement will tend to be much more dedicated sometimes when you have people hurt or killed so they didn't want to do that they want to make it simple low key to ensure that simplicity the Mafia hedged its bets they sent along a mom soldier to act as their eyes ears and if necessary so Burke felt the pressure for the plan to succeed it wasn't just a matter of pride or money it was a matter of life and death the scheme moved forward there was no turning back no room for mistakes Monday December 11th 1978 just before 3:00 a.m. Burke's team pulled into the Lufthansa air card litter I don't schedule once they arrived the team split team one rushed into the building team two pulled the van into position [Music] clearing the security they moved toward the loading dock where they would wait for the all-clear signal headed toward the lunchroom on their way they split up to sweep for any employees who work at lunch they surprised the cargo agent in his office one man down nine to go inside the van the waiting was becoming unbearable and so were the heavy ski masks team two away from the action was lulled into complacency team one made its way to the lunchroom Werner's floorplan told the men where to find it there's five of them they made their move they handcuffed everybody so that nobody could move they all had masks on so that there would be no issue of being recognized in the sense it was fairly proficient professional the goal was to capture the supervisor who had the key to the high-value role catching him and the other roving employees would present more of a challenge this was the most dangerous part of the plan if just one person evaded their net the whole scheme could crash down around them and during the robbery there was one glitch a worker full of tons of who was doing his rounds came back and he noted the van and noted that that something was suspicious when he got out they grabbed hearing the commotion the warehouse manager stepped out to see what the problem was both men were forced into the van Stan get your face down don't even look at ya realizing that they had been seen without their masks the robbers took the captives IDs and read their addresses you are give me one okay they threatened to kill them if they went to the police kill you understand me yo Stan Lee yes get down there you don't move don't move the supervisor unaware he was being tricked answered an urgent call to come to the lunchroom and fell into the hands of his captors they demand me to know where the security guard guys supervisor it didn't know they didn't trust him so they took him along on their hunt for the guard [Music] the security alert the only one on the graveyard shift had been employed at Lufthansa less than two weeks he was still trying to learn the procedures and already grappling with the stultifying boredom of late night security your google man who your friends you gotta seal it like you got him you got him I got I'm coming to you come on hands on your head Anthony once the guard was subdued Tina began looking for the two missing employees they could be anywhere the garage door rolled up and they learned the team of two others under control [Music] [Music] [Music] everyone was accounted for they then forced the supervisor to hand over his alarm Kings where's where's the alarm it's right there whatever at the last moment they had second thoughts and had the supervisor turn off the alarm himself in case there was some trick involved don't screw up [Music] that's it don't lie to me the manager was there the right thing and said look take the money just don't hurt anybody so everything went as smooth as it possibly could go go go go come on to the high-value room where the most available items were held until they could be shipped out come on go get the other guys open it up I don't have all night backup pants on your head on this night the high-value row held unmounted gems and a shipment of currency and route to Chase Manhattan from Germany most were used bills collected from American tourists [Music] money that's impossible to trace invigorated by their success the men loaded 72 boxes in a matter of minutes they kept unloading and unloading and unloading and before they knew it they they were local unloading boxes of money and jewelry until they just fill the van to the brim and how to leave stuff that but it was time to move out a little over an hour after they arrived the Roberts lounge gang left richer for the experience they catch to the speed limit the van was followed by a chase car driven by accomplices who would try to distract any pursuing police it wasn't necessary the getaway was clean and quick it was just after 5:00 a.m. when the van pulled into a warehouse garage and out of sight the men began the happy task of unloading they'd each get their cut but only after Burke and Mafia dons got there though the hall looked larger than the thieves had anticipated it would never make them rich that's not how it works in the mob the top guys get the money the workers don't get a lot they weren't getting more than fifty thousand each that was it fifty sixty thousand they weren't gonna get a million dollars Burke asked one of his henchmen stacks Edwards to get rid of the van a car crusher was already reserved there would be nothing to tie Burke's gang to the crime for it so it seemed because Berk immediately took control of the money his men had to learn about the size of the hall by hearing it on the news at approximately 3:45 this morning the weather was reported to us by Lufthansa Airlines was a armed robbery of approximately according to Lufthansa three to five million dollars which has not been verified at this time the whole country was talking about it final estimate around seven million dollars in unmarked currency and a million in unmounted gemstones and gold the loot was virtually untraceable the hall unprecedented the timing impeccable and then they realize how big it was and you know bottom line was it was too much it was too big and that's what caused their undoing that's what everybody they crumbled because of it it was just too big for them the men's fee now seemed like peanuts it paled in comparison to what the FBI was offering for information about the crime some of the gang hinted to Burke that they had need more money to keep his name out of it the magnitude of the Gabler assured that the authorities weren't going to give up until it was solved the FBI knew by how smoothly it went that it was an inside job when they questioned that Lufthansa employees two names kept coming up we had people saying that Grunwald and Warner are involved in this we had enough people saying it but not enough evidence nobody to testify that they knew any of the details and so what we keep an eye on an eye on these people is that what you think when Werner arrived at work the next day the Peter Grunwald confronted him right away he knew that Werner had stolen the plan and betrayed him Grunwald told him he wouldn't get away with it Warner was confident he already had FBI investigators knew that Warner and Grunwald couldn't have pulled it off by themselves they had another suspect when this happened everybody in law enforcement was taking claim to it because everybody you know Port Authority at JFK it knew Jimmy Burke they knew of his involvement at the airport it was just a matter of collecting Burke with the crime the courier and the warehouse manager gave police descriptions of the two men who held them in the van the warehouse manager got the best look but it was only a glimpse and he was too terrified to remember much this could have been the FBI's big break but that's not how it turned out well we tried to do an artist conception with him we came up with something but it really never we couldn't do anything with it three days after the heist of parking officer in Brooklyn spotted a van matching the one the victims described the van had been reported stolen a warrant was granted and it was searched and dusted for fingerprints prints found in the van led nowhere but detectives did find the wallet belonging to one of the victims this was definitely the van used in the Lufthansa heist the van that stack Steadman's was supposed to have destroyed several days later detectives found stacks Edwards shot to death in his apartment we know that he hung out in Roberts lounge we know he was kind of a Knockaround guy soon as he shows up dead with a bullet in the back of his head you put two and two together okay he was involved in it clearly he must have been involved in it because we knew Burke was involved into the time meanwhile Lewis Werner began receiving portions of his cont 10% of the total take it arrived a little at a time in a variety of clandestine ways then unable to control his conspicuous consumption Werner bought a new van the FBI didn't fail to notice his newfound wealth they were already watching him and they'd learned that his bookie was Marty crook of the Roberts lounge gang Krugman was the connection to birth that investigators needed but when they paid a visit to Krugman they were only half surprised that he wasn't there when he failed to reappear he was presumed dead his body has never been found the links between Jimmy Burke the crime boss and Louis Werner the inside man were breaking one by one every time you got a lead every time you found somebody else that might have been involved in the case you would try to act as quickly as possible so justice we get one thing the next he turn around another body another dead body another dead end extremely frustrating the FBI thought if they put pressure on Werner he'd give them the connections that would lead to Jimmy Burke to get to Werner they pressed his old friend Peter Grunwald he was subpoenaed as a material witness and that's when everything starts to unravel because once Grunwald is put under pressure he falls like an accordion the FBI orchestrated an accidental meeting between Grunwald and Werner at headquarters Grunwald had already told authorities about how he conspired with Werner I don't know if now Werner stole his plan and robbed booth danza without him Werner still proclaimed his innocence but I know nothing about even so investigators had everything they needed to charge him with the crime but they were after a bigger game Jimmy Burke and the Roberts lounge gang Werner refused to cooperate he demanded to go on trial denied everything they would say Louis listen to us you can't beat this case we're prepared to offer you a reasonable deal you can tell us who you talk to from Jimmy Burke's gang that's the critical connection we need without you we cannot make that connection investigators say Lewis Warner their pleas fell on deaf ears Werner stood trial and received a 15 year sentence after several months his thoughts cleared he decided to talk to tell authorities who his contacts were but he was too late now as he's finally going to tell the truth he's gonna find it tell the story what's the problem the problem is the guys who name he mentions is dead because Burke hasn't tip anticipated just that very possibility he was found in the basement there's a saying that three may keep a secret if two of them are dead by killing off most of his gang Burke had successfully severed his ties to the Lufthansa caper leaving police with nothing but the most elaborate American caper of its kind was also the most futile nobody involved with the heist lived to spend their money Burke regretted the day that he heard about all his money to be robbed at Lufthansa because he said the money turned out to be cursed whoever touched whoever got near that money died or went to prison it was almost as if the money was toxic Jimmy Burke was sentenced to life in prison on unrelated charges Louie Werner was the only person to be charged for the crime none of the eight million dollars has ever been recovered it's presumed to be in the coffers of organized crime [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Wonder

Views: 1,901,792

Keywords: Lufthansa robbery, Wonder, airport robbery, cash heist, crime capers, criminal enterprises reveal, criminal masterminds, criminal profiling, criminal tactics, criminal underworld, criminal underworld expose, daring criminals, financial crime investigation, gold heist, heist masterminds unmasked, illegal wealth accumulation, illicit gains, illicit wealth uncovered, organized crime, stolen riches, true crime documentary

Id: A6-dn2GuqsY

Length: 25min 34sec (1534 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 05 2020