James Burke (Mafioso)

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James Burke , aka Jimmy Burke, Jimmy the Gent or The Big Irishman (born July 5, 1931 in New York ; † April 13, 1996 in Buffalo ), was an Irish-born American mobster and associate of the New York clan of the US American Cosa Nostra known as the Lucchese family .

He is said to have been the mastermind behind the so-called Lufthansa robbery , the most successful robbery in US history. He is also said to be behind the series of murders following the robbery, the aim of which was to eliminate those who knew it.

Early years

Jimmy Burke was born in New York . His mother, Mary Conway, was from Dublin . The father is unknown.

When he was two years old, he was placed in a Catholic orphanage run by nuns. He never saw his mother again. During his early childhood, he was constantly shuttled between orphanages where he was allegedly ill-treated and sexually abused by priests and carers . In the summer of 1944, Burke's adoptive father died in an accident, the widow then blamed Burke and beat him regularly. He was later adopted by the "Burke" family, whose name he took on.

He lived with this family in Rockaway , Queens . This time is said to have been peaceful. The relationship with these adoptive parents is said to have been very harmonious up to Burke's death. Burke began to struggle with the law during his teenage years . In 1949, at the age of 18, he was sentenced to five years in prison for counterfeiting . In prison he met numerous gangsters and members of the mafia. Burke had an impressive physical presence. His former accomplice, Henry Hill, described him as a dreaded thug that could explode in an instant. In 1962, Burke proposed marriage to his future wife Mickey. When he found out that her ex-boyfriend was harassing her by ambushing her and harassing her with phone calls, he resolved the problem. On the day of the wedding, the police found the remains of the ex-boyfriend, whose body had been carefully cut into twelve pieces and placed in his car.

Criminal career

Burke has been proven to have committed numerous murders, but the victims could not be identified. During the 1950s he was involved in numerous illegal activities, particularly the cigarette and alcohol trafficking . He became the father of two daughters and two sons.

Burke mentored the younger generation criminals Thomas DeSimone , Henry Hill and Angelo Sepe, who were adolescents in the 1960s. They carried out auxiliary jobs for Burke, such as selling stolen, smuggled or undeclared goods. You became a member of Burke's gang, which operated in the areas of South Ozone Park ( Queens ) and East New York ( Brooklyn ). The gang robbed z. B. trucks , where Burke took the driver's license and compensated them with $ 50. This gesture earned Burke the nickname "Jimmy the Gent" (am: "Jimmy the Gentleman").

Corrupt police officers were bribed by Burke and reported witnesses or informants who were then frequently murdered. Hill later described Burke as an unpredictable and freezing killer. Burke owned a bar in South Ozone Park called Robert's Lounge, which was his favorite place to hang out with accomplices, Mafia members, bookies and other criminals. Burke also used this bar as a "graveyard". Henry Hill later claimed that a dozen or so bodies were buried in or in close proximity to "Robert's Lounge".

Burke ran a bookmaker's shop there and hosted high stakes poker games. He also ran a textile factory , which he used as a money laundering facility , called "Moo Moo Vedda's". Burke could not become a full member of the Mafia due to his Irish descent, but maintained a close relationship with the Capo of the Lucchese family Paul Vario .

1972 Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill were arrested because they Gaspar Ciaccio in Tampa ( Florida had beaten). This is said to have owed her friend, the union boss Casey Rosado, a large amount of money. Both were sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and released early after around six years in prison. With Greg Bucceroni, both immediately entered the drug trade , although the Lucchese family banned its members and associates from drug trafficking.

Burke is said to have ordered or carried out at least 50 murders in his life. For example, after Jimmy Breslin published a debunking article about Paul Vario , Burke almost strangled him to death in a bar full of witnesses.

He ordered the murder of his friend Dominick “Remo” Cersani because he was planning to testify against Burke for a robbery on a truck filled with cigarettes . Henry Hill later testified that Cersani had been strangled with a piano string by Tommy DeSimone . His body is said to have been buried behind “Robert's Lounge” at the boccia field and DeSimone and Burke are said to have always jokingly asked when playing boccia: “Hi Remo, how ya doing?” (On: “Hello Remo, how are you?”). Burke is said to have locked victims in refrigerators and threatened parents to lock their children in refrigerators as well.

On June 6, 1980, a human leg bone and a human shoulder bone were excavated under the basement of “Robert's Lounge” . But these could not be assigned to anyone.

The Lufthansa robbery

Burke's biggest coup is said to have been the Lufthansa robbery. It represented the largest heist in American history, bringing in $ 6 million in money and jewels (approximate value in 2011: $ 20 million). Following the robbery, Burke feared prosecution and murdered a number of those who knew it.

Decline and death

In 1980, Henry Hill was arrested for drug trafficking and became an FBI informant to avoid long prison terms and murder by Mafia killers. Hill claimed that the bodies buried in and around Robert's Lounge had been removed by Burke before a judge's warrant was issued to search Robert's Lounge.

On April 1, Burke was arrested on account of Hill's testimony and Louis Werner, who was involved in the Lufthansa robbery. Burke could not be convicted of planning and carrying out the Lufthansa robbery, but was sentenced to 20 years for manipulating a basketball game in 1978. Although Burke was suspected of carrying out or participating in 50 murders, only one murder could be proven: the murder of the player Richard Eaton. He was beaten to death and strangled. Eaton's body was left in a disused tractor unit on a littered property in Brooklyn, where it was found by children playing. An address book was found on the body, in which Burke's address was recorded. Burke was found guilty of Eaton's murder based on Hill's testimony. The motive for the murder is said to have been that Eaton Burke should have persuaded to a cocaine deal in the amount of 250,000 US dollars. Burke gave the money to Eaton and Eaton simply kept the money for himself. When Hill is said to have asked after some time about Eaton's whereabouts, Burke replied: “Don't worry about him. I whacked the fucking swindler out. ” ( Am :“ Don't worry about him, I killed the damn swindler ”). Burke also told Hill that he had made an example and that it would teach other debtors from him.

On February 19, 1985, Burke was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Eaton. When he was on the plane with a police officer, he pointed to JFK Airport and said to it: "It was all mine once".

The attempt to convict Burke for the murder of William "Billy Batts" DeVino in 1970 failed because the only evidence was Hill's testimony.

Burke was in the Wende Correctional Facility maximum security in Alden, Erie County , New York when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died of this on April 13, 1996 at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

2004 would have been the earliest possible time for a pardon.

children

Frank James Burke (1960 - May 18, 1987) was one of two sons of James and Mickey Burke. Like his father, he was a professional criminal and is said to have been involved in the Lufthansa robbery. He was known to be addicted to heroin and had been convicted of drug possession several times. He spent his time in Robert's Lounge and The Linen Suite Lounge. Tommy DeSimone took Frank to his first contract killing when he was 16 or 17. Frank James Burke was found shot dead on May 18, 1987 in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn (New York City).

The second son, Jesse James Burke, is not involved in any crime. The daughter Catherine married Anthony Indelicato , a member of the Bonanno family , in 1992 .

Cultural reception

literature

  • 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 .
  • Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi (1990)
  • Fixed: How Goodfellas Bought Boston College Basketball by David Porter (2000)
  • On The Run - A Mafia Childhood by Gregg & Gina Hill (2004)
  • Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys. . . and Life on the Run by Henry Hill & Gus Russo (2005)
  • Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster by TJ English (2005)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dick Hobbs: Obituary: Jimmy Burke . In: The Independent . independent.co.uk. April 29, 1996. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  2. ^ Nicholas Pileggi: Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family . Simon & Schuster, 1986, ISBN 0-671-44734-3 , p. 117. Gives Jimmy and Mickey's story.
  3. ^ UPI : Bones May Be Robbery Clue . In: Calgary Herald . June 6, 1980, p. 96 ( google.com ).
  4. ↑ James Burke, Mobster Depicted in Goodfellas . In: New York Times , April 17, 1996. Retrieved December 8, 2009. 
personal data
SURNAME Burke, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burke, Jimmy; Jimmy the Gent (pseudonym); The Big Irishman (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American gangster
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1996
Place of death Buffalo