Based on the 1986 book The Heist: How a Gang Stole $8,000,000 at Kennedy Airport and Lived to Regret It,[1] the film tells the story about the 1978 Lufthansa heist.
The heist was also the subject of the much better-known 1990 film Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese, and of the 1991 made-for-television film, The 10 Million Dollar Getaway.[2] Filming took place in Toronto.[3]
The film depicts Burke as an Irish immigrant, speaking with a strong Irish accent; he was in fact born and raised in the United States.
Although Burke did have connections with John Gotti, Gotti was never involved with the Lufthansa heist nor did he want to be a part of it. According to a rumour, on an FBI wire tap from the 1980s years after the original heist, Gotti was heard to say to underboss and his capo Aniello Dellacroce: "I didn't want any part of that shit that Burke and those other fucks pulled. Only micks would do something crazy like this. Micks are fucking crazy; end of fucking statement".[citation needed] It was also alleged by Hill, in Hill's book The Lufthansa Heist, that John Gotti personally killed Tommy DeSimone, a member of the stick-up team.[4]
References
^Volkman, Ernest; Cummings, John (October 1986). The Heist: How a Gang Stole $8,000,000 at Kennedy Airport and Lived to Regret It (1st; Hardcover ed.). Franklin Watts. ISBN978-0531150245.
