Frank Menna
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Franesco "Frank" Menna was an Italian-American low-level criminal from Queens, New York and an associate of the Lucchese crime family and a suspect involved in the early stages of the Lufthansa heist. He was a regular street tough who was employed by Martin Krugman to work at his "Just For Men" hair salon in Queens, New York.
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[edit] Biography
Little is known about Francesco "Frank" Menna's past except for a few sentences in Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy: My Life in A Mafia Family". Also in the novel there is no mention of Menna before his participation in the 1978 Lufthansa heist. Frank was not involved in the regular day-to-day criminal activities of Jimmy Burke and was not involved in any of Henry Hill's business affairs at any point in time. He also was not associated with any of Jimmy Burke's hijacking-robbery crew. Frank's involvement in what what be the massive Lufthansa heist is unique in the sense that he ended up testifying against Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke but did not actively participate in the robbery itself. The testimony in convicting Burke of his involvement in the heist was unsuccessful. Frank worked as a loan collector and is described by Volkman and Cummings as a numbers-runner, who acted as a go-between for bookmakers or bettors. He was not even a habituate of Robert's Lounge or The Suite. Frank was being educated by Krugman in the ways to be a successful mobster, which Russian born Krugman could never become a full-fledged member of the La Cosa Nostra. He started out working the comptroller and telephone taking bets for Krugman in the back storage room where Krugman operated his sportsbook. In Menna's his day-to-day operation he would regularly visit Lufthansa Air cargo supervisor Louis Werner who was a degenerate gambler.
[edit] Role in the Lufthansa Heist
At the "Just For Men" men's hair salon and wig accesories store, he was supposedly employed as a hair dresser from 1970 to 1979. He attended the hair dressing school so Martin Krugman, who taught classes at a local high school could file for tax deductions. Frank was the first individual to hear of the Lufthansa heist plan from Lufthansa freight cargo supervisor Louis Werner who was a customer of Martin Krugman. In 1970, after Jimmy Burke told of plans to extort his thriving bookmaking business and Krugman threatened to go to the District Attorney, Frank Menna was the unfortunate employee who was beaten in the salon, in front of Krugman, by Stanley Diamond and Thomas DeSimone on orders by Jimmy Burke. Frank is lucky to have survived the beating due to DeSimone and Diamond's ruthlessness as sidewalk soldiers for Paul Vario.
[edit] Surviving the Aftermath of Lufthansa
After the Lufthansa heist, shortly before his murder, Krugman informed Henry Hill that he planned to give Frank Menna $15,000 out of generosity, which was to come from his $1.5 million that he was to receive from Jimmy Burke for his part. It is unknown if Menna ever received his share before Krugman was murdered on January 6, 1979. Frank later told the FBI after Krugman's death that all he had done was in November of 1978 after receiving a threatening phone call from Krugman about falling behind in his loan payments, Louis Werner sat down with Frank and and was told of plans for a robbery conjured up by himself and fellow co-worker Peter Gruenwald, Menna in return transmitted Louis Werner's request to Martin Krugman. Krugman in turn was the one who informed Henry Hill, after of which Hill told the plans to Jimmy Burke. Since he was not involved in the robbery itself, was most likely the reason that Jimmy Burke did not have him murdered, unlike fellow cohorts, Robert McMahon, Joe Manri, Stacks Edwards and Paolo LiCastri.
[edit] Arrest and Conviction
Frank was later implicated for his minor role in the Lufthansa heist at the same time of his already dead boss, Krugman. Now unemployed after Krugman's murder and threatened with a prison sentence the FBI convinced Menna to become State's Evidence where he helped in the successful prosecution of Louis Werner. The sole suspect in the robbery to be charged for the Lufthansa heist. Menna fortunate in surviving the aftermath of the robbery that followed, unlike his employer, Martin Krugman.
[edit] Exclusion of Character from Goodfellas
His character is not portrayed in Goodfellas, most likely due to confusion and time constraints for the movie. Menna is one of the characters that was excluded from the film entirely along with Lufthansa heist suspects Tom Monteleone, Theressa "Terry" Ferrara, Anthony Rodriguez, Charles Fischetti, and Richard "Richie" Eaton, including Lufthansa co-workers Louis Werner and Peter Gruenwald. Martin Scorcese cancelled out Menna's role by showing Henry Hill the receiver of the information from Martin Krugman, who replaces the more actual minor role of Menna in the entire plan.
Following the Lufthansa heist he became State's Evidence for the District Attorney and FBI and later helped in the case against Henry Hill, as one of the factors that made Hill become an informant and the unsuccessful prosecution of Jimmy Burke, for which the FBI did not have enough evidence to charge him on, and Lufthansa heist suspect Angelo John Sepe who was already murdered by the Chicago Outfit. The whereabouts and happenings of Frank Menna after the Lufthansa heist are unknown.
[edit] References:
Wiseguy: My Life in The Mafia by Nicholas Pileggi.
Categories: | Lufthansa heist | famous people from Queens, New York | Italian-American criminals
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