The Big Heist

Main cast

Historical Context

Although the movie correctly depicts the Lufthansa Heist, showing Jimmy Burke as the leader of a crew linked to Paulie Vario, the crew wasn't part of the Gambino family as depicted, but rather was a large part of the Lucchese crime family, and the robbery brought a large quantity of funding for Tony Corallo.

Although Burke did have connections with John Gotti, Gotti was never involved with the Lufthansa Heist nor did he want to be a part of it. According to a rumour, on an FBI wire tap from the 1980s years after the original heist, Gotti was heard to say to underboss and his capo Aniello Dellacroce: "I didn't want any part of that shit that Burke and those other fucks pulled. Only micks would do something crazy like this. Micks are fucking crazy; end of fucking statement". It was also alleged by Hill, in Hill's book The Lufthansa Heist that John Gotti personally killed Tommy DeSimone, a member of the actual stick-up crew. In another mistake film makes, Henry Hill is shown in one scene as having fallen asleep alongside a male and female prostitute, after having used a large quantity of cocaine. This implied bisexuality of Hill's was a falsehood. Hill was happily married (although he'd had two different affairs - both with women), and if the accusations had been true it would have been Jimmy Burke's duty to have killed Hill; homosexual acts were seen as going against the mob's rules.