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The robbery pulled in four law enforcement agencies – the
FBI, the New York Port Authority Police, the Queens District
Attorney’s Detective Squad, and detectives from the New York
Police Department’s 113th Precinct, in whose jurisdiction the
crime took place. The agencies quickly came to one conclusion –
it was an inside job. Each of the agencies canvassed their
snitches and the results were quite remarkable. The names that
were turned over to them were Tommy DeSimone, Angelo Sepe, Frank
Burke and Anthony Rodriquez.
Witnesses who had seen the two men in the van with their ski
masks off provided details to a police sketch artist and composite
drawings appeared in the newspaper two days after the theft.
In addition, a description of the Ford Econoline van was released.
One of the immediate concerns involved the serial numbers of
the stolen currency. The money shipped to Chase Manhattan by
Commerzbank consisted of dollars exchanged abroad by American
tourists, military personnel, and businessmen. To the
chagrin of law enforcement, and to the unexpected delight of the
thieves, the money was impossible to trace.
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| Henry Hill
(AP) |
In Wiseguy, Hill talks about meeting with Burke the
Monday night of the robbery and again the following morning.
Burke’s demeanor revealed nothing of his new found riches. Then
while the two men were driving Hill remembers:
We were on the expressway, getting close to the tunnel, when
Jimmy let go of the steering wheel, turned toward me, and gave me
a big, one-armed hug around the shoulders. ‘We got it!’ he
said. ‘We got it!’ Then he started driving again like he
hadn’t said a word. I was so surprised by his sudden move that
he almost broke my neck, but I knew it was his way of telling me
that we had taken Lufthansa.
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