FBI Arrests Reputed Mobsters Linked To 1978 'GoodFellas' Heist

Enlarge this image toggle caption Brendan McDermid/Reuters/Landov Brendan McDermid/Reuters/Landov

The FBI nabbed five alleged mobsters in a series of predawn raids in New York on Thursday in connection with the infamous 1978 Lufthansa heist that netted $6 million in cash and jewels and that inspired the film GoodFellas.

Among those arrested was Vincent Asaro, 78, who is allegedly a ranking member of the Bonanno crime family. He was seized at his home in Queens, N.Y. Reputed mob underboss Thomas "Tommy D" DiFiore of Long Island, N.Y., also was taken into custody, according to ABC News.

The New York Times says the indictment against the five "reads like a greatest hits collection of the Mafia: armored truck heists, murder, attempted murder, extortion and bookmaking. But the crime that garnered the most attention was the Lufthansa robbery, where a group of robbers stole about $5 million in cash and nearly $1 million in jewels from a Lufthansa cargo building [at JFK airport] in December 1978 — the largest cash robbery in the nation's history at the time."

In today's dollars, the heist would be worth $20 million. ABC says it "led to a massive, years-long investigative effort that ultimately proved fruitless as wiseguys and their associates believed involved in the robbery disappeared or died at the hands of nervous crime bosses."

USA Today says the robbers, "using information provided by an airport worker, stole millions of U.S. currency that was part of a monthly shipment via Lufthansa to then-West Germany where it was used in monetary exchanges serving military servicemen and tourists."

"It took some half-dozen masked gunman 64 minutes to steal the packets of cash, toss them into a van and escape," the newspaper adds.

ABC reports: