Listener warning. This episode contains a brief instance of strong language that may not be suitable for all audiences.

In April of 1967, a cargo supervisor at JFK Airport couldn't believe his luck.

He worked for Air France. In ordinarily, he led a quiet life. He went to work, earned modest pay, and returned home to stacks of magazines that piled up over time.

But tonight was nowhere near ordinary. He was currently in the steam room of the Jade East Motel, right across from the airport. And he wasn't alone.

A beautiful woman named Clementine was in the steam room with him. One of his co-workers was also there, and that might be a drag, but it probably wouldn't be for long.

The co-worker had introduced him to Clementine. And if tonight was anything like the past couple weekends, the co-worker would take off and leave the supervisor and Clementine to have a private evening together.

But they were just a couple things the supervisor didn't know. First, none of this was luck. It was all part of a plan. Second, Clementine was being paid to distract him.

Because third, while the three of them relaxed in the steam room, two men were upstairs stealing the supervisor's keys so that they could relieve Air France of the burden of scoring hundreds of thousands of untraceable dollars.

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From Black Barrel Media, this is Infamous America. I'm your host Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling a six-part story about one of the biggest robberies in US history, the 1978 Laugh Tons of Heist.

This is Episode 1, The Robert's Lounge Game.

This story starts with Henry Hill for a relatively simple reason. When it was all said and done, he was one of only three people, as far as we know, with direct knowledge of the Laugh Tons of Heist, who could have talked about it.

The list was much larger in the beginning, but as you'll hear, it shrank rapidly. Parts of this story were immortalized in the classic film Goodfellas, starring Robert De Niro, Ray Leota and Joe Pesci.

But a single movie can never tell the whole story, so get ready for lots of new information. And we'll begin with Henry Hill Jr., who grew up in Brownsville, a working class Brooklyn neighborhood.

Henry's father was Irish, and his mother was Italian. His father was a union man, an electrician for a New York construction company.

Henry Hill Sr. tried to impart a good work ethic on his sons and daughters. There were eight in all, and Mr. Hill was probably proud when his son Henry announced, at the age of 11, that he had a part-time job at the cab stand across the street.

But dad would learn too late that Henry had just begun life as a gangster.

The cab stand fascinated Henry. Right in the middle of the old neighborhood, the men who hung around there always seemed to have the best of everything.

They wore elegant coats and drove luxury cars. They played card games late into the night. They traded jokes and flashy accessories, and Henry wanted to be part of it.

The men had money and commanded respect, and it started with the man who owned the cab stand. Paul Vario Sr.

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