The Big Heist, Anthony M. DeStefano
The Big Heist, Anthony M. DeStefano
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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The Big Heist
The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder

Author: Anthony M. DeStefano

Narrator: Keith Sellon-Wright

Unabridged: 8 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/27/2017


Synopsis

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 AirportWhy 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 decadesThe 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 historyThe eye-opening testimony of gangsters-turned-informants Salvatore Vitale and Gaspar Valenti—and what it reveals about the Mafia code of silence known as OmertaThe greed, betrayal, murder, and other frightening insights into the Bonanno and Lucchese crime familiesDisturbing 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 demiseAn 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 attendance 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.

About Anthony M. DeStefano

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for the past twenty years for Newsday in New York City, specializing in criminal justice and legal affairs. He is the author of The Last Godfather, King of the Godfathers, Mob Killer, The War on Human Trafficking, and Gangland New York, among others. He has appeared on Biography Channel programs as an expert on organized crime and also speaks at academic conferences about crime and human trafficking.

About Keith Sellon-Wright

Keith Sellon-Wright is an audiobook narrator and an actor with more than thirty years of experience in Hollywood. His television roles have included Frasier, Seinfeld, The West Wing, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scandal. He also serves as a “voice of the New York Times,” narrating selected articles for their daily audio edition.


Reviews

This book is probably the final word in the story of the 1978 Lufthansa Heist, along with a good history of some of the things that went on with the mob families from even before then, right up through 2016. All put together by author DeStefano from his years of covering the mob for New York Newsday......more

Goodreads review by Krystal

I have been fascinated with mobsters and the Lufthansa heist for as long as I can remember, so when I saw there was going to be a need book published with never-before-heard details, I had to have it! The Big Heist definitely does not disappoint. While it does touch on some of the aspects already kn......more

Goodreads review by Kieran

A bit boring. Just rehashes stuff in Goodfellas and informs us of a lot that’s in the films and interviews. Couldn’t get into it.......more

Definitive read on the heist of Luthansa. It is also a book about the Mafia and some going on within the orginization. The book is precise, very well written and a fountain of information. I think it is worth noting that the movie "Goodfellas" was based on this book. The information regarding the tr......more

Goodreads review by Louis

Anthony M. Destafano’s The Big Heist: The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder investigates the 1978 Lufthansa robbery, which has never been formally solved and closed. Destafano provides new information on how it happened and who was likely responsible, as well as the aftermath......more