James Burke (gangster)

James Burke
Burke's 1979 mugshot
Born	(1931-07-05)July 5, 1931 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	April 13, 1996(1996-04-13) (aged 64) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Known for	Lufthansa heist, portrayed by Robert de Niro in Goodfellas

James Burke (born James Conway), also known as Jimmy the Gent, and The Irishman (July 5, 1931 – April 13, 1996), was an American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who is believed to have organized the 1978 Lufthansa heist, at the time the most lucrative cash theft in American history, and also believed to have either committed or ordered the murders of many of those involved in the months following the robbery. He is the father of mobster and Lufthansa heist suspect Frank James Burke, as well as Jesse James Burke, Catherine Burke (who married Bonanno crime family member Anthony Indelicato in 1992), and another daughter, Robin Burke.

Burke inspired the character "Jimmy 'The Gent' Conway", one of the main characters of the 1990 movie Goodfellas, played by Robert de Niro.

In 1982, Burke was convicted on conspiracy charges related to his involvement in the 1978–79 Boston College basketball point shaving scandal, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. While in prison, he was convicted of the murder of drug dealer Richard Eaton and sentenced to a further 20 years to life. He died of stomach cancer at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, eight years before he would have become eligible for parole.

Early life

James Burke was born in New York. His mother, Jane Conway, was from Dublin, Ireland. James' father has never been identified. At age two, his mother placed him in a foster home; he spent most of his early years in a Roman Catholic orphanage managed by nuns, and never saw his mother again. He was shuttled around various homes and orphanages, where he suffered abuse by various foster family members. During the summer of 1944, when Burke was age 13, his foster father died in a car crash; he lost control of the car when he turned around to hit Burke, who was riding in the back seat. The deceased man's widow, who was in the car as well but survived, blamed Burke for the accident and beat him regularly until he was taken back into foster care.

During 1962, when Burke and his future wife, Mickey, decided to get married, Burke discovered that Mickey was being bothered by an ex-boyfriend, who was calling her by telephone, yelling at her on the street, and passing her house for hours in his car. On Burke and Mickey's wedding day, police found the ex-boyfriend's remains. He had been cut into more than a dozen pieces and tossed all over the inside of his car.

Criminal dealings

Burke was of Irish descent and, because he was not Italian, he wasn't eligible to become a made man. He was an associate and had one made man as friend and associate, Paul Vario. During the 1950s, Burke was involved with various illegal activities, such as distributing untaxed cigarettes and liquor.

He fathered two daughters, and two sons.

Burke was a mentor to Thomas DeSimone, Henry Hill, and Angelo Sepe, who were all young men during the 1960s. They performed jobs for Burke, such as selling stolen merchandise. They eventually became part of Jimmy's crew and were based in South Ozone Park, Queens and East New York, Brooklyn. The pair helped Burke with the hijacking of delivery trucks. According to Hill, Burke would take the drivers' licenses and would usually give fifty dollars to the drivers of the trucks that they stole, as if he were tipping them for the inconvenience, which resulted in his nickname "Jimmy the Gent".

Corrupt law enforcement officers bribed by Burke would tell him about any potential witnesses or informants. Burke told Henry Hill that bribing cops was like feeding elephants at the zoo: "All you need is peanuts". Hill said about Burke: "Jimmy could plant you just as fast as shake your hand. It didn't matter to him. At dinner he could be the nicest guy in the world, but then he could blow you away for dessert."

Burke owned a tavern in South Ozone Park, Queens named Robert's Lounge. It was a favorite venue of Burke and his crew, and many other assorted criminals. Henry Hill claimed that the tavern was also Burke's private cemetery, and more than a dozen people were buried in and around it. Burke managed a loan sharking and bookmaking operation that was based at the tavern, and high-stakes poker games in the basement, of which he would receive a percentage. When Burke had a problem collecting money that he was owed, and the unfortunate debtor had children, he would pick up the child in his huge arm, open the refrigerator with the other, and say, "If you don't do whatcha supposed to, I'm gonna lock your kid inside the fuckin' refrigerator". Burke also owned a dress factory in South Ozone Park, Queens, named Moo Moo Vedda's, which kept him supplied with "laundered" money.

During 1972, Burke and Henry Hill were arrested for beating Gaspar Ciaccio in Tampa, Florida. Ciaccio allegedly owed a large gambling debt to their friend, union boss Casey Rosado. They were charged with extortion, convicted, and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Burke was paroled after six years and resumed his criminal career, as did Hill, who was released about two years prior. Hill began trafficking in drugs, and Burke was soon involved with this new enterprise, even though the Lucchese crime family, with whom they were associated, did not authorize any of its members to deal drugs. This Lucchese ban was enacted because the prison sentences imposed on anyone convicted of drug trafficking were so lengthy that the accused would often become informants in exchange for a lesser sentence. This is exactly what Henry Hill eventually did, becoming an informant against Burke after several years selling drugs.

Murders

Burke is alleged to have committed a number of murders, but no victims were ever named. He supposedly killed nine people after the Lufthansa Heist. Jimmy's crew were responsible for a large number of murders. Henry Hill said in an interview "60-70 murders that I know of, there have been more..." He did, however, order the murder of his best friend Dominick "Remo" Cersani, who became an informant and was going to set up Burke in a cigarette hijack. Burke got suspicious about Cersani and later found out from one of his friends in the Queens, New York DA's office that Cersani was talking to the New York City Police Department and that they were going to arrest Burke on a truck hijacking charge. Remo was killed within a week. At Robert's Lounge, Burke told Remo, "Let's take a ride". Tommy DeSimone strangled Remo with a piano wire. Henry Hill stated: "Remo put up some fight. He kicked and swung and shit all over himself before he died." Burke had Remo buried next to the bocce court behind the building. It was said that, whenever Burke and Tommy DeSimone played bocce there with friends, they would jokingly say, "Hi Remo, how ya doing?"

Lufthansa Heist

Main article: Lufthansa heist

Burke became famous as a result of the Lufthansa heist, which involved the theft of approximately $6 million in cash and jewels from Building 261 at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Based on inside information from Lufthansa Cargo Supervisor Louis Werner, who owed a large gambling debt to Burke-controlled bookmaker Martin Krugman, Burke planned and recruited a crew of criminal acquaintances that included Tommy DeSimone, Angelo Sepe, Louis Cafora, Joe Manri, Robert McMahon, and Paolo LiCastri. Burke's son, Frank James Burke, drove a "crash car" whose function was to ram all police cars in pursuit of the escape vehicle. Parnell Steven "Stacks" Edwards did not directly participate with the robbery but was ordered to dispose of the van used in the robbery at a junkyard compactor in New Jersey.

The robbery occurred during the early morning hours of December 11, 1978. Because JFK Airport was divided between the Gambino crime family and the Lucchese Family, permission was asked and granted by the Gambino capo who controlled the airport, John Gotti. Gotti's crew expected $250,000 from the proceeds of the robbery and Paolo LiCastri, a soldier of Gotti for the Gambino Family, became the sixth gunman, to ensure the Gambinos' interests were maintained.

A van containing the robbers and a "crash car" arrived at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at 3:00 AM. The crash car, driven by Frank Burke, remained in the parking lot. Three men got out of the van and entered the front door of the cargo terminus. The two men left in the van drove to the rear of the building, cut the lock on the security fence and replaced it with one of their own. The robbers, all armed, wore dark clothing and ski masks. Three men entered the building and captured all ten employees at gunpoint. Since 3:00 AM was "lunch hour" for the shift, most personnel were already in the cafeteria. Kerry Whalen, the Lufthansa transfer agent who was returning from American Airlines rampside, saw two of the robbers sitting in a van, without mask or gloves. As Whalen entered the building he was pistol-whipped. One of the robbers led the cargo agent inside the building, where he was forced to the floor.

Since the robbers had inside information, all the employees were accounted for, handcuffed, and forced down on the floor. At gunpoint, the shift supervisor was forced to deactivate the alarm system as well as all additional silent alarms within the vault and escort the robbers inside the vault. The supervisor was forced to open the cargo bay door. The robbers drove the van into the loading bay and packed it with every bag of currency (from overseas military monetary exchanges) and jewelry they found in the vault.

After the van was loaded, the supervisor was taken back to the lunchroom, handcuffed, and forced to the floor next to the other employees. The robbers ordered the employees not to make a move for at least fifteen minutes. To ensure compliance, the robbers confiscated the wallets of every employee and threatened their families' lives if instructions were not followed. This fifteen-minute buffer was crucial because Werner's information made the robbers aware that the Port Authority Police could seal the entire airport within 90 seconds, preventing any vehicles or persons entrance or exit.

At 3:40 AM, the van containing the robbers and stolen cash moved out of the cargo terminus and left JFK Airport, followed by the crash car, and drove to a garage in Maspeth, Queens, where Jimmy Burke was waiting. There, the money was switched to a third vehicle that was driven away by Jimmy and his son Frank. The rest of the robbers left and drove home, except Paolo LiCastri, who insisted on taking the subway home. Parnell "Stacks" Edwards put stolen license plates on the van and was to drive it to a wrecking yard in New Jersey, where it would be compacted to scrap metal.

Aftermath and murders that followed the Lufthansa Heist

Burke never expected the robbery to bring in more than two million dollars, and was shocked by the six million haul. He became paranoid about all the publicity. He was aware that a robbery of this magnitude would attract the intense attention of local, state, and federal authorities, causing many problems for all involved, as well as for organized crime in New York in general. There were a number of murders and disappearances after the Lufthansa robbery, as Burke became increasingly concerned that there were too many witnesses who knew of his involvement, and who became greedy upon learning the true amount of money stolen in the heist. Burke was being pressed for more money by the participants of the Lufthansa robbery, so he decided to murder everyone associated with it.

Parnell Steven "Stacks" Edwards was found shot to death in his apartment in South Ozone Park, Queens on December 18, 1978, only one week after the robbery. Henry Hill was not involved with the robbery, but recounted that "Stacks" forgot to dispose of the van used for the robbery at a New Jersey compactor, instead getting intoxicated by drugs and becoming unconscious at a girlfriend's house, leaving the truck in a no parking zone. The next day, the van was discovered by police with his fingerprints, as well as other evidence implicating him.

Martin Krugman was the bookmaker who provided the tip to Henry Hill and Burke's Robert's Lounge crew. He vanished on January 6, 1979. Henry Hill stated that Krugman was killed in "Vinnie's fence company" on the orders of Burke, who did not want to pay Krugman his $500,000 share of the stolen money. Hill said, "It was a matter of half a million bucks. No way Jimmy was going to deny himself half a million dollars because of Marty Krugman. If Jimmy killed Marty, Jimmy would get Marty's half a mill'."

The only robbers who survived Burke's murderous rampage after the Lufthansa Heist were Frank James Burke (Burke's son), Thomas DeSimone, and Angelo Sepe (a protégé of Burke). Burke knew that Sepe would never cooperate with the authorities, and he never asked Burke for a larger share of the robbery proceeds. Sepe was murdered in 1984, shot in the head when he answered the door one morning at his Brooklyn apartment. This was in retaliation for having robbed a Mafia-associated drug dealer. Frank James Burke was found shot to death on a Brooklyn street on May 18, 1987, due to a drug deal gone bad.

Federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities were never able to develop enough evidence to indict Burke for the Lufthansa theft or related murders.

Boston College Point Shaving Scandal

Main article: 1978–79 Boston College basketball point shaving scandal

During 1982, Burke was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his involvement with the 1978–79 Boston College basketball point shaving scandal, based primarily on the testimony of former mob associate Henry Hill. Hill's testimony in federal court resulted in a total of fifty convictions in this and other cases, including those of Burke and their boss, capo Paul Vario.

Federal prosecutors have since said the Burke conviction was similar to how they finally convicted Al Capone of tax evasion, as opposed to Capone's involvement with bootlegging and suspicion of ordering dozens of murders. They believed Burke was the mastermind of the Lufthansa Heist and involved in numerous related and unrelated murders, but never had enough evidence to indict him for those crimes.

Death

Arrested for a parole violation during 1982, Burke spent the rest of his life in jail. He was serving his time in Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, when he developed stomach cancer . He died on April 13, 1996, while being treated at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. Had he lived, he would have been eligible for parole on March 11, 2004.

Popular media

Jimmy Burke was portrayed by Robert De Niro in the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas, renamed "James Conway" (his birth name), and serves as the film's main antagonist. It was claimed that, at the time, Burke was so happy to have Robert De Niro play him that he telephoned him from prison to give him a few pointers. Author and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi denies this, saying that De Niro and Burke had never spoken, but admitting that there were men around the set all the time who had known all of the principal characters very well.

Burke was played by Donald Sutherland for the 2001 television movie The Big Heist which portrays the events of the Lufthansa Heist.

During October 2014, Burke's involvement in the Boston College Point Shaving Scandal was discussed in the ESPN 30 for 30 episode, "Playing for the Mob". Ray Liotta, who played Henry Hill in Goodfellas, is the narrator.

During 2015, author Robert Sberna self-published the book The Mystery of the Lufthansa Airlines Heist with collaborator Dominick Cicale, a former member of the Bonanno crime family. According to Cicale, between $2 million and $4 million of the Lufthansa loot was stashed in a safe deposit box by Jimmy Burke. The keys were given to his daughters, Cathy and Robin. Cicale reported that Cathy Burke's husband Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato, a Bonanno capo, gained access to the box with Vincent Basciano, also a Bonanno capo. Cicale said that Basciano spent $250,000 of the money on a movie that was never produced. The remainder was lost at casinos by Basciano.

Further reading

• Volkman, Ernest; Cummings, John (October 1986). The Heist: How a Gang Stole $8,000,000 at Kennedy Airport and Lived to Regret It. New York: Franklin Watts. ISBN 0-531-15024-0.
• Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi (1990) ISBN 0-671-72322-7
• 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 T. J. English (2005)

• Lufthansa Heist by Daniel Simone and Henry Hill (2013)