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James Burke (July 5, 1931 – April 13, 1996), also known as "Jimmy the Gent", was an American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who is believed to have organized the 1978 Lufthansa heist, the largest cash robbery in American history at the time. He was believed to be responsible for the deaths of those involved in the months after ...
Robert De Niro, who portrayed Jimmy Conway (the film's version of Burke), often called Hill several times a day to ask how Burke walked, held his cigarette, and so on. [47] [48] Driving to and from the set, Liotta listened to FBI audio cassette tapes of Hill, so he could practice speaking like his real-life counterpart. [48]
The heist was allegedly planned by James Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime family of New York City, and was carried out by several associates.The plot began when bookmaker Martin Krugman told Burke's associate, Henry Hill, that the German airline Lufthansa flew in currency to its cargo terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
In the late 1970s, two of Vario's associates Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke, began dealing in amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Hill ran his drug organization with his wife Karen, William Arico, Anthony and Rocco Perla, Robin Cooperman, and Judith Wicks. In early 1979, Burke and Hill began selling heroin.
Hill and Burke were brought into the scheme, after receiving approval from Lucchese family capo Paul Vario. Burke, through Hill, would front the money to pay the players, forwarding the money through Mazzei and the Perla brothers. The same channels would be used for the passing of the point spread from Burke and Hill to the players.
After his release from prison in 1970, according to the mafia memoir Wiseguy, Henry Hill describes the "welcome home" party for William Bentvena at Robert's Lounge, a nightclub owned by Jimmy Burke: Bentvena jokingly asked DeSimone "if he still shined shoes", which DeSimone perceived as an insult, and leaning over to Hill and Burke intoned, "I ...
Meanwhile, Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke had also orchestrated and were immersed in a widespread sports scandals, the Boston College basketball point shaving scheme. [8] Hill claims that he recruited three Boston College players, Jim Sweeney , Rick Kunz , and Earnie Cobb , who for a share of the winning bets manipulated the games' final scores so ...
Robert's Lounge was a saloon located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard, in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York City.. The saloon was used as a hangout by Paul Vario.The basement was a graveyard for mob victims.