On this day, Dec. 11, in 1978, masked men robbed the Lufthansa cargo area at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and made off with $5.8 million in cash and jewelry, at the time the largest cash robbery on American soil. An airport worker who owed $20,000 in gambling debts told mobsters that millions of dollars in American currency was flown each month from West Germany to JFK each month. At 3 a.m., six masked men stormed the loading bay, tied up 10 Lufthansa employees and loaded 40 parcels of cash into a van. But the plot soon unraveled when the van driver failed to destroy the van. Instead, he parked it in a no-parking zone. Police quickly connected it to the Lufthansa stickup. Jimmy Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime family who planned the heist, ordered the death of anyone who could implicate him. Within seven months, a dozen players were murdered. The case is portrayed in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award winning movie “Goodfellas.” Burke’s character is played by Robert De Niro. — Scott McCabe