Air France robbery

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The Air France heist was a 1967 crime committed by members of the New York Mafia at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. USD 420,000 in cash were looted (today worth USD 3,208,945). This was the largest of a series of thefts at JFK at the time. The crime was committed by Henry Hill , Robert McMahon , Thomas DeSimone and Montague Montemurro . The act was planned by McMahon. Hill claims that it was this act that gave him access to the Mafia and their trust.

planning

The Air France transported cash into the United States, which had been changed by Americans in Southeast Asia and output. The airline was contractually obliged to bring the money back to the US in order to make it available again for the American money market. The money was usually carried in money bags, each containing $ 60,000. Air France transported up to USD 1 million a week. The money was kept in a vault and guarded around the clock. According to Robert McMahon , who worked for Air France's cargo department, Air France usually transported three to four 60,000 bags at the time. McMahon told Henry Hill that three or four men with guns could easily steal them. Hill then came up with the plan to get hold of the key, because that would make it easier to determine when it would strike. The critical point was the guard who always carried the key with them. McMahon introduced the guard to a call girl with whom he retired to the Jade East Motel . While the guard was distracted by the call girl, Hill managed to get the key and make a copy.

execution

McMahon got the information that on Friday, April 7th, a sum of 400,000 USD to 700,000 USD would be delivered. It was decided to have access at midnight while the guard would take a break for lunch. On the day of the robbery, Hill and DeSimone drove to the Air France cargo terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport with an empty suitcase .

At 11:40 p.m. they entered the terminal. McMahon said they should enter the terminal like people looking for lost luggage. DeSimone and Hill entered the area unmolested, unlocked the room with the key made and found seven bags of money with the help of a small flashlight. They put the money in the suitcase and left. No alarm was raised, no shot was fired, no one was injured. The disappearance of the money went unnoticed until Monday. It wasn't discovered until a Wells Fargo truck arrived to pick up the money for the French American Banking Corporation. Henry Hill gave the capo of the Lucchese family Paul Vario some of the money as tribute.

Representation in the film

The robbery is portrayed in Martin Scorsese's hit film Good Fellas - Three Decades in the Mafia (1990), which is about the life story of the gangster Henry Hill.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William E. Burrows: Crime at Kennedy Costing Millions (PDF). In: The New York Times , October 27, 1967, p. 38. Retrieved November 19, 2009. 
  2. ^ A b c Nicholas Pileggi: Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family . Simon & Schuster, 1986, ISBN 0-671-44734-3 .
  3. ↑ a b $ 420,000 Is Missing From Locked Room at Kennedy Airport (PDF). In: The New York Times , April 12, 1967. Retrieved November 19, 2009.  

swell

  • Ernest Volkman, John Cummings: The Heist: How a Gang Stole $ 8,000,000 at Kennedy Airport and Lived to Regret It . Franklin Watts, New York October 1986, ISBN 0-531-15024-0 .