The Lufthansa Heist

Behind the Six-million Dollar Cash Haul That Shook the World

By: Henry Hill, Daniel Simone

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

On December 11th, 1978, a daring armed robbery rocked Kennedy Airport, resulting in the largest unrecovered cash haul in world history, totaling six million dollars. The perpetrators were never apprehended and thirteen people connected to the crime were murdered in homicides that, like the crime itself, remain unsolved to this day. The burglary has fascinated the public for years, dominating headlines around the globe due to the story's unending ravel of mysteries that baffled the authorities. One of the organizers of the sensational burglary, Henry Hill, who passed away in 2012, in collaboration with Daniel Simone, has penned an unprecedented "tell-all" about the robbery with never-before-unveiled details, particulars only known to an insider. In 2013, this infamous criminal act again flared up in the national news when five reputed gangsters were charged in connection to the robbery. This latest twist lends the project an extraordinary sense of timing, and the legal proceedings of the newly arrested suspects will unfold over the next year, continuing to keep the Lufthansa topic in the news.

©2015 Daniel Simone (P)2015 Tantor

Goodfellas all over again

Good book good story but nothing new from wise guy or goodfellas. if you enjoyed that you'll like this but don't look for anything different.

very good

I liked the story telling. I liked the guy who narrated, he put everything into his performance. I liked the overall story.

Chapter 44 repeated

This was an annoying addition to a good audiobook. Seems like a pretty amateur oversight that should have been fixed by now.

Very well done

A great story that was well researched and very well put together. The narrator steals the show though. Absolutely awesome!

Great True Crime Mafia Tale

This book was extremely entertaining and had tons of details behind one of the most famous robberies in history. If you’re interested in true crime, or the mafia, you should like this book.

Probably a bit embellished, but…

The narrator’s zealous delivery and impressions gave this a Hollywood feel in the first place, and if you’ve watched Goodfellas at all, it’s next-to-impossible not to think that there is certainly some embellishment going on with the author, and, of course, Henry Hill, who has been declared a fiction writer and interviewee more than a few times during much of the last 15 years of his life. Nevertheless, this is a very entertaining read, and if you can just enjoy the story without trying to pick apart what’s fact and what’s fiction, you will definitely enjoy it.

"What's dat word mean?"

If you could sum up The Lufthansa Heist in three words, what would they be?

Goodfellas, the addendum

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The most compelling part of this narrative was exposing a bit more of the day to day grind and hassle that these guys lived through. Anyone seems cool with Scorcese's angles, old cars, and the Stones playing in the background, but these guys didn't really embody what the movie showed. Rather, they just were hustling to make ends met while not getting killed. What really impressed me is how dumb most of these guys and gals were....whenever an outsider speaks to a mafioso or their family, they will always ask the question "whats dat word mean?" highlighting their extremely small vocabularies. I didn't get a count, but I'm sure I heard this phrase about a half dozen times. But hey, this is a generation that called pasta sauce "gravy" and red wine, "red wop." No glamour here, despite how easy it is to imagine the leisure suits. Really fun book if you liked Goodfellas.

What about Joe Barrett’s performance did you like?

Solid

Any additional comments?

A great addition to the library if you want a fun, interesting book that goes into a bit more detail than Goodfellas could, but without the high gloss coating that a movie can make of real situations.

A lot of typical NYC Italian racism

Too many unnecessary racist black stereotypes and broken English for me to really enjoy the book. At times Joe Barrett sounded like it was an episode of Amos&Andy.

Amazing reading

The performance really brought this story to life and I felt like I was watching a mob movie. Wonderful storytelling.

great tale with superb narration

historical story remains fascinating after all these years. narrator does excellent job with accents, making the story easy to follow.