Editing Thomas DeSimone (section)

== Lufthansa heist and Edwards murder ==
{{Main|Lufthansa heist}}
On December 11, 1978, an estimated $5.875 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|5.875|1978|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) was stolen from the Lufthansa cargo terminal at Kennedy airport, with $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewelry, making it the largest cash robbery committed on U.S. soil at the time.<ref name="NYTDec14">{{cite news |first= Leslie |last=Maitland |title=Airport Cash Loot Was $5 Million; Bandits' Van Is Found in Canarsie |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20715FD355413728DDDAD0994DA415B888BF1D3 |work=The New York Times |location=New York |page=A1 |date=December 14, 1978 |access-date=August 26, 2009 }}</ref> Burke decided on DeSimone, McMahon, Angelo Sepe, Louis Cafora, Joe Manri, and Paolo LiCastri as the robbers.<ref name=tru>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/1.html
 |title=The Lufthansa Heist Revisited
 |access-date=September 20, 2008
|author=May, Allan
 |publisher=trutv.com
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112063349/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/1.html
 |archive-date=November 12, 2008
}}</ref> Burke's son Frank would drive one of the back-up vehicles while Parnell "Stacks" Edwards, a musician and career criminal, was given the task of disposing of the getaway van afterwards.<ref name=tru />

After the heist, Edwards was instructed to drive the vehicle to New Jersey, where it (along with any potential evidence inside) was to be destroyed in a junkyard belonging to Gotti. Instead, Edwards parked the van in front of a fire hydrant at his girlfriend's apartment, where police discovered it two days after the heist. The plates were stolen and the police impounded the van. They soon found Stacks’ fingerprints and connected it to the robbery.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/lufthansa-heist-murders-mafia-mobsters|title=Lufthansa Heist Murders: How Paranoia Led to the Deaths of 6 Mobsters|first=Adam|last=Janos|website=A&E}}</ref> Vario subsequently ordered DeSimone to kill Edwards.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Volkman|first1=Ernest|last2=Cummings|first2=John|title=The Heist|date=January 1, 1988|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-440-20029-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcDp8MGPJlgC&q=desimone++dipalermo|access-date=July 29, 2015}}</ref> Once he found out where Edwards was hiding, DeSimone and Sepe visited Edwards and shot him five times in the head.<ref name=nypost>{{cite news | last1=Sanderson | first1=Bill | title=John Gotti killed mobster played by Joe Pesci in 'Goodfellas' | url=https://nypost.com/2015/07/12/new-book-reveals-john-gottis-role-in-goodfellas-murder/ | access-date=November 7, 2018 | work=New York Post | date=July 12, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040254/https://nypost.com/2015/07/12/new-book-reveals-john-gottis-role-in-goodfellas-murder/ | archive-date=December 1, 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last1=Pileggi | first1=Nicholas | title=When Big Heist Is Pulled, A Trail Of Death Follows | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/03/19/when-big-heist-is-pulled-a-trail-of-death-follows/ | access-date=July 29, 2015 | work=Chicago Tribune | date=March 19, 1986 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150829070836/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-03-19/features/8601200790_1_lufthansa-cargo-vault-gambling-debts | archive-date=August 29, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref>