Jimmy Burke (gangster)
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James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke (July 4, 1931 – April 13, 1996), was an Irish-American gangster who is believed to have organized the Lufthansa heist in 1978. He is the father of small-time mobster and Lufthansa heist suspect, Frank James Burke "Frankie", Jesse James Burke and Catherine, Catherine Indelicato-Burke as of 1992. Nicknamed Jimmy The Gent, Burke is familiar to most people via Robert De Niro's depiction of him (as Jimmy Conway) in the movie Goodfellas.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in New York City in 1931 and, for reasons unknown, was placed in a foster home when he was two, never to see his natural parents again. He was shuttled around various homes and orphanages, where he suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of various foster fathers and foster brothers. He eventually adopted the name of Burke after one foster family. When he was thirteen, Burke's foster father died in a car crash—he lost control of the car when he turned around to hit Burke, who was riding in the back seat. The deceased man's widow, who was in the car as well but survived, blamed Burke for the accident and gave him regular beatings until he was taken back into care.
As he approached adulthood, Burke began to get in trouble with the law and spent considerable time in jail. In 1949, aged eighteen, he was sentenced to five years for embezzlement. This was, ironically, to turn out to be his break into the underworld of New York: his refusal to "rat" (inform) on his accomplices gave him a reputation as a "stand up guy", meaning he would not cooperate with the police and therefore could be trusted by other criminals. Behind bars, he mixed with a number of Mafia bosses and made many contacts. Being of Irish descent, Burke could not become a full-fledged member of the Mafia, as only Italians were accepted into their ranks. However, they were happy to have associates of any ethnic background so long as they made money and did not cooperate with the authorities. Italian-American mobsters dubbed him "the Irish guinea". Burke was an immense presence: stocky, tall, and with brick-layer arms as result of earlier work.
[edit] "Jimmy the Gent"
It is rumoured that Burke committed a number of murders for the Mafia during the 1950s in addition to many other crimes such as importing cheap cigarettes and buying even cheaper liquor. He got married in 1962 to a woman named Mickey. He fathered a daughter, Cathy Burke and two sons: Frank James Burke and Jesse James Burke, (named after the famous outlaw brothers of the Old West). Burke is rumored to have murdered and dismembered an ex-boyfriend of his bride because he was being a nuisance.
Burke was a mentor of Thomas DeSimone and Henry Hill, who were both teenagers in the 1960s. They carried out errands for Burke, such as selling stolen merchandise. When they were older, they were part of Jimmy's crew and worked out of Ozone Park, Queens. The pair helped Burke with the hijacking of delivery trucks. According to Hill, Burke would usually give $50 to the drivers of the trucks they stole, as if he were tipping them for the inconvenience, which led to his nickname Jimmy the Gent.
Despite this being a rather innocent offense in comparison to narcotics dealing, loansharking, and murder, corrupt law enforcement officers, bribed by Burke, would tell him about any potential witnesses or informants. Sometimes as many as 12 or 13 bodies a year would be found tied up, strangled, and shot in the trunks of stolen vehicles abandoned in the parking lots surrounding JFK Airport.
He owned Robert's Lounge Bar in Ozone Park. He sold it just before he went away to prison, for six years, for the Florida extortion caper with Henry Hill. It was a favorite hangout of Burke, Fortuna (before his marriage to Lisa), and many other mobsters and criminals. Burke eventually began a loan shark and bookmaking operation that was based at the bar.
In 1972, Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill were arrested for beating up a man who owed Lucchese Family capo Paul Vario a large gambling debt. They were charged with extortion, convicted, and sentenced to ten years in prison. Burke was paroled after six years, then went straight back to crime, as did Hill, who got out around the same time. Hill shortly began dealing in drugs; Burke allegedly was soon involved in this new enterprise, even though the Lucchese Family—to whom they were loosely attached—did not authorize any of its members to deal in drugs. This Lucchese ban was made because the prison sentences imposed on anyone convicted of drug trafficking were so lengthy that the accused would often become informants in exchange for a lighter sentence. This is exactly what Henry Hill would eventually do.
[edit] Child murders and serial murders
From a very young age, his mid teens, Burke was a willing hitman for the mafia and would kill anyone who stood in his way. His victims included the children, spouses, and other relatives of his enemies. The FBI believes he was involved in at least 50 murders during his career.
He notably slew 13 people following the Lufthansa Heist. After a New York journalist had written a disparaging and accusative article on Paul Vario, Burke strangled the journalist, almost to death, in front of a bar full of witnesses.
Burke allegedly attempted to kidnap and possibly hold to ransom Henry Hill's wife, Karen, when he suspected Henry of being an informant.
Burke frequently locked his victims, notably the infant children of his victims, in refrigerators. Burke had no qualms about killing people; this was never more evident than his killing spree following the Lufthansa Heist.
[edit] The Lufthansa heist
The crime Burke is most famous for is the Lufthansa heist, the theft of approximately $6,000,000 in cash from the cargo terminal at Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport). This was the largest robbery in American history at the time. He planned it and had it carried it out by a crew of accomplices he put together that included Tommy DeSimone, Angelo Sepe, Louis "The Whale" Cafora, Joseph "Joe Buddha" Manri, Robert "Frenchy" McMahon, and Paolo LiCastri. Another man who did not participate in the actual robbery, Parnell Steven "Stacks" Edwards was to dispose of the van used in the robbery at an auto junk yard in New Jersey where it was to be compacted. Burke and his son, Frank James Burke took all of the stolen money to a mob safehouse where they divided it up and then over the course of time distributed shares to the robbers and others who played a supporting part in the robbery.
The robbery took place during the early morning hours on December 11, 1978. Because it took place in the territory of the Gambino family, Burke had to get their permission—his contact in the Gambinos was then capo John Gotti—and agree to pay them a portion of the stolen money. This included having Paolo LiCastri as the sixth gunman for the robbery to ensure the Gambino's interest was kept.
There were a number of murders and disappearances following the Lufthansa robbery, as Jimmy Burke became increasingly concerned that the others involved would lead the police to him. Parnell Steven "Stacks" Edwards, was shot dead within a few days because he got high and forgot to dispose of the van used in the robbery. Louis Cafora and his newly wed wife were murdered and never seen again. The Lufthansa night-shift cargo hold manager Robert McMahon and fellow co-worker Joe Manri were found shot dead in a Buick Electra. Paolo LiCastri was found shot dead and burning in a vacant lot. Tommy DeSimone's wife reported to the police that he had disappeared. A cosmetologist and part time cocaine dealer named Theresa Ferrara, who often frequented "Robert's Lounge" who was at the time the mistress of Tommy DeSimone and Paul Vario, was killed when it was found out she was an informant. Her dismembered body was eventually found dumped on a New Jersey beach.
Martin Krugman, who provided some of the inside information for the heist, vanished not long afterwards and was never seen again. Henry Hill states Krugman was killed on the orders of Burke who did not want to pay Krugman the $500,000 share of the stolen money due; close sources also said the order was given by the mob hierarchy. Reasons for this would have been that the police were all over the scene and, with a few weak links in the heist crew, a long jail term could have caused people to become informants.
[edit] Burke's son
- Main article: Frank James Burke
Frank James Burke (1960 - May 18, 1987) was one of two sons born to James and Michelle "Mickey" Burke in Staten Island. A younger brother, Jesse James, would follow. Jimmy Burke's son who followed in his criminal footsteps. Like his father, he was a career criminal and a suspect in the Lufthansa heist.
Frank James was a well known heroin addict in mob circles and had been arrested several times for possession of the drug. He spent time at his father's clubs, Robert's Lounge and The Suite which was a hangout for hijackers, burglars, thieves and scam artists. One of his father's proteges, Tommy DeSimone, took Frank out on his first "hit" or contract killing at the age of sixteen or seventeen. The target of Frank James's murder is unknown. Tommy DeSimone reportedly told his father and his criminal associates, that Burke had "held up good." This gave Frank James respect among the Italian wiseguys and made his father very proud. However, his criminal associates never made him a full-fledged member because of his Irish heritage.
Frank James Burke was found by police, shot to death on Liberty Avenue in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn, New York at 2:30 AM on May 18, 1987. He was twenty seven. Frank's death was probably not related to his criminal activities, but probably a drug deal that went bad. There is no record of any remorse or grief from Jimmy Burke about the death of his son.
[edit] Downfall
In 1980, Henry Hill was arrested for drug trafficking. He became an FBI informant in order to avoid a long prison sentence. Also that year, one of the few criminals to have actually been prosecuted for the Lufthansa heist became an informant after serving just twelve months of a fifteen-year prison sentence in the hope of getting an early release.
Partly thanks to the testimony of these informants, Jimmy Burke was taken into custody on April 1, 1980, on suspicion of a number of crimes. In 1982, he was subsequently convicted of fixing Boston College basketball games as part of a gambling scam in 1978, and was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Authorities knew he had organized the Lufthansa heist, but they did not have enough evidence to prove it in a court of law.
It was ironic that Burke was suspected of over 50 murders and was only convicted of one: the murder of Richard Eaton, a hustler and con-man. If Burke had disposed of Eaton the way he disposed of most of his victims, he could have been out of jail before he died. Instead, Burke beat and strangled him to death and dumped his body, bound and gagged on the floor of an abandoned tractor-trailer in a garbage filled lot in Brooklyn. It was winter at the time, and his frozen body wasn't discovered until days later by children playing there. Detectives found a small address book sewn into the lining of Eaton's clothing with the name, address and telephone number of James Burke listed in the book.
According to Hill, a search warrant to search Robert's Lounge was granted; when the police arrived, Burke had re-located the bodies he'd buried—such as those of Remo and Spider—in the basement and under the boccie court.
Burke was later charged with the murder of Richard Eaton, based on evidence Henry Hill gave to authorities. At the trial, Hill took the stand and testified against his former friend. Hill tesified Eaton had convinced Burke to invest $250,000 in a cocaine deal that promised immense profit. However, Eaton kept the money for his own use, and that one day Hill asked Burke about Eaton's whereabouts, that he hadn't been around in awhile. Hill said Burke replied "Don't worry about him. I whacked the fucking swindler out". With only the evidence of Burke's address and phone number found in Eaton's coat lining when his body was found and Hill's testimony, Burke was convicted and on February 19, 1985, he was given a life sentence. There was an attempt by Henry Hill and FBI agent McDonald to convict Burke of taking part in the murder in 1970 of William 'Billy Batts' DeVino, but Hill was the sole witness to testify, and the charge was dropped due to a lack of evidence.
Burke was serving his time in Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, when he developed lung cancer. He died from this disease on April 13, 1996, aged 64, while being treated at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. Had he lived he would have been eligible for parole in 2004.
[edit] Movie depictions
Burke has been portrayed in three movies. In Goodfellas, a 1990 film based on a book cowritten with Henry Hill, Burke was portrayed by Robert De Niro, and the character used the fictional surname "Conway". He was also portrayed by John Mahoney in the 1991 television movie The 10 Million Dollar Getaway, and again in the 2001 A&E television movie The Big Heist, in which he was played by Donald Sutherland.
In Goodfellas, Burke was portrayed as a powerful, arrogant, and shrewd gangster, but not as violent as he truly was: he was a classic psychopath. In The Big Heist, Burke was portrayed as an aging immigrant gangster whose actions were primarily motivated to keep in the Mafia's good graces and to keep his son from being killed. In ... Getaway, which focuses solely on the Luthansa Heist, Burke is seen as a schmoozing but kind-hearted ex-con whose loyalty to his crew is only second to his loyalty to the Mafia. Here, Burke has no hand in the Mafia-ordered murders of his "friends" who participated in the robbery, and is deeply saddened by their deaths.
[edit] External links
- Gangsters and GoodFellas, by Henry Hill as told by Gus Russo
